Posted on 02/06/2005 9:49:43 AM PST by UpHereEh
I tell the audience of Republicans Abroad in Lake Chapala that although I am both a journalist and a Canadian, they need not feel any trepidation.
For not only have I never written for the New York Times, I never even read the New York Times. William F. Buckley's National Review is at the top of my list.
First slight sigh of relief from gathered members
Next, not only have I never appeared on CBS-TV, but refuse even to watch CBS-TV. Give me Fox News, every time.
Ah, ah -- now the audience is really getting interested.
Then, I use one of my favourite whimsical speech lines: "Journalism is the last refuge of unskilled labour. It's either journalism or selling encyclopedias door-to-door for a living" -- and a witty fellow shouts out "Dan Rather!"
We all have a good chuckle at that, especially now that Rather, who has been maliciously tearing Republican presidents apart for four decades, finally met his shameful downfall when he used fabricated evidence to try and sabotage President George W. Bush in last year's campaign.
Well, the ice is broken.
It helped, too, that I had the foresight to place on every table any number of my columns from the Sun praising both Ronald Reagan and Bush and America's valiant determination to bring freedom to the world.
I don't think local members of Republicans Abroad realized there were at least some daily newspapers up in Canada -- basically Sun Media newspapers, and also the National Post -- that still support our nation's greatest ally.
Now they do know.
Norm Pifer, local head of Republicans Abroad in this community of expatriate Americans and Canadians, had asked me to be guest speaker at the most recent meeting.
Norm and his patriotic colleagues wanted to know what was going on in our country.
So I gave it to them full blast.
Many readers will have heard my points before -- but it's worth knowing just how shaken decent Americans were by these revelations:
Pierre Trudeau, I told them, idolized Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung, who slaughtered 60 million of his countrymen, and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who has turned his island nation into an impoverished slave camp.
They gasped at how Canadians could repeatedly elect a leader who would hero worship monsters like Mao and Castro.
Jean Chretien, I added, publicly suggested Americans got what they deserved with the terrorist attacks on 9/11 because of their alleged wealth, greed and power.
Another gasp -- and almost disbelieving looks.
Sadly, that's what Chretien said.
Yet how could we elect such a callous individual over three straight elections?
Paul Martin, yes, the shipping tycoon himself, took down the Maple Leaf flag on seven of his vessels and hoisted up foreign flags to avoid paying Canadian taxes.
Such a betrayal of patriotism would have finished off an American politician on the spot.
But what about the embittered Lib-Left types who are planning to flee the U.S. for Canada because they fanatically believe democracy is imperilled under Bush?
Naive dreamers every one if they think they will find it in Canada.
The prime minister appoints all cabinet ministers, all senators, all Supreme Court justices and 1,001 appointees to various government agencies without any vetting by bipartisan Parliamentary committees or conformation processes.
Again, gasps from the audience.
Free health care?
Just wait days to get a doctor's appointment then, since the vastly underpaid doctor is so overloaded with patients, you might get 10 minutes with him. Try for a hip replacement and you'll wait two years.
Yes, folks, our American friends now have a far better understanding of what's been going on in our country.
Canada is not the paradise that mealy-mouthed Liberals imagine.
Thunderous applause at the end of my spiel, and I am now a proud honorary member of Americans Abroad, sporting a nice lapel pin, as I am an associate member of the local American Legion post here.
Frankly, I felt like singing the Star-Spangled Banner and putting my hand over my heart and reciting the pledge of alliance -- and one day maybe I will.
Glad to hear he is fine now, no thanks to the ridiculous health-care system. I'm not sure if the bill has passed yet but they are now trying to make private health-care illegal, hence, we will have to sit in the waiting line without being able to pay for health-care elsewhere. Very scary indeed what Canada has become!
It isn't a mystery. Ontario (and Quebec to a lesser extent) are the reason why the federal Liberals are always kept in power. The Liberals know this which is why 99% of government pork goes to these two provinces.
People in these two provinces know that as long as the Liberals are kept in power, they will always benefit from government financing of projects and jobs.
Things would be different if we had equal MP representation due to population size but we in the West only get half the number of seats as our eastern counterparts (e.g., it takes 200,000 people per MP in the west whereas it only takes 100,000 people per MP in the east). [Don't know the exact ratio - just for illustration]. Naturally the Liberals won't allow the fairness of equality to occur because they will lose power since we in the west primarily vote for the Conservatives.
It's a similar situation in the US. How scary would it be if California and New York (due to population) had the monopoly in the election process. The republicans would never win, ever. How about a Canadian electoral college situation?
Journalism is also one of the few fields in America in which one does not have to take some sort of exam to become licensed.
They keep saying that, but I don't think they really mean it. My guess is we could get a pretty solid fund going that would help pay for them to leave if they also promised to renounce US citizenship. I think it would be a fund largely unused.
It seems like journalists are everybody's favorite punching bag -- and deservedly so.
'But some of my best friends are journalists" -- just kidding.
I'm one of these intelligent people who avoid these bad news bearers like the plague they are. Who needs these joy-suckers to rob life of every triumph, joy and pleasure? Better if they had not be born, as they curse every day of their existences.
They have nothing to offer but their despair, depression, doom, desperation, dysfunction, disabilities, diseases, disorders, demagoguery, downers, on and on. That's probably why they're collectively known as the D Party. They are a drag on society.
It's time for renewal, rejoicing, rebirth, rehabilitation, resurrection, revival, respect, reverence. reflection, on and on -- as the R Party. They are a republic for which it stands...
Thanks for posting this article. It's a nice reminder that some Canadians are decent conservatives who get it.
Well said!!!!
It is not fair to label all journalists. Fox News is providing a valuable service to the world. My daughter is getting ready to graduate with a degree in journalism. She is a young conservative who has much to contribute to our country.
We need conservative journalists as much as we need conservative legislators and judges. She is going to have a difficult time finding a job in her field because of the paltry number of jobs and because she has to hide her true opinions from the leftist-dominated media.
She is not lazy or scared. The deck is stacked against her.
:)
If it were not for journalists, the government would have an easier job of controlling us, feeding us bullsh*t and keeping us in the dark....like they do now, only much, much worse.
Journalism is the life blood of this forum.
| 1-31-2005 |
Investors Business Daily
More Choices, Less Government Control
Health Care: John Kerry's first significant speech since he lost to President Bush in November was about medical services. From all indications, he learned nothing from his defeat.
Not that we'd expect him to. Politicians don't often make tectonic position shifts when they've reached a level of national prominence. So Massachusetts' junior senator is as good as stuck with being a proponent of a socialist health-care system.
Kerry, who earlier proposed costly legislation that would supposely cover 11 million uncovered children, has lots of company.
The political left has agitated for government-run national health care for decades. Canada and, to a lesser extent, Great Britain are held up as the models for the U.S. The basic promise is that everybody gets quality care at no cost.
It's utter nonsense, but so many myths about national health care have seeped into the public debate they've been accepted as fact.
Take, for example, the myth that everyone in countries with socialized medicine has a right to health care. They do not. Nor is health care available on the basis of need with ability to pay of no consequence.
This is backed up in "Health Care in a Free Society", a new study for the Cato Institute written by John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. In Britain, Goodman points out, "large numbers of patients waited for care ( in 2001 ) while 10,000 private-pay patients...received preferential treatment in top NHS hospitals."
All told, Goodman shatters an even dozen myths about national health care.
Think a single-payer ( government ) system provides high-quality care? Think again. Goodman finds that U.S. doctors spend more time with patients than physicians in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Britain.
% Of Patients Spending More Than 20 min. With Their Doctor-
30% in the U.S.A.
20% in Canada
15% in New Zealand
12% in Australia
5% in Great Britain.
Americans are also treated with more coronary bypasses and angioplasties, and more dialyses per 100,000 patients, than the British and Canadians. Those nations also lag far behind on access to modern equipment such as CT scanners and MRI units.
The failures of single-payer systems have serious consequences.
Goodman shows that mortality rates for breast cancer ( 25% ) and prostate cancer ( 19% ) are lower in the U.S. than in New Zealand ( 46% and 30% ), the U.K. ( 46%, 57% ), France ( 35%, 49% ), Germany ( 31%, 44% ), Canada ( 28%, 25% ) and Australia ( 28%, 35% ).
Meanwhile, Americans face far shorter waits for surgery than the unfortunate patients of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Britain.
% Of Patients Having to Wait 4 Months or More for Elective Surgery-
5% in the U.S.
23% in Australia.
26% in New Zealand.
27% in Canada.
36% in Britain.
Advocates of government health care accept these flaws as long as medical coverage is available to all. In other words, it's OK if the system is poor as long as everyone suffers equally. But in practice, it hasn't worked that way in either Canada or Britain.
Goodman notes that disparities in care are described in the British press as a "postcode lottery" in which the odds of getting timely, high-quality treatment depend on the neighborhood or postal code one lives in.
In Canada it's no better. The University of British Columbia found widespread inequality in the 1990s within the province.
Are we to think the system achieves egalitarian perfection in the rest of the commonwealth?
Evidence that the single-payer system should be avoided continues to pile up, and to shift to one would clearly be a step backward.
Goodness knows, U.S. health care isn't perfect. But what Americans need are not fewer choices and less control over medical services, but more choices and more control.
What Kerry and other single-payer advocates refure to accept is that a free market that fairly and efficiently provides everything from cars to food will do the same for health care.
Oh please, the MSM is a willing partner in the feeding us crap and keeping us in the dark.
Government is not the enemy; demagogues are the enemy.
Journalists like to convince us they are protecting us from the big, bad government (especially now that the Republicans are the rule) when they are delivering us into the hands of demagogic egomaniacs like the Churchills, Sharptons, Osamas, and Deans. That's where the heavy bullsh*t is coming from.
In Hawaii, here's a story on a guy who used to be the D Party treasurer:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?a0ecb754-6cdc-4219-bb8d-91c5e378756c
"Meanwhile, Dobelle, known for his egocentric statements made in the press, is telling mainland reporters interviewing him about his time at the University that he was driven out of Hawaii because he was too popular with the people and could have been elected governor if he chose to run.
Dobelle told the Sun’s reporter, Rebecca Piro: "I suspect they thought I was going to run for governor," he said, adding that it was not his intention. "I say this without arrogance: I'm a very popular public figure."
Dobelle also continues to say, as he did in the Hawaii press, "a lot of colleges and foundations offered me (president positions)" without disclosing any names.
Dobelle told Piro of the Sun, that he wanted to come back to Boston and only applied for one position. "It's the only job I applied for," he said referring to his position as the newly appointed president of the New England Board of Higher Education.
In reality, computer records at the University of Hawaii show he used to no avail University facilities on work time, and his assistant’s time, to search for jobs all across the mainland.
Dobelle, who University regents said "lied" to them on more than one occasion, apparently is now fooling at least one mainland reporter who writes: "The board of regents also admitted Dobelle had done nothing wrong and rescinded its forced termination, according to Hawaii newspapers and Dobelle's own account."
If Piro had checked her facts, she’d see the U.H. Board of Regents did not say Dobelle had done "nothing wrong." If so, then why was Dobelle forced to be demoted from president to researcher in his third year of a 10-year contract? The regents openly called him a "liar" in their executive session and presented substantial documentation showing Dobelle had misused the schools’ money for personal use.
For the real story on Evan Dobelle, see "Dobelle Found Pot of Gold at Beginning of U.H. Rainbow" and "University Releases Thousands of Documents Detailing Reasons for President's Firing"
According to her own article, reporter Rebecca Piro's email address is mailto:rpiro@lowellsun.com -- anyone in Hawaii want to give her a clue?"
The editor of the Honolulu Advertiser worked mightily and tirelessly to convince us Dobelle was a lengendary academic giant. That guy was a pathological liar who threatened to sue anytime who was questioned. Who's going to protect us from the journalists?
The journalists are the greatest danger in society because they can manipulate information and communications with no restraints -- other than the we the people.
When western Canadians are ready to stand for their freedom - we will stand with them.
For the most part they are just like the USA Congress. Nobody is really sure what they do.
LOL!
It's ALL downhill from here!
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