In the Financial Post online, read the whole article. Foster makes several good points—which I summarize in my own way; for example
***43,000 aboriginals of the NWT, of which Kakfwi is Premier,
***have been given a huge land mass by our government, and
***own or control vast potential mineral resources ***are getting the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline which will bring massive construction and development
***receive $1 billion—yes, one billion dollars from Canadian taxpayers—for 43,000 aboriginals (You do the math.)
and so Kakfwi goes to meet representatives of de Beers in New York
***to negotiate a BIGGER share of the resource revenues in a mining contract, and
***insults them because his information about DeBeers and dirty diamonds is incorrect ***wants to maintain traditional aboriginal culture--which has already been forever eroded because of
***the death of the fur industry ***massive government handouts ***aboriginals’ desire for consumer goods ***and probably other factors
and now Kakfwi wants
***to deprive the 50% of the population of the NWT which is non-native from having their share in self-government
for Kakwi also wants
***70% of local government to go exclusively to aboriginals ***and dignity and respect for aboriginals
My Commentary: Updated Sept. 13 am
Mr. Kakfwi must be a Liberal; he forgets that though he leads the natives, once elected Premier, he is the Premier of ALL residents of the NWT and is duty bound to represent ALL residents--residents who should have EQUAL rights in each province or territory. Once he learns this, perhaps he could teach the Liberals how it is done.
The problems of all native bands are the result of race-based policies which have been going on, forever, it seems—supported by both the PCs and the Liberals—and no matter how much land or money they get, they seem dissatisfied.
It is amazing what the rest of Canada’s tax-paying citizens experience that the aboriginals should try--to see if they could forget bellyaching for a while and begin to feel responsible for their own progress and feelings of success. The government should get out of the business of aboriginal affairs and treat aboriginals like the rest of Canadians--no more race-based policies. The aboriginals themselves might, for example, try
***holding down a job and coming to work—even when they don’t feel like it (Most of the world’s work is done by people who don’t feel very well. Churchill)
***paying taxes the same as everyone else ***being publicly accountable for taxpayer handouts and the dispensation of moneys; this accountability includes these aspects:
***that the chief be ethically and publicly responsible and responsive to ALL band members for his reserves' finances
***that the chief and others responsible use currently acceptable accounting procedures to keep ALL the reserve's inhabitants and the taxpayers of Canada informed concerning how taxpayers' money is dispensed
***that the chief serve ALL natives on the reserve, not just his family and friends
***that the junkets to exotic places be stopped and that the money involved be dispersed where it should go--to needy native members of the reserve
***that the chief has a duty to lead for the betterment of ALL band members of the reserve--not just for his coterie
***looking after their families themselves--without government handouts that come with their implied apartheid policies, and without social agencies picking up the slack ***concentrating on schools that would teach their children necessary skills like reading, writing and the rest--skills that would allow their children to leave school equipped to choose to stay in the North, or to leave their communities because they have skills to sell in the open market--instead of worrying about whether there is anyone left who speaks the aboriginal language and taking school time to teach it until the basics are provided for (It won't help the children be economically productive in the 21st century, I would bet.)
***choosing to rear their children responsibly, instead of leaving them while drinking away the endless, taxpayer-funded largesse (I know, not everyone does it -– but enough do.)
***repairing their own homes—perhaps not damaging them in drunken debauch in the first place—instead of waiting for that great repairman out of the sky, the Ottawa Cargo Cult, to fly in with ‘dat repairman manna’ ***and a few other responsible citizenship duties
Why, I’ll just bet they would be too busy working, getting and spending to whine—or waste their hard-earned dollars at the local watering hole. They, themselves, could even afford to support the dissemination of their aboriginal culture and language amongst their own. Don't they understand that their emphasis on maintaining the old ways and their languages dooms their children to lack the skills to do anything but stay in the North and wait for someone else to provide for them?
I'm on a rant but if the truth as I see it hurts -- feel free to respond!
There is not one mention in the article about WHY Israel went after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin -- the continual bombings that persistently target the old, the young and the infirm. The article makes it look like Israel started this thing and I find that extremely unfair!
My simple view is that these people (the Palestinians) are cowards and will tuck their tails between their legs and run like hell when Israel gets serious . . . .
Like the rest of the world I am waiting for Israel to go in and knock hell out of Arafats' criminal organization and as far as the BBC is concerned -- "Piss on the BBC!"
No Ontario political party, especially the Conservatives, is attempting to court the province's 80% of voters, who live in cities and suburbs
No party understands that fashioning a pro-urban platform that appeals to residents in cities and suburbs -- more than 80% of Ontario's population --would bring it a decisive victory. Instead, all dither with demographic formulas that don't reach the electorate where it lives.
All politicians know that city residents are overwhelmingly liberal on social issues -- urbanites favour gay rights, abortion and the environment and they oppose capital punishment and immigration bashing. But Ontario politicians don't understand that city residents are also overwhelmingly liberal on economic issues -- urbanites favour competition, free trade and globalization. (Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Urban Renaissance Institute. www.Urban-Renaissance.com Email: LawrenceSolomon@nextcity.com.)
My Commentary:
I think Solomon should talk with a few ordinary Toronto residents. People are muttering something different in my ears--but then, I post from people like Bud.Solomon disagrees that urban voters would be in agreement with Ernie Eves on immigration – but I would like to know his sources for the statements he makes about their preferences
***"urbanites favour gay rights, abortion and the environment and they oppose capital punishment and immigration bashing"***
– but then, I suppose if the Liberals parachute enough immigrants into places like Toronto, the grateful will vote Liberal. The Libs been doing it for years, haven’t they?
"N.B.: I was curious (okay, suspicious) about a group that would call itself "Urban Renaissance" so checked out the url cited at the end of the column; it led to the kind of search engines one often finds at dead links. How appropriate.
Lawrence Solomon’s links—lead to search engines. Huh? Check Debbye out; she writes well.
Barbie dolls are a threat? Saudi Arabian males have to keep their women hidden? There’s something wrong with these characters, not the dolls! What would they do with a red-blooded, free-wheeling, sexually precocious woman? Run! Buy her a gift? Get a life, boys! On second thought, get a real woman! Stop playing around with talk of Barbie dolls.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Saudi Arabia's religious police have declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality, complaining that the revealing clothes of the "Jewish" toy - already banned in the kingdom - are offensive to Islam.
[. . . .]
A spokesman for the committee [The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice], which is an arm of the Saudi government, said the campaign against Barbie - banned for more than 10 years - coincides with the start of the school year to remind children and their parents of the doll's negative qualities. [And Canada needs Wahhabi schools to bring the message here?]
[. . . .]
Sheik Abdulla al-Merdas, a preacher in a Riyadh mosque, said the muttawa, the committee's enforcers, take their anti-Barbie campaign to the shops, confiscating dolls from sellers and imposing a fine.
"It is no problem that little girls play with dolls. But these dolls should not have the developed body of a woman and wear revealing clothes," al-Merdas said.
"These revealing clothes will be imprinted in their minds and they will refuse to wear the clothes we are used to as Muslims."
[. . . .]
Women in Saudi Arabia must cover themselves from head to toe with a black cloak in public. They are not allowed to drive and cannot go out in public unaccompanied by a male family member.
Other items listed as violations on the site included Valentine's Day gifts, perfume bottles in the shape of women's bodies, clothing with logos that include a cross, and decorative copies of religious items or text - offensive because they could be damaged and thus insult Islam.
[. . . .]
The committee acts as a monitoring and punishing agency, propagating conservative Islamic beliefs according to the teachings of the puritan Wahhabi sect, adhered to the kingdom since the 18th century, and enforcing strict moral code.
My Commentary:
***"These revealing clothes will be imprinted in their minds and they will refuse to wear the clothes we are used to as Muslims." ***
Aha! The crux of the problem! They are afraid the children--and perhaps even the women--might get ideas. They should be so lucky! No wonder you’ll find these oil sheikhs in the bars of the world trying to pick up women. I once travelled with a group which included a woman, a doctor, who called to me from a bar in the Taj Hotel in Bombay to come and join her—which I declined—although I did lose out on a nifty gift—a token of their affection. I left her seated in the hotel bar with at least four of these white-robed, lusty characters. She departed our group and “would fly to Delhi and meet us there”. The next time I saw her at the Ashoka Hotel she was sporting a new diamond, ruby and emerald bracelet. Perhaps if these guys allowed their women a little freedom they wouldn’t be looking for women in the bars of the world. But then, our deprived women would lose out on gold, gem-studded bracelets—and other things.
Ah, yes, the Wahhabi sect again! A friend has warned me that this post is too “hot” to post. Reason enough to post it, I say. Our politically correct government already hides enough truth from us—the way they did with Bill Sampson’s torture. Truth is no defence in Canada, of course. In the blogosphere, I’ve been told I can publish anything my fiendish heart desires. Testing. . . .
Ernie Eves wants the federal government to hand over much of Ontario’s immigration and refugee selection to Ontario. Having done this for Quebec, what should be the problem? But there is a problem, according to Denis Coderre, the Immigration Minister. He is furious that Eves suggests that Ontario is being flooded with foreign gangsters, scam artists, and yes, even terrorists. Eves wants to crack down on this scum and believes the feds are not up to the task.
Well, of course, we all know that immigration is a sacred cow to the Liberals. So X number of baddies get into Canada under their insanely soft policies. Isn't that a small price to pay to keep the urban ridings safe for Liberal candidates? Besides the undesirable immigrants, there is the sheer number that Ontario has to provide for in terms of language training, education, and—often—welfare. The feds are not ponying up to the table with enough cash, thus putting a strain on the Ontario taxpayers.
