Klaus Rohrich

Call in the clowns

Canada is being turned into a three-ring circus with the clowns acting as ringmasters. Installing a coalition of Liberal/NDP/Bloc Quebecois parties could well be the final nail in the coffin of what was once a great nation. The idea for this coalition of clowns has the unique imprimatur of Jack Layton, whose cravings for power have reached sociopathic proportions. Stephane Dion could not have thought of forming this coalition because his mind lacks that subtle snake-like quality that is the hallmark of Layton, nor could Giles Duceppe have thought of it, given his shortsighted focus on breaking up Canada.

Ho-hum; another report blames crime on racism

It’s the kind of thing you can set your watch by. A particularly heinous episode of violence takes a young life in a predominantly ethnic school; the community is aghast; activists demand action and the government trots out a couple of its has-beens, lavishes them with large amounts of money to table a report blaming the whole thing on poverty and racism.

Honor Killing: deeds speak louder than words

The term “Honor Killing’ has now joined the list of unacceptable phraseology in our vastly growing lexicon of misspeak. Islamic organizations throughout Western nations are objecting to the use of that word, claiming it is racist and Islamophobic. The outcry by American Muslims has been so strong that even the FBI has knuckled under the politically correct speech code and changed its terminology on a wanted poster seeking the arrest of one Yasser Abdel Said who is alleged to have murdered his daughter. Many women’s groups have come out in support of condemning the term as they claim it detracts from the real issue, which to them is domestic violence perpetrated by “the patriarchy”.

MPAC: Ontario’s very own boondoggle

Those of us who maintain that government has gotten far too big for our own good can take little solace in the Ontario government’s creation of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). MPAC is a not for profit corporation charged with maintaining up to date assessments of all of Ontario’s properties, so that municipalities could levy taxes based on real value. The Harris Government initially created the corporation in 1997 then named the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, because of the wide disparity in property assessments, particularly those in older urban areas versus newer suburban neighbourhoods. It used to be that homes in places like Toronto’s fashionable Cabbagetown area were assessed at say $12,000 to $16,000, while newer homes of similar size in places like Richmond Hill were assessed at $180,000 to $200,000. Both assessments reflected their value when the houses were first purchased.

Great expectations

Now that Barack Obama is firmly ensconced as POTUS to be the inevitable collision with the reality of delivering on his promises is imminent. How can he deliver on his promise of “hope and change”, given the near insurmountable problems he has claimed he will solve. Think about it; he’s a politicians with no experience in any of the areas with which he will be dealing, having spent less than two years in the US Senate, during which time his main occupation was running for the Presidency. So now that he’s achieved his goal, an admirable achievement, to say the least, what are the chances that he will reduce the levels of the oceans and heal the world?

The trouble with McCain…

This is perhaps the most interesting presidential race the United States has seen since Harry Truman trounced Thomas Dewey. It’s interesting because Barack Obama has received some highly unlikely endorsements and the smart money is betting he’ll win. Christopher Buckley, son of the founder of modern conservatism, William F. Buckley, was recently bounced as a columnist for the National Review because he endorsed Obama rather than the Republican candidate. Ken Adelman also endorsed Obama, as did George Bush’s former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. What gives?

Is Barack Obama the ‘Manchurian Candidate’?

In October 1962 the film The Manchurian Candidate was released to rave reviews. Directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, the film was about a nefarious plot that involved brainwashing, an assassin with a post-hypnotic trigger and a conspiracy to deliver the US presidency into the hands of foreign enemies whose plan it was to destroy the country from within. Eventually cracks began to appear in the plot and in the end the evildoers met their just rewards.

Politics of the bizarre

Bizarreness comes in many forms. In Canada it manifests itself in politics. Following the current election, which thankfully is nearly over, one can’t help but wonder what motivates a people whose politicians woo them with the promise of higher taxes or with a vague plan to break up the country. Where else but Canada can a political leader face sharp criticism from his rivals for remaining calm in a crisis?

John McCain doesn’t want to win

In the first moments of the second presidential debate held last night in Tennessee, I realized that John McCain did not have the will to win the Presidency. His answer to the first question asked of him was to promise that if elected, he would arrange for the federal government to buy up all the bad mortgages currently being held in American financial institutions and renegotiate them so that those whose mortgages are in default could remain in their homes. This promise from a Republican presidential candidate is proof that McCain is a true RINO (Republican in name only)

Obamarithmetic

Listening to the first of a series of debates between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, I was struck by the apparent level of ignorance displayed by Barack Obama, particularly when it comes to numbers. Not that John McCain’s conversance with American tax policies were that much better, but at least there appeared to be some level of understanding of the inverse relationship between national prosperity and a crippling tax regimen.

Moral cowardice writ large

It’s often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But what can one say about those who purposefully refuse to learn history’s lessons, as is the case with the City of Toronto’s ban on portions of a traveling Holocaust exhibit that points out the similarities between the things said by Adolf Hitler and those said by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad? Probably the kindest thing one could say about Toronto City Council is that they have lost their moral compass in their wish to curtail “inflammatory” situations.

Mohamed Elmasry wants you to shut up

Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and famous for declaring all Jews over the age of 18 in Israel fair targets in the Arabs’ struggle to annihilate that country, thinks the decision by the Canadian Human Rights Commission to dismiss claims against McLean’s Magazine and columnist Mark Steyn is wrong. Elmasry claims that “hate speech” creates a dynamic that silences disadvantaged groups and individuals and keeps them from participating in civil discourse.

Heather Mallick has a right to her opinions

There’s really no debate over whether Heather Mallick is a toxic cesspool of ill-concealed rage and ill-conceived ideas. Her vitriol is ever more shrill and ever less reasoned and it’s a safe bet to assume that the best parts of her career can dimly be viewed in the rear-view mirror, while her road forward gets ever narrower and more constrained.

A manufactured crisis

So, Lehman Brothers is toast and Merrill Lynch has been gobbled up by Bank of America, the stock market is in free fall and there is no small amount of hand wringing and navel gazing. The lessons of Economics 101 seem to have been lost on those Masters of the Universe whose economic Léger de main has brought us to this place and the finger pointing among politicians is rampant.

The politics of boredom

Countless times over the past week Canadian pundits have lamented the lack of zip in our current federal election. If only the Canadian election could be as interesting and exciting as the current contest between Barack Obama and John McCain, covering the race might be more fun.

Toronto shooting will affect election campaign

The latest series of shootings in Toronto will surely affect the federal election campaign, as candidates attempting to garner favour among urban voters will renew calls for tougher gun laws and the outright banning of handguns. While vilifying concealable weapons makes for good political theatre, it will do very little toward solving the problem of gun crimes within out cities.

Shifty promises

Given the state of my maturity, I can safely say that I have been witness to many elections in Canada. However, I’ve never seen an election where a candidate for prime minister promises the country that he will have them paying more. . .for everything. That’s exactly what Stephane Dion with his much ballyhooed “Green Shift” is promising Canadians.

The world’s priciest trailer park

Watching the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, one is tempted to venture a comparison with the alien bar from the first Star Wars Movie. Except that would be an insult to aliens. So let’s just say that the freak show in Denver is more akin to a trailer park, except those attending are slightly more, um eccentric.

Between a rock and a hard place

Poor Hillary. Poor Obama. Poor Democrats. The one thing they have in common is that they are caught on the horns of a dilemma when it comes to Obama’s choice of running mate. I can’t imagine that Hillary would accept the position, given that she would then likely have to wait another eight years before she gets another shot at the Big Prize. In 2016 she will be 69 years old and for her a run for the presidency would be an uphill battle all the way. The only circumstances under which I can see Mrs. Clinton accepting the spot as number two would be if she had some prior knowledge that Barack Obama would not live to finish his first term.

The end of climate change hysteria

Russia’s invasion of Georgia last week is another nail in the coffin of climate change hysteria, as concerns for a stable world supply of energy are beginning to overshadow those of the earth’s changing climate. The European Union (EU) had counted on pipelines bringing a steady supply of oil and natural gas through Georgia, an attitude that the Russian invasion of that country quickly negated, leaving the hapless Europeans to look for steady, secure energy elsewhere.