Animated Music

I just discovered one of the most interesting and fascinating things I've ever scene on the Internet. Animusic is like watching a concert except that the instruments are the musicians. A very original use of computerized graphics and sound!

Canada's Fork In The Road

It is very fitting that high-level Liberal spokespeople like Scott Reid are clearly speaking their minds on how childcare should best be provided to Canadians. What he said was not an accident, for other high-level Liberals have echoed his thoughts precisely.

The discussion that has now ensued is about much more than just childcare. It's actually a strong metaphor for how Canada moves forward as a country.

Voting for the Liberal plan means that you agree that Canadian parents, on average, are not yet mature enough to spend the money wisely and are still in need of guidance and direction from the nanny state. Otherwise all havoc might just break loose and the social fabric of this country may fall apart. Who knows, maybe it will.

Voting for the Conservative plan is an acknowledgement that we, as a society, have grown up somewhat and no longer need to have every part of our lives run by Nanny Gov. Those of us who think this way don't want 'her' to disappear but just to back away some and give us more freedom to make our own decisions. We know she cares about us but it's time we left the nest and started flying on our own.

The vote on January 23rd is a pivotal moment in Canada's history. In many ways it is a referendum about Canada's maturity level as a nation. Entering that polling booth, each person needs to make up their own mind about where they stand on this. Change is never simple and sometimes it's downright scary. But change is an inevitable fact of life and one that responsible adults accept and deal with; most often very well indeed.

Latte Art

Here's something that folks in the Pacific Northwest will really appreciate: Latte Art. This comes out of Holland and they even have actually competitions with judges and audiences! Do you think this might be coming soon to a cable channel near you? I just can't wait until the image of Jesus appears ... you know it's going to happen!

Funniest Quote of the Day

In a fake PSA (Public Service Announcement) an 8-year old kid says, "First my parents told me that Santa was real. Then they told me not to smoke crack. I just don't know what to believe."

Hope your day is going well!

Radio Appearance

This morning I woke up at 6am (actually got about about 20 minutes later!) so that I could appear as a guest on Roy Green's show at 7am. There were other invited guests from Edmonton, Winnipeg, and two from Ontario, though one of these had recently moved from Quebec.

We discussed a whole range of issues, including childcare, gun control, and taxes.

Not a single person was happy with what Martin & co. have been doing or saying, but looking at things objectively, this panel obviously did not represent a cross-section of Canadians; otherwise we'd have had 35 - 40% Liberal supporters. These are the people I'd ideally like to talk with, for me to get some reasonable idea of how they can possibly be voting this way.

As I said to Roy in a post-show e-mail, I hate to continue being realistic (a nicer word than 'pessimistic') but nothing about what's going on in government gives me even a tiny slice of optimism. Right now it looks almost certain like the Liberals will once again get another minority government, but that will provide a strange scenario because they were just defeated in a vote of non-confidence. So if essentially the same crew is returned into power then how can any of the opposition parties support them?

Direct Comparison of the Conservative & Liberal Daycare Plans

We've seen lots of numbered thrown around in regard to the 2 prominent daycare plans. Here's a quick guide to help you sort them out:

Conservatives
Per child per year:	$ 1,200
Provided via:	Direct tax rebate
Weeks per year:	48
Per child per week:	$ 25
Liberals
Announcement:	$11 Billion over 11 years
Provided via:	New bureaucracy
Per year:	$ 1,000,000,000
# of Children:	625,000
Per child per year:	$ 1,600
Weeks per year:	48
Per child per week:	$ 33

Important Note: With the Liberal plan, the $33 per child per week is being provided to a bureaucracy first so you have to ask yourself what percentage of this amount will be consumed in the operation of the bureaucracy - 20% ? 30% ? 50% ?

Further Proof of the Liberals Disdain for Canadians

Today, senior Liberal strategist, Scott Reid, said, "Canadian parents could blow any extra child-care money they get from Ottawa on beer and popcorn." Click here to read the full story.

This should be no surprise to readers of this blog, for its exactly the same sentiment expressed by a Liberal supporter regarding a previous blog entry.

If you consider yourself to be a fool, one who needs the government to control your spending habits, then please vote Liberal, because they're your party!

Is Iran The Next Big Threat?

Almost certainly, but our leaders are too intimidated to do anything about it. You can read more here. As the author, Mark Steyn, writes, the American administration would like to do something but their hands are tied by ultra-naive UN and European leaders (plus Canadian ones but nobody listens to use anymore so our opinion doesn't matter).

Anyone who studied Hitler's regime in the 1930's leading up to World War 2 will see great similarities with what's going in Iran now, with their run-up to getting a nuclear bomb. God help us all because we're so clearly unable to help ourselves!

Funny Take on Santa and All Those Letters He Gets!

Ever wonder how Santa gets through those millions of letters he gets every year? Here's a new take on it ... definitely not for young kids: Santa ad

And more funny ads can be found here.

Humourous Take on the Federal Election

Further to looking at the election campaign with a smile on one's face, here's a great article by National Post columnist, Don Martin. Let me share one paragraph from the article:

The first dozen days of this Christmas campaign have featured big promises without price tags, grandiose policies without substance, bitter attacks without much justification, cute photo-ops without actual voters and a partridge in a pear tree. No, wait. Scrap that last bit.

4 Explanations for the Recent Poll Results

Leger Marketing, a polling firm with questionable independence, has just released a poll that supposedly has the Liberals with 39% of support of those Canadians polled (2006 people polled by the way - very cute number, huh?!)

I've scratched my head, trying to apply some sanity & logic to these numbers. Haven't found any yet but I'll keep scratching.

With that said, since this is the end of the week I thought I'd offer these four reasons:

1. 39% of Canadians are morons and want politicians to lie to them.
2. The polling company is corrupt and has been paid off by the Liberals.
3. People are deliberately lying to the pollsters.
4. Poll respondents are drinking spiked egg nog way too early this holiday season!

Maybe a little of each!

Go See the Stanley Park Xmas Train!

I love trains. Always have, in fact. And Vancouver is blessed to have a magnificent smaller scale train that one can actually ride. It's located in Stanley Park and is a big hit with kids and adult kids alike. During the Christmas season they decorate the entire route with over a million brilliant lights. If you get a chance do go see the train this year. Your admission entitles you to ride the train, plus to go see the Children's Farmyard. I don't know if the ducks will be dressed up in Christmas wear though! For more information click here. I have 2 pieces of advice: Dress warmly and know that you will likely have to get tickets about 3 hours ahead of time; yes, it's that popular! What I have typically done is get the tickets and then go have a nice dinner on nearby Denman or Robson Street.

Paul Martin's Lie of the Day #2

I've begun to wonder if Paul Martin tells the truth to anyone - his wife, his children, his friends? Imagine meeting a person who never told the truth. Would you become friends with this person? Would you go into business with this person? Would you buy a used car from this person? I wouldn't. I'd dump them faster than yesterday's news.

As impossible as it might seem, our prime liar ... errr minister, has exceeded his lie that banning guns will keep them out of the hands of criminals. If this previous one was a 6/10 on the Lie Detector scale then this new one is surely a 9/10 (we need to leave room for the gold medal 10/10 lie that surely is to come!).

Lie of the Day #2 was actually a two parter:

1. That Canada will reduce its pollution to meet its Kyoto commitments.
2. That the United States should be chastised for not signing on to the Kyoto agreement.

There are a couple of problems with what he's said:

1. Canada will NEVER be able to meet its commitments.
2. The much hated U.S. has actually reduced its pollution much more than Canada.

Don't believe me? Then read here and here ... articles from two newspapers that are usually huge supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada. But even they couldn't let this lie pass.

Here's a brief snippet from the 2nd article: Under Kyoto, we, (and all other signatories) are pledged to reduce our emission by the period 2008 to 2012 to 6 per cent less than our levels in 1990. Instead of going down, our emissions have gone up — by a whopping one-quarter (24.2 per cent), by the end of 2003.

In a nutshell, this exemplifies why I am challenged to say that I'm proud to be a Canadian these days. Honour and truth and responsibility used to be important virtues in my country. They've been replaced by dishonour, lies, and permanent victimhood amongst so many of my fellow citizens. This is why, I have little doubt, that Martin's Kyoto pronouncement will generate all kinds of increased support for him & his party in the polls. For he seems to be the perfect politician for the citizenry that constitutes the majority in Canada today.

Yahoo or Yohoo?!?

This morning I read this. Looks like there's a new company in the VoIP market! :-)

Paul Martin's Lie of the Day #1

Long ago I naively thought that an election campaign was all about each side expressing their policies and then the electorate deciding which one they liked best. Then I grew up. And I sadly learned that many politicians avoid talking about any real issues and instead just go around and lie, lie, lie! Paul Martin has got to win an award for this ability. Today he outlined a plan to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

The best comment on this I just read on another blog:

"Don't be so tough on Martin. He's got a big plan. This week he bans hand guns. Next week he bans robbery, then murder. Then, just before Christmas, he invokes a total and complete ban on criminals. It's brilliant I tell you. Sensible, logical and doable. Thank god for the Liberals. No one could ever love us as much as they do."

Accident at Midway Airport in Chicago

Around 7:15pm CST Southwest Airlines 1248 from Baltimore skidded off the runway at Midway Airport in extremely snowy Chicago. It went off the airport grounds and smashed into two cars. All 90 people on the plane are okay but a 6-year old boy in one of the cars was killed. Others in the cars were injured.

This story hits me close to home because some dear friends of mine who live very close to Midway have provided me with a Chicago home on countless occasions. I'm thus VERY familiar with this airport.

If you'd like to see what the weather is like in Chicago then take a look at this live webcam.

Can A Canadian Politician Get ANY More Cynical?

Newsflash: Liberals announce new policy to ban handguns.

I thought I knew everything about the Canadian electorate but today I learned something new. I've long known that the strong doses of Liberal Kool-Aid given out to the electorate, especially in the Greater Toronto area, have had a significant mind numbing effect, especially in the Logic & Reasoning section of the brain. But what I've realized today is that it must effect any memories older than say 6 weeks ago.

For today's announcement is a typical Liberal policy: Lots of big words at a fancy press op. Unfortunately they mean absolutely nothing! Any person who doesn't see us going down exactly the same path as the absolutely useless Gun Registry should either be pitied for being born with an abysmally low IQ or should be driven by their loved ones to the near drug rehabilitation clinic; just tell them it's not heroine they're addicted to but LKA (Liberal Kool-Aid) they're consuming in large doses. Damage is probably permanent but perhaps one day a cure will be found.

I will cry next week when the polls from Ontario report back that popularity for the Liberals has gone up because of this announcement. Citizens of that province should be renamed Con-tarioans because they so clearly love to be conned!

Better Web Tracking

In the future Google will make available free web tracking technology. I use another service now but am going to try theirs as soon as its available. If you click on the image you can go to their website and sign-up to be notified when it'll be available.

Back on the Roy Green Show

This Monday, December 12th, I will be reappearing on Roy Green's radio show in Hamilton, Ontario. Joining me, will be guests from Montreal, Winnipeg, and Hamilton. I'll be on between 10 - 11am EST. Should be interesting!

Still Seeking Computers for Donation

As you may be aware, last month I initiated a project to get people to donate their older computers, monitors, printers, etc. to needy families for Christmas.

I've identified 9 families and to date have commitments of 4 complete computer systems. It would sure be great to get the other 5 in the next 2 weeks.

Sandra Thomas, a reporter for the Vancouver Courier, interviewed me today for an article that will appear in this Sunday's edition. I hope it generates many more donations!

To read more about the project, please click here.