Revolutionary Moderation

Someone else doing the hard work, once more



Via the election blog, I've discovered James Burns at Hewmon.com. Don't let the bare-bones page format fool you - this commentary is detailed, smart, and incisive.



I've been reluctant to write about the Conservative Ad controversy because I have connections to another "offshore financial centre", the Cayman Islands. Want to piss off a Cayman Islander? Use the phrase "tax haven". It hearkens back to the bad old days when criminals were laundering their money through offshore banking centres, not to avoid taxes but to disconnect the money from the illegal activity that generated it. That doesn't happen any more - at least, there are huge bureaucratic structures to try to prevent it. Criminals are a tricky lot, but the intention of the Cayman Islands to avoid this is sincere.



But of course, when Canadians talk about "tax havens" now, we're not talking about Bond villians making sneaky payments for assassinations - we're talking about Paul Martin or Frank Stronach avoiding Canadian taxes through perfectly legal means. It's so legal, you can get pamphlets from the Canada Customs and Revenue agency about offshore banking and how to access it. But of course, you and I and the other working stiffs can't access offshore investments at all. The super-wealthy can. You know, like Paul Martin and Frank Stronach.



All of which brings me back to James at Hewmon.com. Cross-posted to the election blog, he challenges Belinda Stronach to address this issue head-on. And then, as a chaser, he does what much more experienced blogs avoided - he takes a side in the Haiti confilct, and he stands opposed to the drug lord and the warlord. Unlike, say, the U.S. State Department.



He's only been at this about a month. This is a blog to watch.