Spin Assassin

EI is a Safety Net, not a Hammock. Get OFF!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:57:00 +0000

I'm glad to hear that EI is getting reformed. It's about time.

I've never received EI. That doesn't mean I haven't tried. When the bust of '08 got around to busting my gig as a self-employed contractor I applied. I heard that part of the economic action plan was extending EI to self-employed people. I involuntarily paid into it. Time, I thought, to get something out.

Rejected. Truth is, I wasn't expecting much. That is government for you. Overly expensive. Predictably unimpressive. When was the last time the government did something that failed to disappoint? Exactly.

I'm not sure why I didn't qualify. I was too something. I don't care what. I don't care to be more eligible for pogey.  Some bureaucrat, whom I'm also forced to subsidize, even while losing my own business, knows better than me who needs my money and when. Fine.

So lets see who these great bureaucratic minds forced me to pay instead.

There's Elizabeth May. Pogey collector and proud. She was in seasonal tourism which entitles her to an EI cheque. She was laid off and re-hired by her family's restaurant every year. That is how they planned it. That is how her family arranged their business model. Instead of scrambling to drum up winter business like true entrepreneurs, they all took a taxpayer funded vacation. Every year. Planning it into their business. They could have offered baby seal hunts. I don't know. Put them in a pen and let the kids club them. Blood red and snow white. Canada's colours! Alright, I'm kidding but you get the idea.

Dog sledding. Snow shoeing. Cross Country Skiing. Eating! Fun is what you make it. Try snowmobiling trips. Try Ice Fishing. Try Dammit! It's so much easier to collect EI than to try. Its too easy. That is why it needs to change.

Did you know these well paid union workers in Ft. McMurry collect EI once a year too?

One guy, a journeymen electrician, showed me his bank account. ~$100,000 in cash in the bank for one season's work. He was homeless. No Fixed Address. He would live in camp all winter and then get laid off in the spring. He would collect EI in his off months. He would take his $100,000 and go live in South America while still collecting EI.  He gave me explicit details on how he screwed the taxpayer.

Why is this allowed? The Harper Government has already closed the door to leaving the country on EI. Good for them. Now they are looking closer at the repeat seasonal collectors. GREAT!

If people don't get EI, they will find another job. If people find another job, they won't come back. Employers in the oil sands are already in a labour crunch. To keep their workers they will need to end seasonal lay offs.  Its a problem that solves itself (though whiners will lose their tax funded vacation). Other employers will do the same.

Seasonal down time can be useful. It's time to retool, retrain and plan for next season. I see it myself every single year in the oil patch.  Other industries can live without perpetually repeating EI. People should live without planning to get on EI.

EI is a Safety Net, not a Hammock. Get off!

Thoughts on Atheism, Leftism & Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:23:00 +0000

I don't really owe anyone an explanation regarding who I am and what I believe. I feel the need to explain myself however since there seems to be an overwhelming number of stupid or rude atheists. The obvious example is Bill Maher but the condition afflicts conservatives too.

It also occurs to me that religions offer a simple road map to a person's values. When someone says they are a Jew or a Catholic or a Muslim, you immediately know something about who they are and how they think. It's the user guide to their operating system, if you will.

An atheist can be anything. You can't know anything about them because many define themselves as anti-religion rather than simply non-religious. Most religions stress that a person should be good. To be totally anti-religious is to be against good. The militant disposition of many atheists serves as confirmation to believers that they are indeed evil.

I believe this is all by design. In political terms, the goal is to chip away at the big tent of conservatism leaving only the socially conservative base. Liberty and economic freedom are the unifying factors of conservatism that are ignored or vacuously mocked by the left. Atheists and social conservatives are driven against each other similarly to other single issue groups.

Militant atheism is actually subset of militant leftism. Observe how similar militant atheism is to militant feminism, militant environmentalism, militant racism (though they still call it equality), militant LGTB etc...

I have no problem with any of those things in their true and fair forms. If feminism is about the equal opportunity of both sexes than I'm a feminist. If Environmentalism is about conservation and efficiency then I'm an environmentalist. If Equal Rights are about equality of the races then I am on board. I actually don't believe in races. Science doesn't define race beyond the Human race so why would I buy into the social scientist (they aren't scientists) garbage?

I simply believe there is no God. I'm just not wired that way. I don't have that pull toward the supernatural. God is so obvious and so strong in some very smart people that I've concluded that they have some kind of wetware that I don't have. Maybe its like an antenna where you can tune into the presence of God? Whatever it is, I don't have it.

It's nothing against you believers.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not even absolutely sure about atheism. I'm an agnostic who's made an informed decision. I'm not sitting on the fence.  I'm off the fence and standing the "maybe He isn't," side of things.

It's not about my Dad or a run in with a mean preacher. It's not to feel superior either. I am clearly inferior to many believers whom I hold in high regard. It's nothing more than an apolitical observation of nature.

This is where I caught on to the leftist game.  Remember Sinead Oconor tearing up the photo of Pope John Paul II?  I don't get that.  What's wrong with the Pope? Of all the people to get pissed at, she hates the Pope? John Paul II was a good one. "Silencio!" He told some communists once. Yeah. Shut up!

I mean, fine, you don't like Catholicism. Go someplace else. Its a worshipers market. Whatever your preference, there is a church for you.

Catholicism and the Pope are evil? Nope. Don't buy that crap either. Leftist manipulation of the weak minded. So my dear departed Grandmother, who spent her life wishing, wishing, wishing on her knees for goodness and favor and protection, that was largely received, is evil? Sorry, I can think of a whole lot of evil in the world beyond that. Evil that lefties routinely apologize for. -strategize for.  -lie for.

Religion is not the enemy. The Left is the enemy of Mankind.

An ideology that would force atheism on good people would not hesitate to indoctrinate them with their own beliefs. Look no farther than the green religion.  Environmentalism has become the secular religion.

Giai is not a God. There are no sins against the Earth. It needs no offerings or gestures. Holy days like Earth Day and Earth Hour are as unremarked and unnoticed by the earth as detonating a Hydrogen bomb. The Earth does not get happy or sad if you eat organic food or Poutine from a burger joint.

The Earth is not a God. It is not sentient. It is not even alive. Yet people insist on endowing it with an imaginary spirit and a will. This is no different than worshiping the sun or a golden cow. It is still encouraged by our "secular" society.

I won't exchange freedom for tyranny simply to stamp on the beliefs of my forebears. They have built the greatest free society in history. I honour their achievement, even if I don't agree with them about everything. I'm not about to subscribe to the leftist wholesale ruin of our civilisation for the chance to swap one religion for another.

The War on Humans

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:23:00 +0000

Humans are a part of Nature. I would say the best part.

Those who disagree set Mankind apart from nature. They view mankind and all of its works as unnatural. Everything unnatural is evil to the earth worshipers. Nature is preferable and takes precedence over the unnatural. This puts Mankind below the lowest microbe.

Beaver dams and Bee hives are sacred to these people. Hydro dams and drilling rigs are an abomination. Humans demand human works for human life and happiness. The Co-founder of Greenpeace coined the term Anti-human for what these misguided misanthropes wish for.

Oil is a naturally occurring substance. The Oil Sands were deposited naturally. Humans naturally want to live happily and grow. Liberating the oil enriches the lives of tens of millions of people even leaving the sand "cleaner" than we found it.

Let's be honest here. When an Eco-nut talks about nature what they mean is "no humans." When they say they love nature. They are saying they love 'no humans' or they hate humans.

Eco-nuts in Canada have started touting the "War on Nature" as the response to the realization they are at war with Humans. They have been waging it for decades now. Other than mainstream liberal news outlets repeating their telling phrases: "War on Nature" there isn't really much to this latest offensive. There is talk of ads but so far its just talk.

#BlackOutSpeakOut is all there is. Websites who appose accountability for political pseudo charities will black out their content in protest. I have to say that I wholeheartedly support this. I think every crackpot eco-nut site should shut down in protest. Drag it out for months. Knock yourselves out. I mean that.

June 4th is the day that the Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Pembina, WWF, Environmental Defence.... etc are going to blackout their own pages. You can imagine the shock waves that these organizations in eternal freak out mode will cause when they freak out once more.

I pity the clueless marketing exec that follows them.

The Occupy Guy Scrutinized

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:47:00 +0000

Remember this smug Occupy spokesman?

He gave me the creeps.

You know how Anonymous tries to come off like some ominous Bond villain type organization? "We do not forgive. We do not forget. We are legion. Expect Us." You have to snort. They are playing G.I.Joe and Cobra and they think they are Cobra.

This guy, Harrison Schultz, seemed like the Sinn Féin of Occupy and Anonymous. A Guy Fawkes who took off his mask. He doesn't want reform. He doesn't want fix anything. He wants to tear it all down.

Hannity reveals why.

So he's an unemployed loser living off of grad school loans? Ha! Yeah he wants to bring down the system. He's up to his ears in debt and actually thinks revolution is the answer. This guy is clueless and desperate.

This video really put a smile on my face. If Schultz embodies everything that occupy is then there is really nothing to worry about. They aren't storming the gates of our civilization so much. Its more like a frantic retreat from reality in our general direction. It's a problem of delusional expectations.

Its comical and even a little uplifting.

I pity that smug smirking liberal occupy guy. He is like so many liberals out there. Remove the mask and all you have is a freightened and confused child.

Progressive Energy vs. “Renewable” Energy

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:54:00 +0000

I found a really excellent article by Alex Epstien today: Progressive Energy vs. “Renewable” Energy.

The word progressive is what caught my eye. It seems the word is still up for grabs. Progressive can be used to mean anything which gives it very little meaning. I really like the way Epstien uses the word here. It just goes to show that you can use these 'dog-whistle' type words to grab the attention of someone who isn't likely to listen to anything you say.

Read. It's good.

“Renewable energy” has two fundamental conceptual flaws. It’s not really renewable, and it’s not really energy.

What is “Renewable”?
“Renewable” in most definitions approximates to something like “naturally replenished” and it often contrasted with allegedly inferior, “finite” sources. It brings to mind the image of a pizza where a slice, once eaten, magically reappears. There is no such phenomenon in nature, though. Everything is finite. The sun and the photons and wind currents it generates are not infinite; they are just all part of a very large nuclear fusion reaction. True, that nuclear fusion reaction will last billions of years, but so will the staggering amounts of untapped energy stored in every atom of our “finite” planet.
To obsess about whether a given potential energy source will last hundreds of years or billions of years is to neglect the key issue that matters to human life here and now: whether it can actually provide the usable energy that will maximize the quantity and quality of human life.
Usable vs. Unusable Energy
The key question about energy is not whether it is “finite”–everything is–but whether it is usable. This is borne out by the history of energy production. For most of human history, our amount of usable energy was barely above the amount needed to power our muscles (and during famines, not even that). There was copious amounts of unusable energy–the chemical bonds in deposits of coal, oil, and natural gas, the mechanical energy of the wind, the photons of the sun, and, greatest of all, the energy stored in all the matter around us, whose proportions were quantified when Einstein identified that E=MC^2.
Every advancement in energy production consisted of taking some unusable source of energy and rendering it usable–windmills for grinding grain, water-wheels for operating simple machines, and ultimately concentrated hydrocarbon fuels that multiplied human productivity hundreds of times over.
Hydrocarbons et al are often called “finite natural resources,” but this is a misnomer; they are not naturally a resource. They become resources–i.e., they deliver services–only insofar as they are rendered valuable by human intelligence. This is Julian Simon’s crucial identification that the human mind is “the ultimate resource” that creates new resources, including energy resources, by discovering how to extract new services out of previously useless raw materials. We should not think of unusable raw materials as resources until or unless they are rendered usable by human intelligence.
This last applies to the sun (and the wind), the ultimate source of “renewable” energy. The vast majority of sunlight does not provide usable energy given any known technology. True, through photovoltaic conversion, a solar panel in most places can generate an electrical current of some magnitude. But who cares? A hurricane produces many h-bombs worth of mechanical energy–does that make it an energy resource? Not if it can’t be harnessed in a manner that provides the cheap, reliable power that we can use to meet our present and future needs. In the vast majority of cases, solar conversion technology can’t, the energy collected is too dilute and intermittent to be a useful source of large-scale energy.

Real Energy vs. Hypothetical Energy
So “renewable energy” as it is commonly used to mean solar and wind, is not “energy” in the economic sense of the word. It is a hypothetical source of energy that we know of, but that hypothetical deserves no more privileged status than any other kind of hypothetical (the ability to unleash atomic energy from a wide range of elements) let alone methods with far more promising potential (e.g., the potential of uranium and thorium to generate tens of thousands of years worth of energy).
The idol of “renewable” energy is part of the broader idol of “sustainability.” Both of these are false idols that obscure the true beauty of capitalism, which is that in producing energy–and everything else–it is better than “sustainable”–it is progressive. “Renewable” or “sustainable” implies that the ideal life trajectory is one of repetition, using the same methods and materials over and over.
But that is an ideal fit for an animal, not a human being. The human mode of existence is to always get better, always improve, always discover how to use new raw materials to create energy.

A False Ideal Born of Green Mysticism
The root of the fetish with “renewable” energy is the Green ideal of minimizing man’s impact on nature. This is borne out by the fact that the only practical “renewable” source of energy, hydroelectric, is widely opposed by the Green movement for interfering with “free-flowing rivers.” That movement prizes solar and wind despite their horrendous track record for ideological, ultimately religious reasons: the idea of a society only relying on the sun and the wind is congenial to their ideal of a world in which man tiptoes on the planet instead of transforming it.
If we cast aside the Green religion, “renewable energy” is false ideal that has no place in a rational discussion of energy. The only question that matters about energy is: what sources of energy will best advance human life now and in the relevant future (not 5 billion years)?
And the only way to answer that question is to leave producers and consumers free to seek out ever-better answers in a free market. Then we will always have the best kind of energy–progressive energy.

Alison's Solyndra begins to collapse

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:10:00 +0000

Over in Ontario so called "progressive" policies have led to credit downgrades exactly as predicted.

Here in Alberta, the eco-boondoggle known as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) lost a major player. TransAlta corp has pulled out of the $1.4 billion Pioneer Project because it wasn't economically feasible.

The Minister of eco-nuttery (or Environment) Dianna McQueen says:

“Under new technology, sometimes this happens ... "

That so happens to be the same excuse Obama used to explain the Solyndra failure. Excuses appear daily as "green" endeavors fail.

The Minister predictably maintains that the other 3 projects are economically viable. This must refer to a progressive definition of economically viable. Projects subsidized in the tens of millions are normally thought of as economically infeasible.

Even with the heavy subsidies, companies use the CO2 from CCS to stimulate old wells to produce more oil. Money is made producing oil alone. CO2 has no value. Its smoke.

TransAlta blames the inherent worthlessness of CO2 for the project's cancellation. Government price controls on a worthless and ubiquitous substance like CO2 have failed everywhere they have been tried. Al Gore's Carbon Exchange in Chicago was dreamed up by Enron and is now history like Enron. European Carbon Exchange is rife with fraud and even the eco-nuts don't like it.

Don't ever say oil companies oppose cap and trade. They don't. Essentially, the government pays them gigantic sums of money to extract more oil. What a deal. You pay for it all.

The best part is that all of this is happening under the premise that its supposed to make you feel good. Its the 'Do-Something' rationalization. CCS has negligible impact on Climate Change according to the most alarmist Climate theories. The PC government has committed $2 billion to do nothing at all. $2 billion will make a lot of CO2 however its spent. CCS does less than nothing at all for the Climate in theory and don't forget that It's only profitable if they can sell more oil doing it. Stupid. This is probably the most expensive way to produce oil possible.

"But we have to do something."

Why? Why do we have to do something? I am all for efficiency. I despise waste. The 'Do-Somthing' rationale is a total waste. It doesn't affect global warming and it makes nobody happy. I'm not happy and the eco-nuts are never happy. Welcome to Alison's Wonderland Alberta.

Update: Minister McQueen says that no taxpayer money has been spent on CCS yet. Hopefully the rest will pull out before the government can waste it.

Alberta Election Lessons: Transforming Skepticism

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:22:00 +0000

Climate change is absolutely real beyond any doubt whatsoever. I am not in a hospital with a broken back. My spine is fine. I am a long time skeptic. I have not suddenly found climate religion. I revere the truth like nothing else and would like to share a hard truth with you today.

We saw what happened in Alberta's recent election. Outright lies, old remarks purposely taken out of context, and bigoted stereotypes were used to scare Albertans back into the clutches of mother PC. Unfortunatly, skepticism of Climate Science played directly into that narrative.

"Global Warming is a Hoax," or "The Science isn't Settled" or "Climate Change is a Lie," are phrases that must be stricken from the conservative lexicon. They are dead. They've acquired the dog whistle quality that instinctively closes minds.

"Denier" carries the same emotional baggage for some as "truther." When someone talks about 9/11 and they say "explosives," what do you think? Oh no, its a truther. How do I get out of this conversation? There might even be some interesting facts a truther can uncover that are absolutely true. I will completely ignore it though because its being used to support the idea that G.W. Bush snuck into the Twin Towers and planted explosives for the Zionists... yada... yada.

We love to point out that the communists have changed their tune. They are still there and want the exact same things but now they are green. They want to 'save the earth' rather than 'unite the workers of the world'. Ask an eco-nut: they want both and will get it through environmental regulations. They adapted.

Its time to face the facts. We must concede the classic skeptical rhetoric and embrace the environmental. Its over. Its fun to bug warmists with those phrases above. David Suzuki, Al Gore, and James Hansen are particularly fun to annoy as they fly into a rage and tell us what they really think. Classic skepticism can still be useful to tease out extremists. Its not useful for anything else. It doesn't win any converts. At best, it earns a good laugh when aimed at an eco-nut.

So what the heck am I proposing exactly? I want to move this debate into a real policy discussion. To do that, we can't be teasing the warmists. Here is how:

"I believe Climate Change is Real. I believe in Global Warming. I believe in the Greenhouse Effect. I believe that science is settled." (-the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Amen.) Its an acquired taste.

Climate Change is real. This is the famous "Big Rock" in Okatoks Alberta. Okatoks is the native Blackfoot word for Big Rock. It is the biggest Glacial Erratic in the world. It originated from a rock slide off of Mount Edith Cavell in the Tonquin Valley between 12,000 to 18,000 years ago. The rock landed on a massive glacier and was carried many hundreds of kilometers. The climate changed and the Big Rock was dropped in its current location.

The Badlands of Alberta were also carved out in part by climate change. A glacial dam burst releasing a torrent of glacial melt water that cut into the earth. Those same badlands have erroded and revealed evidence tropical climates where dinosaurs roamed and sea levels changed.

Climate change is real. The evidence is all around Alberta. More recent climate changes have occurred in human experience as well. The Medieval Climate Optimum and the Little Ice Age to name a few.

Man Made Global Warming too is real. The earth is a closed system for the most part. Heating your house in the winter is going to heat atmosphere a little tiny bit. To a far lesser extent the CO2 from your furnace and BBQ does contribute to the greenhouse effect. By how much is still up for debate.

Anyone who says they agree with AGW has to agree with the current state of climate science. This means they disagree with the climate science of the 1970's that said human activity was going to cause global cooling. This means they must disagree with the climate science of 20 years ago. They must disagree with Al Gore's movie which has been shown in court to be full of errors and exaggerations.

This is only important because the policy goals of the 1990's are still on the environmentalist agenda. Climate Science continues to mature. Eco-nuts have no desire to own up to their alarmist deceptions. They don't want to talk about being so wrong and wasting so much money.

I want to talk about it. If you are going to propose policy X because of Global Warming I want to see some real accounting. How much global temperature change is policy X going to buy? What will it cost and what will be the result? Is that money better spent saving lives directly with a hospital or a new air ambulance?

If policy X is really about showing critics that we are doing something rather than doing nothing then lets call it what it is. Environmental Policy X is nothing but pure PR. Again how much good PR does policy X buy? Does it change the opinion of the environmental critics in the slightest? Would it better spent on some other thing like an Environmental Information Office to officially counter alarmism? Or maybe its best to outsource it at least to an equal degree of funding now given to alarmists? Even better, what if we just cut off the alarmists from oil derrived tax money?

These are the kinds of discussions we need to have. We are wasting enormous sums of money for no good reason. People have been befuddled and confused into accepting the waste because of petty name calling and false arguments. That has to end. We must abandon the old denier rhetoric and get used to the new language of honest environmentalism. It will open the door to a real discussion and that is where we'll win this debate: on policy. Policy is where conservatives win all the debates.

Policy Blitzkrieg and the F-35

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:31:00 +0000

On with business.

I've been watching with interest the F-35 debate. I noticed that it didn't go so well for the Conservatives and I'm not sure why.

We know that the F-35 is the needful gear. Nobody can recommend something better. All they can do is complain about money that hasn't been spent. Should be a slam dunk.

Instead its yet another faux scandal. Its the usual whining that ends up seeing the Forces overpaying and under equipped.

I propose that Policy Blitzkrieg is a solution to the faux scandal tactic. While the oppos are whining and complaining and trying to bog the government down in a pseudo-logical morass, the government needs to move.

The F-35 debate is a perfect example of where this can do some good.

It strikes me that procurement is broken in this country. I remember the whole EH-101 debacle and then the Cormorant. It was followed by the used submarine boondoggle and long before that there was the problem with refitting the Bonnaventure.

Now we have the F-35. I think the government should move ahead with a permanent fix for military procurement. Take these decisions away from politicians. Its too important to be subordinated to political implications. Create a system that can be given a budget and some clear goals and let it run.

While the oppos and the media party try to make hay, you just move right along with the policy to fix it. Hold a press conference if the oppos don't want to talk about it. More press conferences would be a good thing in fact. Hold court directly with the people and leave the silliness in the fun-house floor. The people need to know that there is good government in Ottawa. Otherwise the opposition and media party get to tell the story.

Well That's Democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:45:00 +0000

Sorry folks.

The people have chosen the status quo. They are more afraid of the new then they are mad at the corruption, spending, incompetence and soon taxes.

Wildrose was too scary for government. We must accept the judgement of the voters. We must correct that perception. It has to be a priority.

We know we aren't racists or homophobes. We have to prove it beyond a doubt. Professionals from far flung corners will come here again to suggest the opposite. We have to make it so obvious that people will sniff the stale lie out on their own.

We have to make the case against climate change. Sorry, but this one isn't going away. Danielle Smith gave a full throated skeptical response to global warming on 2 separate occasions. That wasn't a bozo eruption. That was true. The science isn't settled.  Some people honestly have no clue that none of it makes sense or will never come true. If the choice is between lying to people about global warming or explaining why nothing we do has an impact then I'm taking the second choice. The lying is the problem. The lie is costing billions upon billions of dollars we will never see again.

There is no reason Wildrose has to carry this issue alone. "The science isn't settled" is the most any politician should have to say on the matter. We need to reach out to the heavy hitters of skepticism out there. They need to know that Alberta is ground zero for this battle. I believe they will join the fight. Against them will come all the usual kooks and Albertans can see they stand with enemies on the climate change front.

The good news is that Wildrose has gone from zero seats to 18 seats.   Discounting expectations, its a huge increase in seats and a huge proportion of the vote. We will capitalize on it.

The PCs are who they are.  They have walked out of this election with some pretty hefty promises to keep. Another 4 years of it too. This is just getting started.

Wildrose isn't going anywhere. PCs have lost this voter for life. I have never been so hypocritically insulted by my own government. I would sooner vote NDP than PC. I'm going to do a lot more than vote though. A hell of a lot more. I hope you do too. A monthly donation is a great place to start.

Canada needs a conservative Alberta.

Voted

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:55:00 +0000

I believe in democracy. The people are always right.

May they smile on a new government of Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Party.

A Wild Rose about to bloom in Jasper Park

Its a gorgeous day in Banff - Cochrane and I voted for Tom Copithorne of the Wildrose Party.

This election will have a record turnout. Excellent weather and a desire for real change have really engaged the electorate. The theory that negative campaigns supress the electorate will be invalidated by this election whatever the outcome. I hope it also proves that negative campaigns no longer work.

If you havn't already, get to a polling station and drag whoever else needs to go with you.

Enjoy the day.

Wildrose For Alberta!

But the science isn't settled

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:25:00 +0000

I need to applaud Danielle Smith for not taking a climate change position even in the middle of a hostile CBC audience. She stood her ground in front of a petulant and rude CBC crowd.

That is leadership my friends. That is the kind of person I will fight for.

Not even Stephen Harper has the guts to say what Danielle Smith said recently.

"We've been watching the debate in the scientific community and there is still a debate in the scientific community," -Danielle Smith, on air, on the CBC, in front of hostile insecure crowd.

She is consistent with what she said a few days earlier: “The science isn’t settled and we need to continue to monitor the debate. In the meantime, we need to support consumers in making the transition to cleaner fuels.”
'Heretic! Apostate! Seize the unbeliever! Turn her into greenhouse gasses!' You know the drill.

She didn't even say she doesn't believe in Climate Change. She reserves judgement. She isn't the expert. A political debate is not the time or place to discuss the failure of climate science. The science isn't settled. Too bad.

She didn't get bogged down like some GOP candidates. She is a Hero. You have to appreciate what a difficult thing it is to stand outside the established belief system when you are a politician. I can't think of one more difficult. She made the right choice. She didn't back down and she didn't take the bait. Full marks. Great respect for Danielle Smith.

Even warmists say Alberta's Energy isn't a problem for their climate change religion. Then you have the fact that climate change has failed to materialize. None of the scare stories have come true. Climate change today has been walked back a full 2/3rds from what the alarmists were predicting. -But we still have the calls for restricting the economy and human freedom in the most ridiculous and pointless ways.

Believe what you want. It's your mind. You have the right to fool yourself about the climate. But you can know in your heart the Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Party will not be throwing your money at green boondoggles and pointless schemes. You can take that to the bank.

I also have to congratulate the many Wildrose supporters in the crowd. You did us proud as well. You did not behave like the warmist babies when you tell them there is no green Santa. If I had manners like the warmists it would have been one uninterrupted stream of profanity whenever Redford opened her mouth. We aren't like that. We are good respectful people.

Bravo Mrs. Smith.
Keep up the great work.

Wildrose Pledge # 6: Jail time for corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:30:00 +0000

I have no authority to make pledges on behalf of Alberta's next government: The Wildrose. I don't need to because this one is a given. It is the duty of the Government to uphold the law. This is a silent pledge made by all parties in the Alberta election save one. The governing party, the Progressive (PC)party, has changed its own laws in order to break them and has broken laws where they could not change them.

Ralph Klien, Alberta's greatest Premier, paid off the entire debt in his time. A feat unheard of by a western democracy in any jurisdiction that easily comes to mind. To safeguard this achievement, his government enacted a law making it illegal to go into deficit.

Then the rule of the PC party fell to lesser minds. They reversed their law. They went into debt. They looted our savings. They expanded our government. They made promise after unfunded promise to desperately keep the reins of power at any cost.

They rule. They changed the rules so that they wouldn't break their previous rules. But they broke moral rules. They put their own wants ahead of the needs of the province. Their arrogance makes them believe they are the province as Kings once imagined they were their kingdoms incarnate. This arrogance and selfishness begs to be struck down.

We know they felt this way because they weren't happy to stay within the laws they could change to suit the needs of the day. They have an election to win and a dynasty to maintain. Nothing is less important than that. So the PC party began a corrupt scheme of kickbacks and extortion to fill their election war chest with public money. There have been 70 cases of illegal donations to the PC party from municipalities. $15,000 dollars worth of illegal donations was taken by the PC party from the University of Lethbridge. None of it has been returned. The PC party admits it was just an oopsie.

Would the PC government let you get away with tens of thousands of dollars worth of oopsie? "The Law for thee but not for we" is the the motto of our progressive lords. Taxpayers were screwed into putting up the sparse PC signs you see on public lands around you.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. You've seen and heard how they bully doctors into silence. How they bully school boards on new schools with thinly veiled threats. Thomas Lukaszuk is caught on tape bullying a school board. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the PCs didn't bully those municipalities into make illegal donations too. Even during this campaign Lukaszuk called in the police and lied to the world saying he was punched and kicked to the curb by a dying senior citizen.

Do you suppose that we now know every instance of corruption in the 41 year span of the "progressive" PC Party. The last few years in particular. I've got a strong intuition that there is graveyard full of corruption and scandal waiting to be uncovered.

Incompetence has been the adjective of this PC campaign. Now its being eclipsed by a piercing desperation to hang on to power. It seems to override everything. It has consumed their entire legacy. It consumes their very identity. There were some good years, but they are a dream now. While the Progressives reek of 'natural governing party' attitude, it seems to me that this is all or nothing.

These PC MLAs are well connected. None of them are going to sleep in the street after the election. They will all be fine. They will all be fine unless there is something to hide. That could be what we are witnessing. Danielle Smith said on the Rutherford show "We've got a tiger by the tail." It's an apt analogy. The PC party is a beast in a trap. I strongly suspect there is more rotten deeds and skeletons than we know I about. I can smell them.

When Wildrose takes government they are going to throw open the vaults. All the skeletons they can find will be on display. The Wildrose Alberta Accountability Act will protect whistle blowers when they come forward. We Albertans want to know where the proverbial bodies are buried. I think amnesty for those implicated by the corrupt party should also be considered. Come forward and confess and that will be taken into consideration. MLAs and senior bureaucrat's who have broken the law should face prosecution and even jail time.

I can hear the shredders already.

VOTE WILDROSE

This is why Alison Redford should be fired

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:27:00 +0000

41 years in office. The PC record is so long that dynasties have come and gone without a change in party. It's such a long record that they have disavowed parts of it. They have disavowed the best parts, like Ralph Klien's rein.

They made a huge mess after they forced Klien out. Driving investment out of Alberta with a ridiculous Royalty Regime. Health care is a disaster that don't fully know the measure of. Redford postponed a Health report until after the election you see, so I don't expect if to be full of good news. Then there is the intimidation of doctors and school boards. There is the corruption of extorting illegal donations directly to the PC party from municipalities and a University. They receive the money from you and me, tax money, and are intimidated into giving that money to the PC party or they will not receive funding. That is called a kickback.

This is why Alison Redford should be fired.

If that wasn't enough, her dismal campaign places her party to the far left of the NDP. Redford has made 7 billion in promises so far, on top the 3 billion in her "fudge-it budget" and is still in debt by 3 billion. Alison Redford has no experience balancing a budget. With oil over $ 100/bbl this is nothing short of gross incompetence and mismanagement. An old boot can manage this province better that Alison Redford.

This is why Alison Redford should be fired.

I used to say that it was nothing personal against the PC's. "I don't hate Progressives, I just like Wildrose more." That was when I thought they were Ralph Klien's party. This election has seen my worst fears realized. They deserve unemployment for how they have messed up so badly. They don't deserve futher consideration or sympathy in the future. Their borrowed talent from Toronto has had them fear mongering against their own base and against the soul of the province. They are not your dad's PC party. They say this while trotting out their oldest members. The old white men are all in the Wildrose says their old white men. -insinuating there is something inherently wrong with old white men. They imply Wildrose is full of racists and homophobes while running quotable homophobes in the very same election. Its an insult. Redford openly lies during the debate and whenever she opens her mouth. (I think the federal Liberals might be grooming her. -Start her off with a big loss)

This is why Alison Redford should be fired.

Its true that Wildrose doesn't have experience. Who does? 41 years in office and this is the best they can do running your government. They can't even run a campaign without angering their own voters. Their entire campaign is built on getting that gigantic Liberal vote in Alberta. The PC Party doesn't have a clue what they are doing.

This is why Alison Redford should be fired.

Sure the PCs have experience. The wrong experience. The experience of getting it wrong. If Albertans reward this poor excuse for a party with more government because of some scary stories they will get more of the same. Incompetence and Fear mongering.

This is why Alison Redford should be fired.

Would your boss give you a another chance if you lost $3 billion dollars and planned to spend $7 billion more? You would be fired too. You are Alison Redford's boss. That is right. You pay her salary and you deserve better. We all do. We don't owe Alison Redford and her PC party anything. We are the ones on the hook for all this money Alison is losing. You owe Alison Redford and the PC Party a reckoning.

This is why you should fire Alison Redford.

Alberta's Wildrose Firewall

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:17:00 +0000

What is a Firewall? Is it a wall of fire? A firewall is a fire proof barrier or a software barrier against unauthorized software access, theft or vandalism.

Danielle Smith spoke about the Alberta Agenda or policy firewall recently. An Alberta firewall would prevent policy vandalism or theft from spreading into our economy directly. Danielle says:

"Someone’s got to say the system isn’t working. Someone’s got to tell Quebec and the other provinces they can actually strive for something better. They don’t have to constantly be looking to Ottawa to transfer dollars to them to be able to meet their pressing local needs. I believe they’ll accept that challenge. It may be a little tough to accept that initially,”

Read the original "firewall" letter here. Wildrose doesn't explicitly endorse the letter but Danielle Smith does seem willing to think about it and update it.

In some circles protecting Alberta is a bad thing. Environmentalists and Socialists, would be looters and other Progressives all have a burning desire to control Alberta.

It goes back a long way when you think about it. The earliest days of Confederation saw Prime Minister Laurier divide Buffalo into Alberta and Saskatchewan. Even then a unified west was seen as a challenge to the power of central Canada.

More recently Trudeau imposed the hated National Energy Program which decimated the economy of Alberta. Ecco's of the NEP surfaced again in 2008 with Dion's so called Green Shift. The green shift would have been neither green nor a shift but it would have punished Alberta severely. The PC royalty regime cock-up would have looked like cakewalk if the Liberals had won.

Just a few months ago Alison Redford's new best friend Dalton McGuinty called for punitive action against Alberta. His idea was to de-value the Canadian dollar by striking at Alberta. The cheap dollar would then make manufacturing cheaper and magically create a demand for goods from Ontario.

In case you didn't know already progressives don't really believe in win-win. Listen to their philosophers and you will hear them declare free market economics to be a zero-sum-game. They think commerce is an interaction where one party must lose in order for another party to win. This is demonstrably false. Win-lose is an illusion in any deal because the loser eventually gets wise and it becomes lose-lose. The myth continues strangely and it does excuse for them all the losers created in anti-market government intervention. It's also the route cause of McGuinty's irrational statements. Harming Alberta does not help Ontario. Ontario harms itself and then seeks to harm us because they can't blame themselves.

I like the idea of a Firewall. A barrier against temporary insanity is just what Alberta and the rest of Canada needs. McGuinty spouts off about harming Alberta but Dion campaigned on it and Trudeau actually did it. (Mulcair now quietly plots it again)

The Harper Government is business and trade friendly. The economy is top priority but even the Harper Government won't last forever. However unlikely it seems, the NDP could conceivably take government. Mulcair has already revealed some of the same anti-Alberta policies progs have tried before.

The left in general seethes at Alberta's success. It's not part of the plan. Peak oil predictions have come and gone over and over. New technologies make Oil sands recovery cheaper and quicker and more efficient. New reserves open up all the time. Innovation is impossible for the central planners to deal with.

Alison Redford has gone to great lengths to be one of them. The PCs fund Anti-Alberta propaganda. She personally sided with corporations who try to boycott us. She even went to Toronto to propose a National Energy Strategy with Dalton McGuinty. We don't really care if Ontario wants to bankrupt itself. They just had an election, they should suffer the consequences. Alberta paid the tab for Quebec all these years and now Ontario wants to be a fiscal basket case too. Sorry friends but you are cut off. (We still love you though)

Alberta needs the Wildrose and Danielle Smith's firewall. Only Danielle Smith can stand up to the infernal socialist insanity that occasionally grips a country. Alberta needs a Wildrose government.

Vote Wildrose!

Racism: A New Low for the PC Party

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:31:00 +0000

Can you be racist against whites? An honest person will say "yes of course."

The noise emanating from the self-loathing liberals in the PC campaign this week sank to a new low in fear mongering. A senior Progressive spokesman Tom Olsen went on CBC and declared in so many words that Wildrose is made up of Old White Men. I knew they would turn to fear when this election didn't go well. The made-in-Toronto Progressive campaign has sunk past awful to despicable. Watch.

This offends me on so many levels. We want a merit based society. Every skin colour should be treated equally especially by the government. I can't be bothered to count the large number of old white guys in the PC party because it shouldn't matter. Hypocritical and wrong headed. Progressives will tell you the sky is green and the grass is blue. Did you hear that lefty try to say the PC's are the new party with new ideas and young people? COME ON! They insult your intelligence. Progressivism is 100 years old. It started in the US. It is used by people who decade upon decade are ashamed of conservatism but aren't hip enough for the left. They are ashamed of Alberta and even ashamed of themselves. They need urgent removal from power.

If you think he was just shooting off at the mouth. The progressive party campaign manager Susan Elliot later said this:

“Women understand who the target is," said Elliott in the column. "Can you think of a single citizens’ initiative that would target a white guy like you?
“You're not the target. I'm the target. Ethnic minorities are targets. Gays and lesbians are targets. We’re the targets of those kinds of things.”

Target? I don't think she means the department store. She thinks Albertans will immediately "target" and attack people if grown up Progressives aren't holding us down. The only thing she is right about is the Progressives will pin us down. What insulting bunk. Every Albertan should be offended by this. It always starts with one group...

What exactly is wrong with a white man? This right leaning libertarian freedom loving party with a young woman as its captain, The Wildrose Party, should be judged on skin colour, age, and sex? This coming from an old white guy? He thinks you should be afraid of old white guys because, I guess they are racist or something. But shouldn't I be afraid of him since he's obviously ageist and racist and sexist against his own demographic? Pointless question. It's Progressive. We aren't meant to understand. We are meant to feel stupid and ashamed and go away.

I have had enough of progressive ideas. I've had enough of the idea that when I get old and being 'white' that I'll be a second class citizen. My dad is an old white guy. Am I supposed to be afraid of him? Even my children (if I can responsibly afford to have any one day) will one day look forward to getting old and being regarded as something awful. Maybe they will be lucky enough to be girls and like Alison Redford they will be exempt form this silliness because they can be old white women. Then again how much worse 'progress' will there be in their time?

Progressivism never stands still though does it? They are progressing. They are moving forward and away from what is stable and familiar. Progressing to what? Progressive is the opposite of conservative. Watch the video again. Is that a conservative? Are these PCs conservative in any way shape or form. They are liberals folks. Just liberals. They are taking this province down a path Ontario has taken, California, Spain, Italy, Greece. It just doesn't work.

I'm a pretty fair skinned first generation Canadian of Portuguese heritage. Back where I was born, in Ontario, I recal people deciding that I was not white for equally opposite and despicable reasons. One white racist said that Latinos are not white no matter how I looked. Another non-white racist said that I was ok being white because Latinos aren't really white and he hates white people. They do the same thing to Jews. I can't tell a Jew from a non-Jew and I really don't give a damn. Does anyone else get how stupid this is? Its the Progressives that feed that stupidness. They are ones who try to divide us.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

-Reverend Martin Luther King

The PCs want the opposite. They want you to judge on skin colour because the content of their character is wanting. The content of PC character is found in their dismal record and dismal, desperate conduct in this election. They can't exactly run on corruption and incompetance can they?

If I ran for office, would I have to put a "certified non-white" caption on my photo? That's progressive progress direct to ruin. When the PC Human Rights Courts run out of things to do, will they close up shop? That is the kind of stuff they turn to.

I left Ontario ten years ago for Alberta's green fields, beautiful mountains and bounding economy. The Fraser Institute says that this is still the freest place on earth. I'm not leaving. There is nowhere else to run. I make my stand here. I don't want socialism. I don't want progressive ideas that make me a second class citizen. I don't want a Dalton McGuinty here too. No Bob Rae's either. Redford's borrowed billions and her race baiting are a slow poison for Alberta. Vote Wildrose. Vote for a Free Alberta.

(for the pic h/t @joel_schrdr)

Tearing down PC Corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:40:00 +0000

I'm really happy to read the Wildrose will be installing anti-corruption legislation. It's obvious from the litany of abuses by Progressives that the newest Wildrose pledge is long overdue.

The Alberta Accountability Act is an ambitious plan that will right the wrongs of our system as fleshed out by the corrupt PC party. The plan will accomplish these tasks:

Cut the 30% pay raise MLA's received after the 2008 election. While many Albertans had to make do with less as a direct result of their mishandling of the Royalty Regime the entitlement minded PCs rewarded themselves.
Wildrose will create an independent Salary review body to keep MLA pay in line the private sector wages or regular Albertans. Salaries will be made available online to all.
Voter Recall. Once a politician like Allison Redford buys or lies their way into office the people will be able recall their elected member. This was an Alberta law, but guess who got rid of it? 33% of constituents will need to sign a petition inside 60 days to trigger a recall. Many PCs would have been voted out already.
Whistle blower Protection. The PC party is a chronic bully to its public servants. At the direction of the PC party the bureaucracy issued gag orders to all front line staff like doctors and nurses. This law will protect them and help improve service by stopping the cover up.
Voter initiated Referenda: if 20% of voters sign a petition inside 6 months it will automatically trigger a referendum at the next election. Voters can directly initiate new laws without starting a new party from scratch or lobbying an existing one. The referendum must be constitutional and cost neutral. This is necessary to stop special interests from awarding themselves $1 million each or attempting to jail Stephen Harper.
Free Votes in the Legislature. This is one of my favorites. All votes except confidence votes will be free. Each MLA will vote according to their constituents wishes and not according to the Premier's direction. Currently Allison Redford overrides and dictates each and every vote from every PC riding.
Fixed Election Dates. This puts a stop to opportunist elections and the gaming of democracy. The PCs stopped a Senate election once already and sprang this election when they thought it was a good time. Our system should not be ruled by polling.

Its a great time to hear these great policies from Wildrose. Its exactly what we need to breakup this culture of entitlement and intimidation. After 41 years the PC party has rusted and rotted from within. April 23rd is the day to set it all right by voting for Wildrose.

Its amazing to see how the microcosm of an election brings out the true nature of a governing party. Thomas Lukaszak bullied a sick and elderly homeowner and then called police and told them he was assaulted. When I think of how they threaten doctors and school boards and municipalities its totally in character to campaign this way. Then you have the PC brains trying to steer the debate into abortion. Danielle Smith has unequivocally stated that she does not intend to open the abortion debate nor could she as Premier even have the authority to do so. Funny that they go back to fear mongering and intimidation about nonsense so quickly. That is who the PCs are. Walking dead. Zombies with nothing left but fear.

The PC Pity Party

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:13:00 +0000

The poor dears at the PC Party think that pity is a winning strategy. This Easter weekend a Progressive MLA named Thomas Lukaszuk chose to play the Christ. "St. Thomas" (as he's become known) had the PC campaign tweet the media that the Education Minister had been attacked while door knocking.

"He kept pushing and punching and then, when I turned away, trying to get away from him, he punched me in my back. All he was talking about is 'This is my property. Get off my property. I have my property rights. I can use any force I want to get you off my property.' So I got off his property." -Lukaszac

Awe. Poor guy holding his chin. Slickhipster in behind looks mad too. The Progressives did the right thing to call their own personal police force out. As Leader Alison said: " we stand together against violence." To do that, you need at least 3 police cruisers, one cruiser marked 'SUPERVISOR'. Edmonton being last years murder capital of Canada I don't suppose there is anything better to do. OK sarcasm off.

The accused is a 67 year old senior named Al with asthma and liver failure. He also caught the incident start to finish on security cameras. The senior says he warned Lukaszuk to stay away during the last election and immediately warned him again this time. A "nice push" was needed to convince the politician to be on his way. The nice push occurs in 30 seconds that are out of view of Al's two security cameras.

Both of their stories have changed since the video surfaced. At first Al said Lukaszuk was there for 15 minutes. It was only 2 minutes finally. Lukaszuk now says he was “open-hand punched and pushed.”

An open hand punch? Open hands can push, grab or slap at worst. Minister Lukaszuk has admitted that he has not been punched or kicked. The polite term for this is an untruth. Assault never happened. Trespassing did happen, though in such minor way I'd call this whole thing a wash.

What is interesting is the way the PC campaign rolled on this. Are they really after a sympathy vote? "Oh muffin, here is my vote and my government." That will make him feel much better.

No. See I really do pity the progressives. This is actually their first election. Nobody cared last time around. Electors haven't had a choice since most of them were toddlers. They've messed the province up so bad they are actually trying to harass and pity out a vote or 2. Pathetic.

In the spirit of charity I thought I'd provide a lesson from the master progressive himself: President Sarkozy of France. He's out handshaking with voters when you hear someone booing. Sarko approaches the man and he says "don't touch me." Sarko famously replies "Casse toi pov'con" or "F**k you poor jerk." Smooth as silk. He moves on saying "merci" and "bonsoir" to the next person like nothing had happened. Like nothing happened.

It was a big deal in that election because it was caught on film. If it wasn't filmed, it would have been nothing. It's a negative situation and best left unremarked. It shows the politician in a bad light and highlights the fact that people out there don't like him. So what if they do right? So why even talk about it? You are a salesman talking about a flat tire at the auto show. Get it now dummies?

That's all the charity I've got for pitiful progressives. It pains me to see them fall so flat on their butts. This is who is running Alberta. This is part of why they need to go.

I'd rather not see pushy politicians get pushed even if they deserve it. Shut the door if this happens to you. Call the cops if they won't leave. The incident might even be an appropriate metaphor for election day, but only a metaphor. Lets run the poor jerks off on April 23rd instead. We don't hate Progressives. We like Wildrose more. They have the rest of their happy lives to see it our way. They just don't have any more time left in government.

Vote Wildrose!

Are known PC Scandals the Tip of the Iceberg?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 04:59:00 +0000

No big announcements from any party in the Alberta election this Good Friday. Its left me thinking about all the PC scandals we know of. I'll try to list them in no particular order:

Royalty Review: drove scarce investment capital out of Alberta during the crash of '08. The worst possible time.
Doctor Intimidation: Doctors who don't agree with the health bureaucracy are bullied and silenced
School Board Intimidation: a Minister sent a threatening letter to a needy school board telling them to shut up or face the consequences.
Municipal Extortion: many dozens of municipalities were illegally coerced to donate funds directly to the PC party for this election. Every PC sign you see is the result of illegal intimidation.
Ordering bars to charge more for Alcohol: The Progressives have this prohibition streak.
0.05 blood alcohol law: administrative punishment effectively making 0.05 illegal when the criminal law is 0.08. Reasoning for it involved using careless drunks to justify harassing casual drinkers.
Ending Property Rights: Redford herself helped pen a set of laws that allows the government to seize property without cause or recourse.
Closing a private Zoo: If it wasn't for Sun News the Gazoo private Zoo would have been shut down on the orders of bureaucrats. -Again without any recourse save public outrage.
Power lines: massively over sized and expensive power lines for no explained reason. They had to seize land to do it and it sent electricity rates skyrocketing.
Deficit: an illegal, persistent and structural deficit that seems to be permanent if Redford's election promises are kept.
Looting Heritage Fund: untouchable by law before the PCs broke their own no-deficit law, the fund was looted of billions.
Postponing Health Report: if it was good news they would be waving it around all over the place. Instead they stashed the damning health report until after the election.
Canceling Upgraders: No reason was given for the multi billion dollar move after they initiated it in the first place.
Budget commercials: really ticked me off. Nakedly spending public money on election campaigning for a lavish budget. I'm not aware of any government in the history of the world advertising a budget.
Supports anti-Alberta boycotts: Redford did not side with Albertans over Chiquita Banana Boycott.
Spends money funding Anti-Alberta propaganda: "Tipping Point" received tax money from PCs.
Carbon Capture: PCs subsidize a useless gesture to bury carbon.
Chronic innefficiency: the PC party spends over $10,000 per person while social welfare provinces like Quebec spend a mere $8000.
National Energy Strategy: Nobody knows what this is but Redford has gone out of her way evoke memories of the NEP. In the name of God why?

I could go on but I don't have all night. Help me out. What did I miss?

It's staggering to behold as it is. That is just what we know about. What is in that stashed Health care report for example (and why isn't the media absolutely screaming for it???) ? Why were those upgraders cancelled? Why do we need these massive powerlines rammed down our throats? Are they just comfortable being so arrogant and pushy that this is how they operate? King like? -or is there something they can't share with us yet? You get the sense that the gigantic PC beuracratic machine is clanging away behind the scenes moving billions hither and yon while we are none the wiser.

You might think I'm being conspiratory but this speculation isn't outside the possible. 41 years is a long long time for secret scandals to build up. I mean, look at the pile of crap above the PCs would have hoped we never noticed. Don't tell me they aren't capable of something really despicable.

I'm an Ontario refugee. I chose Ralph Klien's Alberta to escape progressives like McGuinty, Bob Rae and Allison Redford. I was there when Bob Rae got the boot. I was there when newly elected Mike Harris, ashen faced, went before the cameras to explain that Ontario's debt was much much larger than Bob Rae had led the public to believe.

That could be the case here. I don't put it past them. Time will tell in this election. If the Wildrose holds its lead I suspect the Progressives are going to get very scared and desperate and just nasty. The worse things really are the nastier they will be. The PC "natural governing party" is eventually going to pull out all the stops and give it all they've got to avoid this. Resolve your nerve and square your stance because this cornered wounded animal is not going quietly.

The Progressives really need to be run out of office. Kicked to the curb. Sent packing. This is our time. Our place. Not another failed progressive utopia but Alberta! The last free-est place on earth! A place worth conserving, cherishing, and fighting for.

Vote Wildrose

Triage Comes to Alberta

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Allison Redford has "Invented Triage" according to Alberta Liberal Leader and MD Raj Sherman. Today's PC promise is to give patients with serious injuries faster treatment in Emergency Rooms. Luckily I've never been to an ER. I honestly had no idea they didn't have triage here.

We have triage of course. This is just another case of Redford promising to do things the government already does and must do.

Conversely Wildrose has released Pledge # 4. It's billed as a "patient wait time guarantee" but its actually a pretty comprehensive overhaul of some the worst things about Alberta's system.

The PC managed health system is one that consistently under performs and is less efficient than other provinces. It's encumbered by excessive red tape and an overbearing bureaucracy. Systemic PC government corruption has lead to doctor intimidation that fails each and every Albertan. It has to stop.

Wildrose plans to guarantee a limit to the wait times by allowing patients to use independent providers. This relieves the pressure caused by forcing sick people through a single generic public provider. This is already proven successful in BC, Quebec and widely used in Europe. Albertans should not have to sacrifice their health to secure small public fiefdoms. Allowing a public, private mix of health care will raise service levels and lower costs for them all though competition.

I hope as few of us need to benefit from this pledge as possible. I'm so glad Wildrose is here to take on the toughest problems with a solid plan to fix them. Vote Wildrose!

Alberta PC Desperation Sets In Early

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:52:00 +0000

The Progressive Party is showing their true colours early. 41 years of uninterrupted rule and Allison Redford suddenly discovers Alberta needs 140 new clinics, 50 new schools, 70 school refurbishments so far! Its only week 2. This equation doesn't balance unless you look at the latest polls.

The latest poll has Wildrose 17 points ahead of the Progs. Now you have all the variables, solve for P? I knew the Progressives would go hard left at some point, I just didn't expect it so soon. Here we are. We also saw a glimpse of what is coming next.

In her best scolding schoolmarm voice Mrs. Redford denounced the Surplus Energy Dividend. She chided Albertans with a false dichotomy between new services and a surplus budget with cash back. Government has the duty to provide adequate schools, hospitals, police and fire services to support the population. It's not an option. Its not a goody to dangle before reprobate voters if they complete their election homework to her liking.

The Surplus Energy Dividend gets paid out if and only if there is a surplus. Should the necessary expenses of the government exceed revenue there won't be a dividend. Simple. Its not even expected to happen for 3 more years. This isn't a fantasy land NDP idea. WRP really plans to do this.

Redford's PC math lesson said The Surplus Energy Dividend would require Oil at $223 per barrel. I actually agree with that. That is oil price required for a Redford government to break even. The PCs have inadvertently told us how big of a boom they would need to balance the budget. It would probably take 223 years to do that with Progressives in charge. They just don't do responsible. They will spend every dollar they have on getting even bigger, and then borrow and grow some more. As they promise and as they have been shown to do.

140 new clinics, 50 new schools, 70 school refurbishments so far! How come those weren't in the budget you just passed Alison? A budget that required this government to borrow money to advertise. I've never heard of that anywhere ever. A governemnt can just pass a budget. That was election spending with your future tax dollars. Its money you didn't even make yet, never mind government getting the chance to take it. All of the money the PCs are borrowing for their silly schemes is backed by you.

But 41 years is such a long time. The Natural Governing Party psychology is that much worse with these progressives than it was with the federal Liberals. First they will go hard left. Next they will apply the fear. "look out for Wildrose! Gather your children close! Douse the lights and hide the jewelry! They're coming!" heh. The Fear is to drive left wing votes away from the far left, the NDP and the Liberals and into the PCs.

140 new clinics, 50 new schools, 70 school refurbishments so far! What about bridges? Got any bridges? How about day cares? Too Liberal? -An Upgrader or two then? No they canceled those. Ah. The Environment. How do you plan to save the world from Alberta Mrs. Redford? I'm all ears. Really.

Note: Liberals and NDP can avoid being extinguished by the progressives with two essential tactics. First, attack the the Progressives hard. This is your best chance at survival. Wildrose is the best hope to split the conservative vote and pick up some seats. Ignore Wildrose. The PC's will style themselves as the only option to defeat the right and will annihilate the NDP and Liberal Parties and lose. I can't think of a wose case scenario for you. Second. Start talking up a coalition. A coalition allows you to keep your voters and act like you'll be able to stop Wildrose actually end up in government at the end of the day. Coalition is win win for the left. For Wildrose its all or nothing anyway. Majority or bust. I know. ;)

Wildrose Energy Dividend Pledge Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:23:00 +0000

Any good policy will draw false criticism from dishonest journalists and politicians anytime. During an election it gets even worse. Editors seem to either go on vacation or jump in with partisan campaigning of their own.

That is why I think Wildrose issued this stunning correction to the Edmonton Journal. JUST THE FACTS: Edmonton Journal on the Alberta Energy Dividend.

Do journalists often write about what they do not read? Read the Wildrose Enegry dividend pledge here. Its all there plain as day. Only QMI has got it consistently right. (Calgary Herald this morning seems to have its facts grudgingly straight)

Remember when Postmedia was different than Globemedia? I'm sure you've read Ezra's textual backhand to these slandering hypocrites already. I expect it from them.

The Post has this little nugget of misinformation by Kelly MacParland. Barely once at the end 'article' from this 'editor' is there the fact that the dividend only takes effect in the even of a cash surplus. Here are some quotes from the article:

the bidding (for votes) is being led by Danielle Smith, leader of the ostensibly prudent and pragmatic Wildrose party, which says it will display its greater fealty to fiscal rectitude by cutting every single Albertan a big fat cheque — not only this year, but next year too, and the year after that

Er no Kelly. -Not this year or next year or even the year after that. Wildrose is projecting a dividend of $300 if and only if a surplus is attained through "fiscal rectitude" by 2015. Even then, the Alberta Energy Dividend Fund has to have at least $750 million it for anything to be paid out.

her party’s idea of careful fiscal planning is to throw open the doors to the treasury and shout: “Come and get it.”

Do they still have internet where you live Kelly? I couldn't find that throwing open of doors part. Please review the actual pledge before you weigh in. You have failed yourself and your readers.

If you’re running a government and times are good, use the opportunity to prepare for the next downturn, when it will be needed.

Wow thanks for the advise. He writes from that beacon of fiscal sanity in the east but but his opinion is pretty worthless if its misinformed. Only he isn't misinformed, he's misinforming.

It doesn't stop with McParland unfortunately. Looking down the page you see Dan Arnold or "Calgary Git" declaring:

It’s not worth wasting virtual ink over the merits of Danielle Smith’s promise of a $300 “dividend” for every Albertan, because there are none.

Well he's figured it all out I guess. He links back to his boss's ill concieved article above. No need to actually read the pledge. Any money sent to residents is a waste. You, citizen, are a waste of money. You are only useful if you are enrolled in some government program. The value of an average Albertan ends at its interaction with the government. Got it? Socialist boiler plate.

I've saved the worst for last though. They have dug up an old article on the "Wild Boar Party." This "party" is not a part of Alberta's provincial election. It is not listed as a registered party under Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Its fake leader is Smith Daniells, so now you know who they are mocking if there was any doubt. Basically the National Post is calling the Wildrose Party and its supporters swine.

Yeah so if you don't like progressives, then you are a pig. Want fewer heads in the taxpayer trough? Want less government pork? That makes you the pig somehow.

I don't do boycotts. I don't presume to know your situation or the places you need to spend your money. I know that my patronage of Postmedia material has been steadily dropping. Now they call me a pig and lie about the best policies on offer in this election. This from a failing paper in a distant failing province to boot? You do what you need to do. For me the spinners at Postmedia are no longer welcome.

The Energy Dividend: Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:48:00 +0000

I love this idea.

Conditional upon attaining a surplus budget, the Wildrose government would share 20% of revenues collected from Energy. When Oil and Gas booms, the entire economy picks up and so do government revenues. Instead of blowing it on anti-Alberta propaganda to try and placate forever unhappy eco-nuts, Why not share the proceeds with the owners of those resources? Give some of that money directly to each and every Albertan.

Its ingenious. It only happens when there is a surplus. Every doctor, teacher and every other expense is paid before any checks can go out. Imagine that.

The citizens who own the resources*, and government itself, will have a direct stake in the success and efficiency of those assets. Every individual will be aware of the governments balance sheet. Albertans will get a quantitative reward for supporting fiscally responsible government and pro-energy policies.

While I agree with permanent tax cuts, this policy avoids constant tinkering with the tax code. It only kicks in when the government can afford it. No need to find new revenue in leaner times and hike taxes. No need to cut services either since Wildrose will be rightsizing (fat trimming) the government regardless of the economy.

Of course there will be the nay-sayers nasally naying away. If elites are so concerned that I might buy WR beer with my dividend then why don't they offer suggestions on how it should be spent? Why do they try to take it away and push me into some lineup for another government program? Who can differentiate one dollar from the next anyway? Can you track which dollar went to my mortgage and which went back into gasoline? You can't. Its a stupid argument.

Of course it won't work for the Progressive (PC) Party. They can't run a surplus except purely by accident. Should their out of control spending get hit by a surprise revenue windfall, champagne corks will fly at union halls across the province. Unchecked expansion hoe! Government will get fatter either way with Alison Redford left controlling.

Wildrose is the way to go. This is how smart conservatives think ahead. Make sure you and your friends vote Wildrose.

*The government we elect sells the rights to produce resources on our behalf and collects the royalties. We should get a cut of their cut.

The Wildrose Balanced Budget and Savings Act

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:30:00 +0000

Well done Wildrose. Pledge #1 is a great start.

You can't spend more than you make. You can borrow the money but you pay a penalty. Keep on spending and before you know it, the interest exceeds your capacity to pay it down. If that happens you go broke.

Everybody knows this. Everyone except the Progressive party.

Danielle Smith has pledged the Wildrose Government to Balance the Budget. At the same time they plan to grow a Heritage Fund by over 200 billion in the next 20 years. Spending will be pegged to population growth.

They call it "The Wildrose Balanced Budget and Savings Act." It's like Ralph Klein is back.

The Progressive Conservative party in it's glory days actually passed a law prohibiting deficits. After steadily increasing spending they managed to double it in the last 9 years. Now the Progressives had to go as far as to repeal their own deficit law to keep funding their spending habit. Their deficit itself is an arbitrary number since the progressives have looted the sustainability fund. That was formerly impossible since it was illegal to drain the fund unless the province was in an illegal deficit.

Only Progressives can manage this. Only they can break their own laws and call it good. They blamed the recession for the deficit. The recession was made worse by their own Resource Royalty Regime scheme which drove scarce capital out of the province. Now with Oil back at record highs what is their excuse?

The sustainability fund was created for a rainy day. This rainy day is the PC Party itself.

There is no excuse for the looting and borrowing going on around here. Allison Redford herself "sat" on a committee she didn't even know existed and collected money for doing exactly nothing. This party oversaw funding to activists making Anti-Alberta propaganda films. That is just the tip of it. Read the full Pledge Document. Page 6 has billions more in wasteful PC spending.

How much waste does there have to be before you say enough is enough? Do you trust them enough not to raise taxes because of it? The PC party promised not to raise taxes right after they raised property taxes. I don't want any of that. I don't want a National Energy Boondoggle. I don't want anymore PC Party.

I want the The Wildrose Balanced Budget and Savings Act. Vote Wildrose!

Nice Wheels!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:48:00 +0000

Oh come on now. You were all thinking it.

It's still worth a chuckle though. I could see it as Lady Gaga's next outfit I'm sure.

Oh well. Better this than raising taxes to finance pre-election blitzes, budget commercials and do-nothing committees. Not to mention an inexcusable deficit and the fattest least efficient government in the history of Confederation.

Alison Redford should dream that this would be the worst of her problems.

VOTE WILDROSE! Alberta's only conservative party.

The Power of Incrementalism

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:04:00 +0000

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

How did the Western World get upside down? How did our governing systems get so stupid and so morally wrong? How does the greatest civilization in the history of the known universe tuck in on itself and implode? I suspect you know the answer.

Incrementalism.

Incremental nudges. Nudge: that's their word. Cass Sunstien's word to be specific but the left follows this tactic. It's a real tactic that they talk about and use to excellent effect. It isn't new either. It has been at work for decades. Faster when liberals and socialists like Trudeau or Obama are in control. Slower, but still at work when progressives take the reins.

That is how we find ourselves now. Coasting on the momentum of freer times. Mark Styne is the eminent chronicler of Western decline and I suggest you read "After America" if you want more details.

I want to bring your attention to one area in particular: Capital Punishment. Tori Stafford's killers immediately come to mind in addition to Paul Bernardo, Robert Picton, and of course Russel Williams. We know why these people weren't executed. July 14th 1976 saw Bill - C84 narrowly pass. 130 for, 124 votes against.

If you look closer though, there was an incremental run up to that decision. It started with Liberal PM Pearson and ended with Liberal PM Trudeau. They implemented policy decisions and temporary moratoriums for over a decade until it was finally abolished. It didn't happen overnight.

Even then, the military was excluded from that. Military courts martials could still execute criminals. The incremental spread of leftist decay progressed like a gangrene infection. Liberal PM Jean Chretien abolished capital punishment for even the Military in 1998. Russel Williams owes his continued existence to Jean Chretien.

Incrementalism is slow but powerful. It's extremely powerful. Continents move only inches a year, yet they raise mountains. Those same mountains are worn down again year after year by wind and rain. Flood plains are delivered silt until they are just prairies. Glaciers carve out valleys and then vanish. All the while species of life come and go. If there is one thing you need to take away form this post its that incremental changes in one direction build up to humongous effect. Incrementalism works.

It works and it has been used against us by a semi-organised left. They are guided by entropy and a near universal loathing for the universe as it is and what is good about it. It's as if they believe can change the laws of nature just by lying or distracting or rephrasing. We neither wish nor deserve the collective lesson they are bringing down on us. We need to turn it around.

Imagine for minute if Chretien had been thwarted? Imagine if problems of procedure and protocol were used to delay Chretien and it was supplemented by hysterical misdirection. Imagine Chretien never got around to abolishing capital punishment for the military?

Russel Williams might be hanging from a rope if Chretien never abolished capital punishment. Now apply Incrementalsim in our favor. With Williams executed, how much stronger would the case for executing all the other monsters be? It would be very strong indeed.

The enemy would rally of course. They would defend their heinous murderers as if they were the innocents they had slain.

Incrementalism would still work. We could sidestep overwhelming opposition and implement assisted suicide for the worst criminals for example. Notice how the left would want that reserved for grandma, the unborn, and even new born babies? It really is evil that we are dealing with here. You can see the difference between left and right when you mix euthanasia with capital punishment. They fight for the condemned, and sacrifice the innocent.

(Just watch you don't confuse the stupefied leftists with pure evil. Its a cumulative effect. They aren't evil, they just need to see the big picture and in some cases have their priorities and goals readjusted.)

In short Incrementalism can work for us too. It has proven utility in conjunction with the Overton Window. It can be used to push back the green menace and all the other social ills cultivated by the left. Witness how its been able to turn wrong into right. It is a winning strategy. The Magna Carta culminated incrementally in our free society. Support the incremental moves this government is able to make. Patience and foresight is key. Know that this is the way to a sane world.