A few more thoughts

To continue my post from yesterday.

F-35s  A while back I wrote a post questioning how the Harper government would react to the AG report that slammed their handling of this issue.  I stated that they had the opportunity to rethink the whole process for the good of the Canadian Air Force and for Canadians by reducing the amount of politics that had infested this file.  I also stated that they could do what Jean Chretien did and make the issue more political than it already is.  I questioned which approach the Harper government would take although I had a feeling that they would take the Chretien approach.  It appears I am right, which is not surprising because this government always lets politics trump good judgement and bad judgement for that matter.  Only two outcomes can come from this.  The Canadian Airforce will have to wait decades before they finally receive replacements for the F-18s or Canadians will be saddled with a huge bill for new fighter aircraft that will not meet all of the needs of the Canadian Air Force, which will have to make due with them for over 30 years. 

Dutch Disease   Mr. Mulclair learned a valuable lesson.  Tactics that work in the closed politics of Quebec do not work very well in the open politics of Canada.  There are too many diverse interests in the broader Canadian political scene to allow for the type of politics he displayed recently.  Fortunately for him and the NDP he has three years to learn this and maybe he will break the streak of provincial politicians who become leaders of federal political parties only to crash and burn in a spectacular fashion.  I would not hold my breath though if you are an NDP supporter.  The irony of this whole situation is his arguments did have some merit but he just did not take them far enough.  The current government's focus on the resource industries while it criminally ignores the manufacturing industries in this country will come back to haunt them and the country.  If either of the Opposition Parties can come up with a way to bring that situation into focus in a more constructive fashion they would be doing Canada a great service.  (Don't hold your breath on that score however.)

Microphones in our Airports  Mr. bin Laden must be laughing his ass off in Hell.  With one act he managed to do what countless Soviet politicians, diplomats, soldiers, spys, and agent provoceteurs failed to do during half-a-century of the Cold War, namely, cause the people of the West to accept increasing limitations on their rights and freedoms.  I am certain that some old Soviet spymaster in a Russian nursing home is kicking himself for not thinking of paying international terrorists to strike directly at the US.  The irony of this situation is the Soviet Union was a threat to our political institutions and our way of life while bin Laden and his ilks have never been and never will be.  Which is not stopping elements of the ruling classes of the West, who have a more authoritarian bent, from hyping up the terrorist threat for their own political ends.  The government finally backed off from activating these microphones (for now) after they took a great deal of political heat over them but the fact that someone actually thought putting these microphones in place was a good idea speaks volumes on how much citizens of the West have accepted giving up their rights and freedoms in the name of "security".