Best we leave carbon dioxide alone here, it's discussed in huge volume all over the net, in complete futility imho, nobody changes from their initial position, becomes nothing more than emotional people hammering away at each other ... same as abortion and a few other topics, that never get far above a Dem-Rep polarisation in the US, and the like elsewhere ... on pretty much all these topics i think we could have a better appreciation of the profundity of human ignorance, and we sure could work on our ability to listen to, and recognise valid points of, our partisan opponents
On the Liberals obfuscating their use of tax money, well that's typical of them, traditional, was pretty blatant under CD Howe's money machine that got the magnitude of its power in fairly justifiable circumstances during wartime, and then took it to extremes later ... a major part of the Arrow story, and what infuriated Dief and supporters, the way you couldn't find out how much was being spent, and where exactly it was going, and why, there are still unknown details of cash passing to and around De Havilland et al ... wonderful aircraft yes, crappy system behind it ... then Bombardier and the like, there's plenty we'll never know
When the cash is going to bands under the Indian Act, it's not just the taxpayer who has a right to know, the question is vitally important to band members as well - all of them ... there is no reason in this day and age why transfers and itemised expenses couldn't be made public on open websites, in realtime - except that chiefs, controlling band members, and the feds shovelling the cash want everything kept secret ... which naturally generates corruption, and provides incentive against improvement of situations
All governments would prefer to operate in secret, comes with the territory, the Harper bunch weren't ideal models of transparency in some ways, they were just somewhat better on this question
With the current L-govt it's only part of their overall agenda, they're doing a lot of historical revision as well ... my twelve year old has never heard of Radisson, Groseilliers, Fraser, Cook, Vancouver [the captain], MacKenzie, Douglas, Cariboo or Yukon gold rushes, nothing, it's all been written out how the province was developed ... 'settler' culture is evil, this is the line, never mind how it brought medical advance, the use of metals, the wheel, and lawyering ... meanwhile her friend who has 'First' class status and only a fraction higher of blood that's been in the Americas for a thousand years will have a difficult time finding out why and how a very few families on her rather large reserve are able to control the rest, and live so much better, without much apparent use of the evil settler custom of working ... none of this situation is new, been going on for years, L-govt is just accelerating it, and it comes to me as a slap in face due to contact with the school system
There is an important relation in context, between this and the war of which Vimy was part - before 1914 most all the developed world and much of the undeveloped was controlled by empires, at least five of which had fallen completely by 1918 and the victorious damaged seriously ... people lucky enough to be subject to british law, or to have a tradition of it as in the US, were the winners of the planetary lottery of life - compare with how people fared under [or following] control by the Romanovs, Hapsburgs, Bourbons, Hohenzollerns, Ottomans, etc ... it's a sad reflection on human nature, that it only takes a hundred years to forget stuff this significant |
