The Idea Of Human Rights Has Become Degraded And Trivialized By Philistines

Social commentator Rex Murphy has penned a valuable short essay on the loss and degradation of the Human Rights our Canadian Culture has revered for its entire existence since and even prior to our country's founding in 1876.  That culture, and its values, has at least the following characteristics, most of them inherited from Great Britain's much more ancient culture and history:

I. The rule of law - including the notion of due process. 
II. The sovereignty of Parliament.
III. The pluralist state.
IV. Our personal freedoms from arbitrary State actions.
V. Private property.
VI. Our Institutions.
VII. The family.
VIII. Our History.
IX. Our Languages.
X. Our character.
XI. Respect for ourselves and for others.

My use of the term Philistines derives from a commonly-accepted definition which includes: "lacking in or indifferent to cultural values - a barbarian"

His latest comment may be found at:  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-b-c-groin-waxing-case-is-a-mockery-of-human-rights

In it he explains how an absurd claim of false 'rights' degrades and trivializes the idea of Human Rights proclaimed in our Constitution and in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed in 1948 following the deadly tragedy of the German National Socialist Holocaust and World War 2.  He compares this so-called 'right' to the real rights of human beings trampled on by the world's current gangs of genocidal maniacs in places like North Korea and China, and could have added Myanmar and, in a much smaller degree, Venezuela.

This false claim has been taken by a biological male who has tried to trans-gender himself into a woman and is using our bastardized kangaroo courts and state harassment agents known as Human Rights Commissions to establish so-called 'rights' that offend the centuries-long traditions of our rule of law by creating ideologically-driven false rights.

I have long maintained, based on lengthy experience with Human Rights Commissions and the biased persons they choose as tribunal judges, that the phenomenon of Human Rights agents harassment of ordinary Canadians by ideologically-driven investigators and Commissioners appointed by equally foolish politicians, is a mockery of the idea of 'rights' and the notion of  'justice'.  This case is one of the most absurd and insane ones to be entertained by the clowns involved.

It is an Alice in Wonderland world we live in today.  Such a complaint  should have been dismissed after a little thought, but of course, wasn't.

House-cleaning first, then policies which can help build a strongt economy are needed to save Canada

Lord Black, with his usual clear-sightedness, has laid out the problems Canada faces and suggested the way forward. 

See his article at the National Post:  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-canada-needs-to-compete-heres-how-we-can-win

This will take, at a minimum, a major house-cleaning job at the upcoming federal election.  However, it will take a lot more than that.

The message is loud and clear!  The absolutely idiotic Liberals have created an economic mess that will take decades to rectify.  Just look at the difficulties Doug Ford and his Conservative government are now having trying to dig out from under the bankrupting socially and economically irresponsible policies of the Ontario Liberals. 

During the years when G.W. Bush was intent on bankrupting the U.S. with his adventures in the Middle East, Canada, if it had adopted a sane, sound, set of economic policies encouraging economic development, could have, in relative terms, by-passed the US in economic development (and the prosperity with jobs galore that would have come with it). 

Canada did not and does not have the drag of the enormous cost to bear of paying for the West's international police force.  It could have even contributed its share of the costs of the NATO alliance. 

Some of the blame for this falls at the feet of the Harper government's lack of vision, but the last 4  damaging years of irresponsible spending, lack of much needed helpful economic policies, and the adoption of harmful economic policies by the Liberal government of the clown Trudeau, has made the situation far worse for Canada, while the U.S., led by Donald Trump, despite all of his failings, has soared far ahead of us.  Are we going to survive this disaster?  The upcoming election may be a clue to that.

Alberta Municipaity has brain fart and adopts goofy bylaw way beyond their powers

Before you go all half-cocked with excitement about the new bylaw passed by St. Albert, Alberta, making it an offence to promote and/or engage in gender conversion therapy of youth, give your head a shake and realize that municipalities, whether in Alberta or not, do not have any constitutional right to do that




see the article at:  https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/cheers-erupt-as-alberta-municipality-votes-to-ban-conversion-therapy

I don't disagree with the sentiment, and the federal government should do something about the problem, but I am glad that municipalities do not have the powers and rights to pass such laws and impose heavy fines or other penalties for such things.  Imagine what a mess our country would be in if every municipality was entitled to pass criminal laws and regulate social behaviour.  It would be pure tribalism and anarchy, like a trip back to the middle ages or worse.

They are entitled to regulate matters relating to property usage, civic nuisances, garbage collection, taxes, road construction and maintenance, and similar stuff relevant to running a municipality, but criminal law or social behaviour not constituting a nuisance to other residents, is way, way beyond their rights and powers. The Alberta municipal government statutes do not give them such powers, probably because the province does not have the constitutional power to do so, and their lawyers have made it clear to the bonehead politicians that they can't do that.

I am amazed at the level of ignorance that prevails in the ignorant minds of Canadians.

Lawyers advance goofy arguments supporting the Muslim Veil in attack on Quebec's New Law

Some entirely partisan lawyers say Quebec secularism law causing irreparable harm, must be stayed say lawyers acting for Muslims unwilling to adapt to Canadian values and culture.

See article at:

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/muslim-civil-liberties-groups-begin-court-battle-against-quebec-secularism-law

Exaggerated claims are advanced by lawyers against Quebec’s secularism law , arguing the law must be stayed for the duration of the court challenge against it.


The lawyers are merely trying to do their jobs, advancing their clients' positions, no matter how absurd they are.  But they should be more careful and less partisan.



The law bans some public sector workers, such as teachers, judges and prison guards, from wearing religious symbols at work.

While I raised some similar arguments against the Quebec law as it is, because of constitutional problems associated with it, I don't oppose the intent of the law regarding requiring the veil to be lifted and not worn by persons who hide behind it both in the courts and in public office as civil servants in government jobs, especially those in situations of dealing with the public. 


However, there is no earthly reason for forbidding people from wearing inoffensive, inobtrusive symbols of their religion, like necklaces, or lapel pins.  This was done clearly to make the law seem as if it wasn't targetted only at Muslims. 

Religious observances should not over-ride common sense social values and rules of our culture and society, and people who cannot bear to adapt to Canadian values and customs should not be entitled to demand that Canadians change their historical cultural values to accommodate such things. 

Why did they come here if they were so adverse to Canadian values?  Something stinks about that.

Most Liberal Journalists and Canadian Politicians are Ignorant about How Energy workis, Tories get it mostly right

Canadian politicians don't understand how energy works, but the Tories' new plan gets it mostly right

See article by Diane Francis: "Investing in fossil fuel infrastructure (namely LNG and gas pipelines) is consistent with creating a cleaner planet" at:

https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/why-the-tories-new-energy-plan-mostly-gets-it-right


A straight forward win-win for Canada is to move our oil to the east by pipeline, export as much as possible, then reinvest those proceeds in building renewables and exporting LNG to Asia.

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The facts are that, between 2007 and 2017, the United States reduced carbon emissions, more than any other world nation.   This happened partly because of the fossil-fuel shale revolution, and because natural gas has replaced coal in the generation of electrical power.
.
CO2 emission reductions in the U. S. were more than those achieved by Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Spain and Japan.

Despite Germany's renewable energy sector, it struggled to reach its ambitious emissions targets during this period of time because it used coal to generate electricity when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Because Renewables cannot do the job alone the German government is investing billions in natural gas pipelines and infrastructure to replace coal.

Naturally, these facts are not acknowledged or admitted by Canada’s dishonest Green, NDP, or Liberal Parties.  Fossil fuels — notably natural gas — are critically important in helping transition the world to lower emissions by eliminating coal, the world’s dominant source of energy.


The CO2 output to generate electricity by burning natural gas is 50 per cent less than coal and lower than by burning diesel, heating oil, gasoline, or propane.

This is good news for Canada, which has more natural gas than many other countries.

Unfortunately, Canadian politicians don’t understand how energy works, much less its importance to its resident’s standard of living. The Greens would stop all new fossil fuel development, and would also shut down nuclear facilities in Ontario and New Brunswick. These goals would end up stranding the most important energy assets in the country as well as leaving Canadians in the dark and cold, without an economy.

The NDP believes that public transit, vehicle rebates, and housing retrofits would dramatically reduce emissions and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs lost in the auto and energy sectors. Wrong.

Then there are the ruling Liberals who cloak themselves in environmental morality. But consider the cynicism: Last week they declared a “climate change emergency” in parliament, then held a big press conference to announce their re-approval of a $10-billion expansion of an existing oil pipeline they nationalized to the B.C. coast that won’t ever happen, especially once their Bill C-69 is rolled out this summer. This law — with its endless and goofy consultation requirements — will effectively end resource investment and development.

The Conservatives’ new energy plan has it mostly right because it accedes to the reality that the economy must be protected and that investing in fossil fuel infrastructure (namely liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas pipelines) is consistent with creating a cleaner planet. And so is investing in green tech innovation.

Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, speaks about the idea of a national energy corridor in Calgary on Saturday, May 25, 2019. Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia Calgary

This means that the best course for Canada is to move our oil to the east by pipeline, export as much as possible, then reinvest those proceeds in building renewables and exporting LNG to Asia.

Unfortunately, Canadian energy companies were working on that, but were sabotaged by the  Liberals, the  NDP and the Greens, pretty much killing those plans.





No one, of course, even mentions the best of the alternatives, modern Nuclear Energy plants.

The Conservatives’ want to build pipelines to use our resources, cut carbon taxes, develop LNG and foster green technology, fine big emitters and conserve through a “green homes tax credit.”

As Ms Francis says - "This fall, Canadians must vote for parties that realize the country’s greatest competitive advantage is oil and natural gas, and that pipelines must be built to get landlocked assets to domestic and export markets in order to best transition to a cleaner world."

This woman, who is not an empty-headed gab-bag fake-journalist pundit, but has real world credentials - knows what she is talking about.

Francis was a reporter and columnist with The Toronto Star from 1981 to 1987, then a columnist and director with the Toronto Sun, Maclean's and the Financial Post in 1987[4] and its editor from 1991 to 1998, when it was taken over by the National Post and incorporated into it.[4] She has been a columnist and editor-at-large at the National Post since then;[1] her columns are widely cited, quoted and republished. She is also a regular contributor to the Atlantic Council, New York Post, the Huffington Post, Kyiv Post as well as newspapers around the world. She is a broadcaster, speaker and author of ten books on Canadian socio-economic subjects.[1]

Francis is Distinguished Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto.[5] She was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center in autumn 2005[6] and has been a Media Fellow at the World Economic Forum.[5]

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See also:

Ross McKitrick: Apocalyptic rhetoric about extreme weather keeps ramping up. But experts say there’s no emergency  https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/ross-mckitrick-apocalyptic-rhetoric-about-extreme-weather-keeps-ramping-up-but-experts-say-theres-no-emergency
Ross McKitrick: This scientist proved climate change isn’t causing extreme weather — so politicians attacked  https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/ross-mckitrick-this-scientist-proved-climate-change-isnt-causing-extreme-weather-so-politicians-attacked
Trudeau’s ‘climate emergency’ meets his national muddle of malfunctioning carbon taxes https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/trudeaus-climate-emergency-meets-his-national-muddle-of-malfunctioning-carbon-taxes
This goofy clause in Bill C-69 will ensure resource development in Canada stops cold https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/this-goofy-clause-in-bill-c-69-will-ensure-resource-development-in-canada-stops-coldWhen foreigners began attacking Canada’s oil industry, Ottawa turned a blind eye. Now it’s getting worse https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/when-foreigners-began-attacking-canadas-oil-industry-ottawa-turned-a-blind-eye-now-its-getting-worse
 Our energy industry is in crisis, but Trudeau is too busy doing damage control over SNC-Lavalin to act  https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/our-energy-industry-is-in-crisis-but-trudeau-is-too-busy-doing-damage-control-over-snc-lavalin-to-act

The Trudeau Liberals corruptly disregard the impartiality of Judicial appointments in Canada and show contempt for Canadians

On July 2nd, 2019, it was reported that friendships and cronyism have tainted the federal Liberal appointment of  five of six judicial appointments during the last year because of connections to Dominic  LeBlanc, MP and Liberal Cabinet Minister. The appointments included a neighbour, a relative and three lawyers who helped retire debt from LeBlanc’s unsuccessful 2008 leadership campaign.

As usual, no reasons were revealed to justify the appointments.

[See the story at:  https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/pm-defends-system-for-appointing-judges-amid-questions-about-ties-to-n-b-minister]

Whether or not federal appointees to Canadian courts are qualified, the process of appointment is the same as it has always been where the Liberals are involved:  based on cronyism and ideology. In Canada, the effective rule is - "Corruption - Thy name is Liberal".

The stink from this kind of corruption taints the judges as well as coats the entire court system with the slime of corruption, whether or not the judges are honourable and competent persons.

In the past, some of the appointees who were so chosen turned out to actually be honourable and competent judges.  But, in these days of so-called "progressive-liberalism" and political correctness, and of judicial activism, revealing ideological prejudices of the judges in their decisions, it is more important than ever that the appointment process be transparent.

Canadian judicial appointments should go through a public non-partisan vetting process that at least has a chance of weeding out candidates who are cronies or are activists with an agenda.  Given the lying nature of most politicians, particularly those in power, Lametti's Press Secretary's words in the story truly ring hollow.

The Russian dictator, Putin, is laughing in his vodka at Canada and the U.S. for their continued drifts away from democracy.

Antifa is a movement of violent totalitarian thugs, reminiscent of the NAZI Brown Shirts

Barbara Kay, a respected commentator for the National Post, raises an alarm and a criticism about both Antifa,  a movement of violent totalitarian thugs, and North American governments  which have failed to charge them with their crimes and intimidation tactics.

She shows that the fascist Antifa criminals are  permitted by American  authorities to conceal their identity in left-wing Oregon and elsewhere dominated by Democrats.

See her article at: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/barbara-kay-antifa-needs-to-be-called-out-for-what-they-are-violent-totalitarian-thugs

Their behavioui mirrors similar criminal elements who operate in Canada, who claim legitimacy as opponents of the so-called Establishment.  Their actions amount to a form of terrorism and definitely intimidation.  Canada has laws against that sort of behaviour.  The press, or established media, appears to glorify or be amused by them.

In Oregon the masked Antifa terrorists attacked a reporter who has covered their activities, including vicious personal assaults inflicting brain damage.  The Portland police were typically slow to act.

The attack served to illuminate what all responsible people know and have long known about Antifa. Antifa stands for “anti-fascist,” and claims to stand against racism and far-right ideology, but many of them are merely thugs shoehorning bully impulses into a political boot. They consider any dissidents to PC dogmas fair game for intimidation, doxing or assault.

As Ms. Kay said - "In Canada, in the 1990s and early 2000s, we knew Antifa under the rubric of the Black Bloc, which targeted civilians, notably journalists, for harassment or worse."  This has been the tactic of crazed left-wing Socialists and Mar\xists for many decades.  They do not deny it.

In the US,  the Department of Homeland Securty has described them as perpetrators of  “domestic terrorist violence.”

Amongst leftist elites, Antifa is described as  “a courageous group of Americans.” by such luminaries as Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate for President.
 
Antifa is a bunch of “rich kids in masks.”   They are despicable criminal terrorists, who are protected by their Democratic and Liberal admirers.

When Trudeau, Climate Barbie, and the Liberals acting as destroyers of Canada's economy, or Wynne and McGuinty having nearly bankrupted Ontario and forced residents to pay three times the fair price for electricity, can get away with their political games, from wild spending sprees, false prosecutions and damning Alberta and the West to economic hardships and other deceptions, of course the antifa thugs think they can get away with their brand of violence and intimidation.  And the police are complicit with government's silent support of this thuggery as evidenced by their deliberate failure to deal with the crimes of the thugs.

Canada' Liberal Government is shirking its responsibility to prosecute its citizens who fought for ISIL

John Ivison comments on July 3rd, 2019, that the Liberals are shirking Canada's responsibility to prosecute Canada citizens who fought for ISIL

The Liberals' make phony excuses that the situation is too confused or dangerous for effective government action.  This is 'basically a cop-out,' one intelligence expert says.

For purely invalid political reasons the Trudeau government doesn't want to have to deal with this just prior to a federal election. 

See the story at:  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-canada-shirking-its-responsibility-to-prosecute-its-citizens-who-fought-for-isil

Despite the fact that many Canadians have gone into the areas formerly infested by the criminal gang of murderous jihadis, as mentioned in the article, Trudeau's government has cowardly whined that it is too dangerous for meaningful intervention or any action.  The government has not taken any action regarding returning terrorists who have slipped into Canada undetected.



The requests of the Kurdish authorities that Canada take their citizens back to be tried in their own countries, before they escape or are released.  All this has been ignored.

The Trudeau Liberals are once again, behaving like the irresponsible incompetents they are, and betraying the interests of Canadians.

With alarmist ad campaign, Ontario Nurses' Association takes a destructive approach to province's health care woes

Commentator Randall Denley calls Nurse's anti-Ford campaign an attempt to alarm the public and persuade them to demand that Ford stop doing whatever it is the nurses don’t like.

See his article at:  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/randall-denley-with-alarmist-ad-campaign-ontario-nurses-association-takes-an-unconstructive-approach-to-provinces-health-care-woes

Denley characterizes the government reforms as "creating Ontario Health Teams that are meant to get the disparate parts of the health sector to track a patient’s progress and work together on the most appropriate, least-expensive treatment"  .  He says that "people on the front lines of health care endorse the approach".

Premier Doug Ford says that "Only management-level jobs will be lost in Ontario health-care shakeup".

Denley says that "The best non-partisan analysis of the government’s health care approach, its cost and the issues that need to be addressed was done by the province’s Financial Accountability Office. Check it out. You will find it a lot more informative than the ONA’s newspaper ads."

Why would anyone believe the always self-serving Union of Nurses?  Like all unions, they exist only to rip-off the public and super-lobby and threaten the government.  According to their ads they claim they are only interested in health care and patients.  That is a plain lie.

By saying this I am not condemning individual nurses, who generally do a great job.  That is not at all what the union hacks and highly over-paid union execs do. I am certain a large number of nurses would like to dump them if they could.

Why governments keep screwing up major infrastructure projects

Philip Cross, a fellow with Canada's  Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a recent  former Chief Economic Analyst at Statistics Canada, explains - "Why governments keep screwing up major infrastructure projects" in his latest June 28th, 2019, National Post article at: https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/philip-cross-why-governments-keep-screwing-up-major-infrastructure-projects.

His article is crammed with pithy and accurate reasons why this pretty much invariably happens in all jurisdictions, whether federally, provincially or in urban situations.  Read his article for details of the studies reported in a  2003 book Megaprojects and Risk by Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius and Werner Rothengatte with evidence from the World Bank and many others.

Instead of outlining his specific comments (you can read the article), instead, I summarize his comments which allude to his sources showing why governments rarely get maega-projects done in time and within cost estimates:

1.  Dishonesty on the parts of government politicians, managers and planners [study authors say “deception and lying” are common tactics to get projects approved].

2.  More dishonesty and lying by politicians [Though no megaproject ever proceeds smoothly, planners use 'Everything Goes According to Plan' assumptions because it lowers the initial cost estimates presented to the public].

3.  Gross incompetence by politicians and bureaucratic public management [characterized by “strikingly poor performance in terms of economy, environment and public support.” Costs are almost always underestimated, and demand for most public projects overestimated].

4.  More dishonesty and gross incompetence [The same studies describe the planning process as “seriously flawed” and “a grave embarrassment,” with the occasional accusation of “lying” thrown in for good measure. Nor is there much evidence governments learn from past mistakes].

5.  More gross incompetence and dishonesty [Governments don’t hold contractors accountable for cost overruns. Nor in turn are they themselves held accountable for overly optimistic demand forecasts. Most projects take so long that incumbent politicians are not around to take responsibility for misleading the public].

As shown, all public projects suffer from a lack of accountability.

Recap:  Dishonesty and Incompetence.  Didn't we know that already?  I guess voters never pay attention, do they?