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Laying Blame for the Economic Mess: Milton Keynes or John Maynard Friedman?

September 11, 2009 by · 1 Comment 

2009.09.11.jmfriedmanOn September 2, 2009, the Financial Post published an opinion piece by Penn Bullock that asks whether or not the current economic crisis was the result of Milton Friedman’s monetarism. Casting him rightly as someone held up as a hero by libertarians, Bullock concludes:

For two libertarian champions of free markets and limited government, this legacy has the ring of a world-historic irony.

In response, I submitted the following letter to the editor of the Financial Post. From what I can tell, it was not published by that paper. Read more

McKeever on McParland on Conservatives on Obama

September 8, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

2009-09-08.barack-jesusThe National Post is one of Canada’s two national newspapers. The “Full Comment” blog of the online component offers some good reading material. It is edited by Kelly McParland, a seasoned journalist.

Prompted by an AFP report about American conservatives criticizing a speech that Barack Obama will be giving to school children, McParland today writes that, if conservatives can condemn Obama’s remarks as socialism, it is no wonder they cannot embrace socialist health care. The essence of McParland’s submission is that Obama’s speech just tells kids to work hard and do well in school, so conservatives who criticize the speech are holding back things like socialist health care because they see practically anything as a socialist plot. Read more

Democracy, Dale Goldhawk Style?

September 3, 2009 by · 2 Comments 

2009-09-03.goldhawkAs some of you may know, I am the leader of Freedom Party of Ontario, which is an officially-registered political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. There is currently a by-election in the riding of St. Paul’s to fill the seat recently vacated by Michael Bryant, and I am Freedom Party’s candidate in that by-election.

Today, I received the following e-mail from Kelly Todd, the producer of “Goldhawk Live” (Rogers TV – Toronto): Read more

Socialized Medicine, Economic Catastrophe, and Morality

August 29, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

2009-08-29.brain-cancerCapitalism Magazine yesterday ran a column by John Lewis, an historian and an Objectivist associated with the Ayn Rand Institute. Lewis reports on the economic predictions made by David Walker, who is the former Comptroller General of the United States, and former head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Read more

Short Note re: the Mythically Anti-socialist Conservative Party

August 14, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

2009-08-14.conservativeGerry Nicholls, former Vice President of the National Citizens Coalition, is apparently still buying the nonsense drilled into peoples heads about Conservative parties. In a Letter to the Editor today, in one of Canada’s national newspapers, the Globe and Mail, Gerry writes, in part: Read more

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 6

July 6, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Those who cannot remember the past condemn us to the reliving of it.

Eat of my need, drink of my want. – Man’s last supper

It is illegal to obtain or destroy a free man’s values without his consent.

Another rich man lost his shirt.
A holy roller’s name’s now dirt.
Cold and rain clouds on the run:
Ten percent chance of heat and sun.
The fix was in for the gold medal winner.
The diet you failed don’t make one thinner.
That poor woman’s child can’t walk,
Can’t swallow, can’t hear, can’t even talk.
The sold out show was a giant flop.
The fat plain singer came out on top.
A bowl of sweet lemons and sour grapes:
The yummy daily diet of irrational apes.

The Liberal Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

June 10, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Two days ago, the Chronicle Herald published a story in which they describe a taped conversation between Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt and her then aide Jasmine MacDonnell.  The two women are heard discussing the issue of the radioactive isotope shortage that has resulted from the May 15th shutdown of a  52-year-old nuclear reactor (the reactor was shut down due to water leakage).  Raitt says to MacDonnell that it is “good” that Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is avoiding media exposure over the isotope “crisis”, because it will allow Raitt to take all of the credit when the crisis is resolved. Read more

Palace of Darkness: Brainless Body Meets Brain in a Jar

June 3, 2009 by · 5 Comments 

Post Shredded Wheat has an interesting new website to promote a rather uninteresting breakfast. ThePalaceOfLight.com (nickname of the electric-lighted Niagara Falls building in which Shredded Wheat was first produced) is the place to find a humourous five-episode micro-series that features a bumbling conservative Post Shredded Wheat boss by the name of Frank Druffel. Frank likes the fact that Shredded Wheat has not changed since it was introduced in 1892, and he is determined to prevent any changes. As Frank sees it, Shredded Wheat is “perfect”, just the way it is. Read more

The Interest Myth Exploded

May 18, 2009 by · 19 Comments 

I recently received a question from a reader concerning my post of October 20, 2008, entitled “Banking and Morality: 100% Reserve versus “Fractional” Reserves“. It reads as follows: Read more

Rand as Nietzsche: Talking Points Memo Designed to Diminish Respect for Rand

April 22, 2009 by · 12 Comments 

TPM (“Talking Points Memo”) is a web-based collection of about 4 web sites. I have not visited it much, but I seem to recall investigating a recent phenomenon where a number of bloggers or journalists suddenly were using phrases so similar – in such disparate publications/blogs – that they seemed to be following some collectivist marching orders (“Gallant Gallstone”, anyone?). On that occasion, the origin appeared to be a blog post to a TPM web site. All of which makes sense, I suppose, given the name of the site(s).

Given the apparent role of TPM in co-ordinating blogging efforts on the left, I thought it worth my time to bring attention to one article – one talking point, if you will – that sprung up on the TPM web site a few hours ago. Titled “Rand/Thrasymachus, Marx, and Dostoyevsky“, I thought perhaps I might find in the article something of value. Instead, the article’s author, who goes only by the name Nebton, provides the reader with misrepresentation after misrepresentation in an effort to support one talking point: that Ayn Rand’s ethical philosophy (rational egoism) is just a rehash of philosophy from ancient times. Implied: don’t bother reading Ayn Rand when considering the nature and causes of the current economic crisis. Read more

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