Heinlein defined newsreading as "the sick need to wallow in the problems of 8 billion strangers", and I have the worse illness of wanting to comment back at journalists. This makes substack diabolical for me. Just dropped $50 so I could 'fact check' (not really) Paul.
* I rise to the defense of the rustbucket F16, and its sister-cra…
Heinlein defined newsreading as "the sick need to wallow in the problems of 8 billion strangers", and I have the worse illness of wanting to comment back at journalists. This makes substack diabolical for me. Just dropped $50 so I could 'fact check' (not really) Paul.
* I rise to the defense of the rustbucket F16, and its sister-craft, our F18. The Pentagon has never allowed a direct face-off between their beloved F35 and an F16 (just like the original Top Gun play dogfights). I could accept the possibility that an F35 would win. Even possible that, say, two F35s could beat 3 F16's. I cannot accept the possibility that a billion dollars worth of F35s (6) could beat a billion dollars worth of F16s (40).
* And I must rise to the defense of my fellow government employees. Journos just say "government" forgetting that they denigrate all three levels that way. Had any cholera in the water, lately? Sewage flowing in the streets? No? My old colleagues at work.
Government got something done: it was crucial in building Calgary, which doubled in size during my waterworks career: and every bit of pavement, every pipe, every wire, every house, was built under government supervision and inspection, as is all the food you eat. (And trust me, all those private constructors would have happily built you Mogadishu, then folded the numbered companies that did so, if we'd taken our eyes of them.)
News guys follow, well, NEW things. Government doesn't do a lot of new things. We do the basic, old infrastructure like roads, utilities, schools, health. Canada has some of the best infrastructure on the planet, the highest scholastic levels, the longest lifespans. Oh, and financial systems - you know, the Canadian ones that never had to bail-out a bank, while the largest economies in the world were in near-collapse from mismanagement and under-regulation. (That government regulation they said was so limiting and oppressive.) One of the nations that caused the Global Financial Crisis then hired Mark Carney to tune them up.
I gotta say, I was surprised that the column didn't compare American movie military to real American military - the ones that were beaten by a nation of shepherds.
Heinlein defined newsreading as "the sick need to wallow in the problems of 8 billion strangers", and I have the worse illness of wanting to comment back at journalists. This makes substack diabolical for me. Just dropped $50 so I could 'fact check' (not really) Paul.
* I rise to the defense of the rustbucket F16, and its sister-craft, our F18. The Pentagon has never allowed a direct face-off between their beloved F35 and an F16 (just like the original Top Gun play dogfights). I could accept the possibility that an F35 would win. Even possible that, say, two F35s could beat 3 F16's. I cannot accept the possibility that a billion dollars worth of F35s (6) could beat a billion dollars worth of F16s (40).
* And I must rise to the defense of my fellow government employees. Journos just say "government" forgetting that they denigrate all three levels that way. Had any cholera in the water, lately? Sewage flowing in the streets? No? My old colleagues at work.
Government got something done: it was crucial in building Calgary, which doubled in size during my waterworks career: and every bit of pavement, every pipe, every wire, every house, was built under government supervision and inspection, as is all the food you eat. (And trust me, all those private constructors would have happily built you Mogadishu, then folded the numbered companies that did so, if we'd taken our eyes of them.)
News guys follow, well, NEW things. Government doesn't do a lot of new things. We do the basic, old infrastructure like roads, utilities, schools, health. Canada has some of the best infrastructure on the planet, the highest scholastic levels, the longest lifespans. Oh, and financial systems - you know, the Canadian ones that never had to bail-out a bank, while the largest economies in the world were in near-collapse from mismanagement and under-regulation. (That government regulation they said was so limiting and oppressive.) One of the nations that caused the Global Financial Crisis then hired Mark Carney to tune them up.
I gotta say, I was surprised that the column didn't compare American movie military to real American military - the ones that were beaten by a nation of shepherds.
Alberta (and BC) exceptionalism!