I don't normally do this...

...but there are some news stories that just demand comment. Here's one I came across on FARK.com (all links pop):

Supreme Court opens door to Air Canada pay-equity investigation

Apparently, some union (and don't get me started on what I think of the state of modern unions) is trying to make the claim that (primarily female) flight attendants should be paid the same as (primarily male) pilots and airline mechanics. Now, if their argument was based only on legitimate factors (say that being a flight attendant required the same degree of skill and training and carried the same responsibility as being a passenger jet pilot, and the only reason that flight attendants are paid less is because they were women) there would be no problems, because the assumption that is based on is patently wrong. However, take a look at the Special Report to Parliament on Pay Equity from the Canadian Human Rights Commission, specifically this line:

Pay equity does not concern itself with legitimate factors that shape wages, such as supply and demand, training and seniority. Rather, it seeks to correct wage discrimination that results from ingrained perceptions about the worth of jobs -- and in particular those done mostly by women.

As far as I can tell, this commission has the power to decide that flight attendants are paid less because they are mostly women (never mind that handing out peanuts and demonstrating how to use a seat belt != to being personally responsible for the lives of hundreds of people and the safety of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment.), and therefore force the airlines to pay flight attendants the same as they pay pilots. I cry, "SOCIALISM!"

The market should set wages, not the government. If one's labor as a flight attendant is worth more than one's salary as a flight attendant, quit, and find a better job. If a better job is unavailable, perhaps the problem is one's valuation of one's labor. If enough flight attendants leave, the airlines will be forced to increase their salaries; it's simple supply-and-demand. Furthermore, you don't need a "Commission on Human Rights", you need an educated populous. Canada is (supposedly) a democratic (as opposed to autocratic) society. If the people don't like the way a company is treating their employees, let the people boycott. If the people don't care, what is the government (that is supposed to reflect the will of the people) doing legislating it in the first place?

In conclusion, all you whiney, "I'm moving to Canada if Bush wins" liberals can have the Great White North. I'm proposing that all of the minarchists, anarcho-capitalists, classical liberals, small-l libertarians, big-L Libertarians, and all other members of the true right pool our resources, buy Cuba, and turn it back into the Monte Carlo of the Caribbean that it used to be. The climate is nicer, anyway.