Hello friends! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas surrounded by family and friends.
Its been a week since I last posted and, although the provincial news cycle is slow, there are still a few things to offer comment on.
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First of all, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is an absolute tragedy and will likely have serious implications not only for Pakistan, but for the rest of the world as well.
Ken Chapman has an excellent post on this today. He nails a point that I was pondering last night. Being of a younger generation, I can't help but think that historic events have a way of repeating themselves. 9/11 is our Pearl Harbor, the Challenger disaster is our Hindenberg tragedy, and, perhaps, Benazir Bhutto is our JFK.
If nothing else, she was Pakistan's JFK.
Godspeed Ms. Bhutto... and thank you for everything you did for your homeland. May your struggle never be in vain.
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This is old news, but I did want to offer my two cents on a bit of a controversy going on in Calgary Montrose.
Northeast Calgary politics are known for being divisive and controversial and Montrose is no exception. In 2004, Gus Barron was disqualified from running in Montrose's PC nomination. He subsequently sued the Montrose PC Association. Barron won the initial lawsuit before having it overturned by the Alberta Court of Appeal. The Montrose PC Association, however, was stuck paying its own legal bills. The constituency association, like every other one in the province, is made up of dedicated volunteers who selflessly offer their services to the party.
PC Alberta has refused to cover the legal bills for Calgary Montrose, totally some $180,000. Calgary Montrose is not, by any means, an affluent area. Were this to happen in another part of the city, it would just be a drop in the bucket. In Montrose, however, this is big bucks. It has gotten to the point where some people named in the original lawsuit may have to sell their homes to pay legal bills. Legal bills which stem from their work on behalf of and, some have suggested, at the direction of the party.
This is shameful and totally unacceptable.
Duplicitous double standards may have been the mark of some people who used to run PC Alberta, but we have all been led to believe that this has changed under the new regime. If the party can step in and do the right thing in Calgary Egmont, surely it can do the same in Calgary Montrose.
Anything less will be a slap in the face to each and every person who volunteers for PC Alberta.
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I have often said that when Keith Brownsey predicts something, expect the opposite.
Motor mouth Brownsey is at it again this week. While Premier Stelmach talks about the possibility of an Alberta Pension Plan to supplement the greatly-depleated CPP, Brownsey suggests the Premier is fear mongering and that its "absolute nonsense to say it won't be there when young people eventually retire."
Brownsey says people of my generation have nothing to fear surrounding the future of the CPP.
That's reason enough for me to up my RRSP contributions.
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Talking about the Premier and looking ahead, its nice to see that he's taking a thoughtful approach to the possibility of nuclear energy for Alberta.
The nuclear decision is a major one with myriad positive and negative aspects. Jumping into any stance would be foolhardy for the government.
People ask why i've come to like "the new guy". Clear and careful planning, as evidenced by how he's dealing with the nuclear question, is a big part of my answer.
Yeah right, Bhutto is JFK.
ReplyDeleteShe was thrown out of government twice for being a crook. The only reason she was in government in the first place was that her father was hanged for being a crook and she had to protect the family money.
Every sin of which Musharraff is guilty - abetting the Taliban, aiding Kashmiri terrorists, developing nuclear weapons, she did and looted the poor boxes as well.
Other than leaving the Cuban exiles out to dry during his first few weeks in office, JFK actually accomplished something in office - from Cuba, to Berlin, to Oxford, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the Final Frontier. Bhutto lined her pockets and armed the Taliban.
Bhutto may have had a road to Damascus moment during her self-imposed comfortable exile in the Emirates, but I don't buy it.
And then it turns out that she's killed because she was too stupid to keep her head inside the sunroof of her bomb-proof car after whining about her security.
It's too bad she's dead, but she was no JFK.
Although Crank's criticism maybe excessive, he brings up points that are absent in your post. She was forced out of office on corruption charges twice (the charges were based on evidence provided the Swiss, French and Polish governments = the corruption charges hold some validity). Also, islamic extremists and 'terrorism' in Afghanistan and Kashmir grew during her rule, in the views of some, through her direct support.
ReplyDeleteHer murder was a travesty and no doubt will be a threat to the viability of Pakistani democracy. However in recognizing that, we should not overshadow her flaws and be so quickly to cannonize her as the saint of democracy.