Obama on the health care attack...

Let me predict that Obama is about to get his way when it comes to the passage of his most controversial health care bill. The one that the vast majority of Americans oppose.

Let's recap.

Some 15 to 20 million Americans do not have health care - some of that number do not have it as a matter of choice since they do not want to incur the cost even though they can afford it. Granted, though, most go without because of their inability to pay.

So rather than find a way to incorporate those who cannot afford care, the Obama bill revamps the entire system to reflect the Canadian Health Care System. The System where millions of Canadians do not even have their own GP to tend to their health.

In spite of this, you still hear the old canard that Canada has the best Health Care System in the world. And this despite the fact that World Health Organizations rank the best systems as those which have a true mix of public and private care.

In addition, we all have our own experiences to counter the Myth about Canada's wonderful care. Just last week I went to my GP for a referral to a dermatologist to check out some spots on my face. I was told that it would take at least a year to get in to see a specialist here in Ottawa. It will be interesting to see how Americans deal with such delays when their system begins to sputter along like ours.

And it is just not poor care that comes along with Obama's Bill. It includes at least a Trillion Dollar price tag. The States currently have a deficit that is approaching their annual GDP and with the additional health care costs - it will soon exceed this milestone. Their dollar is going to continue to tank and inflation will eat away at what little value remains.

What will the Danny Williams' of Canada do when the US is reduced to our standard of care? Cuba?

Back to my prediction.

Stats indicate that Obama is but 4 or 5 votes away in the House of Representatives from passage of his notorious Bill. Such a small number of votes will not stand in his way; Obama controls the purse strings and the US Political System is, after all, based on pork barreling.

He has promised a vote within the week and I suspect when the dust settles, the Bill will be on its way to the President for his signing.

As I see it...

"Galagher"

Don't Play It Again Sam ...

Note: Anne tells me that I erred in suggesting motives to Ms. Aimes that do not bear out. Apparently when she referred to politics on the part of the Academy she was referring to the unconventional role she had played and not to her race. I apologize to the actress for my misunderstanding.

Anne tells me it is my age showing and maybe so, but I really have no use for much of what comes out of Hollywood these days - yesterday's Oscars included.



For me, it is all about the maxim - garbage in - garbage out and if all the Academy Awards gets to consider is junk then it is no wonder the results of the awards are so disappointing.



Just to let you know, I have not yet heard which won best movie nor who the top male / female stars were but I suspect those honours will be shared among the following three movies: Avatar; Hurt Locker; and The Blind Side.



Of the three, I have seen all but Avatar - and from the previews, it's a movie I consider nothing more that a Cartoon on Steroids. It used to be, when I was a kid, such films were just preluders to the main event.



Hurt Locker had all the trappings of a poor documentary, sans acting.



The Blind Side had potentially good script but again, came up short on acting. That said, Bullock was passable but certainly not 'great' as in the past tradition of the Oscars.



I did read the following comment in today's paper by Monique Aimes upon her winning Best Supporting Actress - "it can be about the performance and not politics".



Indeed, she should have stated that it "should (all) be about performance" and I suspect the 'politics' thing was just code by Aimes to suggest that minority actors are discriminated against by the Academy. Indeed from my knowledge of lefties who composes the Academy, that if any discrimination exists, it would be in the favour of a minority. In any event, I think Aimes' comment cheapens her award but on the 'performance issue' - she and I most certainly agree.



It was nearly 70 years ago that Boggie and Bergman squared off in Casablanca and yet it remains today one of the best acting performances by a male and female lead. Of note, neither received an Oscar.

My guess is that within a year's time, The Hurt Locker will be relegated to the dustbin of Cinema History along with the Oscar Winners of recent years - Slumdog Millionaire; No Country for Old Men; The Departed; and Crash.



As I see it...



"Galagher"

Two Many Cooks...

In The Kitchen.



I am recently retired, while my wife Anne has continued on with her working life - commuting daily into the City.



When we both worked, we had an agreement that Anne would do the cooking and I would take care of the clean-up. My Retirement changed that... now I do both.



At least in the main.



My favourite meals are those that can be cooked (Microwaved) in 5 to 8 minutes. I say 'favourite' only because of the ease of preparation.



These dinners are the ones that promote on their packaging 'no calories, no sodium, no fat' and all have 'no taste' to speak of.



Even more than the no-taste complaint, the thing that amazes me is that anyone can think that one of these tiny presentations would be sufficient to sustain life and limb. Even a gerbil would find the need to come back for seconds or thirds.



I get around this problem by microwaving a half dozen of these frozen, tasteless entrees at once.



Anne is so kind, she never complains and when asked what she thinks of these 'dinners', invariably replies that "anything tastes good if you don't have to prepare it yourself"'.



I'm skeptical.



Anyway, to the 'Two Many Cooks' issue.



Recently I decided to vary my menu - from fast food - to cooked from scratch. I decided to make homemade baked beans.



I immediately consulted Anne - "take out a large pot, put in the beans and cover them with water and let them stand overnight". Hell, other than the time factor, this is not much harder than microwaving the weight watcher special.



It got more difficult, starting next morning.



I looked at the pot of beans - now well and truly wet and thought 'what next'?



Back to Anne, who was busy getting herself ready for her day at the office.



"Just find a good cook book", she said, "they all have recipes for baked beans".



Sounded simple and it was - in no time, I had found a recipe and started my preparations. A teaspoon of that, a tablespoon of the other and so on.



Then Anne entered the kitchen.



"What are you doing" she asked. I told her following a recipe for the baked beans as per her instructions.



"I never use a recipe for that" she countered, at which point Anne started to fire this that and the other thing into my pot of soaked beans.



She got half way through, when she announced it was time for her to go. Her last words to me were to 'throw in the balance of the ingredients and cook the beans throughout the day'.



I was optimistic, but what I failed to take into account was the fact that half of the ingredients were put in by memory - Anne's memory, and the other half were the result of me religiously following a recipe.



Nevertheless, I cooked those beans and watched over them like a loving parent all day long. They smelled pretty good - but not as quite as good as I remembered other bake beans smelling.



And then the moment arrived - or at least Anne did from work. I set some of the beans out in two large soup bowls and as I did, I admired my first 'from scratch dinner' - no more frozen dinners for us.



Until I tasted the beans that is.



They were awful.



I looked at Anne and saw a look of abject horror - she concurred.



What went wrong I thought?

"You did follow the recipe did you not Galagher"?


As I see it..


"Galagher"

'Galagher's' Top Four

The following 4 shorts do not deal with the major stories / issues of the day but they do deal with major irritants to us all.

1. Haiti & The Group of Ten:

• The news outlets are full of the story of the Group of Ten Baptists involved in "Child Trafficking" in Haiti. Indeed, the President of that poor and broken country has cast these 10 Traffickers in Jail. As a former bureaucrat, who dealt personally with the issue of Human Trafficking, I can tell you that the Baptist Ten were not engaged in that activity since their motivation was humanitarian and not criminal. It begs the question though as to why the Haitian President and the major media would occupy themselves with such minutiae in the face of hundreds of thousands dead, injured and destitute. It would be quite funny if the situation was not so desperate.

2. Prorogation:

• This is another example of where the Media has its antenna skewed. Prorogation has been used over 100 times since the time of Confederation - three times alone during Chretien's recent administration, all without much ado. I understand why the Opposition makes an issue of it; they have nothing of substance to use against the Prime Minister. That said, I was surprised to see the Polls drop for the Tories and believe that much of that drop was due to the traction this issue has received in public thanks again to the Media. I do not see this issue as sticking since it has no basis and fully expect to see the polls rise again soon for the Tories.

3. Deficits - Ontario and California:

• California has 3 x the population of Ontario (36 to 12 million) and yet they have something in common - the same deficit; $26 Billion Dollars each. California though, with 3x Ontario's population, is seen as being the basket case of the United States. Many view it as being bankrupt: it has issued I.O.Us; borrowed heavily from the Feds; and levied a 10% surcharge on all income tax withholdings. In contrast, in Ontario it remains business as usual albeit our Province has for the first time in its history sunk to have-not status. In all of this, what do the people of California know that we here in Ontario seem oblivious to?

4. Ottawa City Tax Increase:

• Another year another tax increase - this time an additional 3.77% not counting the numerous user fees levied beneath the covers. This figure, as with increases in past years, far exceeds the increase in the rate of inflation (i.e. by almost 3 fold). This affects us all but is really noticeable for those on fixed incomes. OAS and GIS for 2010 did not increase at all them, while CPP payments increased by a paltry .4%. And yet our Mayor and Councillors pat themselves on the back for a job well done. This being Election Year you would think for their own self interest they would have tried harder to balance the books. Hopefully the voter will send them a well deserved message come October.

As I see it...

'Galagher'

What to do with Haiti?

Our hearts go out to the Haitian People on their great loss and tremendous suffering; though things have not gone well for Haiti's people for the last 200 hundred years and more.



From the far right we have Pat Robertson explaining Haiti's troubles away as the result of the Country's Pack with the Devil. And on the far left there is Danny Glover believing that the recent earthquake was caused by the breakdown in negotiations at Copenhagen.


Wackos, the both of them.




But something has certainly gone wrong with Haiti and something sure as hell needs to be done to fix it.



Already commentators are looking at spending more money as a final cure to what ails this tiny country of less than 10 million - not much bigger than a modest sized modern city. That is to say: money on infrastructure; money on schools and hospitals; money for this and money that.

But money alone is not the answer. If money was the cure, Haiti would be one vibrant nation today despite the recent Earthquake.

Even at yesterday's Montreal Conference, you had the President of Haiti stating that another 10 years of international financial help is required.

Hilary Clinton, in turn, spoke about the need to work through the Haitian Government to effect change.

They are both wrong.

First, in regard to an additional 10 years of international funding; it will take at least twice that long to achieve success and only under the conditions I've outlined below.

Second, to see funding funnelled through a Haitian Government, as suggested by Hilary, will only see it dissolve into a sea of corruption and inefficiency. Christopher Dufour, a resident of a homeless camp near (Haiti's) national palace, says it best, "don't give the money to the government (Haitian) because they are going to take it and steal it."

There is a problem greater than even the corrupt Haitian Governments and that relates to the lawlessness rampant in their Society. Sadly, it gets little attention but until it is successfully addressed, real progress will never be made.

This Leads To My Solution:



Marshall Law needs to be imposed as a first step.

It is the only way to address the combined negative issues of lawlessness and corrupt / inefficient governments.


This step should be taken by the United Nations, but given its pathetic track record, will more likely have to be done by the United States, with strong backing from Canada.



Our two Countries are Haiti's most important geographical neighbours, each of us with a long history of providing support for this poor, ignorant and down-trodden nation.



So once its dead are buried and its injured attended to, a concerted effort must be made to address these two major underlying problems.


Only when peace and security have been attained, and good government put in place, can the other essential ingredients of nation building, mentioned above, be achieved.


This work can be done in parallel, but the early emphasis must be on restoring public order. Put the hoodlums to work and those not willing to work - lock them up until they are.



Build a police force that is properly staffed, trained and equipped. (An army for such a tiny nation is not needed).

Educate the children and get them ready to take back the reins of power. This alone will take nearly a generation to achieve.


All the while, North American Military Officials can work with the Haitian people through their councils and various committees, but all the while retaining central control.

You can imagine the howls of indignation this action will create from the near-by dictatorships - the Cuba's and Venezuela's, but those howls will simply confirm that we are on the right track.

One could argue that a generation to effect real change is too long to wait, but for a nation that has already waited for over 200 years., it is but a moment in time.

A few years back my wife and I visited the Dominican Republic. One day we went out on excursion to visit some of the ubiquitous sugar can plantations. There we found Haitians working from sun-up to sun down hacking away at the canes with machetes. Their pay was but a pittance; on a good day they earned but $5.00 US and were paid by the ton cut. Their lifeless eyes told the story.

Sadly, this continues to this very day - modern slavery at its worst.

To sum up, if we here in North America cannot help a tiny nation on our doorstep to achieve a decent life what chance is there for those nations further afield - primarily in Africa?

As I see it...

"Galagher"

We Will Do Our Best...

An olde cub scout motto, but it is also part of a phrase used by the late great Winston Spencer Churchill - my life-long hero.



I will come back to Churchill in a moment, but what has prompted this Blog, is the Christmas Day attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 bound for Detroit Michigan.



I have not commented on this before now, since there were enough articles and talk shows that mirrored my thinking - i.e. that the time has come to get tough with the Psalmist Extremists.



Indeed, that time came with the levelling of the Twin Trade Towers in 2001.



But since that attack in 2001 we, in the West, have gone off the rails in our misguided attempt to defeat Terrorism.



This is most visible in the areas of flying and trade in that we have turned legitimate travellers into mere objects to be prodded and probe at will and have thickened our borders to the point where commerce has suffered greatly.



Below the radar, with the new Super Security Departments, our countries are becoming more and more police states.



In all of this, we have turned ourselves inside out and by so doing have allowed the Terrorists to win.



In all of the articles I have read on the subject, one article in particular stood out. This is an article that appeared in the National Post on January 9 under the authorship of George Jonas.



Here are some direct quotations from Mr. Jonas' article entitled 'Our Own Worst Enemy' wherein he focuses on air travel:

• Terrorists don't have to blow up anything to win. They win by reducing travellers to Alcatraz inmates.


• Letting ourselves be body-scanned without profiling passengers' ethnicity, religion, and behaviour is a waste of time.


• Medieval minds - roasting puny penises, in preparation for virgins - are turning our airports in replicas of Devil's Island.


• Fighting terrorists wisely means paying them whatever attention is commensurate with the danger they represent, no more.


• Islamists can bring down a planeload of vacationers - or even an office tower. That's all they can do.


• They cannot endanger us as nations or societies.

Projecting 'Jonas' beyond just what has happened to air travel since 2001 I believe it comes down to this: Like a mosquito, the terrorist can only annoy us, he cannot change us - either as an individual or as a society. We can only do that to ourselves and in fact we have been doing just that in the face of Terrorism.

Sadly, then, since 2001 the Terrorists have been winning.

Now back to Churchill, at a time when his Island was facing nightly attacks by the German Luftwaffe, here is what he had to say:

• We will have no truce or parley with you (Hitler) or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best.

Unlike the Obamas of this world, Churchill did not talk about negotiating with the devil and nor did the people of Great Britain. They went into the shelters at night and in the morning came out, buried their dead, dusted themselves off and went to work.

We need to do the same.

The Terrorists cannot defeat us with their bullets - but they can defeat us through instilling fear in our hearts and we are the only ones that can defend against that.

Let them continue to do their worst and we will start doing our best. We'll call them what they are - spineless terrorists who prey on the weak and defenceless.

But we won't cave into fear by turning ourselves and our societies inside out.

That is not to say that we do not defend ourselves against terrorism. Of course we do, but we do it through profiling and through undercover work to the point where we know who and where the terrorists are.

Going back to the airport analogy; we need to nail the Terrorist before he buys his ticket.

The time has now come when we all must march right through the airport without scanning, without prodding and without being made to feel like a criminal.

Terrorist - you do your worst and we'll do our best...

As I see it..

'Galagher'

MAYDAY...AC Flight 246 - "We Have A Terriorist On Board"

Those frightening words were heard earlier today from Air Canada Flight 246 departed London and bound for Toronto.


Immediately two fighter jets were launched from Andrews Air force Base USA and an additional two propeller driven Argus Planes lifted off from Shearwater Nova Scotia.


This was no drill; it was the real McCoy.


Until the Mayday, flight 246 had been an uneventful one. Now some two hours out from the Canadian mainland, panic was setting in amongst the passengers and the North American Air Defence Team.


CNN and Fox News went into immediate action reporting second by second coverage - all the while speculating which American City was the Target. The most likely theories centred around either the White House or the Pentagon in Washington DC.


NORAD Commanders demanded that Canada redirect flight 246 to Goose Bay Newfoundland since, in their words "nothing of value can be hurt there". NORAD stated that it was either that or flight 246 would be shot down over the open Atlantic.


Canadian officials quickly agreed but on condition that our own planes would accompany 246 into Goose Bay. The American Fighters would stay back at a safe distance in case flight 246 tried to make its way back to the American mainland.



The eyes of the world were now fully glued on this breaking story.

Pandemonium broke out in Goose Bay as the Mayor and his Council began planning for their unexpected and unwanted visitors. The Volunteer Fire Department was put on notice. Locals started to stream out of town - there was gridlock on the main road out as a dozen or so cars tried to leave all at once. Sadly, some of their numbers were said to include members of the fire department. An anonymous call even reported to CNN that the Mayor's jeep cherokee was seen in the cavalcade leaving town.


President Obama, on holidays, was unavailable for comment. Prime Minister Harper though made a statement to the effect that Canada's terror alert would be raised immediately from dark to light green and that he would be monitoring the situation carefully in case further spikes in the terror alert were found to be necessary.


Tension was building and as the minutes ticking by like hours.

Finally, Fox News reported that contact had been established with the AC Pilot who had apparently advised that passengers had overcome the Terrorist but that the situation remained very dangerous. Apparently, the package the Terrorist had been holding had spilled out its contents and was now fully exposed to the elements inside the plane. "Fortunately, no one was reported injured or dead" noted Fox.


Fox and CNN affiliates in Goose Bay (CJBT and CXYL) were lined up to meet the plane; i.e. John and Mary with video phones in hand.


The world held its breath.


A CNN report came out confirming that there was more than one Terrorist on board with speculation being that the 'terrorist team' had originated in Yemen. Updates were promised momentarily.


Upon hearing this news, NORAD Commanders made a concerted effort to convince Prime Minister Harper to authorize the shooting down of 246. Reassured that 246 was indeed now bound for Goose Bay and comforted by the earlier assessment that nothing of value could be damaged in Goose Bay, Harper studiously declined the NORAD request.


Back at Goose Bay, the drama was quickly coming to its ultimate climax.

The 'Crowd', now numbering some 5 or 6, could visually see 246's Landing Gear coming down; the big plane was starting its decent.

In minutes, it was rolling down the tarmac at record speed - the affiliates' video phones ever trained on it.

Flight 246 came to a screeching halt - its emergency exits opened and down the slides came its human contents.

Then the main door flew open with the Terrorist being frogged marched out by the Captain and two of his Stewarts. The Terrorist look dazed and the 'Crowd' could not help but notice the severe red bruising above his right eye.

"No Comment' was all the Captain had to say in a stern and professional fashion.

Now what?

A hush descended upon the 'Crowd'.

The eyes of the world looked on, unblinkingly, through the reedy lens of the video cameras.

Most of the passengers had now fled to the safety of the airport with the Terrorist well on route to the local jail.

The big plane stood silent and empty.

When up marched, with ramrod posture, the olde Commissionaire who had stood guard at the outside access gate, for the better part of 20 years.

He mounted the gang plank and went briskly inside the belly of the plane emerging minutes later with an 'Economy Size Bag of Planters Peanuts'.

"Here is the culprit" he said to the world, as he popped a couple into his mouth.

The pictures on CNN and Fox were then interrupted by a hastily called news conference.

The image of Home Land Security Czar, Janet Napolitano appeared, followed by the sound:

"I would like to reasure all Americans, that once again our Security System has stood the test. There is no telling what damage would have occurred had flight 246 been allowed to enter US Air Space".

The World looked on dumbfounded.

As I see it...

"Galagher"