Move to Canada! What a great idea! Surely it is a land of freedom, milk and honey. Well, maybe not if you include comprehensive protection for freedom of speech. No doubt, some leftist goon is going to get on me about how corporations censor free speech and other rubbish. Still, this serves as a sobering reminder that democracy and freedom are in no way connected, as even many Western democratic states are as illiberal as their Eastern counterparts.
Ladies and gents, this is a good example of why I cannot get excited about the "spread of democracy" around the world. If this were done by Communist China, people would be outraged, but because it's Canada "the people" said it was ok. Just like racist whites said that it was ok to use their numbers to keep blacks from enjoying due process of law, engaging in lawful commerce and basic civil liberties like the right to keep and bear arms in the United States.
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Wine Spectator recently (November) had an article about a windery in Canada that was just getting started. The couple that owned it jumped through all the hoops, got the forms, filed them in triplicate, and opened their doors.
The first day, some health inspector descended on them and tried to haul away a whole year's worth of product. The reason? They didn't get the final approval, which was personal permission from him. Of course, he didn't grant it at the site.
After an entire day of appealing to the various bureaus, they were able to open up shop, because the higher ups discovered that wine was an alcoholic beverage, not a food, so he had no authority in the case whatsoever. Apparently the inspector didn't know his job, but was sure keen on doing it...
And yet, this is precisely the model of government that the left wishes to impose on us.
There are a number of things that keep me from being enthusiastic about the government "saving us." Like the fact that aspertame is still sold on the open market. The stuff is a known, real carcinogen. Phenalanine (however you spell it) is common in diet drinks and "lite" products, but it's been proven to cause all kinds of serious brain damage in small children and even to cause mild brain damage in adults if consumed on a regular basis.
I think that once I get back from King's Dominion today, this is going to have lead into a bigger blog post :)