Archive for August, 2011
Dave Killion — August 31, 2011
Here’s a letter to the Victoria News -
I was very surprised to see a representative of the Victoria (Quaker) Friends write to endorse your publication of David Suzuki (Suzuki columns appreciated by group, Aug 26). It has been my understanding that the Religious Society of Friends included love and peace amongst their principle values, but either I am mistaken or it has escaped the attention of this particular group that Suzuki is a persistent advocate of coercive government regulation backed by the threat of violence against those who disagree with him concerning either the level or nature of threats to the environment, or his proposed solutions to those threats. He seems to me undeserving of admiration from such a worthy group.
Dave Killion — August 30, 2011
Having just yesterday mentioned the tremendous contribution made by Steve Jobs to the welfare of humanity, I was horrified to read this -
“… the lack of public philanthropy by Mr. Jobs — long whispered about, but rarely said aloud — raises some important questions about the way the public views business and business people at a time when some “millionaires and billionaires” are criticized for not giving back enough while others like Mr. Jobs are lionized.”
The only question it should be raising is why anyone thinks Jobs or any other millionaires and billionaires have to ‘give back’ anything! This is very simple – when someone buys something, they are indicating through their actions that they value the acquisition MORE than the money they paid. The immense wealth accumulated by Jobs and others like him is, by definition, worth LESS than the value they have provided. They owe nothing! In fact, it is likely that it is we who are indebted to them.
I could go on about this, but there is nothing I could say that hasn’t been better expressed by Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute, and Mark Perry of the indispensable Carpe Diem. Enjoy!
Dave Killion — August 29, 2011
Click on photo to see Macleans' photo gallery of the Layton funeral
Readers from the USA may not be aware that Jack Layton, leader of the New Democrat Party, passed away recently. Canadian news media spoke of very little else until Hurricane Irene threatened to end all that was good and holy in this world, and have broadcast every little bit of grief that could possibly be wrung from Layton’s death. Worse still, flags have been ordered flown at half-mast and taxpayers have had to cough up dough for a state funeral. My annoyance is not with Layton, in particular, but with this wailing and gnashing of teeth, as if we had lost a great hero instead of just another politician who found fame and fortune encouraging people to join with him in sufficient numbers to force others to live their lives as his particular mob thought best.
I shall be very interested to see the extent to which we mourn the passing of a truly great man such as Steve Jobs, who has made life so much richer and so much better for countless of millions. But I hope even more that that day is a long time coming.
Dave Killion — August 28, 2011
Here is a letter to the Victoria News -
In your article “Organics back on city’s table” (Aug 24), the sub-headline says “Public will vote on preferred waste collection option“.
Politicians love to obscure the truth by presenting matters in this fashion, but the fact is that “the public” does not vote nor does it have a preference. These are the actions and attributes of individuals. Mayor Fortin’s assertion that “… residents will make the choice of which service they would like... ” is another such attempt at euphemism. Residents will not make the choice they like, but rather they will indicate which service they prefer in the hopes that their preference becomes the one-size-fits-all policy that will ultimately be forced on everyone.
There is only one way residents will all be able to get their choice of whatever options are available to them, and that is for the city to withdraw entirely from the provision of waste disposal, and leave it in the capable hands of the private sector. The politicians won’t like that, because it’s one less thing they can manipulate to their electoral advantage, but that should not concern the taxpayer one iota.
