Canadian TV Sucks and Why Anyone Should Care

After being thoroughly disappointed by awesome potential of The Border I decided to check out some other current Canadian TV shows and they all seem to have had the entertainment sucked right out of them by Political Correctness. I was watching another CBC show called Little Mosque on the Prairie and it blew. It was scene after scene of wise, tolerant Muslims putting up with blundering bigoted white people stupidly misinterpreting everything they do and suspecting them of terrorism. You can practically feel the Minister of Multiculturalism and Citizenship nudging you in the ribbs going; "see, see, they're not terrorists, stop being such a racist".

This heavy handed brand of programming is patronizing, dangerous and in no way productive. In my opinion, one of the best movies for the empowerment of women was Aliens. In the multi-million dollar Sci-Fi classic Aliens the character Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) takes command of a squad of Marines because she is the best qualified to do so in that situation. There is no long, dramatic discussion about it, there is no cliché redneck who opposes the idea out of bigotry and later realizes the fault of his position when the woman/minority ends up saving him. People look to the culture to guide them and this was the way it ought to be. On a similar note, the most empowering moments for Sikhs was in the Sopranos when one of the mechanics in the garage was a turban-wearing Sikh and no one mentions it, they just talk to him about the car. Folks will never react well to these patronizing, overly sensitive, contrived portrayals of life - if you want to send a normalizing message about Muslims in Canada just portray them as normal people.

As long as Canadian TV continues to suck civil, honest discussion of issues on the CBC will be hampered, the CBC (controlled by the Canadian government) will have a lower ability to impact on society and Canadians will continue to turn to the US to be entertained.

On a more positive note Irish TV still seems pretty decent - check out this clip from The Panel. I love their attempt at American accents.

What do you do with a Generation of Young Men without Fathers who have grown up Idolizing Womanizing Criminals?

Have them watch Ax Men....

The History Channel put on a new show where they just follow some guys in Oregon around during the logging season and it may be the most positive thing going on in American culture right now. This is a picture of rough, honest men in lean times working in a rough yet rewarding profession with no margin for bullshit. And the views are just down right beautiful - this show takes place in the towering, still wild Cascade Mountains and with men who still fight for their wages and are prepared to fight for anything else dear to them. These men embody the American spirit which has sulked away from much of our cities and suburbs.

So why do I think a show embracing this type of masculinity is so great? Keep in mind, American manlyness (which has been in decline for many years) has positive virtues, virtues which I believe greatly benefit this country - crime and dishonesty are unmanly, running out on your wife and kids is unmanly, being economically unproductive is unmanly, allowing the government to take away an inch of your freedom is unmanly, being a 30 year old man living in your mother's basement is decidedly unmanly (the so-called "child-man").

The best cost-free move our government could make right now would be to put 1 episode of this show on in ever 8th grade civics class - what womanizing rap star could hold a light to these men?


If you can, check out an episode. (And if you are a man, just try to tell me you didn't want to be a lumberjack afterward. )

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dg-eiDT5EeM&feature=related

Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08 - Part I.

There are only really 3 people who have a chance at claiming our nation's presidency, and of those people John McCain is far and away the best, I pray he wins and I'll probably be voting for him.

I say probably because if it looks like McCain is either clearly going to win, or clearly not going to win Delaware I'm going to throw up the protest vote. I like McCain but I am weary of him on some issues, particularly illegal immigration and I think it is not illogical to fear that McCain could shift the Republican party a few notches to the left. But protest voting is tricky - people have to understand that it is protest.

Some of my more conservative friends have suggested that we all need to vote for the democrats in 2008 to show the Republican party that we're not happy with their moderate candidates. I think that's silly - how do we expect the Republican party is going to get that message? Are they going to look at a Hillary win and say "Wow! The conservative voter is disgruntled with us and voted for the opposition out of spite, we'd better select more conservative candidates"? No, they're going to say "Wow! People really like Hillary".



I did a little shopping (mind you, it was on wikipedia) to look for a third party candidate that would send the message I want to send ("hey Republican party, I'm still open to voting for you but in the future put up someone who is a little more libertarian and will enforce our immigration laws") and I think I found a decent one. Out of the Libertarian Party we have Wayne Allyn Root - reduced government spending, increased personal liberties and responsibilities, strong international stance though weak on social issues like abortion.

There are also a few other decent candidates up for the Libertarian primary, as well as up for the Constitution Party and as a last option I've got the Prohibition Party. Under no circumstances will I be voting for either of the democrats or any of the Greens, Communists or Socialists.



So to recap - of the realistic options on the table I'm backing McCain and will only vote third party if the margins are far enough away that a vote for McCain will be pointless. If you plan on a protest vote against McCain for motivations similar to mine I ask that rather than just voting for the dem you vote for a candidate like Root who will send a relatively clear and productive message to the GOP.



On a related note - Mike Gravel is running for the Libertarian Party's nomination, and while that isn't funny his campaign ad is - http://youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9w
I hope all the crazies vote for him

I was really hoping stuff like this would wait until after the democratic primary

Hillary was caught clearly, clearly lying about her experiences in Yugoslavia but I’m not sure it will damage her campaign all that much. While this will invariably do a little long term damage to her I think she’ll still take PA and I think if Obama’s campaign sputters toward the end (which it very well might) she still has a good shot at the nomination.

BTW, check out the video, just playing this over and over again on TV would be a slam dunk campaign, I hope Giuliani challenges her in NY and uses it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8BfNqhV5hg4

Obama's "Dean Scream"?

Say Howard Dean and most Americans will think back to that high-pitched "YeaAHah!!!" he boomed for all of West Des Moines, and indeed, the world, to hear. That was defiantly the moment his chance at the Democratic Nomination took a dive, but I don't believe that was the reason.

People didn't really like Dean all that much; his positions on many areas were bordering on communism, his supporters were creepy and potentially unreliable, he wanted to make national fights out of local issues, he probably wasn't all that viable in a race against a determined Republican president, he didn't know much about international relations and he came off as a bit of a jerk to a lot of people. Wow that was a long sentence, but those were the real, complex reasons behind Dean's downfall. The scream was just the moment, something undeniably tangible that people could easily point to rather than explain all those other reasons that Dean didn't sit well in their guts.

Obama gave a pretty good speech this week, maybe even a great speech. It told us what we should all already know - some ethnic groups in America don't get along all that well and there are sometimes legitimate reasons behind this ill will. Mr. Obama doesn't really have any particular solution for this problem but never the less honestly talking about race in America doesn't hurt anything. So why are people, particularly democrats, reacting to this speech badly? Some will say its racism but those people are silly, any objective analysis says Obama's racial makeup has decidedly aided his campaign. I think this was Obama's Dean Scream Moment.

Obama is in many ways a Democratic candidate flawed in the same ways (though not to the same extent) as Dean was. He has an army of young volunteers who while enthusiastic are often not only poorly informed but also not registered to vote and will probably be made mince meat of by the efficient RNC cadres. His positions are not just left of center, economically they're left of left of left. He has no foreign policy experience. He too is looking to make federal issues out of state decisions. Above all else the Obama campaign of propelled by a naive optimism that more and more democratic leaders are seeing could be less effective than the tried and true Clinton machine.

I thought Obama's speech was at worst empty rhetoric, certainly there was noting bad about it but this opinion is not shared by many influential democratic bellwethers.

After February 4th there was a long stretch when all that was in the news was this unprobable swath of Obama victories which built momentum and enthusiasm. But that is over now, the voters and the Democratic party have a month and a half to sit back and as if they really want a state senator from south Chicago to be running the most powerful nation mankind has ever seen.

Obama is still in this, but after this speech I predict a chilling effect. I think donations will slow, the media will be more critical, he will get rocked in Pennsylvania, Indiana will not look good for him.

The Border

I have only seen the pilot, but in a huge let down it appears that The Border is nothing more than a politically correct version of 24. bbooooooooooooo Canada.

South America on the brink of war?

“Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast!” - Ron Burgundy

A bunch of Columbian soldiers were chasing FARC rebels near the Ecuadorian border and ended up straying over it. They claim it was an accident, but at the same time say they found documents linking Ecuador’s anti-American president with the terrorist group. Ecuador cut off relations, moved some armed forces into the region and called for the OAS to meet as would be expected after such an incident. And then BAM! Chavez makes his move!

Hugo also suspended diplomatic relations with Bogota and ordered his defense minister to move around 10,000 men along with tanks and jet fighters to his border with Columbia and threatened war. Chavez has called Uribe, the democratically elected president of Columbia, a liar and gangster while praising the recently killed FARC (read terrorist) leader Raul Reyes.

Chavez has spun what would have been an international dispute into a situation that could trigger war and he has done it coming to the aid of a terrorist organization. Chavez’s reforms inside Venezuela has led to sharp economic decline inside the country (including a food shortage) despite the recent rise in oil prices. Chavez knows his country is headed for domestic political turmoil and is trying to head it off by finding a foreign enemy, it is heavy handed and most people will see it for what it is. Let’s hope he doesn’t think a real war is necessary for him to stay in power.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V5H5TG1&show_article=1

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0227633020080302?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true