570News - Jeff Allan

STAY THE COURSE

jallan — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:59:15 +0000

Every financial expert, economist, and banker I’ve interviewed over the last two weeks has told me to stop worrying about our financial health here in Canada. It’s only been the Canadian opposition parties who have sold us this doom and gloom scenario. In fact yesterday the international banking community ranked Canada’s banks and banking system as number one in the world! The United States ranked 44th! So why, I ask, are Mr. Layton and Mr. Dion trying to scare you? Your guess is as good as mine. The best advice that I’ve been given is to stay the course; after all you can’t stop living. If you want to invest right now, do like I do and buy the odd lottery ticket for fun. Heck the other day I bought a double cash for life ticket; I didn’t get security for life, but I did win $18.00 which was better than a kick in the head and it made me feel good for about 18 minutes! Try it. You might feel better too.

Jeff Allan

Three Things in Life are Certain!

jallan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:02:59 +0000

Three things in life are certain; taxes, death and an episode of CSI any time you tune to SPIKE TV! Why don’t they just call it the CSI Network?

Jeff Allan

OBAMA OR McCAIN = NO EMMEDIATE CHANGE.

jallan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:33:27 +0000

Now that you’ve seen how the American system works when a Bill needs to be passed; you might be able to understand why I don’t believe you’ll see any great change in American domestic or foreign policy after their election. Many people think the President of the U.S runs everything carte blanc. That’s why people say things like the world is screwed up because of ”the George Bush led war on terror” or the economy is in the crapper because of the failed “George Bush economic policies”. Everyone blames the President, but they should be blaming the law makers; the Senators and the members of Congress. The law makers pass all then laws, the President can’t make one on his own; however he can veto a bill. So when America went into Iraq, both the Democrats and the Republicans voted for it. Bush may have misled them, but it’s up to those politicians to do their own homework to see if the info they get is true before they vote. Everything that has happen in America has been passed through the Senate and the House of Representatives. Therefore Mr. Bush is not completely responsible for what’s happened. Because these politicians have voters to answer to, the chances of an Iraq pull out for example is slim to none. How do they explain to their voters why their jobs are gone at the tank making plant, or the automotive plant, or the missile assembly line? That’s what will happen and in a Recession that’s bad policy. Don’t expect change overnight, if ever.

Jeff Allan

Plagiarism and Politics

jallan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:53:34 +0000

There’s an old saying that is very appropriate to use today: “all’s fair in love, war, and politics.” With two weeks to go until Canadians go to the polls, Bob Rae and the Liberal Party released a video of Prime Minister Harper using the same words in a speech in the house of commons that former Australian PM John Howard used in the Australian legislature. The Liberals and their counterparts in the opposition pounced on this screaming “foul”. This is plagiarism they said. In fact the academic, Stephane Dion, suggested that Mr. Harper be “expelled” for his actions.

It’s important to point out that the speech Mr. Harper made was delivered in the house of commons back in 2003 when he was the leader of the opposition; that’s five years ago. The speech seemed to be a copy of Prime Minister Howard’s speech, there’s no doubt about that; but does it really matter? To be sure, the opposition parties want to portray Mr. Harper as a war mongering bully. They want you to think of him as a follower of the “George Bush Led War on Terror” and this duplication of John Howard’s speech is proof that Mr. Harper is in bed with President Bush because John Howard was so Pro-Bush. In addition the opposition parties want you to believe that Mr. Harper is also following Mr. Bush’s economic policies too. I guess they figure if you’re in for one, you’re in for all. The opposition must figure that “Bush” is such a bad name that any connection to it is bad news for Mr. Harper and good news for them.

Hats off to the Liberal “War Room” folks who found this gem and then edited it together for the beautiful visual presentation we all saw yesterday. It may help their campaign; but only if Canadians really care. It’s also worth noting that a bull always kicks the hardest just before the end,; and this may be the end of Stephane Dion’s Liberals, at least for this election.

I don’t really care about the “plagiarism” factor because I know that every politician has used speech writers and quotes from others since the dawn of time. In fact Australian economist John Kunkel, who served as John Howard’s speechwriter from 2004 to 2007, said plagiarism in speech writing is not uncommon in any political system and said he doubts Howard was offended by the incident. How many of you have ever lifted a paragraph or two from a text book in your day to finish an essay? Be honest. I’ll bet a lot of you would admit to at least reading someone else’s work and rewriting it to suit your work.

In closing, I’d like to say that I’m not defending the actions of the Prime Minister who delivered an obviously copied speech when he was the leader of the opposition five years ago. The offending speech writer has resigned, but the damage has been done. However I would like to challenge the opposition to answer this question under oath; Have all the speeches and statements you’ve delivered over your career been completely original and checked for plagiarism? It is my opinion that none of the politicians in any party, including the current conservative government would or could say that they have. I believe their answer to my question would be “no comment” or ” I can’t possibly recall that far back”. The reason for that response is simple; they all do it and they’ve all done it.

Jeff Allan

SINGLES GET THE SHAFT!

jallan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:16:40 +0000

If you’re single like me; you may find, as I have, that all the political parties have forgotten us in this election. All I hear about is families this, and families that! What’s in your platform for those of us that are single, divorced, or without kids? According to Stats Canada we are a giant demographic, so why aren’t the political parties addressing us? It’s a fair and good question, and I’m not the only person asking it. If you’re single as well, you should be asking the candidates why they don’t care about us. I will be, starting tomorrow on the show.

Jeff Allan

A New Holiday: No Trucks Day!

jallan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:50:36 +0000

This afternoon I narrowly missed a collision caused by merging 18 wheel trucks on the Expressway. The highway traffic act states that a vehicle should be travelling the posted speed limit by the time it merges onto four lane highways in Ontario. Big trucks can’t do it because the on ramps aren’t long enough or designed with trucks in mind. Because they can’t do it they’re screwing everyone else up and causing problems. (others in cars do too) Just one day I’d like to be truck free! Just one day! It would be neat to get on and off the expressway without them on the road just to see what it’s like. With this in mind, I would like to call for a “National No Truck Day”. It would give us the day off. The truckers the day off, and it would show us how much we depend on those trucks even though they sometimes drive us crazy! Plus, the people in charge of on ramps might get the idea that the ramps need improvement. I know this dream day of mine will never happen, but I can dream can’t I?

VIA RAIL: YOU’VE GOT TO DO BETTER!

jallan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:32:46 +0000

Boy did I have a bad experience yesterday with VIA Rail. On Friday I bought a round trip ticket to Toronto to go to a Memorial service for an old friend last night. The ticket cost $58.00 return. I thought I’d try the train so that I wouldn’t have to drive home on the 401 when they might be doing maintenance work, and I didn’t want to worry about parking all day in Toronto.

I will never be that stupid again! The train that was supposed to leave the station in Kitchener at 9:32am didn’t leave until almost eleven am! I arrived late for lunch at 12:50pm. Coming home the train left Union station a little after ten pm and I didn’t get home until ten to twelve pm!

Next time I’ll take my car. The gas cost less, the parking cost less and I would have been there in a hour by car travelling at the speed limit. If VIA RAIL wants us to use their services; they have to do a lot better than this! Heck, you would have thought they would have thrown in a free coffee; but no, they charged me the two bucks anyway. SERVICE is the name of the game, and they had no game yesterday. Yes! I’m still ticked off today. Can you tell?

Jeff Allan

Couriers Need To Obey The Laws Too!!!

jallan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:47:58 +0000

I know people have to make a living, but when did it become accepted practise for Courier truck drivers to just pull over to the curb in downtown Kitchener, flip on their four ways and screw off to find their delivery site? Today at 2:30pm I was standing at the corner of King and Water Steets in downtown Kitchener when I noticed that the traffic was backed up through the intersection for three light changes. I went up King Street towards Victoria thinking there must be an accident or something holding up traffic. When I walked just a little way I could see the problem; a UPS truck was stopped with his four ways on, and the driver was gone. The truck was blocking the whole lane! What’s worse is the fact that there was a parking space available just ahead of where he was stopped. This driver isn’t the only culprit. It seems that every delivery driver in town does it and no one does a thing about it. The police should crack down on this the same way they would if it was you or me who decided to just stop our cars anywhere we wanted because it was more convenient. Come you delivery guys and gals; just a little consideration please? It’s called common courtesy.

PS: Most businesses say all deliveries in the rear, why are you so special?

BUSH AND THE 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORY

jallan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:00:23 +0000

Most of the world thinks that President George W. Bush is the dumbest most incompetent slow dim witted idiot that ever sat in the Oval Office. Many of you wonder how he gets through the day. To many, he’s nothing more than an ex-boozing under achiever. If that’s true, can you answer me this question? How on earth do you give him credit for being smart enough to be involved in some 9/11 conspiracy? Come on, you can’t have it both ways. If he’s as “slow” as many of you think; how did he pull this off? I just don’t see it.

Paralympic Games: No Coverage!?

jallan — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:00:35 +0000

Canada’s national public broadcaster should be ashamed of themselves. In fairness so should all the private broadcasters. I checked every channel on the dial last night and do you think I could find one station that was covering the Paralympic Games in Beijing? No, I guess the Country Music Awards, the Toronto Film festival, two American NFL football games, a Blue Jays game and repeats of last years Prime Time TV shows are more important!

Where is the support for our challenged athletes? I am ashamed. The TV networks should be too.

Jeff Allan