tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22697782581898179862023-11-16T04:32:12.755-08:00The Sane ConservativeSane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-33697301706621944992015-02-17T00:32:00.000-08:002015-02-17T00:54:58.502-08:00Raking the Leaves of Sun News Network<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #444444;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew Sun News Network was in trouble and was in dire need of a buyer. It was suggested that former City TV and now currently Vision owner Moses Znaimer was interested in buying SNN. This did not sit well with some of my fellow conservatives who thought he would model SNN into his own image which eventually would compromise their core mission and values. Actually, there was no suitable buyer and on the night of February 12th, I was given the shocking but not surprising news about Sun News Network. The next morning, I turned to the station and it was immediately off the air with a sign noting it's closure. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Since it's inception in 2011, I really enjoyed Sun News Network. I really could not care what the critics have to say. It just seems that they think the whole world must listen at their spoken "divinely inspired" words (of course, I jest) and their word is law and cannot be refuted. So much for them respecting freedom of speech---as long it was exactly like their own. Sun News Network was refreshing, gave things another point of view and no, it was not Fox News of the North. Unlike Fox, I thought Sun News Network respected the life of the mind and was not anti-intellectual as Fox seems to be. One of their correspondents is a man called John Robson who had a PhD in history and is doing an independent project on the history of Britain's Magna Carta. I don't how some on the left of center could still honestly label Sun News anti-intellectual? Frankly, it is more an emotional assessment as opposed to a rational one. Sun News represented what was the Blue Shift, a growing number of Canadians who thought there was more to Canada than the late Pierre Trudeau's vision and desires of the country. This Blue Shift believed there was more to Canada's military than "peacekeeping", deficits and debt are important and are tired of the romantic but silly myth that deficits are not important and will take care of itself. The Blue Shift believed that it was high time to reevaluate Canada's concept of a Mosaic and wanted to question the Liberal multicultural dogma that Canada had "no culture of it's own"---while it is obvious that the province of Quebec has an identity and culture of their own (something that I respect actually). The Sun News Network articulated, reflected and respected the opinions of The Blue Shift.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> I could remember on social media dealing with some who were left of center who fierce critics of Sun News. I, for one, put a post on my site, a Sun News meme comparing then Liberal leadership candidates Marc Garneau and Justin Trudeau (who eventually became leader) of who had the better experience of the job for leader of the party. I still believe that Garneau had the most experience but one wanted to make this assertion, that I was being "intentionally provocative" on my post. Again what is being "intentionally provocative" listing "facts" and "evidence" in comparing and contrasting two men's experience? Also another thing I get is "to be balanced." Frankly, to me that is one persons code word of just telling me and others just "submit" to what the mainstream media has to say and don't question it. Sun News Network did this and it got under people's skin, of course. Another one from a relative told me that SNN was "neo-conservative propaganda". I don't think the person cared to watch a single solitary show on SNN and just wanted argue a point. The same person also had to express oneself about Sun News Network's demise of declaring, "Good Riddance!" Yeah, so much of being tolerant. The asymmetrical, selective and sometimes hypocritical worldview of the left of center sometimes knows absolutely no bounds. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> To add insult to injury, when I gave my tribute to SNN on my social media site, one hard-line leftist had to ask this "appropriate" question, "...[A]<span data-reactid=".b7.1:3:1:$comment10206068048559793_10206072600513589:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0" style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"><span data-reactid=".b7.1:3:1:$comment10206068048559793_10206072600513589:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$0:0">re you on crack? the CBC has been neutered by the Cons, CTV has at least lately found some independence but was the network of the Cons trying to discredit Liberals and they provided numerous Cons Senators, Global isn't much better and every ma</span></span><span data-reactid=".b7.1:3:1:$comment10206068048559793_10206072600513589:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"><span data-reactid=".b7.1:3:1:$comment10206068048559793_10206072600513589:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".b7.1:3:1:$comment10206068048559793_10206072600513589:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">jor newspaper chain except The Star is all Con all the time. There is no major chain that truly provides Canada with a progressive voice. Almost all traditional news sources have co-opted by the right. The Cons lie, there is no left wing media left in this Country except on line. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;"> I can only reply to that one man's diatribe, "Whatever." He simply forfeited his right to be taken seriously by me. Sadly, others will sympathize with him without any logical thoughtful process. This is what you can be up against and sometimes it is very trying.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"><span style="background-color: #999999;"> </span><span style="background-color: #cccccc;">I am glad for the friendships I made on social media from people who worked for and who were affiliated with Sun News News network in any way. They are very good people and I am proud of them for their work and commitment and I hope all will keep in touch. Also I'm glad to hear that some of the Sun News Network alumni are keeping calm and marching on. Brian Lilley is having some daily podcasts. Ezra Lavant is starting the project called The Rebel. Michael Coren will appear on Hamilton, Ontario's CHCH and has two more writing gigs plus his remaining job with the Toronto Sun. A Sun News Network former intern has her own blog aptly called "Right For A Reason". There is another project coming called "The True North Report". I actually have these projects listed and linked to the right side of my blog called , Reviving The Phoenix From The Ashes of Sun News Network ( I have also linked Mr.Robson's project under it too). Be sure to check them out and get involved.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"> What do I wish to see in the future? I wish to see more moderate and conservative news outlets, of course. I can only pray that some years down the road that these outlets will eventually become greater that Sun News Network ever was. In so doing that would be the ultimate tribute and proper honour to the network that dared to give another point of view.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"> I will give you little taste of projects to come from the ashes of SNN. First, here's a clip from Ezra's project The Rebel and second is Brian Lilley's podcast by clicking </span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/brianlilley/the-brian-lilley-podcast-february-16-2015" style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;" target="_blank">here </a><span style="line-height: 15.3599996566772px;">. Enjoy.</span></span></div>
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Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-9050958086096514912013-01-19T00:50:00.003-08:002013-01-19T00:54:34.041-08:002013: Conservatism will always be needed.<br />
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I know it is almost 3 weeks into the new year and I wish all, though belated, a happy 2013. Also it is the day before U.S. President Obama's swearing in as president for a second term (which is private ceremony), coupled with a public ceremony for noon Monday. It is known that I have marked political differences between the Obamas (sometimes albeit very fierce), I just want to make a non-partisan statement about Mrs. Obama's bangs: they look great! Makes her ever more beautiful! </div>
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During 2013, it is also my hope that in the United States, there will be a "Conservative Spring", an uprising against the current form of what conservatism which manifested in the belief of "unfettered markets" and "religious fundamentalism". A sane conservative manifesto is still strongly needed in which it supports "free markets" as opposed to big business. Yes, a capitalism for THE PEOPLE is a message what is needed. One person by the name of Tim Bray (a Google employee) who claims he is not from the right on the political spectrum, has developed a "sane conservative manifesto". Here's what he had to say in his piece <b>"What Conservatives Are For":</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">I’m no right-winger but I’ve long felt that a healthy society needs sane progressives <em>and</em> sane conservatives, and that many of America’s difficulties are related to an absence of the latter. So here’s a proposed Sane-conservative manifesto, written from outside.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span class="h2" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">1. Be Cautious</span> · Anyone who’s dealt with the public sector, or even paid close attention to the news, knows that many government programs don’t work very well. Some just fritter away energy and money to no particular effect, others turn actively harmful.<a class="plink" href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/11/10/Why-we-need-conservatives#p-1" style="text-decoration: initial;"> ¶</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">It’s not that those launching them are malicious or stupid; it’s that people are complicated and, in the societal aggregate, insanely complicated. They <em>will</em> try to game the system, and also will do astonishing things for reasons that could not have been predicted.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">So it’s sensible to be predisposed against launching new programs, and to err on the side of caution, because we know for a fact that lots of times it’s not going to work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">Thus, we need conservatives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span class="h2" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">2. Don’t Kill the Goose</span> · Only for-profit businesses create wealth.<a class="plink" href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/11/10/Why-we-need-conservatives#p-2" style="text-decoration: initial;"> ¶</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">Government’s role is to lay the foundations for a free-as-possible market, regulated enough to create a climate of low-friction trust and deter theft; then to get out of the way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">The optimal balance in the level of regulation is hard to find, but it’s important to have a voice in the conversation repeatedly asking a single question: Will this screw up wealth creation?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">Thus, we need conservatives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span class="h2" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">3. Don’t Waste Money</span> · If you take a quantitative approach to public policy (and you should) the data frequently show poor correlation between expenditures and outcomes. The nations that spend the most on healthcare are not necessarily the healthiest. Similarly, the volume of education funding correlates only weakly with measured results, and (in particular) defense spending regularly fails to defend citizens.<a class="plink" href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/11/10/Why-we-need-conservatives#p-3" style="text-decoration: initial;"> ¶</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">I think most agree that waste is bad, and wasting money is particularly bad. Thus, every policy discussion needs to have someone there pointing out that throwing money at the problem might not work, and maybe a cheaper alternative will.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">Thus, we need conservatives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span class="h2" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Less Relevant</span> · I observe that many who self-identify as conservative express surprising opinions about the regulation of sexual behavior, the role of religion in civic life, the desirability of starting wars, and the conservation of planetary resources.<a class="plink" href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/11/10/Why-we-need-conservatives#p-4" style="text-decoration: initial;"> ¶</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">These don’t seem to cohere intellectually in the same way that items #1 through #3 above do. It seems very unlikely to me that conservatives can build a lasting majority in any well-educated well-developed country around this other stuff; but they might, if they stuck to #1 through #3.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;">Interesting ideas on Mr.Bray's part. The original piece of his article can be linked <a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/11/10/Why-we-need-conservatives" target="_blank">here </a>with the various comments to his piece. May his articles and many others to come inspire a sorely needed revolution in conservativism.</span></div>
Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-52070638202549790632012-12-29T00:14:00.001-08:002012-12-29T00:14:11.521-08:00IN MEMORIAM:<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Photo: R.I.P - Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf who passed away today at the age of 78" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/557076_432154483518091_1374885066_n.jpg" /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UNITED STATES GENERAL H. NORMAN SCHWARTZKOPF</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1934-2012</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you sir for serving your country, your call to duty and to keep the preserve, protect and keep the peace of a free society. We cannot forget your remarkable service in the first Gulf War (Operation Dessert Storm) to send one of two messages to the tyrant that no longer is around, Saddam Hussein who invaded and attempted to control the state of Kuwait but was thwarted. Rest in peace, sir until that glorious day to be revised from The Author!</span></b></div>
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Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-25512226194841769092012-08-05T23:58:00.000-07:002012-08-06T00:12:05.970-07:00Olympic Babe of the Day: Jennifer Abel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is Canadian Olympian, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Abel" target="_blank">Jennifer Abel</a> of Montreal, Quebec. On the 23rd of this month she will turn 21 and as of recent won a bronze medal with synchronized swimming partner Emilie Heymanns at the London 2012 Olympic Games! We of Canada, salute her of making us proud. Also we also want to celebrate the beauty of this young fit lady who definitely and positively is one sweet thick mama of a sistah! Upwards, onwards Jennifer!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-18552273904565436802012-07-17T21:51:00.001-07:002012-07-17T21:51:38.648-07:00A Word From A Sane Conservative Leader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>A-freaking-men, Bruce!!!</b></div>Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-90962621579562010662012-07-09T23:33:00.000-07:002012-07-09T23:43:30.039-07:00Intelligent Quote of The Day<br />
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I think another thing a lot of conservatives don’t consider is that being poor is scary.</div>
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It’s scary when your car is running badly and you don’t have the money to get it fixed…and you also know if it breaks down, you’ll have no way to get to work and your boss will fire you if you don’t show up. It’s scary when you don’t even have a car to get to and from that desperately needed job, and have to rely on the whims of public transportation. It’s scary when you don’t get paid until next week but they’re going to turn your heat off tomorrow. It’s scary when you have an illness that keeps you in constant pain, and you don’t have the money to visit the doctor or afford pain medication. It’s scary to know that your paycheck might not be able to cover your next meal, or your children’s meals. That’s assuming you aren’t living on the streets, which is a whole other level of scary.</div>
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And when people are scared and trying to survive, hell yes they get selfish. They think about “me, me, me” because they know that no one else cares. No one is watching out for them. No one is going to rescue them if things get really bad.</div>
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They don’t want to get off food stamps, because even though subsisting on them is miserable, at least they know they have *some* food coming in, which is far better than the uncertainty of *not* having food. They blow money on liquor because they’re not sure they could face whatever pain or issue they have without it, and goodness knows they can’t afford to actually get the problem fixed. They don’t want to do job training because what if they fail? Or what if they manage to get a job and then get fired 3 months later because the economy is crap? Now they’re back on the streets with no assistance whatsoever. No, better to keep what little I have rather than risk losing it all, because society won’t give two shits if I fail and then I’ll have nothing.</div>
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People will fight tooth and nail to keep a sense of security, even if it is crappy security, but out of fear, not necessarily laziness or selfishness. Forever threatening to chuck someone in the deep end while making it clear you don’t really care if they drown and complaining that their parents should have taught them to swim is a really good way to ensure that people never want to leave the shallow end. Because, you know, FEAR OF DROWNING.</div>
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<b><i>---Amaranth commenting and rightfully condemning on the <a href="http://formerconservative.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/taking-down-republican-internet-memes-one-at-a-time/#comments" target="_blank">Confessions of A Former Conservative </a>blog the incredible lack of empathy and sensitivity among the poor and disenfranchised of society among certain political conservatives.</i></b></div>Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-241641829647768942012-07-09T22:53:00.000-07:002012-07-09T22:55:48.226-07:00A Sane Conservative vs. Right wing Illogic 101:Single Payer Health Care<div style="text-align: justify;">
Effing kudos to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Zuckerman" target="_blank">Mort Zuckerman</a>! A conservative <a href="http://gawker.com/5483893/the-story-of-mort-zuckerman-vanity-publisher-and-would+be-senator" target="_blank">(though there is dispute about that, he did support more Democrats than Republicans) </a>who doesn't mind single payer health care in the United States. There were many conservatives outside the United States and elsewhere in the Anglosphere who made their peace with the concept. Here in Canada, former Premier of Ontario Mike Harris , who could have almost easily passed as a conservative Republican in the United States, had made peace with it. His political guru in the United Kingdom, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also made peace with the NHS but it seems that a conservative living in the U.S. who thinks the concept of having universal insurance in their own country is evil, socialism, the next step to communism but when the U.S. invaded Iraq, didn't it give it's citizens free health care? Yes it did! Read <a href="http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/07/08/healthcare/" target="_blank">here</a>. So the question is: why is it okay for Iraqis to be given free healthcare, courtesy the U.S.government (more directly the U.S. taxpayer) and a cardinal sin to give it's own citizens free health care? Not only that type of illogic baffles me, it enrages me because it also a form of strange but simple injustice. Oh yes, I discovered two recent articles from the internet <a href="http://hurryupharry.org/2012/06/16/the-conservative-case-for-single-payer-health-care/" target="_blank">The Conservative Case For Single Payer Health Care by Andrew Murphy on the blog Harry's Place </a>and <a href="http://timscogitorium.com/tinblog/2011/04/single-payer-health-care-is-a-conservative-policy.html" target="_blank">Single Payer Health Care Is A Conservative Policy from the blog Tim's Cogitorium.</a> At least there are some people who tired of the partisan mantra and want to think outside the rigid, narrow, box. Also enjoy Mort Zuckerman' s support of the idea on Real Time with Bill Maher from HBO.</div>
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<br />Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-9121443971938562912012-07-09T00:22:00.000-07:002012-11-04T23:51:11.859-08:00Saying number one and being number one, there is a difference you know<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For the record, I am NOT anti-American. As a Canadian, I am pro-American as one can get. I have the U.S. flag on my wall in my bedroom for over 20 years, courtesy of from an old friend. I have on my Facebook cover page, a picture the late great former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. I have been mocked and satirized from friends and relatives who share a leftist worldview because of my love and support of the U.S. I wish that will go away but I am 42 years old and not 4. That taunting will continue and if I seek public office---especially the federal level it is going to get much tougher and trust me I am going to need from heaven above, a tougher thicker skin to deal with it. Much to their discredit, they ignore the fact that though I am pro-American, I can be a critical thinker about the problems in the United States. I acknowledge their is a class warfare, their public educational system is much to be desired, that Social Darwinism and Christian fundamentalism has taken over a major political party, their infrastructure is way behind, some of their major cities are in decay and even one city may declare bankruptcy, an incompetent President who apparently knows nothing about economics (and seems to be happy about it) and has not met anybody from Congress ranging from 18 months to almost 3 1/2 years (the length of his presidency) and though my friends from the left expect me, as a black Canadian to stand in "black unity" (whatever that is?) behind the first black president elected despite my terse and at times fierce opposition to some of his policies but that's neither here nor there. I am damn proud of having the United States as my neighbour and glad to share a great portion of their wealth and culture (minus the The Jersey Shore nonsense). It sure beats having Syria, Egypt, Zimbabwe or North Korea as a neighbour hands down (though some leftist masochists might get a kick out of that). At the same time, I know full well the United States can do damn better than it can right now and it is time to stop the jingoistic bumper sticker solutions and let American people graduate from 13-year old middle school thinking and go straight to university---graduate studies to have just for once to have a serious and civil debate on where America should go in the 21st century. On top of that they should be open to new, fresh, out-of-the-box ideas. Oh yes, STFU about this cosmic dualistic and mentally childish Manichean argument about big vs. small government. At the end of the day, Americans really want "smart government". Period. Deal with it. Yes, it is uncomfortable but change is good and change makes us grow as better people. It's time to stop shouting number one and start BEING number one. Their is a difference. An astronomical one. This is what Jeff Daniel's character (Will McAvoy who is a registered Republican fed up with the craziness in his home party and can't stomach a Democratic alternative as well) in HBO's The Newsroom was trying to articulate in the clip above and the next clip former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell was trying caution the dangers of American exceptionalism on Bill Maher's Real Time (also on HBO). Anyone wants to scream anti-Americanism from these two clips is on a sad and tragic adventure of missing the point and have gone swimming in a sewer of anti-intellectualism too. Offended? Tough. There is nothing constitutional about the right NOT to be offended.<br />
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PS---for those who haven't seen the first episode of The Newsroom, you can see it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U4ZhFDFYvE" target="_blank">here</a> in its entirety, thanks to Youtube.com and HBO.</div>
Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-34899603890397442852012-07-02T01:25:00.000-07:002012-08-03T23:52:21.829-07:00You might be a sane conservative...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeKaapyqkjzbf6SXEIkkvkHM8mLCySS4GSQRmvVo-3yUfRbdbwrQ8SO-aLc4Lij_DFl1i13kZihPHpUVuv2l-SJ7xOEaSI_Wvr-yMqLTZ3TIc4w2eJeBYpQoh4AcUXIvsmGV_YQOBuvHO/s1600/313750_994933433261_833087559_n-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeKaapyqkjzbf6SXEIkkvkHM8mLCySS4GSQRmvVo-3yUfRbdbwrQ8SO-aLc4Lij_DFl1i13kZihPHpUVuv2l-SJ7xOEaSI_Wvr-yMqLTZ3TIc4w2eJeBYpQoh4AcUXIvsmGV_YQOBuvHO/s320/313750_994933433261_833087559_n-1.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/bruce-bartlett/" target="_blank">Bruce Bartlett</a>, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/davidfrum.html" target="_blank">David Frum</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/reihansalam" target="_blank">Reihan Salam,</a> leaders of the "sane" conservative movement in North America<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">If you have friends that are
left of centre, radical centrist and right of centre. You seek to learn
from them all and they are not a challenge nor a threat to your worldview.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">You understand that politics
is NOT religion.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">You believe as a
public official that you believe that reaching across the aisle is
not a dirty and abominable thing. In fact it is beneficial for the
democratic process.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">If your are public official you understand
the concept that those who are your political opposition are your opponents but
not enemies.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Though you like to see taxes
lowered (when it can be payed for) and if they need to be increased---on a
slower and rarer basis, you are mature enough to recognize that tax cuts
are not the panacea to all economic ills. In fact if implemented wrong, it
causes more harm than help.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">That conservatism is more than a fetish
with the works of Ayn Rand mixed in Christian fundamentalism.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">That if you are a conservative person
of Christian faith, you understand perfectly clear that it is either
Jesus Christ or Ayn Rand---but you can't have both.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You understand that conservatism is
more than mindless, uncritical thinking, submission to unfettered markets. You
believe that conservatism is about, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> faith, family, country and
community, not unfettered markets that destroy all of these.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">You understand that the free markets
and big business are not synonymous. Also you believe North America
(Canada and the U.S.) needs a hell of a lot of the former and a lot less
pandering to the latter.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">You understand that cutting the
social safety net for the less fortunate in society will eventually lead to
greater erosion of the middle class. You also understand that with capitalism
YOU need more consumers, not less. Willfully disempowering people does not do
society good in the long run.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">That FACTS do matter! If the facts do
not match up with you ideology, you're not afraid to say your wrong and make
course corrections. Oh yes, you are not afraid nor against science.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">You may at times angrily but
respectfully oppose the policies of U.S. President Barack Obama but
he is not The Anti-Christ, Facist-Communist-Islamicist demon conjured up
by your louder, aggressive brethren on the right. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">That the supposed beauty of
lack of beauty of the President's wife, Michelle Obama, has no relevance
nor consequence on the state of the nation. Her ideas and them alone should be
held to highest scrunity when it comes to national policy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">As a Canadian, you have a respect and
admiration for your Prime Minister Stephen Harper but you recognize he's not a
rock star nor the infallible Holy Father.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am sure I can think of more and YOU
can think of more. I will definitely write down more when more ideas come to
me. Looking forward to hearing what you can come with! </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269778258189817986.post-17131995261452217792012-07-01T20:14:00.000-07:002012-07-01T20:34:21.595-07:00Back On The Block on Blogger.com!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGEsaTNyWyCHcAqzzwxLGaR-kO1K3aGyZIknBbZMBPkaXD7J8NNrfy7gSXTaQT12IggrYiGEE91g0IB3l6PVXD5wT2H76Y3hUUPRs3kScDSUc5u5i7LEqBT0Lrph95AlRGZq510uiRqAw/s1600/179522_10151084453220229_1278495787_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGEsaTNyWyCHcAqzzwxLGaR-kO1K3aGyZIknBbZMBPkaXD7J8NNrfy7gSXTaQT12IggrYiGEE91g0IB3l6PVXD5wT2H76Y3hUUPRs3kScDSUc5u5i7LEqBT0Lrph95AlRGZq510uiRqAw/s320/179522_10151084453220229_1278495787_n.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Canada Day weekend to my fellow Canadian brothers and sisters!!! Welcome to the start of a new blog! (Courtesy <a href="https://www.facebook.com/torontopubliclibrary" target="_blank">Toronto Public Library</a>)</td></tr>
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First and foremost to all my fellow brothers and sisters in the land I reside (Canada)---I hope all is enjoying the rest of the Canada Day long weekend. I originally started blogging on the internet on Blogger.com 7 years ago. 2 years later I tried something different by going to WordPress.com. Nearly 5 years it looks like I'm going full circle back to blogger.com. I do remember indicating that there was a possiblity of going back to blogger.com but I still I am surprised that my indication has somewhat materialized. Writing is a hobby and passion of mine for a very long time---I'd go way back to my childhood where I used love writing stories (sci-fi based much to the chagrin of some) and it extended through my teen years where I even started a school newspaper in junior high and was a contributor to a high school newspaper thereafter. In my 20s, I wrote pieces of a script, still have it and if any producer's interested---let's hook-up someday. I wrote letters to the editor in The Toronto Sun (and I am hoping that I will write some more letters to the editors to the competitors like The Toronto Star and National Post). Let's put it this way, if I had the opportunity to write for a living and have a very respectable lifestyle doing it, I could never be more happier! May that day come! Welcome to my "third" current affairs project, The Sane Conservative!</div>Sane Conhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17941105651992924215noreply@blogger.com0