The End is Near?

I may not believe in global warming, but I do believe that environmental groups manufacture "threats" to our environment to raise money from scared little old grannies. Environmental organizations are only interested in making money and will not think twice about lending their name in support of an initiative if there is enough money involved.

Anyway, with regard to global warming, every man, woman and child should read this article.

Read it to your kids at night!

Military Politics

National defence is a very unique subject matter in the political arena. It's one of those strange areas where any pollster would be hard pressed to find any Canadian who didn't support "our men and women in the Canadian Forces", but finding support for what they actually do is entirely different.

The Conservatives need to demonstrate that Canada is a positive influence in global affairs, but at the same time, not appear as a "George Bush lackey" by being too pro-military. So far, they have been teetering on the edge of falling into the latter category, especially in my beloved city of Toronto. Many people cite the recent military procurements as evidence of the Conservative's aggressive military agenda, while other more level-headed people understand these expenditures are the result of an infrastructure deficit in the Canadian Forces.

Today, David Pugliese, who has an uncanny ability to get information out of DND, reported on possible plans to buy tanks for the Army. As David indicates in his article, pretty much everyone in the military has an opinion on the role of tanks in today's Canadian Forces. Tanks once played a very important role in past military conflicts, but today, they do not have much use. Under the previous government, this fact was acknowledged by a decision to purchase more agile vehicles, like the LAV.

Some military buffs really want to see tanks continue to play a role in the battlefield. The only problem is there is no battlefield. Conflicts today are so unconventional, it requires today's military - and it's equipment - to be much more flexible.

But that whole issue aside, the optics of the Conservative government purchasing Leopard tanks would be devastating. It would play into the hands of the NDP and Liberals by allowing them to accuse the Conservatives of being warmongers.

With Hillier on the record with his opposition to tanks in the miliary, it would be safe to assume someone in the Minister's Office has a penchant for buying military toys, because any claim that tanks can serve a useful role in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan is pure bullsh#@.