Canadians are headed for the polls again, showing how shaky politics has become in such countries. Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party “won” a general election in early 2006 by garnering more seats than any other party. The other three major parties — Liberal (or “Grits”), New Democrat Party, and Bloc Québécois (the French separatist party) — each held significant numbers in the Parliament (pictured). Conservatives gained 24 seats for a total of 125; Liberals lost 32 seats for a total of 103; the New Democrats gained 10 seats for 29 total; and Bloc Québécois lost 3 seats down to 51; there was 1 independent.

The United Nations, an organization whose first Secretary General was Alger Hiss, a Soviet spy embedded in the federal government, almost never even appears to solve any of the problems with which it is tasked. Notorious examples, such as the “Oil for Food" program, have received broad attention. The Iraqi people were not helped at all by the U.N. — with its corrupt, power-hunger, self-important functionaries wearing the mask of compassionate concern.

The United Nations, touted by progressives for 60 years as the last best hope of mankind, has done almost no good anywhere at any time. Since the inception of the world body — comprised of a hodge-podge of thuggish dictatorships, self-righteous and anti-American European democracies, communist regimes, and nations which hate each other — it is very difficult to find any situation in which the UN has actually made things better.

The Jaworski family fled Poland in 1984 and came to Canada to enjoy freedom, something that the Communists denied them in their homeland. The last ten years, the Jaworskis, Marta and Lech, have been hosting an annual Liberty Summer Seminar on their land, an event sponsored by the Institute for Liberal Studies, a registered charity in Canada.

The American government, over the last decade, has been notoriously remiss in keeping illegal aliens from crossing our border with Mexico. The Arizona Legislature recently passed a “controversial” law requiring that the existing federal immigration laws be enforced — prompting a threatened lawsuit from the federal government (for enforcing its own laws).

Barack Obama arrived on Friday in Toronto for the G-8 and G-20 economic summits. This summit comes amid an unprecedented explosion of red ink in America from an approach to sluggish economies that Obama is recommending to other industrial nations.

The Arizona law requiring that federal immigration laws be enforced has aroused overwhelming support among the American people. Those who oppose the Arizona law embrace a motley group. Cities and states, in violation of the interstate commerce clause, have attempted to impose punitive “tariffs” or “embargos” on Arizona. The President and his cabinet members, none of who own up to having read the law, still find enforcing the federal law — that is, fulfilling their oath of office — impossible and distasteful.

The United Nations, which has faced massive fraud cases in recent years, has cut back on its fraud investigations. These fraud cases typically involve theft or other misuse of funds.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (left) has decided that one of the serious problems with the nation he bullies is that there are not enough prison cells. This is a common “problem” of collectivists.  Because coercion is their only real tool, although it is often artfully hidden, they must be able to force people to do what they want. On Friday Chavez instructed prison officials to build more prison cells because of recent prison riots.

Mark Twain, one of America’s greatest satirists, once observed, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Marxists, however, believe that man can do anything and that class enemies can be responsible for anything — now including inclement weather.