TDot Grit Returns (again)

My month without updates probably lost me the few readers I had, but I'll keep at it anyway.

The NDP never stops amusing me. Their latest: Affirmative Action ridings! I'll keep saying it: just stick to picking good candidates. I myself like seeing more women and minorities in legislatures, but it's not necessary and it's nutty to try and engineer it. A legislature's purpose is to make good policy/law and carry out the wishes of the people it represents. It doesn't have to proportionally represent the gender or racial mix of its constituents.

Barack Obama is my favourite US presidential candidate. Andrew Sullivan has a great piece (subscribers only) on him in the Atlantic.

Those crazy kids in France are rioting again. It started when two kids on a motorcycle (no helmets) collided with a police car and died. I have four problems with this. One: regardless of whether the cops were at fault, how does rioting in response make any sense? These rioters seem to look for excuses to start acting violently. Two: law enforcement was unable to stop the rioting immediately. "Over two nights of violence, they torched scores of cars and rubbish bins, a police station, a nursery school, a library, shops, a car dealer and a McDonald's." This thing should have been shut down as soon as the first car was burnt, but it was allowed to continue. Three: The rioters had the balls to shoot at cops. This should have triggered an overwhelming show of force, but no such thing seems to have happened (I could be wrong, but I've been following this story and have yet to come across anything). Four: Sarkozy, who is supposedly tough on crime, "vowed that anybody who fired at the police would end up in a criminal court, calling it “attempted murder”." Really? That's it? So the other guys who destroyed public and private property won't also end up in criminal court? The police won't defend themselves with their weapons if they're being shot at? What an underwhelming response.

Corporate Taxes, Canadian Content, and Competition

The myth that Canada has really high corporate tax rates is still out there. Take a look at this. The image is from the Economist, who got their data from a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. Our corporate tax rates are lower than that of most Western countries; even the US.

Here's something that irked me when I saw it this morning. It's a Dart from the Toronto Star's "Darts and Laurels" section: "Buffalo Bills - For interference; the NFL team wants to play at least three games in Toronto in coming years, a move that could spell disaster for the Argos and the CFL."

Really? Is the Argos' fan base that fickle and disloyal that they'll abandon their team in droves when an NFL team shows up? And even if this happened, I don't see how it's a bad thing since it's a case of consumers choosing one product over another.

Protectionism exists everywhere, but the cultural protectionism that some Canadians engage in is often baffling. They're so convinced about the inferiority of our own product that they'll do everything to keep competition at bay. We apparently need to keep NFL teams away from our country because Canadians might like them better. We apparently need to keep American TV channels and radio stations away for the same reason. Please. I want my HBO, my MTV (with music videos), and a lot of football fans I know would love it if an NFL team played for Toronto. Let consumers decide. As crazy as it sounds to protectionists, competition might force people on our side of the border to improve the product they put out. And then, maybe more of us would choose Canadian content willingly. Which would you rather have? A strong Canadian product that not only competes but also wins? Or a weak product that constantly needs protection via antiquated laws?

Ontario Election

I have a few thoughts on it, and yes, it's late, but whatever.

There's one theme that really struck me during the campaign (and within politics in general): people with good intentions who don't realize that they're patronizing minorities.

John Tory (apparently) assumed that his school proposal would get him more votes from minorities. Here's how I think about it: We leave other countries and come here for many reasons, one of the main ones being the education system (which has its flaws but is still great, especially compared to what we've left behind). A lot of recent immigrants (and/or minorities) are secular. Like myself, they don't want (more) public funding for religious schooling. You can't assume that a lot of us want this just because a vocal minority (within the minority) is demanding it. When I read about the proposal, I did a double take, but I was even more surprised after learning that Tory somehow thought it would get him votes from people like me.

Note to politicians: Minorities will vote for you if you have good policies. You don't need to target them specifically. It makes some feel special, but most of us feel like we're being singled out and separated from other voters (and thus other Canadians).

MMP was overwhelmingly defeated, as it should have been. One point its proponents constantly made is that we could use it to put more women and minorities in the legislature. I don't know how most women feel about this, but as a brown guy, I was quite offended. I don't care how well intentioned you are, but you're patronizing and insulting me if you're telling me that people who look like me are not capable of being elected under the current system. Apparently a back-door (like MMP) is necessary to get more of us into the legislature. Thanks, but no thanks. If I want to be an elected politician, I'll go about it the normal way. I don't need special policies enacted to make it easier for me; all I need is equal opportunity.

I'm really curious as to what would've happened if Tory had proposed making all of Ontario's schools secular. Just as the Liberals abolished religious arbitration in the legal system, they should abolish funding for Catholic education. Note to D-Mac: If you try and use your new majority to do this, you'll win over a whole lot of minorities like me.

Danny's Peeps

I have a lot to say about the election, but I'll save it. Instead, you should enjoy this very entertaining and informative article by an Economist writer who spent a couple of days in Newfoundland.

Love song for Ahmadinejad

You may have heard that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently claimed that "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

He was speaking at Columbia University.

SNL's Andy Samberg (of Lazy Sunday and D**k in a Box fame) has made a new love song for the president, with an assist from Maroon 5's lead singer. Check it out.

Electoral Reform in Ontario

I'll be voting No to MMP in the referendum to be held ten days. I have several reasons:

1 - There will be two classes of MPPs, one set will be accountable to their electorate (like they all are right now), and one class will only be accountable to the person(s) who appointed them. I don't like that.

2 - More MPPs = More money for their salaries, staff, etc. I really don't like that.

3 - There are many countries where it hasn't worked well and has resulted in legislative gridlock. Supporters tend to name the countries where it works and ignore the rest.

The Star is surprisingly coming out against MMP, and their editorial explains the negative aspects of MMP quite well.

This is not to say that I don't support electoral reform. I personally prefer the Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system. As always, Wikipedia has an excellent collection of articles on different voting systems.

Race in America

I'm sure everyone has already heard enough about the racial politics in Jena.

As always, the Economist gives us a thorough, balanced, and thoughtful piece.