From: Extropian Agro Forestry Ventures Inc. (megao@sk.sympatico.ca)
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 01:02:14 MST
There is a major changing of the gaurd happening here.
Cretien is leaving in 6 months. His heir apparant is 65 so is not
there for a long time.
The liberals have governed with a surplus thanks to low interest rates
on old debt.
Some of the brighter lights have been ditched. One in particular, Allan
Rock, the guy who launched the medical marijuana industry in Canada, is
off the roost because he got tarred with
a gun registry cost-overrun. It was first budgeted in 1995 at 2
million and then hid as a budget item so that now is "locked in" to
costs that near a billion. The registry was so poor that the deadline
for 200,000 to 2 million as yet unregistered guns to declare/register
was dec31, 2002. The online registry,voice mail and fax were all
overloaded into a reverse denial of service attack the last few days of
2002. I just left an email on Dec 31 saying that when they had a system
able to respond that I intended to register my 3 guns. A month later I
have get a response or even an acknowledgement.
I joked that it is going to take all the gov'ts profits from a number of
fees and taxes from the imminent take-over of the marijuana industry
to pay for the gun registry. After all you can't have people running
around loose with guns robbing your marijuana stores.. EH!
The conservative party is looking for a new leader. There are no Brian
Mulroney's from places like the Iron Ore Company of Canada at close
hand. Actually Brian Mulroney came back from places like his VP job
with ADM (archer daniels midland) to try to flush out order from chaos.
The Alliance has just changed its name from the Reform party and
reorganized with a young but untested leader after skewering its
former leader. The party paid its former leader's legal bills when
he slandered someone about an abortion related issue.... that and a few
gafs and missteps had cost him his leadership.
The most socialist, the NDP just elected a new leader yesterday. This
guy and his wife are both
Toronto city councillors. The Toronto Extropians might have comments on
this pair.
Is he a "Pierre Trudeau" living from a fringe party?...
So the only thing for sure about Canadian Politics is that an era of one
party rule is about over and the new landscape is not entirely clear.
RE- Europe/USA- my point was that countries like people can become
functional specialists. Not everyone has to be a policeman. The USA
military technology lead however should give them the first shot at
commercializing civilian applications. EU and Canada are better going
after the bio-sector. Global warming could make Canada a many fold
major producer of bio-products.
You are right about the entrepreneurial spirit of the USA. In Canada
when we want something to happen we ask the government to do it for us.
In the USA you buy an investor database and get those phones and
business plans rolling. Recently farmers were jailed for refusing to
pay fines for selling their wheat in Montana and North Dakota without
Govenment permission. Security does not always mean freedom.
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Well, in my own, typically, arrogant, American way; allow me to
> suggest that the aforementioned societies you have listed, benefit, in
> large part, from the US taxpayer footing the bill for a huge chuck of
> their security. :-) I mean, one can't afford socialized medicine, top
> of the line education, and keep the Russian Bear (of Soviet vintage)
> and the Chinese dragon at bay. Or rather we might, but that also
> would entail (me thinks) raising tariffs, and becoming Festung
> American (fortress).
> To do that, it would take more unity of purpose then the US has, so
> far, exhibited
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I do think that using the UN to chop down the borders of rogue states
is preferred to
all out war. The one thing not to do is rape a country economically
like Germany was after WW1.
This leads to radicalism like the 3rd Reich. The middle east feels
culturally threatened and will
risk world war to protect its culture. The culture is just a bit
right of "Klingon". Cultures do not evaporate overnight.
Countries like EU and Canada are willing to expend social oriented
militarism in preference to
supporting first strikes at war. Military technology to support this
can still create civilian spin-offs.
bye for now..MJ
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