Category: Politics | Page 126

035 – Scrooge was right

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Dec 202007

gift

Christmas arrives with its familiar calls for peace on Earth, selfless giving, and denunciations of commercial excess. Yet these very ideals warrant closer scrutiny.

Commercialism lies at the heart of the season’s joy. Trading goods and celebrating material abundance reflect human productivity, not greed. Pagan roots of winter festivals honor harvest and survival through reason and effort—values worth embracing openly.

Ebenezer Scrooge suffers misrepresentation as a miser. His wealth arises from honest effort, voluntary exchange, and refusal to live at others’ expense. Condemnation of him reveals envy of achievement, not moral failing. True generosity emerges from personal gain, not forced sacrifice.

Altruism promises virtue but delivers hidden costs. Mandating service to others treats individuals as means to ends, undermining genuine relationships built on mutual benefit. Even well-intended giving can humiliate recipients or mask power plays.

Peace on Earth remains elusive because rising prosperity sometimes fuels conflict, and aid can breed resentment rather than harmony. Reason, not sentiment, offers the clearest path forward.

Challenging these holiday myths while affirming life and achievement feels just right.

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30 – War Heroes Refuse to Sacrifice

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Nov 082007

Vimy Memorial

As Remembrance Day draws near, reflection turns to the Canadians who risked everything in battle. Courage lies not in sacrifice but in the refusal to surrender life, liberty, or property to aggressors. Soldiers fight to win and survive, not to die. Their stand against force preserves freedom, distinguishing battlefield losses from everyday peacetime tragedies.

Current events and past discussions add depth. Marc Emery’s case underscores a broader fight for liberty beyond marijuana. Currency shifts show how a strong loonie pressures prices and rewards cross-border shopping, reminding everyone that real value matters. Job stress patterns confirm routine work heightens depression while choice and variety ease it.

Afghanistan reports challenge media narratives; polls reveal most Afghans welcome foreign troops and reject the Taliban. Robotics point to a future of intelligent companions and household helpers. Gun control efforts backfire, while concealed-carry laws link to falling crime rates.

Light-hearted definitions expose contradictions in political language, from bureaucracy as a perpetual inertia machine to a candidate as someone who stands for what voters will fall for.
These threads weave together insights on war, peace, and rights that feel just right.

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29 – Marc Emery: Martyr to Madness?

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Nov 012007

Marc Emery’s impending extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds raises profound questions about sovereignty, justice, and the irrationality of drug prohibition laws. In this episode of Just Right, the discussion centers on Emery’s lifelong activism, tracing his path from a London bookseller to a political firebrand challenging censorship, taxes, and government overreach.

Emery emerges as a complex figure—abrasive yet principled, self-promoting like Muhammad Ali, but driven by a passion for individual freedom. His early debates with the host at City Lights Bookshop sparked shared ventures, including publishing newspapers like The London Tribune and The London Metro Bulletin, and co-founding the Freedom Party of Ontario in 1984. Campaigns against the 1991 Pan Am Games bid saved London taxpayers millions, while fights against Sunday shopping laws and business improvement areas demonstrated how civil disobedience can triumph over bureaucratic folly.

Clips from films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and documentaries such as Prince of Pot: The U.S. vs. Marc Emery illustrate Emery’s influences and current plight, where U.S. authorities target him not just for seeds, but for funding legalization efforts—a clear political vendetta. Speakers in these excerpts, including Emery himself comparing his struggle to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, highlight the absurdity of facing life imprisonment in America for acts that warrant mere fines in Canada. Note that these views do not necessarily reflect those of the host or Just Right.

The episode underscores broader implications: if Canada extradites Emery, it surrenders sovereignty to insane U.S. drug policies, setting a dangerous precedent for any activist. Differences between Emery’s anarchistic leanings and the host’s perspectives add nuance, yet unity persists on core principles of liberty.

In examining Emery’s story, the pursuit of justice demands vigilance against such moral obscenities, ensuring freedoms remain just right for all.

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026 – Ontario election 2007

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Oct 112007

The recent Ontario election delivers no shocks, with Liberals securing another majority amid record-low voter turnout. Faith-based funding emerges as the flashpoint, revealing deep divides: Liberals cling to a state monopoly that forces double payments on parents opting for private schools, while Conservatives peddle taxpayer-funded “choice” that contradicts true freedom. This debate echoes Ontario’s tangled history, where education roots in political control—from Simcoe’s 1791 fears of republican heresy to the 1807 District Public School Act subsidizing wages, and Strachan’s 1816 Common School Act demanding allegiance to the crown. Reformers and Tories battled over funding from clergy reserves, all aiming to suppress “Yankee” ideas and instill moral training from the Scriptures.

Public education’s monopoly prioritizes indoctrination over learning, as Khalil Ramal admits—it’s about “integrating” society into one vision. Shared values like freedom to disagree must unite us, yet the system stifles innovation, rewards union seniority over merit, and inflates costs even as enrollment drops. Complaints from the 1980s ring true today: political masters ignore classrooms, curricula bow to pressure not preferences, and diplomas lose meaning amid literacy gaps.

Michael Coren’s cynical Thanksgiving rant captures broader discontent—Canada as a “home on native land” plagued by unresolved claims, eroding freedoms via Human Rights Commissions, lenient justice for criminals, a flawed Charter empowering radicals, and a health care system ranked 30th globally. Abroad, respect fades as our warrior heritage withers under emasculation.

Federally, Harper’s drug war escalation promises mandatory sentences and millions for enforcement, prevention, and treatment, yet ignores failed prohibition’s lessons. Criminalizing substances empowers gangs, inflates profits tax-free, and confuses addiction with restraint of trade. Better to legalize, end welfare for abusers, and hold individuals accountable for actions, not possessions.

Workplace stress hits hardest in repetitive jobs, while Canada Post’s antiquated monopoly exemplifies government inefficiency—outdated machines, accidents galore, and static delivery amid urban growth.
In this landscape of monopolies and misplaced priorities, finding balance remains just right for true progress.

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025 – Steve Holmes: NDP candidate for London-North-Centre – Ontario election 2007

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Oct 042007

In this pre-election dialogue, NDP candidate Steve Holmes joins us in studio to outline his party’s vision for Ontario, just days before the October 10 vote. Holmes, a long-time bus driver and union leader, shares his background in representing workers through the ATU 741 and London District Labor Council, emphasizing the NDP’s roots in labor advocacy. The conversation quickly turns to the interconnected planks of Howard Hampton’s platform, linking healthcare accessibility—including relisted services and dental care—to environmental initiatives like the Green Lights program, which promotes conservation and decentralized renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Discussions on energy reveal sharp contrasts, as Holmes invokes Adam Beck’s conservative-era push for public power at cost, while the flaws of government monopolies become evident in examples like inflated hydro bills burdened by transmission fees and debt charges. Economic philosophies clash over free trade, globalism, and the “race to the bottom,” with Holmes defending protections for workers’ rights and local economies against unchecked corporate profits. Labor issues dominate, exploring whether unions truly serve all workers or act as special interests, amid declining unionization and critiques of leaders like Sid Ryan venturing into unrelated political activism.

The referendum on mixed member proportional representation sparks debate on electoral fairness, highlighting the NDP’s support for a system that balances riding representation with party lists, potentially amplifying diverse voices despite risks to independents. Broader topics include crime’s roots in social inequities, the need for preventive education supports cut under Mike Harris, and unresolved Aboriginal land disputes in Caledonia and Ipperwash, blamed on federal delays. A caller challenges private education’s accessibility, underscoring tensions between choice and equity.

Throughout, audio clips from Star Trek and comedians illustrate themes of taxes, unions, and greed, though these external views do not reflect our own. As philosophies diverge on individualism versus collectivism, the exchange underscores why true fairness demands rejecting coercive policies in favor of freedom that’s just right.

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022 – Afghanistan: A sense of the place | Arthur Majoor

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Sep 132007

In the shadow of the sixth anniversary of 9/11, our discussion turns to Canada’s unexpected role in Afghanistan, a mission that defies the media’s narrow focus on combat. Joined by Sergeant Arthur Majoor, fresh from a six-month tour in Kandahar, the conversation reveals a landscape far removed from the alien desolation often portrayed. Mountains loom against a red desert, temperatures soar to the low 50s, yet adaptation becomes second nature amid air-conditioned bases and limited outdoor exertion.

The media’s obsession with battles obscures the true essence of our efforts: a seamless blend of security and reconstruction. Provincial Reconstruction Teams, bolstered by battle groups, enable projects that rebuild infrastructure without immediate Taliban sabotage. Afghanistan’s history unfolds as a tale of instability—from constitutional monarchy disrupted by 1970s droughts and factionalism, to Soviet invasion in 1979, Mujahideen resistance, civil wars, and Taliban tyranny that froze society under draconian rule. Ejected in 2001, the Taliban left a void now filled by ISAF’s multinational alliance of 38 nations, including Canada, committed through the UN-mandated Afghan Compact until 2011.

Progress manifests in small but profound ways: reclaiming irrigation ditches, building village schools and clinics, fostering community councils—including those for women—and training Afghan National Army battalions. Yet challenges persist, with 30 years of educational voids hindering skilled labor like engineers or mechanics. Canada’s $1.2 billion aid over a decade supports this, spurring local economies rather than flooding with foreign goods. Critics who demand withdrawal ignore the symbiotic tie between combat and development; pulling out prematurely risks undoing gains in a geopolitically volatile region bordering nuclear powers.

Humanitarianism aligns with our self-image as UN supporters and human rights advocates, countering Taliban ferocity against education and freedom. Villagers actively aid ISAF, exposing caches and informing on threats, proving local rejection of fear-based rule. As Canadians historically tackle immense challenges—from building the CPR to forging NATO—staying the course honors our values. In this pivotal endeavor, success demands persistence that hits just right.

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021 – Star Trek New Voyages / Fascism and frogs

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Sep 062007

In today’s episode of Just Right, the airwaves crackle with critiques of Canadian politics, drawing from Andrew Coyne’s blunt assessment in the National Post that our federal and provincial scenes embody sheer vacuity—Liberals peddling unattainable environmental targets and Conservatives abandoning policy altogether. Provincial elections in Ontario loom as tedious non-events, riddled with broken promises and regional squabbles, while energy debates expose the nonsense of conservation fantasies versus nuclear sense, as David Frum highlights the waste in deferring to ignorant fears.

The discussion shifts to the enduring allure of Star Trek, where amateur productions at newvoyages.com revive the original series with superior effects but amateur acting, featuring veterans like Walter Koenig. Beyond gadgets, Star Trek serves as a moral barometer, exploring philosophy through dramatic devices like the prime directive—echoing laissez-faire non-interference—and tackling racism, individual rights, and human nature in ways realism cannot.

Building on last week’s socialism segment, fascism emerges as the flip side, illustrated by the frog parable: gradual heat increases unnoticed until boiling, mirroring Ontario’s creeping state controls over private property, from smoking bans to rent controls and pay equity laws. These policies, though labeled liberal or conservative, embody fascist doctrine where control equals ownership, eroding freedoms without outright nationalization.

Finally, Victor Davis Hanson’s call to study war underscores its utilitarian role in ending tyrannies, while Ayn Rand pins wars on statism’s institutionalized violence, contrasting with capitalism’s historic peace from 1815 to 1914. As pressures mount in our mixed economy, recognizing these dynamics keeps perspectives just right.

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