HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-11-04, Page 7Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Page 7
Growing debt part to
political showmanship
engaging in this type of political showman-
ship on the taxpayer's dime. But, that tactic
is called "Leadership" which seems to be
getting rarer and rarer all of the time while
our debts and deficits seem to be constantly
growing all of the time.
Robert L. Armstrong
Goderich,
To the Editor;
re: editorial
After reading the editorial of October
28th entitled "Deficit Will Require Savvy
Fiscal Leadership," I thought I would
share this story.
Back in the early 1990s I was an employ-
ee of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
What my job entailed was fund raising by
going directly out to businesses and asking
for donations, to act as a liaison with the
media, and to generate ideas for the move-
ment. Basically, I was a sales and market-
ing jack of all trades.
Back in those days Bob Rae and the
NDP had formed the Ontario Government
and prior to that, it had been the Liberals
who'd formed the government under Pre-
mier David Peterson. And back in those
days, I would continually get asked why I
did this job?
Well, the answer was simple, the fed-
eral Progressive Conservatives had blown
it leaving their party with only two seats
after having held the largest back-to-back
majority governments ever seen in the
history of Canadian politics. The NDP
provincial government was spending far
more than what they were taking in caus-
ing a ballooning debt and deficit, and aside
Way, way
One week it's all about death — Michael
Jackson, Farah Fawcett, Karl Maldon and
Walter Cronkite.
Next week it's all about sex — David
Letterman, Roman Polanski, John and
McKenzie Phillips (I can never listen to
My Girl ever again.) But last month there
was one week in which weirdness rose to a
new level. It began with: "Look! Up in the
sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a 48 -year-old
loser trying desperately to manufacture 15
minutes of fame."
As Balloon Boy sailed high above Fort
Collins, Colorado in a homemade helium
balloon that looked like a large disfigured
roll of duck tape, the world media went to
a one -camera shot and people gasped in a
dozen languages.
First, the six-year-old was in the balloon,
then he'd fallen out of the balloon at 7000
feet, and finally he was found safe in the at-
tic of the family garage in well -honed hoax
designed to get his father Richard Heene his
own reality TV show.
As Balloon Boy captured the airways a
disgruntled layabout in Edmonton, Alberta
took a hostage at gunpoint in the Workman's
Compensation Board building and ... other
people who have dealt with this bureaucracy
dropped by to cheer him on. Yes, during this
week even the unemployed are "going postal."
But before Balloon Boy's hoax was re -
Letters
opinion
from the potential that the upcoming Re-
form Party under Preston Manning might
possess, I saw very little hope for Ontario
and Canada when it came to addressing the
financial demise I could see the country
heading for.
Back then, I had a young daughter my-
self and I was quite worried about the fi-
nancial legacy we were leaving that gen-
eration. So, I suited up, spun up my best
sale's pitches, and began to sell the concept
of balanced budget legislation. Well, as
said, that was the early 1990s.
Today, we once again are seeing the
same signs on the fiscal front as were seen
back then only today I sort of know why
we are having such problems. You take
this law suit that Premier McGuinty just
filed against the tobacco companies for
instance. On a monetary level God only
knows how much it is going to cost by the
time that venture is completed in compari-
son to what will be gained.
On the political level though, it is very
easy for someone like our Premier to use
taxpayers money to attack an entity that is
not popular in order to make himself look
good.
It's a tactic called, "Political Showman-
ship" and it is like a con. On the surface,
it does make a politician look as if they are
doing something in response to a problem.
But underneath the surface, the opposite is
usually correct and it is because so many
politicians use this tactic that some of our
growing debt and deficit exists.
Personally, I would rather have our elect-
ed officials simply be honest with me about
things even if the situation is bad rather than
Visit web site for more rescue info
From page 6
ties toward the -spaying or neutering, vac-
cinating, deworming and parasite preven-
tion, nor any other emergency care these
lost or discarded animals may need.
They rely on donations, fundraisers and
adoption fees to help to cover the $45,000-
$50,000 per year average of vet and supply
bills.
The rescue begs people to have their pets
wear their township dog tag, and better yet
proper i.d. including your name and address
and phone number, so they can be reunited
if lost. Neutering or spaying your pet will
also help to curb its desire to wander, as will
proper boundary training.
If you need any further information on
the bylaws in your township or to find out
which animal control agent to call in your
area - please call your local township of-
fice.
Pet rescue has compiled a list of numbers
to call if you have a found dog or lost your
own - please see it on the on the web site at
www.adoptapet.lucknow.on.ca
Kathi Newell -Nicholson
Pet Rescue
too much weirdness in one week
vealed a man with a gun walked
into Advance America, a money
mart in Indianapolis, Indiana and
ordered teller Angela Montez to
give him all the money in the till.
All caught on video — she be-
gan to cry, he explained he had
no choice with no money and
a two-year-old child, she cried
some more conjuring up the
name of God, he fell to his knees
and began to pray, they hugged,
he gave her the only bullet he
'had, she went to the washroom
and he took twenty bucks from a drawer full
of cash and left the building. WOW! Hav-
ing seen the news clip, I think if she hadn't
gone to the washroom he was likely going
to propose.
I'll tell you, banks have brought a lot of
people to their knees .in this past year, but
this? This was special.
And with Balloon Boy flying aimlessly
through the sky like a Northwest Airlines
flight running a stoplight over Minneapolis
another robbery video popped up on You -
Tube. The Long Island convenience store's
surveillance camera shows • the shopkeeper
closing up when a man comes running in
waving a baseball bat and demanding money.
In one of those "Hey, that's not a weapon.
This is a real weapon," Mohammad Sohail
All the World's
A Circus...
pulled out a shotgun from under the
counter sending the robber to his
knees.
When the robber began to bawl
like a baby, begging for forgiveness
and claiming he had neither mon-
ey nor food, the shop owner felt a
surge of compassion. After making
the man promise not to rob anyone
ever again (and no, I checked, the
surveillance camera does not show
the robber's fingers crossed behind
his back), he gave the guy $40 and
a loaf of bread. (This probably con-
vinced the Indianapolis robber he could
double his money by working corner stores
but wait, it gets better.)
The robber is so impressed with his gifts
he gushes: "I want to be a Muslim like
you.,,
And right there between the Twinkie's,
Ho-Ho's and The New And Improved Tide
they do a little ceremony that involves re-
citing an oath. Then the shopkeeper says:
"Congratulations. You are now a Muslim
and your name is Nawaz Sharif Zardari.."
When Mohammad went to get the guy a
quart of milk...I'm not making this up...
the robber fled the store.
Out in the parking lot the newly named
Nawaz Sharif Zardari turned around three
times and divorced the cop that came to
arrest him — Okay that did not happen but
the rest is absolutely true.
What a recruitment deal that is — forty
bucks, a loaf of bread and you get rid of
a name that is probably on American's
Most Wanted list anyway! I tell you the
week in the middle of last month busted
a gut of weirdness.
And you know who missed the whole
damn thing? William Drake, 50 of Big
Sandy, Texas. He was dead for that week
but it did not stop his 45 -year-old girl-
friend from carrying on their normal re-
lationship for those seven days (Jay Leno
said she only discovered he was dead
after she finally finished talking by say-
ing: " So that was my week. How was
yours?")
"He didn't want to leave the apart-
ment," claimed the woman who had lived
with Drake for ten years and his corpse
for one week (Well, at least he didn't say
so anyway.)
The woman has been committed for
mental evaluation which wouldn't hurt
three or four other nutters mentioned in
this column.
The week that began with an unmanned
balloon ride ended with a one-man funer-
al procession. That week was so weird all
the Michael Jackson news was pushed to
page two.
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