A Canadian Treasure

Oscar Peterson

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Conservatives Are Compassionate

 The next time you open your mouth to say that the government should be doing something about an issue in your community, stop, take out your wallet, and do it yourself.

Philanthropy Expert: Conservatives Are More Generous

Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America — and it’s making him nervous.

The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income.

In the book, he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives — from church attendance and two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services — make conservatives more generous than liberals.

[...]

His book, he says, is carefully documented to withstand the scrutiny of other academics, which he said he encourages.

The book’s basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.

Such an attitude, he writes, not only shortchanges the nonprofits but also diminishes the positive fallout of giving, including personal health, wealth and happiness for the donor and overall economic growth.
All of this, he said, he backs up with statistical analysis. More @ beliefnet

Via Freakonomics 

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Government Priorities and Your Healthcare

Remember this shit the next time some lefty says there shouldn’t be any private participation in the healthcare system. 

Patients wait as PET scans used in animal experiments

[...]

In Canada, in fact, no other technology promises cancer patients such inequitable access as PET scanners, and, among provinces that have them, Ontario is the most restrictive of all.

Its use of the scanners is so tightly controlled that when London doctors have been unable to fill their half of the PET/CT slots with cancer patients, researchers used the empty spaces to do experiments on laboratory-bred animals.

“This is absolutely the world upside down,” said Jean-Luc Urbain, citywide chief of nuclear medicine in London. “… Instead of being used for their own health, clinical pieces of equipment are being used on pigs, dogs and other animals.” More @ Globe & Mail

Province won’t help cover dying woman’s drug costs

The Tory government isn’t going to help pay for the drugs that are keeping Irene Larkin alive.

The terminally-ill Halifax woman who has a rare form of leukemia and multiple autoimmune disorders learned Wednesday she doesn’t qualify for the extended Pharmacare program offered by the Community Services Department because she and her husband are over the income threshold.

“They crunched the numbers every which way . . . and still found me ineligible,” Ms. Larkin said in an interview. “Again, I’m in limbo.”

But she will get the drugs she needs for the short term, thanks to a drug company that will pay the $600 monthly bill for a blood thinner. Ms. Larkin said she will get samples from drug companies for the other 47 drugs she needs. More @ Halifax Chronicle Herald

Via National Newswatch

Government advertises its priorities

It’s just amazing that myself and the NDP government are the only individuals in this whole darn province who actually understand what the priorities are when it comes to spending your cash.

A radiothon has been taking place in Regina to raise money to buy a pediatric ambulance worth about $250,000. That’s good. That’s the way it should be. Why should Premier Lorne Calvert and the boys cough up the cash? Don’t people realize money was needed by the government to inform them about the whopping, super-duper good things that will be accomplished by the last budget? Don’t they realize money was needed for the “Imagine” advertising campaign to inform all of them that the feds have not yet delivered on the promise of equalization? Don’t they realize that more money will be needed for similar advertising? More @ Regina Leader Post – Letters

Via Sask Taxpayers Federation

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Professor Longhair

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Disgraced Galloway Slams Harper

Its nice to see that disgraced British MP George Galloway hasn’t lost his sense of humour. In his address to Syrian Canadian Club Galloway commented “Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s foreign policy strategy is a joke and is causing Canada to be hated around the world…“. Very funny considering the wealth of evidence available showing that Galloway accepted bribes from Saddam Hussein in the Oil for Food scandal. The only joke here is Galloway himself and those who would take him seriously on any subject.

Galloway, other leaders named in oil-food bribery – Washington Times 10/28/2005

Report On Oil Allocations Granted To Charles Pasqua & George Galloway – U.S. Senate

Calling Galloway’s Bluff – The Senate uncovers a smoking gun. Hitchens @ Slate

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Rights Conflict In B.C.

Tribunal to rule on guide dog vs. religion

A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi.

Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it’s not the first time he’s been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that North Shore taxi discriminated against him on the basis of physical disability.

But the taxi driver, Behzad Saidy, is arguing his Muslim religious beliefs will not allow him to take dogs in his taxi, because Muslims can’t associate with dogs. More @ North Shore News

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New British Passports Hacked

Why is that governments ruin everything they touch?

Three million Britons have been issued with the new hi-tech passport, designed to frustrate terrorists and fraudsters. So why did Steve Boggan and a friendly computer expert find it so easy to break the security codes? More @ Gaurdian Unlimited

Via Daily Grail

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Ubuntu – Linux

I am trying out this version of Linux for a bit. It comes with just about everything for the day to day computer user, including an office package. There are other downloads that I am working on like MSN, MP3, and ITune type programs. I only picked this one because it was the first that I found but there are many good Linux installs out there. Check it out.

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