Put Down That Salt Shaker

2012.04.19 - Thursday

Canada's fast food some of the saltiest in the world

Trust me, you don't need it.

Government On The March

2012.04.19 - Thursday

Federal war on hair dryers, fresh milk

It's amazing to think that, at least in theory, America is supposed to be the land of "small" government. I suppose that used to be true a few decades ago, but the reality is that the expansion of government has been happening ever since the formation of the country, and it's the same in every industrialized democracy. Yes, we're still free compared to most of the people in the world, but every year that freedom is eroded ever so slightly by, as Mark Steyn puts it, millions of public sector bureaucrats who are making tiny, daily changes to Western civilization. These days, we're free within a continually shrinking box. We elect different leaders, some policies change, most don't, and in every case, government spending and government size goes up, then up some more.

The really depressing thing about this situation is that there's no where left to go to escape it. There's no new continent to which we can flee. Nowhere to setup new societies or to try new ideas. Short of colonizing other planets, it's hard to imagine a future where Humanity isn't chained to technological amazement surrounded by ideological stagnation. Hopefully things don't go that way. At the very least we know that most of our current policies, especially the financial ones, are unsustainable and will have to change. I think it's going to take a revolution to do it, but it will happen. The only question is how hard the Baby Boomers and Generation X will cling to their crumbling social order as the rest of us try to sweep it, and them, out of the way.

Reasons Greece Is Screwed: #546

2012.04.19 - Thursday

Starting an online store is no easy business

I've got some ideas for billboards that should be put up along the Attiki Odos highway, which takes new arrivals from the airport to Athens:

1) "Greece hates business."

2) "Anyone who makes any money here had better hide it, or we'll tax it away!"

3) "Creative and industrious? Get out."

F-35 Boondoggle

2012.04.19 - Thursday

Defence officials misled ministers in F-35 fighter jet whitewash: Auditor General

Yuck.

This whole situation just does not look good for the Conservatives. At all. To me, the entire party is increasingly reminding me of a single word: Hubris.

Look, everyone knows we're going to need new fighter jets, but it's been bad optics from the beginning to tie ourselves to a single platform. Many countries operate several kinds of combat aircraft and I see no reason why Canada should be different. Sure, but a few F-35s whenever they're ready and assuming they live up to expectations. It's going to be very useful in the future to have a stealth strike fighter. I'm just not convinced, at all, that it should be our only combat jet, or even our most numerous. It seems to me that the modernized, extended range, heavier loadout version of what we already have, the F-18 Super Hornet, would be more appropriate for Canada's defence needs. Plus, it has two engines, which is what you want while you're patrolling high above the arctic, and it's a lot cheaper.

65+ F-18 Super Hornets, with another 25 or so F-35s for the specific cases where they're needed sounds more practical to me.