Send in Your Pic!

I've been getting quite a lot of emails from viewers telling me how they like the assorted RantHead link pics. (See my buddy Winston on the right.) While reading some of them and sucking down a Jones cola, I decided to open up the process to you.

Send in your best, funniest, or just downright oddest picture of you with a RantWear item. If your submission is selected, it will be featured in the RantWear ad link for a full month! I will decide the appropriate RantHead title to compliment.

Click on my email link, or here: themoderateseparatist@projectalberta.com. Please make sure the picture is in either jpeg or gif format.

The Clouds are Forming

"We've also got to have popular, believable policies - that may involve some form of carbon tax." - Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff, Edmonton Sun 06/18./06

"The [federal] Conservative government is not talking about a carbon tax,...the federal Liberals will think about imposing one, but they will do it only against the violent objection of the province of Alberta and I will be there to stand for Alberta's interests on the battle lines." - Alberta P.C. leadership candidate Jim Dinning, Globe and Mail 06/18/06

"Clearly a carbon tax simply is not on," he says. "Alberta's resources cannot be taxed by the federal government. It's illegal, period. . . . And we'd do everything that needs to be done to make that not happen." - Jim Dinning, Western Standard magazine 11/14/05

It isn't often that Albertans would have interest in one, let alone two, political leadership campaigns. In fact, the race to replace Ralph Klein as King of Alberta has been without much news of interest. The usual rumours and mild character attacks have started, which isn't rare in a Party that has held onto power for so long. With the economy exploding (and no end in the foreseeable future), in addition to the very similar platforms of all the candidates, the campaign started off with a whimper and has slowed considerably since then.

The federal Liberal leadership race has come into focus for Albertans with the recent statement by Michael Ignatieff, who by all accounts is more conservative than many of the other job hunters. By floating an N.E.P. II trail balloon this week, he tried to appeal to the more leftwing of the Liberal Party. Whether or not it works is to be seen; what is certain is that the comments have created a buzz in the recently quiet Alberta separatist movement. If there is any one issue that would and could drive a wedge into Confederation, it is a carbon tax. The return of a National Energy Program-style attack on Alberta's economy would most certainly raise the ire of even the most moderate of Alberta politicos.

Alberta P.C. leadership hopeful Jim Dinning has seemed to waiver in his stance on this possible raid on Alberta. In May, Dinning told the Red Deer Express: "All of that oilsands activity - about 30 per cent of the economic activity happens outside of Alberta and 42 per cent of the tax take goes to Ottawa. We're part of the flywheel of the Canadian economy. We're going to keep greasing and oiling that flywheel so we can continue to bring benefits to the rest of the country."

Now Dinning has indicated his willingness to fight any cash grab by Ottawa. His belief that this couldn't happen because it is 'illegal' has proven moot, considering the Liberals have shown that it could be a policy. If Dinning does prove the critics right and becomes our next Premier, my hope is that he will keep his word and defend the rights of Alberta, no matter if the threat is from Ottawa, Quebec's Tory-cum-Liberal Jean Charest, or elsewhere.

First Step for Security: End the Flawed Multiculturalism Policy

In a recent article, former Liberal M.P. Sheila Copps wrote about her fears of a backlash against Canada's long-standing multicultural policy because of the arrests of the Toronto 17. Other believers of Pierre Trudeau's greatest (worst?) legacy are quickly jumping on board to defend this 'proudly Canadian' ideology in anticipation of public questioning.

Long held in high regard, and often used in comparison to what the leftwing call America's inferior 'melting pot' society, our multicultural system was borne out of the 1960's mentality that part of Canada's psyche has seemed to be stuck in ever since. Trudeau-era governments looked at the United States, whose policy encouraged people from all corners of the globe to come to their shores with their religion, heritage, language, and culture, with the focus on being an American first and blending your background into the common fabric of American culture and society, and scoffed. Instead, immigrants (more specifically, those from underdeveloped or third world nations) were invited to Canada, bringing their religion, heritage, language, and culture, without the focus on being a Canadian first. Heck, you didn't even need to know the language!

The phenomenon of the hyphenated Canadian was created. While America continued to relish in the mixing of various cultures into a constantly developing one of their own, Canada became a nation made of many smaller nations; a country without the possibility of forming a national identity. Continuous infighting between English and French over political and cultural issues is now the norm. Multicultural doctrine has influenced immigration and security policies that are glaringly inferior, and has resulted in leaving our cities more vulnerable to the creation of terrorist cells with the criminals hiding in plain sight.

Canadians must overcome the inherent belief that an American-style policy must be a bad policy. We must become more stringent in our efforts to protect our people by changing our priorities as a nation. No longer can we be swayed by the politically-correct answers to the tough questions on issues of immigration and citizenship. Laws must be stronger (and the notorious Canadian bleeding-heart judges must be, shall we say, gently encouraged?) to do the right thing and throw the book at any terrorist caught within our borders.

Canada at a Crossroads

CSIS Assistant Director of Operations Luc Portelance

The sweeping arrests of 17 terrorist suspects in the Toronto area has been met with the mix of responses that I had expected in such an event. The anti-war crowd wants to use the foiled attack as reason to do everything from taking our troops out of Afghanistan to offering some sort of appeasement to al-Qaeda. Spain set the precedent in a similar situation by running away from Iraq when the terrorists hit within their borders. Has this example of kneeling down to the will of the Islamic murderers made Spain any less of a target? Not likely.

The difference in the situations is that Canada was targeted by it's own. The most current information indicates that all those charged were, in fact, Canadian citizens. Second and third generation Canadians of Middle East decent are being influenced into believing that killing their own countrymen is justified. The threat of terrorism in Canada has now expanded beyond an immigration issue and is now a valid internal security concern. As well, Canada was named on a hitlist read by none other than Usama bin Laden himself right after the 9/11 attacks - before Canada had entered the 'war on terror' in any capacity. Afghanistan had nothing to do with the planned attack on our soil.

Given that the amount of fertilizer discovered was three times the amount that was used to bring down the federal building in Oklahoma in 1995, it was no surprise to me that the MotherCorp network validated the popular saying: "There's nothing but crap on the C.B.C." by spending some hard-thought questions (and countless taxpayer dollars) on a fertilizer expert. No need to do a segment on the fine work of our security forces when we can talk about shit - and with an expert!

Is this the wake-up call that those pacifist, Trudeauesque, anti-everything Canadians (i.e. the entire membership of the N.D.P.) needed to get them into the real world? Will those who have been living with a false sense of security now realize that we might get hit at some point, and that we must do everything we can to eliminate this threat? Even if it means going to war?

Canada has now come to a crossroads. We have been given a warning, and how we choose to react could determine our future.

Liberal of the Month - June: Who Do Ya Know, Joe?

Liberal leadership candidate Joe Volpe set the theme for his campaign this week, and it looks like he has decided to follow those tried and true Liberal formulas of questionable financial donations and idiotic explanations.

Word broke in the Globe and Mail that 11-year old twins, along with their 14-year old brother, donated a combined total of $16,200 to the Volpe team. That in itself would be enough to raise a few eyebrows until you learn that the boys in question are the sons of former Apotex Inc. vice-president Allen Shechtman. Questions are swirling around the Hill regarding possible Elections Act violations, and the perceived shadiness of the whole issue has (temporarily) taken the spotlight off of the long-running and way overblown feud between Stephen Harper and the national press corp. You can always trust the Liberals to self-destruct.

Volpe is no stranger to controversy. He was the Liberal's public pointman over the infamous Liberano poster issue. Calling the Conservatives racists and bigots, he turned a harmless piece of satire into a racial issue, claiming harm to his fellow Canadians of Italian heritage. Even some of the media questioned Volpe's view, but he stood firm and even convinced some of the fencesitting voters that the Tories were too rightwing and scary to vote for.

For managing to do the impossible and moving the standards for the Liberal leadership race even lower, Joe Volpe has proven himself to be a worthy Liberal of the Month.

A funny page on this here: http://www.youthforvolpe.ca/