February 01, 2006
QotD: Canada in 2006
Canada remains in 2006 largely what it was in 2005 — a country where cigarettes are taxed 300% to 400% but heroin is free to addicts; where gay widowers have an easier time obtaining their pension entitlements than World War II veterans; and where a woman can go topless in public unless she has hate literature tattooed on her breasts.
Colby Cosh, "The great right North?", L.A. Times, 2006-01-27
Posted by Nicholas at February 1, 2006 01:40 AM
When will being a disloyal twerp stop being soemthing mistaken for cleverness?
I am not certain what Cosh's argument regarding cigarettes and heroin might be. I am in favour of both being available to addicts in a regulated and taxed environment (though quite agree neither should be taxed as heavily as cigarettes currently are).
Cosh is mistaken about gay widowers obtaining pension entitlements. This is an issue that is before the courts, something I would hope he well knows, and I fail to see how one fight for equity is less reasonable than another. Unless, of course, I am meant to respect the freedoms our veterans fought for less because some people share the Nazis views about gay men. Or if I am meant to assume there are no gay WWII veterans equally deserving of our respect.
The last point is incomprehensible to me. Is Cosh in support of the freedom to incite genocide (please read the act you are criticizing, o ye libertarians) and against women going topless in public? The last possibility is frankly madness.
