IN THE BEGINNING...

So another great debate erupted out of nowhere on the Globe&Mail website this week.  This one over the reports that Russia is attempting a mock Mars mission.  What they mean by this is that a group of Astronauts (well, mostly Cosmonauts, let’s be fair) will be working inside a simulated Mars mission for 520 days to study the effect the duration of such a mission would have on a trained crew.  One of the most interesting asides to all this is that a few years back the Russians tried another simulated mission that ended somewhat prematurely when one of the Red blooded Males (take the colour literally please) kissed their female Canadian teammate.

Okay, putting all the juicy, movie-of-the-week hilarity of that aside (and the obvious question of why we didn’t hear about THAT earlier), the discussion below, as seems to be typical of a Globe&Mail comments section, veered right off the rails and some how got onto the topic of whether there was, or was not a God.

What kicked off this blog post was the usual mid-level intelligent’s counter argument: “If God created the universe then who/what created God?”

My response to this, of course, is Bullocks!  "Who created God?" is the most ignorant question I've ever heard.  You can ask that anymore than you can ask Who/what created the Universe then?  We don’t know but if one can just pop into being why not the other? 

Fact is the beginning of creation is so far beyond our human ability to comprehend that anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who thinks they KNOW one way or the other is a fool.  What you believe is up to you, but we can no sooner understand the mind of God (or whatever) than a 2 dimensional picture can comprehend 3 dimensions. 

However, before dismissing a Creator lets consider the risk shall we?  If, for example, all the Christians are wrong then they have followed an ethos that, depending on their own personal fallibility, may have made them better people and enriched their lives (if they actually followed the teachings that is), so if they're wrong and they die and there's nothing well, so what?  What have they lost? 

If however, those who don't believe in God are wrong and there is an afterlife for those who believe then the only time they have in this great and expanding universe are the scant few moments of their limited pointless lives on this tiny little Earth. 

With a choice between possible eternal afterlife or being worm food, well only a narrow minded idiot would choose to risk their eternity on their limited ability to comprehend the infinite possibilities that may exist.

And if the possibility of God was good enough for the greatest minds in human history, that being Newton, Einstein and Hawking then I'll put my money on there being a God.  So enjoy your dirt nap middle intellect, science minded, suckers, it’s a pity we’ll never hear from you again, or wait, actually, no it isn’t a pity.  It’s probably a little overdue!

MR HARPER - RAISE UP THAT BAR!

So John Baird wants to know why there is a double standard on tolerating MPs who are too close with lobbyist and why the Liberals aren't held to the same standard as his Harpercrits. 

Well, assuming there is a double standard and the two cases are equally bad one reason might be that Harpercrits are the Government and therefore should be more accountable.  Maybe Canadians expect that the party in power, controlling how their taxes are spent, passing out contracts to their cronies, might possibly be held to a higher standard that the party that's been in the wilderness for what... 5 years now? 

Of course, knowing the Harpercrits as I do, that too is probably the Liberal's fault.

It'll be interesting to see if the party that forms the new Government in Britain is as arrogant and petty as our Minority Government has been. 

Somehow I think the Brit's will see a Government interested in raising the bar of expectations in the hopes of drawing in voters in the next election instead of perpetuating a climate of cynicism in order to drive most voters away from participating. 

I'm all in favour of Governments raising the bar, I wish Stephen Harper and his Government would up theirs.

HST - an immoral tax

Like most Canadians I don't like paying taxes but understand that if I continue to want Government services then shortfalls must be paid.

And I'd rather pay more on a sales tax I can avoid by not buying something than an across the board tax hike. 

As anyone who lived in Ontario during the Harris years knows the only way a government brings taxes down is by cutting services.  I don't want that. 

But the fundamental principle of taxes is that they're fairly applied and this is why I don’t like the HST. 

As of May 1 anyone buying a service now that they won’t receive until after July 1 is paying HST on that portion of the purchase (ie: plane trip).

Paying HST before July 1 is stupidest thing I've ever heard. 

The whole concept of sales tax is that it's based on the law at time of purchase, and applied to the purchase price. 

If the tax doesn't come into effect until July 1 then NO ONE should be paying it until July 1 on ANYTHING. 

If a service is given after July 1 but paid for before July 1 then tough beans, that's the way a SALES tax is suppose to work. 

The fact that ANYONE is paying HST now on ANYTHING is both wrong and immoral. 

It means the HST is not a tax on the sale of a good or service but instead is a tax on the delivery of a good or service. 

Since when did we start paying DELIVERY TAXES?  Who decided that?

I know that in a few months this is a moot point, once the HST comes in the purchase date will be after the tax is in effect and it’s a moot point, but the fact remains that this little preview is a nasty betrayal of the fundamental fair application of something that is simply a fact of modern life.

And it further erodes the confidence that people have in their Government.

That’s a big deal, because by and large Canada is one of only twenty nations on the planet where government services are provided without a requirement of bribes.

But as corruption seeps further into our society, as people lose more and more faith in our system, the possibility that one day very soon “greasing the wheels” may be the only way to get your driver’s license renewed becomes an increasing possibility.  And bribes are a tax that no one controls or benefits from, except the corrupt.

C'MON CHARLIE BROWN, I PROMISE I WON'T PULL THE BALL AWAY...

I just heard Harper on the radio saying, "This Government will introduce legislation in the fall to get tough on crime."

Sure you will, and before it becomes law you'll prorogue Parliament AGAIN, so it can join the other 7 "Tough on Crime" bills that died last fall when you decided to save your own neck rather than do anything.

Gotta hand it to you, Stevie! You're the Lucy holding the football to our Charlie Brown. With your, "I promise I won't pull it away this time." Shtick.

Who could've guessed that Shakespeare was referring to you when he wrote: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Well, Stevo, Canadians are used to getting nothing from your so-called Conservatives, nothing except empty promises. Thankfully most of us are smart enough not to pin any hopes on you actually doing something, although I hear 2 out of every 10 Canadians still qualify as Blockheads.

The NEW Canada

So yesterday was the Throne Speech, soon to be renamed “State of the Union”.

With every session of Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper shows his Republican stripes more and more.

You have to ask, how much closer to full alignment with the US will we be at the end of this session?

We've already become a war culture, now false and empty patriotism is our goal.

We already have adopted US energy/ecology policy, now deregulate our mining and oil so we can do more damage to our planet is our goal.

And by the end of this session our telecoms will be foreign owned (read American owned).

Just so I'm clear, when they change "O Canada" will it now be starting with "Oh, say can you see…?"