Category: Canada

… get set… GO!

And just like that, ladies and gents, we’re on our way to the polls again. HMPM Harper has finally decided that he’s sick and tired of the Librano$’s bullshit and it’s time for them to get hauled on the carpet, in front of US, to explain just what the hell they think they’ve been doing for the past (how many now?) months.

Not that this came as a surprise to anybody who hasn’t been in a coma for the last few weeks, but the final word came down this morning:

It’s official — Canadians will go to the polls Oct. 14.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper wasted no time taking shots at Liberal Leader Stephane Dion as he kicked off a federal election campaign with an early-morning visit to Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean.

Harper warned Canadians they should not take a “gamble” on Dion’s proposed carbon tax.

“Between now and Oct. 14, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interests at a time of global economic trouble,” Harper told reporters from the sprawling grounds of Rideau Hall. “They will choose between direction or uncertainty; between common sense or risky experiments; between steadiness or recklessness.”

Not a bad opening salvo, IMHO. Better than li’l Steffy managed. As you can imagine, the HypoGrits still haven’t managed to change the playbook from the last two elections (you know, the whole “he’s got an ideology” thing):

“With this conservative ideology, Canadians are left to fend for themselves.”

Dion said a Liberal government would make Canada “richer, fairer and greener.”

Hey, Steffy, I got a news flash for ya: politics is all about ideologies!

But then, I can see how hard that might be for a Liebral to figure out. After all, in order to understand ideologies, you need… ahem… IDEAS. And it’s not like little Steph has any of those.

Oops, I forgot. 😯 He does have an idea…

Ah, campaigning on a new tax-grab platform.  What a genius, eh? [Oh, before I forget: about that little “left to fend for themselves” bullshit… why is it that so many studies have proven that those mean, nasty, social-darwinism-loving conservatives are consistently more giving than the oh-so-sweet liberals?  Just wondering, ya understand.]

I know I’ve been a Bad Blogger lately, not posting much and such, but now that I’ve got something to sink my teeth into, look for that to change…

I know, I know… I barked about this the other day, but it doesn’t seem to be going away like I thought it would. How can it still be alive? I don’t know. But even for the Loopy Left, this is a new acme of asshattery.

The idea of a “national knife registry” used to be what us mean, nasty, gun-totin’ rednecks would bring up to ridicule the idiocy of the multi-billion waste of time known as the Farmer Bob Varmint Gun Registry®. That’s ALL it was. That’s all it was supposed to be! Period.

Well, it’s starting to look like some shitheads on the far left in parliament don’t even have the good sense to know when they’re being made fun of…

Some of our parliamentarians have been getting a bit too much sun during their summer holidays.

That’s the only explanation for the discussion by some opposition MPs about the possible introduction of a knife registry, following the gruesome, fatal attack on a Greyhound bus passenger late last month.

A knife registry? Really? What would I have to declare, paring knives, a bread knife, the plastic knife I used to put tuna on crackers while I was having lunch at work the other day?

Sweet jumpin’ Jesus… It’s not just the TO Sun, either. It’s here and here and… you get the idea. 🙄

“Some of our parliamentarians.” “Some opposition MPs.” Who, damnit? WHO??? Who are these boneheads? Tell us who they are so we can give ’em the treatment they deserve. NOW.

… I don’t want a damn thing to do with it!”

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how, for a Natural Governing Party®, the danged Grits just can’t seem to find enough schmucks that want to… er, naturally govern? It seems that there are yet two more little Gritlets that want nothing to do with the Eternally Imminent Downfall Of The Aberration Of Conservative Government In Canada©. Oops.

Stephane Dion’s Green Shift may not have specific targets or goals on how it will impact reductions in greenhouse gases, according to critics of the plan, but the Conservatives are suggesting that the Liberal plan is reducing the number of Liberal candidates prepared to run in the next federal election.

In Prince Edward Island, one of the Liberal’s star candidates, Robert Morrissey has stepped aside as the candidate. A spokesperson for the Conservative Party Robin Sparrow stated today, ““The Liberals can deliver their talking points all they want but everyone knows the deal. You don’t win a hotly contested nomination meeting for a long-held Liberal riding and then just quit,’’ Sparrow said from Ottawa. Morrissey is clearly feeling the heat on the carbon tax and doesn’t want to campaign on raising the price of gas, home heating fuel and groceries.”

Both seem to be causing a bit of a micro-kerfuffle, but the one in Spudland seems to be the most interesting.

Long story short: the potential candidate basically said, “thanks; I’m honoured and all, but I’ve got business opportunities that I’m chasing down right now.” Some other folks, like Peter MacKay, have wondered if maybe when faced with the thought of trying to spoonfeed a new bullshit tax to the Canadian public, he came up with other things that he’d rather do. Like sitting naked in a field in Skinner’s Pond in February, bashing his dingleberries with a claw hammer.

I think Peter’s got it figured out. Some guys just aren’t Liberal enough for that kind of masochism.

… that one in five Canadians actually has some balls (I guess it’s better than nothing):

Now can we get some laws that will allow us to defend ourselves??

Okay, we get it.  It’s a story…

There’s somebody in the mainstream Canadian media who actually GETS IT!!

For years, various groups in this country (CanadaCarry.org is only one example) have been telling the hoplophobes that Canada is in dire need of becoming a “shall issue” jurisdiction. Not in some half-assed, who-you-know fashion, either: nation-wide. Either nobody’s been getting it, or the ones that are getting it just don’t have the balls to do anything about it.

Well, I’m tickled pink to tell you that Marty Gobin gets it, too. The proof is in today’s Windsor Star. Like I always do with really good stuff, I’m putting the whole damn thing here; before it expires on the paper’s site or disappears down some other internet black hole. Read on and enjoy (emphasis, links, pretty pics, etc. are mine; as usual):

Give Canadians right to use arms in self-defence

Marty Gobin, Special to The Windsor Star

Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008

In a recent Windsor Star article (“Cops see spike in number of crime-fighting do-gooders,” June 25), it was reported that there has been a rise in private citizens defending themselves or others against criminals.

Whether it was a veterinarian fighting an armed robber off with a garbage can, or a bystander chasing a violent mugger who beat a man for his prescription medications, it is clear that Canadians are responsible enough to use defensive force in a reasonable and legal fashion.

That said, it’s time that Canadians be permitted to carry weapons for defence against criminals.

This wouldn’t be such a drastic change in law. It’s already legal under Section 34 of the Criminal Code for Canadians to use necessary force to protect their life, up to and including the use of deadly force.

It’s also legal to own a firearm.

Canada even has a permitting process in place for people to carry firearms at the discretion of their provincial Chief Firearms Officer (CFO). [But, unless the CFO is your drinking buddy, good f*&%ing luck getting one -Dennis]

The only thing Canada would have to do to enable Canadians to better protect themselves is change the issuing process for an Authorization to Carry (ATC) from “may-issue”– a permit issued at the discretion of the CFO –to “shall-issue,” a permit which must be issued to anybody who meets clearly defined, reasonable training and background check requirements.

Such a change in the ATC-issuing process would make it more accountable, in that the CFO would have no arbitrary authority to withhold or grant the right to defend oneself. That kind of authority should never be held by any one office.

The change would also ensure that every similarly qualified and screened Canadian has an equal right under the law to defend themselves, their families, and their neighbors, regardless of whether they have any political ties that would grease the wheels for a carry permit.

Now, some of the more sensationalist politicos out there may suggest that allowing Canadians the suitable means to defend themselves would result in shootouts every day in the streets at high noon. 🙄

This kind of Chicken Little approach to the right of one to preserve his or her own life has been proven wrong time and time again south of the border. Michigan switched from “may issue” to “shall issue” permits in 2002, and yet thousands of Canadians manage to travel across the border daily without witnessing any bloodshed.

Vermont, which has no laws regulating the possession or carrying of arms by non-criminal adults, has the third lowest violent crime rate per capita in the USA. (In fairness, that could be accredited to the similarly lax regulation of public nudity in the state combined with the aging baby boomer population scaring off all of the potential muggers.)

Overall, over thirty states have gone the route of shall-issue permits since the early nineties, and none have seen fit to go back to the days of may-issue. The U.S. experiment has shown that there would be no bloodbath resulting from Canadians being allowed to protect their lives.

Not only has there been no public safety crisis as the result of Americans being able to pack heat, but there have actually been numerous potentially large-scale massacres stopped in progress by those authorized to carry a weapon. [YO! Miller! Pay attention, dipshit! -Dennis]

In 2002, a shooter on a rampage at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia was stopped after not one, but two students in different locations heard his shots and retrieved their weapons from their cars, returned, and placed him under arrest until the police arrived.

In February 2007, an off-duty out-of-area police officer who was carrying his weapon at the Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City managed to keep an armed madman under fire until Salt Lake City police officers arrived to assist.

This last December, an armed man went to the New Life Church in Colorado after having left a suicide note saying he intended to kill as many people as possible.

He only managed to kill two people at the church before a parishioner shot him.

One can only imagine how these massacres would have turned out, if, like Canada, off-duty police and private citizens were not allowed to carry guns for self-defence. Certainly the murderers in each case, who were intent on committing capital crimes, would be unlikely to care whether or not any law forbade them from carrying a gun.

Both the American example and the recent case of Canadians defending themselves and others in a responsible fashion have proven that private citizens and should be trusted to carry arms without any resulting chaos.

Hopefully our legislators will, in the near future, acknowledge that Canadians have the right to defend themselves guaranteed by the Criminal Code, and modify our weapons laws so that we may have a realistic chance of exercising that right.

Marty Gobin is communications director, Ontario Libertarian Party Member, Canadian Shooting Sports Association in Whitby, Ont.