Debt Deal History

There is a lot of history on the debt ceiling in the united states. In fact for many decades the debt ceiling increased tremendously without the need of any compromise on spending. In fact JFK increased has the debt ceiling rise by 5% only. Some would say Obama is asking the debt ceiling to be increased way too much.But let's look at history  .every President has increased the debt ceiling. Johnson increased it by 18%, and then after that Nixon and Jimmy Carter both increased the debt ceiling by 35.6% and 33.6% respectfully. Then came the "fiscally responsible" Ronald Regan who increased the debt ceiling by oooh....199%!!!!! Bush senior in just four years increased the debt ceiling by 48%. Then came Clinton who also increased the debt ceiling by 43.5%, but mid way in his term he balanced the budget and the debt ceiling never had to rise ever again.Of course Bush Junior came and increased the debt ceiling by 90%. Obama with this deal of an extra 2 trillion to the debt ceiling has increased the debt ceiling by 44%. This isn't a good number at all considering Obama hasn't even finished his first term, but it shows that Obama wasn't the only one who has ever increased the debt ceiling. If Reagan can without the risk of default double the debt and increase the national debt ceiling by 199%. Why is it that Obama must be pushed almost to default in order to increase the debt ceiling. The fact that the U.S almost went into default is irresponsible of the Republicans. The Republicans should realize that the debt ceiling should be separat then a deficit plan which by the way is no where near good enough to eliminate the deficit.

Should We Keep The Royals?

The Royals are coming to Canada this summer. With the comments from people like Amir Khadir saying that the Royals are Parasite's. It may bring to Question on the Issue of whether we should stay in the monarch.  According to recent polls the idea of staying in the monarchy is somewhat more popular than leaving. The main province for the leaving of the monarchy is of course Quebec, and the main supporters are of course the west.

It's sometimes very funny to hear people say that we spend so much money on the monarchy. It's true we do give the monarchs some money. But if you compare the money that Canadians spend on the monarchy (50 million) to the total spending our government spends over 280 Billion. 50 million isn't even a rounding number. I think that if we are going to have a debate on whether to keep the monarchy or not it shouldn't be the savings of a few million (which is what it is in real terms) it should be the principle of the matter.

So the real question is why should we give money not why are we giving this x amount of cash. You could say that the monarchy holds a lot of history in Canada , and that is true and in Canada we spend a lot of money protecting historical parks and battle fields that are directly linked to the times of New France and the monarch. We still give a day off in this country for Victoria day (while in Quebec they have rebellion day). I think  the monarch is somewhat useful as it gives real tangible people to represent that time in history. If there was a referendum on keeping the monarch I would vote in favor.

Harper deserved what was coming

The Harper government has been found in contempt of Parliament for failing to produce information about the cost of  being "tough on crime," the F-35 fighter jets and corporate tax cuts. Again and again, the Tories continue to hide documents from Canada and they get away with it. Not anymore. In theory, as this is the first time a government would be in contempt of Parliament in the history of the Commonwealth, the penalty could be imprisonment.

However, it seems that the Conservatives have stuffed the agenda with other motions and reports that the vote could be put off far into the future before a vote in the House of Commons is held. By then, there could be an election and then it would not matter if the government was in contempt of Parliament. Nevertheless, this seems to be the only way to hold the Tories accountable as they don't care for open government nor do they care for the rights of Parliament or Canadians.

OTTAWA—A Commons committee recommended the government be found in contempt of Parliament, but the Conservatives could still avoid the historic censure if a vote on the budget or other confidence motion launches an election first. 

The Commons procedure and house affairs committee tabled a majority report Monday concluding the government is in contempt for refusing to disclose enough information about the cost of several big-ticket items.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

Related articles

• MPs: Conservative government should be found in contempt of Parliament (macleans.ca)
• Committee finds Tories in contempt for stonewalling on crime-agenda costs (theglobeandmail.com)
• Report finds Tories in contempt of Parliament (calgaryherald.com)

Sivilizing Huck

It's been more than a century since Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been written and people still want to sivilize Huck. A new version of the book will be published featuring the word "slave" instead of nigger. As the book was written in the nineteenth century, the n-word was commonplace and was not as offensive as it is today. Reading that book, one of the things I remarked was that the words "slave" or "slavery" are hardly ever mentioned. That is because African Americans were not slaves, they were simply "niggers." This book can teach us a lot about society at the time and how Huck battles with what he has been taught his whole life and comes to the conclusion that if helping Jim escape is a sin, then "I'll GO to hell."

The new book would take away this part of history and reduce the intensity of Huck's realization. However, I have no opposition to the publishing of the book as long as it's not touted as a complete replacement for the original manuscript. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without the n-word would be good for children who are not mature enough to handle it. But, I stress that in no way the new edition should replace the old one. It is a complements the original. To properly learn this novel, one must read it with the the word "nigger."

A new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer will replace the n-word with "slave" in an effort to boost acceptance of the books.

 Mark Twain's classics are frequently challenged because of the use of the racial slur and appeared as recently as 2007 on the American Library Association's list of most banned books.

Read more at CBC.

Related articles

• Trey Ellis: Censoring Huck Ain't So Simple (huffingtonpost.com)
• Sanitized Huck Finn (boston.com)
• Censoring 'Huckleberry Finn' is an act of literary graffiti (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The northwest passge to foreign policy.

Centuries ago many people have taken there ship to create a northwest passage to the Beaufort sea. Now many people have tried , and even died trying. A song was even written about the passage. Singing of people wishing to make a northwest passage. Now we have a PM who wants to make sure Canada sovereignty in the north stays, and to tell all the other countries that Canada owns the northwest passage. I am with the PM this one. Harper has the right idea. Canada should not be shy in saying that we own our part of the north therefore we have full rights to our internal waters and it's usage. Now the only thing is would we want to go to war with other countries because of the northwest passage ? No! Canada should take the high road and make sure that when it gives it's report to the UN that it is done properly, and that Canada is given full rights to what Canada owns. I am in full support of increasing the Canadian presence in the north.

Happy Canada Day!

Today is Canada Day, the birthday of our nation when in 1867, the province of Canada, along with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia formed the Dominion of Canada. In these modern times, Canada has achieved great things. Canada is my country and I am proud of it. Journalists from the Toronto Star wrote about why they love Canada. I love Canada because of our tendency to help other people. The most prominent token of this is universal health care. That is my Canada.

I never knew what Canada meant to me until this past Tuesday night. That’s when my son Michael graduated from high school.

It’s strange how one event can make everything seem clear. The kaleidoscope took that one extra “click,” the fragments of coloured glass formed a new pattern, and the picture I’d been staring at for 40 years suddenly came into 

Read more at the Toronto Star.

VE day

Today is the 65th anniversary of VE day. The Allies accepted the surrender of Germany and the war in Europe ended. Across the country, there are a few events scheduled for VE day. For example, the Tulip Festival in Ottawa commemorates the liberation of the Netherlands. However, there were still millions of soldiers who died to ensure this victory and we should all remember their sacrifice today too. In my opinion, a good way to do that is to learn the history of World War Two.