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Mel Brooks is a genius. He is not only personally responsible for the funniest song in the history of the universe (“Springtime… For Hitler… and Germany! Winter… for Poland… and France!” accompanied by high-kicking leather-clad Nazettes), he is also clearly a prescient political philosopher of the first order.

He may even have had Canada in mind when he wrote this trenchant line for Dark Helmet, in the movie Spaceballs:

Evil will always triumph over Good, because Good is dumb.

I received this detailed analysis by email, from “LionSteak”. It explains (with the help of, er, what’s the word… oh, yeah, expertise!) why I believe supporting Joe Wood is the right thing for the Tories to do.

“The definition of income is the issue here. And I don’t know where you shop, but in my grocery store, the register doesn’t have slots for 10’s, 20’s and stock certificates. Because my supermarket won’t accept stocks as payment for a loaf of bread. Therein lies the difference between the way the world defines income, and the way the ESPP tax laws do.

This column shows why.

Mark Steyn dissects the UN like an expert forensic pathologist working over the victim of a suicide: cutting calmly and with a minimum of fuss, he smoothly separates each organ from its neighbours, seeking out every self-inflicted lesion.

Writing about the appointment of John Bolton to the US Ambassador seat at the United Nations (appointed by Chimpy Bushitler himself!!), Steyn makes it clear that his foes on the left (like my new friend Greg) are pretty much getting what they–and the world–deserve.

Thanks to Mike Brock and his awesome (and so far idiot-proof) TheirSay system, I now have Comments. So Damian can stop his g*dd*mn hinting.

Okay, for all you engineering types out there (which, er, I think is all of you, give or take two lawyers, 12 students, and the odd insurance person), I realize it’s not “100% more” comments. Seeing as I had zero comments before, and now I have 1 comment system, it’s infinity% more comments. Well well, aren’t you mister smarty-boots.

Matt Fenwick, over at his non-eponymous Jerry Aldini website, has an excellent idea re: bridging the gap between the conservative and libertarian wings of the CPC:

There’s no way to make everyone happy here, so let’s shoot for “grudging acceptance”, and try to avoid effectively disenfranching [the so-cons who make up] 20% of Canadians and two-thirds of the CPC base. I’ll keep banging my cheap drum and ask this question:

Which of these outcomes is less preferable to you:
(A) Permitting gays and lesbians to marry
(B) Permitting the government to seize more responsibility for raising your children

My Left-Wing Girlfriend raises some interesting questions about abortion and infanticide. He’s asked me to respond, and my position on abortion is laid out in his comments.

As I write this, I hope against hope that the Tories firmly establish that there will be no government bill on abortion if they are elected. I believe that a federal party suspected to be anti-abortion cannot win an election in this country. For the Tories, they must go further, and actively disavow themselves from any party position on abortion. I know this will strike my anti-abortion friends as a tragedy. I’m sorry. As far as I can tell, it’s a fact. If there is to be any change to abortion legislation in this country, it will have to come from the provinces… a position, I hope you’ll agree, that has constitutional validity.

I see Babbling Brooks is inching away from his support for Joe Wood in the latter’s Battle Against RevCan. He states that he has been persuaded by the arguments contra-Joe posted by Sean and Ginna and Shannon.

Like each of these commentators, I am neither an accountant nor a financial planner. I do not speak from a position of any intellectual heft. But I remain convinced that Wood has been burned (snork) by RevCan’s policy.

All of the Unsupportives make short work of Steve Maich’s comments re: the poor unsophisticated engineer who done found hisself with all them fancy stocks an’ all. Fair enough. But after that, it seems to me that they’re all missing the point something fierce.

From the sidebar of I Am (Also) Canadian, found on the Blogging Tories blogroll:

“I was a lumberjack, and am a fur trader. I have slept in an igloo, eaten blubber, and although I don’t own a dog sled, I do have a ski-doo. I do know Jimmy and Sally, Suzie is my ex, and they’re all assholes. I have a crooked Prime Minister, not a President; I speak neither English or French properly; and I don’t pronounce it “about” or “a boot”; I just say “bout”. I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack, because with the taxes I pay I live out of my backpack. I believe in peace keeping, not policing, even though we got rid of our peacekeepers to buy more police, Diversity, not assimilation (unless I go to Quebec); and that the beaver tastes like chicken and makes a nice fur coat. A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch (where I sleep), and it is pronounced ”Z”, not “zed” or “zee”. Canada is the second highest taxed landmass, the first nation of bleeding hearts, and coldest part of North America. My name is Joe, and I am also Canadian.”

In yesterday’s Notional Pest (subscriber only, argh), ADQ leader Mario Dumont writes a very serviceable summary of the freedom-in-health-care argument. It begins with this:

On paper, Canada has the best health care system in the world: accessible, egalitarian and free. In reality, however, our ill citizens and their families are realizing first-hand that these claims have become myths.

The issue of accessibility is the subject of the first myth. From waiting months for surgery to waiting hours at the emergency room, patients are risking their health daily — sometimes even their lives — because they don’t have access to the medical services required when they need them. Overcrowding and delays have destroyed the system’s claim to true accessibility; nevertheless, we continue to make ourselves believe the opposite.

Abraca-Pocus does a (wait for it) magical job with the latest Red Ensign Standard. I’m extremely impressed with Rue’s creation. I’m also proud of the whole Ensign team. I mean, I know we do it for the huge paychecks and the public adulation, but it’s still impressive to see such fine work.

Well done, Rue. And thanks.