How Much Credit Should Obama Get for Killing bin Laden? Vote!

President Barack Obama

Politicians often get or take a lot of credit for things done by many people by the nature of how we view things and of our political system. Conversely, they also get the flack for a lot of things, whether fairly or not because it might have been the errors or poor performance of many others. As the symbolic focal point for a lot of things, that’s how accountability is thrust upon them.

For their sake of accountability, the ability to be able to decide how much or little to get involved is a key trait to a good politician because nobody is an expert at everything. In fact, the more important politicians trusted with responsibility for various portfolios might not even know much about the issue. Their selection of responsibility might be for any number of reasons, from political like having power distributed in an area, to the lack of anyone else suitable, whether by knowledge or decision-making ability.

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Halifax Skating Oval Could Be Kept for 50 Cents to $2 per Use (A Cost-Benefit Analysis)

Halifax Skating Oval

For about $1 of tax per person per year, or a $2 (toonie) charge per use, the Halifax Skating Oval can be sustained, at the highest cost estimates. It could be as low as 50 cents per use. I’m not encouraging this, but if paying for use of the Oval were a last resort, it could be very affordable and definitely worth its value!

There’s a big debate on whether or not to keep the Canada Winter Games Skating Oval on the Halifax Commons (CBC, Jan 4 2011). A lot of the public is enjoying the facility, but the worry is the cost of maintaining the Oval after the Canada Games are over. The hope is that business support can be found to pay the costs, rather than increasing taxes or having to charge skaters. However, that’s a political solution. This analysis looks at the business case of keeping the oval if the public had to pay for it.

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The Food Miles Myth – Eat Local for the Economy, Not the Environment

Food miles is a nice concept for awareness, but a meaningless and impractical ideal to believe in for eating local. Eat local for the economy, not the environment. It doesn’t sound as “romantic”, to idealize something for money rather than for the Earth. However, you’re likely idealizing something you wouldn’t be able to prove to be true.

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