Gene Moreau dot com

“That government is best which governs least.”
- Thomas Paine

I personally believe this is true. At least in the in the idea that I think the government should not be in the business of protecting people from themselves. i.e. Helmet and seat belt laws. If you don’t want to wear one go a head, get yourself killed. Of course I also think that if you show up at the hospital after getting into an accident with a helmet or weren’t wearing a seat belt, you should be denied service, or at least billed for it rather then be a burden to the tax payers because you were stupid.

Thoughts? Comments?

City of Winnipeg to seize dozens of derelict buildings

A lawyer who specializes in municipal issues, called the move “draconian.”

All I can say is  that it’s about f$^king time.  It’s an unusual move for such a non-progressive city as Winnipeg.  I really hope the owners don’t mire them down in court for years trying to get it appealed, even though they’ve been given many chances already to fix the properties.I love this quote:

“If you start taking away something that’s so fundamental in somebody’s life, you better have a really good policy reason for doing that, as opposed to choosing other methods to dealing with the problem.”

Give me a break.  The fact that these houses are boarded up and derelict makes it obvious that they are not fundamental in any one’s life.  This is the kind of guy that probably lives is Wosley and repsonsible for the lack of mosquito fogging that area.Now, if we could just get MPI to stop insuring the old gas guzzling, oil burning rust buckets on the streets we be a bit closer to being a nice place to live.g

This year I went to the Remembrance Day ceremony here in Winnipeg. I know, I know, that’s despicable, I should go every year, especially since I’m one of those people who think that allowing stores and businesses to operate is a mistake. It’s all supposed to be about taking some time from our busy lives to stop and remember the ultimate sacrifice that all those brave soldiers made and are making right this very second, to defend not only ours, but others, freedom and way of life. How in any conceivable way can shopping be more important then this? Does this mean we have forgetten? Not quite, but I think it’s the first step.

One thing that really got under my skin was the absence of our recently elected mayor, Sam Katz. Why was he not there? The Premier, Gary Doer and the Lieutenant Governor, John Harvard, managed to take time from their busy schedule to attend. Sam, decided to send some one else in his place. I didn’t quite catch who it was, but it sure wasn’t Sammy. Maybe he had a legitimate reason to be absent, but I doubt it. Next time around maybe people will think about this before they vote for him.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

- John McCrae, 1915