Hope And Change

67 Replies to “Hope And Change”

1. Oh yes, one has to love the typecasting and the bigotry of the hardcore leftard.
   Well, I cannot speak for all of the knuckledraggers here, but I can certainly defend my own right wing existence.
   1. Wife beaters…As the father of 3 daughters, and the brother of 4 sisters, I have had to deal with a few “wife beaters”. The worse was one my sister met at a NDP rally in Oshawa. When I kicked in his door, the big leftard was huddled in the corner amongst his che posters and commie brochures. The f#$%ing coward would not even stand and defend himself. As the fifth or sixth blow landed, I asked him why he felt it was alright to beat my sister, yet he would not even raise a hand to me……..f@#$ing coward moonbat.
   2. Religion…..I am an atheist, pure and simple, and so are about half of my “conservative” friends. If you want to criticize religion, take a hard look at the garbage coming out of Saudi Arabia.
   3. Homosexuals…..I buried my cousin and best friend who died of AIDS, and some of my closest friends are gay….so stick your anti gay bulls@#$ up yer arse!
   4. The last time I fired a weapon was while I was in the military keeping your pansy arse free. I am part miqmaq. I do not shop at walmart.
   And one last thing. Many of us here are ex or currently serving in the military. The last thing any soldier ever wants is to go to war. So, stick your leftarded bigotry where the sun does not shine.
   GO ARMY!
   VOTE REFORM!

2. “What about all the conservatives that own all the business in this country, the actual people that make it all happen, you forgot to mention us in your moronic tirade.”
   Bob, you’re actually referring to an ever slightly more evolved, although no less unethical, species of the Conservative, a bipedal species called a Liberal.
   Cascadian: You’re a perfect example of what I was referring to. Although I found your riposte pretty funny, it showed no nuance. Classic monolithic conservative bias. All progressives must be gay and/ or Liberal. Tip for you: We Democratic Socialists despise Conservatives and Liberals equally. After all, they’re all but identical, shills for the same ideological interests. BTW, no true lefty would be caught dead in an Ignatieff t-shirt. Not only is he a Liberal, he represents the rightard flank of the Liberal caucus. So you see, a little bit of nuance and you would have had me wearing a Hugo Chavez t-shirt instead. As for the rest you’re pretty close, including the thong 🙂
   As for the real discussion. Yes, let’s talk about nationalizing industry and the idea that socialists steal property. I’ve already mentioned that the biggest thieves of property in history were capitalists. I hope Cate will allow the great and humble words of Karl Marx:
   “These new freedmen (those newly emancipated from serfdom and from the fetters of the guilds) became sellers of themselves only after they had been robbed of all their own means of production, and of all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangements. And the history of this, their expropriation, is written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire.”

3. And old Marx’s doctrine is in such expansion worldwide…What happened to the USSR again?

4. Strange, isn’t it? Bill Stewart writes like an adult yet he is a socialist. What could explain such an abberation? As they mature, pay taxes and raise families, most people shake off the leftist leanings of their youth. Perhaps poor Bill is among the politically retarded and can’t help himself. What else could explain having continued faith in a political philosophy that proves itself a failure every time it is tried?
   Bill can find solace, though, in knowing that about 15 per cent of Canada’s voting-age population share his affliction — you know the ones who support the NDP.

5. This isn’t really a partisan thing.
   The reality is much simpler: God bless her but Representative Maxine Waters just isn’t that bright.
   We often have a tendency of forgetting that the fundamental prerequisite for public office is not professional training, intellect or experience.
   The fundamental prerequisite is getting elected.

6. ” I’ve already mentioned that the biggest thieves of property in history were capitalists.”
   You’ve made this statement now prove it!!
   Prove that captialists were bigger “theives” than: The soviets, the chinese communist party, the Nazis, spanish conqueorors, french conqueorors, the Ottoman empire, the Japanese imperial army.
   Your making very big statements yet you have provided little to no evidence to back up any of your statements.

7. [quote]If a republican had said that it would be front page news.[/quote]
   In 1978 it was James (Jim) Baker (Republican) that threatened Big Oil with the same consequence. Corruption has no party affiliation when off-shore Bank Accounts are used to move pay-off money to the grubby Slim Balls.
   Congress knows the Big oil Game…and its time for them to slither under a rock…or Break-up the bastards into three Separate Units.
   1. Big oil Exploration & development, well head pricing. Big oil does well in that role
   2. Transportation & Refining: Nationalize or Spin-off. Purchase Product at Well Head Pricing.. NO change of product ownership Allowed within the Unit. Note: Alaska pipe line price fixing
   3. Retail: Purchase at Refinery. Note: The State of New Jersey does not allow “Self Serve” and Full service Gasoline Prices are >.10 to .20 per gal cheaper than all the surrounding States, that allow BIG Oil Self Service. Once Competition has been eliminated.. Big Oil controls the price
   Big oil set up OPEC & Canada’s system…Canada needs to look in the Mirror to see the blue Eyed Arabs!

8. Big Oil controls the price
   Big oil set up OPEC & Canada’s system…Canada needs to look in the Mirror to see the blue Eyed Arabs!
   Posted by: Phillip G. Shaw at May 24, 2008 12:04 PM
   Just one thing I would add re: big oil controls the price. In Canada, there is co-operation between the major companies, some might be so bold as to call it price fixing. It doesn’t matter whether you gas up at a company owned or independent outlet as the companies control the wholesale (so called) price to the independents and thus limit their ability to create competition to virtually nothing. Most retailers gross profit potential is .04 to .10 per litre depending on location, volume, who owns the facility, equipment and experience in negotiating.
   The concept of free enterprise competitiveness in this market is a fallacy. During my 10 yrs in the industry, the only time I saw retailers with an ability to significantly influence retail price was when the Oil companies gave them this latitude in order to circumvent Government regulations. That didn’t last long.
   Hugger

9. Greg
   Since you have expeience in the industry, you probably have an opinion on the method of calculating taxes. I think it’s an absolute disgrace that the government takes in windfall profits on top of the already inflated prices. The retailers are on a fixed income, why not the government.
   Retailers actually lose money when prices go way up. Carrying charges, falling sales, etc. cut into the bottom line. Plus they have to take the abuse from customers. Most retailers I know probably make more money on junk food than gas.

10. “And old Marx’s doctrine is in such expansion worldwide…What happened to the USSR again?”
    You’re such a cliche. That which invalidates Marx’s observations is their lack of popularity. Popularity as the measure of truth. Funny that doesn’t seem to apply around here when discussing GW.
    Karl Marx would have endorsed Soviet Union totalitarianism about as much as Friedrich Nietzsche advocated for German Fascism. Or even as much as St.Paul in his zeal to spread Christianity would have endorsed the Crusades. Only a facile and disingenuous understanding would allow one to make such connections. Let’s be clear. Stalin was no less a pig than Hitler; what he perpetrated on the Ukrainians was as diabolical as the Nazi Holocaust. I’ve never met a socialist who displayed anything other than contempt for Communist totalitarianism.
    And yes, I still maintain that no one to this day has understood the inner workings of capitalism, particularly industrial capitalism, as well as Karl Marx did. Now if anyone would like to discuss why Marx was wrong, I’d be happy to oblige. BTW, the argument that really existing socialism hasn’t worked so well isn’t terribly valid, since really existing unfettered free market capitalism has itself been utterly disastrous (hence the creation of the welfare state), but you still chauvinistically cling to free market principles nonetheless.
    Apologies to Cate, no more on this matter.

11. ** Energy developments in China and India are transforming the global energy system as a result of their sheer size and their growing importance in international energy markets. **
    One has to be careful of generalizing.
    These two booming economies are making and selling all kinds of electric bikes, cars and trucks.
    The Tata family of Tata motors India are wise in that they are producing ever more numbers of non-petrol vehicles.
    China made electric bikes and motorcycles seem to be more numerous here on our streets every day. There seem to be Japanese hybrids everywhere now too.
    The two countries are not likely to keep pumping out petrol gulping products for much longer if gas prices make them unsaleable.
    Seems their demands for petroleum will be more for plastics and chemicals as time goes by. = TG

12. TG- The Chinese might be producing more non-petrol vehicles, but Chinese citizens are creating the huge demand for oil. I can tell you first hand that Chinese people want anything American, be it cars, phones, clothes, food. They want to drive down the highway in a big powerful car. They never had the experience before, and they aren’t going to give up til they’ve all had a chance to live that life.
    Their demand for oil will increase exponentially for at least a decade. It will change the face of every market on the planet. It will destroy every estimate of petroleum reserves ever published. It could very well put 100 million new vehicles on the road.
    High prices will not deter the Chinese demand. Communist regimes have no problem manipulating currency. How do you think they’ve been able to dump so many cheap products into our markets?

13. Ten years is a long time.
    Yes, they could very well put 100 million new vehicles on the road.
    The question is, what percentage will be alternate powered?
    I drive by the GM [ Brian Mclean*s], lot here in Courtenay every day.
    It is packed solid with gas hog SUVs and big pick-ups. Not a pretty sight because nothing seems to move much. = TG

14. Up to 9 months wait times for efficient cars in $9 – gallon UK.
    The increasing demand for cars with low carbon dioxide emissions in the UK has meant that they are in short supply.
    The Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion is a particularly extreme example with wait times of up to 9 months for factory orders.
    Certain trim levels of the Honda Civic Hybrid require five months of patience.
    Some of this is clearly due to the fact that cars that emit less than 120g/km of CO2 are exempted from London’s congestion charge. The rise of gas prices to around $9/gallon has also undoubtedly played a big part in driving demand for cars that use a bare minimum of fuel.
    With the most in-demand models unavailable in showrooms, dealers are trying desperately to push other models that are nearly as efficient but that don’t quite meet that 120g/km threshold.
    About the only major low CO2 model that is fairly readily available is the Prius, with wait times of only three weeks on average.
    ================ AutoblogGreen.com
    = TG

15. Here is proof of an electric car future.
    All the big guys are building battery factories.
    Nissan isn’t the only Japanese auto manufacturer with big plans for batteries.
    Toyota will open two new battery plants in Japan and expand a third for the production of nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries. All of Toyota’s current hybrid vehicles use the older nickel-based battery chemistry.
    The lithium ion batteries produced at the new plant will likely be scheduled for next-gen hybrids like the upcoming Lexus version of the third-generation Prius sedan. The total investment from Toyota will be ¥20 billion, or $192.3 million.
    These new plants are expected to support Toyota’s ambitious goal to sell a million hybrid vehicles per year within the next decade. Currently, the Japanese giant is the global leader in hybrid sales, selling 429,000 of the gasoline/electric vehicles in 2007.
    The three plants will have the capacity to produce a million packs by the year 2011, which lines up quite nicely with Toyota’s plans. Thanks to Joseph for the tip.
    = TG

16. TG-
    Yes, the western world is switching to more efficient cars.
    The Chinese aren’t and won’t because they haven’t learned the lessons of the west. They’ll produce millions of inefficient, high emmission clunkers as cheaply as possible. They’ll assume the price of oil is a temporary problem because the Chinese follow trends religiously. They’ve seen oil go up and down, and they assume it’ll keep doing that(maybe they’re right). They want cars. They really want cars. The government will give them what they want, and they’ll do it as fast and cheap as possible.

17. I think it’s an absolute disgrace that the government takes in windfall profits on top of the already inflated prices. The retailers are on a fixed income, why not the government.
    Posted by: dp at May 24, 2008 3:51 PM
    Good question. Why not the government? I guess most people already have preconceived thoughts on that. One way to look at it is to use a now popular term. Tax shifting. As tax revenues are lost in areas such as manufacturing, they can be offset by areas such as this.
    However, people do seem to have a problem with government that expects them to survive somehow, regardless of burden, yet do not appear to apply the same principles to themselves.
    Hugger