Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation, here is the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 3(i), Allegro Moderato, BWV 1048 (5:33, period instruments).
Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.
Consider the following statement by Professor Glenn Reynolds, also known as Instapundit: “I can think of no better reason to vote against Obama than the prospect of an administration where any criticism of the President is treated as racism”. Glenn made that statement in response to an article he linked to, from which he quoted: “The Left is very invested in both preemptively delegitimizing criticism of Obama and framing opponents as de facto bigots”.
This is a problem. Consider the case, for the sake of argument, that, say, Ms. Rice or Mr. Powell was the Republican nominee for President. Do you think that criticisms of the nominee from the Left would bring howls of racism from the Right? Mr. Obama’s problem is not that he is of mixed so-called race, it’s that he’s a socialist Democrat, and our problem is that some people are going to try to use his so-called race to deny other’s criticism of him being a socialist Democrat.
Pardon me for channeling Jackie Mason for a moment, but I have to say that I think that identity politics is a human sickness that has caused grossly more harm than good in the history of our species. We have to figure out how to break the bonds of fraudulent collectivism, racism, sexism, classism, &c, in the name of each of our own individual experiences, each of our own strengths and weaknesses, each of our own successes and failures, and each of our own volitional contractual arrangements, freely speaking, associating, and assembling with those like-minded, while also not denying others same (except in self defence, of course).
This does not mean that collectives would go away. It’s not anarchy. The key point is that those collectives that properly accomodate human spirit, faith, and hope are volitional collectives, not mandated collectives, not by genetics, not by edict, or fiat, or diktat, not by ponzi-scheme protection-racket fear-mongering shystertairat extortion. Sure it’s a tough problem. Of course, that’s the whole point of at least some of the debates here at SDA. So I now happily return to your regularly scheduled Reader Tips…
We’ve all seen clips from Palestinian TV, where children are being prodded to recite nursery rhymes about murdering Jews, and we’ve seen the obsessive rocking induced by the rote-torture learning in the madrassas in Pakistan, as well as “Undercover Mosque”-type documentaries showing the hateful preaching that goes on in Mosques in England, etc., but we rarely turn our gaze onto the sort of attitudes that are inculcated on the Christian side of the equation, and as a result we tend not to understand the sort of judgment that the AHRC came down with against Pastor Boisson.
The following clip (nsfw in Canada) shows the brainwashing of children into what is clearly a Christian supremacist movement. You don’t need to be able to hear all the words to understand the underlying “our god is better than our god,” “he is supreme” attitude of these vicious little pale-faced would-be colonialists.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5fvFD1sr2qs
Hard to stomach. Makes me wonder if the HRCs should have their own security force, with the authority to break up such vile assemblies.
y’know…I really don’t like the CBC.
They have crappy programing,and when it’s late,(for me) and prime time for others, I’m subgeted to soft porn.
And I pay for this.
The “news” is biased.
And I’m also paying for this.
Their “hate PMSH” coverage is pointless.
The media doesn’t like Harper because he shuts his office door, and goes to work.
Running the country.
For us.
To feed the CBC. More.
Be gone with them.
But pppplllleeeeeeaaaaaasssssssseeeeeee…
Keep the hockey night in Canada song!!!!
Uh, the song was sold to CTV, so they’re beyond “keeping it”.
Seven year Amerikkkan recession watch continues…
Bernanke says danger of ‘substantial downturn’ has faded… http://tinyurl.com/3mexlo
Obama disagrees but can’t remember or state why oh wait, now I remember… “Such relief can’t wait until the next president takes office. … That’s why I’ve called for another round of fiscal stimulus, an immediate $50 billion to help those who’ve been hit hardest by this economic downturn,” Obama told a crowd in Raleigh, N.C.
He said that he supports the expansion and extension of unemployment benefits, as well as a second round of tax rebate checks.
McCain says “I have a fundamental belief that, I have a great belief that the fundamentals of our economy are very strong, very strong.”
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 78% of those surveyed rate economic conditions as “poor”. Only 22 percent say “good.”
Only Obama, Oprah and the MSM can turn around this economic death spiral.
On other news today, everytime George Bush starts your GM SUV/Pickup Truck another Mexican child starves to death…
As heavy rains flood fields in Midwestern states, corn extends its climb on Monday, threatening to add to food inflation. http://tinyurl.com/4uw5fu
Fire them all!!
“threatening to add to food inflation”
Actually, it’s just the fat people doing that.
I missed the opportunity to post this on the 6th of June. It was the theme that let the French Resistance know that their deliverance was neigh.
~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhcR1ZS2hVo~
Time to stop the bitching and think of what might have been if our Fathers and Grandfathers were made of the kind of stuff we see today. “Americans; those bastards”: yes and just what brand of Japanese, German, etc., do you think we would be speaking if that American President had decided not to get involved; to not provoke the Japanese, to not provide arms to us via the back door.
Over heard in The Beaches’ Starbucks;
“Man, oh man, we have just got to find a way to shut her down before she reaches 10 million. Double digits – aawwwrrg !”
” Mmmmmm loose bolt on the motorcycle .. HRC hit .. ban the Internet .. doggie hostage .. citizenship revoke .. accident in the show ring .. biker boy friend infiltration .. paint can bomb .. punk band noise polution .. ”
Thanks for all of the tunes Vitruvius.
Stanley Fish makes an argument for rational identity politics.
http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/when-identity-politics-is-rational/
He defines “interest” identity politics where a voter as a member of a given group believes that someone of that same group is more likely to pursue policies that best reflect that voter’s rational self interest.
This as opposed to “tribal” identity politics where a voter will support a member of the same group based only on their identification with that group. My country right or wrong is tribal identity politics writ large he says.
Sounds like machts nichts to me with the latter group arriving at the same conclusion as the former by intuition rather than reason.
I agree with you that a better differentiation would be “volitional” identity politics rather than “mandated” identity politics and that it surely is a tough problem.
33 years ago I bought an album Swithed On BACH.
I had read about it, but learned a bit more after seeing CLOCKWORK ORANGE. The music in this film turned my head around about classical music.
In all this time and after a couple more VINYL albums, I had never seen a live performance of this material. Untill tonight.Great job!!
Vitruvius thanks for posting this. Now I need more recordings and better stereo speakers. KEFF’s I think
[quote]He said that he supports the expansion and extension of unemployment benefits, as well as a second round of tax rebate checks.[/quote]
The UIC/Workers Comp is for California, they have had all Prisioner’s drawing UI/WC in Jail. It gives the prisoner a bank roll when they get out. How much money are they short in the Funds
Obama.. NO MONEY FOR CALIFORIA!
http://tinyurl.com/4yhk46
Kate’s stalker and SFH bassist WK disses Dion’s carbon plan, gives Lizzie May some of dat sh!t, calls for Dion to call an election now and gives the CPC credit for getting out the oily splot advertisement without having to pay for it on CTV’s da da da da da dunt Mike Duffy.
Who es e wurkin for?
In his own words from June 21, 2006 –
“Conservatives’ ideology is their ideology: tax cuts, law and order, and so on. That kind of stuff. The Liberal ideology is, to be blunt, winning. Grits like to win, and they’ve had a lot of practice at winning. They’re good at it. Right now, they’re miserable, sure, because they LOST. But there’s no better motivator for a Liberal than a loss. It gets them to where they most like to be: with their foot on a Conservative or New Democrat windpipe, watching them gasp for air until Election Day. That’s when Liberals are happiest. It makes them smile.”
Imagine what would happen if this was done to Islam!
(…)
http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2008/06/taxpayer-funded-christianophobic-hate.html
Please make the effort to send messages to the troops on the National Defence site (Write to the Troops). It can be just a couple of paragraphs – you can talk about the hot weather here which makes us appreciate how they in their heavy equipment endure the heat in Afghanistan or whatever comment you want to make. Send a joke or a song lyric – whatever.
Special appeal to those from Quebec – there aren’t a ton of messages from Quebec.
The natural end result of HRCs in Canada.
Canada “burns” Christian heretics.
…-
“Government to pastor: Renounce your faith!
Now banned from expressing moral opposition to homosexuality
The Canadian government has ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report.”
http://tinyurl.com/6xfz85
A high court judgment in India last month is showing just how backward Canada has become on Free Speech.
Here are a couple quotes from the judgment:
“The most important of these, i believe, is his rejection of the tendency of thin-skinned (or maliciously motivated) people across the country to claim to be offended by artistic and literary works. If you’re easily offended, he argues, don’t read the book, look at the painting or open the website that offends you, but don’t prevent the artist or writer from enjoying his constitutionally protected freedom of expression.”
“In real democracy the dissenter must feel at home and ought not to be nervously looking over his shoulder fearing captivity or bodily harm or economic and social sanctions for his unconventional or critical views. There should be freedom for the thought we hate. Freedom of speech has no meaning if there is no freedom after speech. The reality of democracy is to be measured by the extent of freedom and accommodation it extends.”
The whole judgment is amazing. And keep in mind this is coming from India. Think about it, India has been more faithful to its English liberties than Canada has.
If we are talking about ‘identity’ politics, then the question becomes focused on ‘what’ are we, as individuals, identifying with?
If it is a biological hereditary characteristic, such as skin colour or other genetic composition, then the identifying characteristic is outside the realm of our individual reasoning.
If it is a social or cultural ‘hereditary characteristic’ in the sense that it is definitive of being born into a particular family – such as religion, language, ethnicity – then, the identifying characteristic(s) ought to be INSIDE the realm of our individual reasoning capacity. But the individual is often not allowed to reason about this identity, for questioning a religion, an ethnicity, a cultural belief is often defined as ‘heresy’.
The above two types of collectives, where an individual is a member of a collective whose attributes are outside of any debate – sets up these collectives as political tools. A political party can claim that it will provide special benefits to the hapless members of these identity groups – in return for their financial and electoral loyalty. That’s how the Liberal party in Canada and the Democratic in the US operate. They reject individualism, they reject reasoning.
The only valid collective is one based, not around any non-individual attribute of the individual but a collective based around ISSUES. Are you, as an individual, in favour of free trade? In favour of a carbon tax? In favour of building a new road over there? In favour of a new housing development? That’s it. These collectives are issue-based, and membership is based on the decision of the individual as an individual.
Other collectives DO exist – such as the biological and culturally hereditary ones outlined above. But, they should not be enslaved by the agenda of a political party for POWER.
By the way, Stanley Fish’s two types are empty verbiage; he’s a postmodernist, which means that he rejects individualism and rejects reason.
This is just from Laura Ingraham’s newsletter —
A News Post India story reports:
“India will not reduce greenhouse gas emission at the cost of development and poverty alleviation.” Marking World Environment Day, India’s Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Namo Narain Meena, announced: “India is struggling to bring millions of people out of poverty. We cannot accept binding commitments to cut down greenhouse gas emission.”
Amazing report from Citoyen Dion’s Theory of Taxing Everything. Think Dion wearing a “tax shift”, which is in essence a Roman toga.
(Psst! Stephane! Beware the Ides of July. Beware of Boob/Iggy, et al.)
Professor Dion’s latest disquisition includes this amazing factoid: Dion’s Law Of July, to wit,:
July is “the only month of the year with sun and heat.”
Dion hallucinates his Law here:
“that he [Dion] didn’t think July was the right month to seize his chance because it’s “the only month of the year with sun and heat.””
As a corollary to Dion’s Law of July, Dion adds this: “”You tax less what we want more”.
Dion interpolates this sub-corollary: “you shift these taxes towards what we want less.”
” Dion told reporters that the carbon “tax shift” plan, which will be released in full soon, is based on a simple principle.
“You tax less what we want more – income for families, savings, investments, and you shift these taxes towards what we want less. That means pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The Conservative plan will increase energy costs but with no tax cuts to offset it.”
http://tinyurl.com/6sy7nj (TORedStar)
A blogger has done a summary of the vote yesterday, that had the Opposition refusing to put in the extra hours of night sittings.
This is the first time this has been refused, ever, in Canada’s history!
Sometimes the only reaction is that literal sickening feeling in the gut, when you see what happens in Ottawa!
http://climbingoutofthedark.blogspot.com/2008/06/best-of-qp-june-9-slackers-unite.html
More MPs need to find out what that looks like from out here. They get paid to work, refuse to vote, run away from votes, and now refuse to even sit a few extra hours to get work done.
If ever this was a time that they can prove they are there to work for the voter, and *not the party*, it would be now!
Even Belinda was there to vote. A vote to NOT work.
So what Bills are lost in this?
Fire them all is right!!!
Sleeper here. Shhhhh. Don’t post this.
…-
“Risk of US downturn ‘diminishes'”
“Polls indicate that the economy has surpassed the war in Iraq as the biggest concern for American voters.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7445343.stm
(Via CSP) The U.S. Army goes even “greener” with (very cool) hybrid SP artillery:
More knowledge, more power in new howitzer
The power plant that propelled the 27-ton vehicle on its short trip at the BAE Systems assembly plant will also give the NLOS-C one of its hidden assets: the ability to power a small town…
The NLOS-C could be used to run a hospital, building or expeditionary unit. The hybrid-electric drive also allows the cannon to shut down its combustion engine and move quietly on electrical power.
[Also check out http://www.nloscannon.com/ for photos and more information.]
“Country-wide, less than one per cent of all incidents reported to police in 2006 were hate crimes,” (ibid)
Here is the hateful distortion/hate propaganda by the MSM. This is worthy of Herr Goebbels & Stalin’s lberia.
…-
“City hate crime tally highest in country
Local rate three times the national average: report”
http://tinyurl.com/6nkmjq (calgaryheraldcanwest)
I tipped the RAND report yesterday. Here is AP’s summary of the lenghty document:
Think tank: Pakistan gave info on U.S. troops
Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary forces have helped train Taliban insurgents and have given them information about American troop movements in Afghanistan, said a report published by a U.S. think tank.
The study published Monday by the Rand Corp. also warned that the U.S. will face “crippling, long-term consequences” in Afghanistan if Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan are not eliminated…
G. Parthasarathy, The Futility of ‘Peace Deals’
Ever since the American-led ouster of the Taliban regime from Kabul in 2001, pro-Taliban tribals in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have been stirred up to join their Pashtun brethren in Afghanistan, waging jihad against the Americans and the Karzai regime. The entire Province and particularly its tribal areas, which are administered by the Federal Government, have since become a hotbed of violence, terrorism and Islamist radicalism. These developments are now threatening the writ of the Pakistan Government along its disputed borders with neighbouring Afghanistan. These border regions are now, in fact, often referred to as the epicentre of global terrorism.
Nooooooooooo:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/440206
Amazing poll from Decima/CP:
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2008/06/10/5826721-sun.html
Basically, it argues Tories in trouble because they are nobody’s second choice, and comes to amazing conclusion that 44% “prefer” a Liberal government vrs 37% that “prefer” a Conservative. How did they come up with that stunning figure? Well, the original article was cut short, but I think they added up the second-choice of voters, or something like that. There was only one problem, they didn’t ask Liberals what their second choice was, (or didn’t tell us if they did)just Bloc, NDP and Greens.
Hard to believe a polling company would engage in this nonsense.
WOW!!! Who Knew this about Canada???
According to Stephane Dion July is the ONLY MONTH of the year in Canada with sun AND heat!!!!
Yoiks. That news will really be great for tourism….NOT!
He should tell that to those in the east right now who are sweltering in a HEAT WAVE caused by SUN!!!
What, you say, no headlines on yet another embarassing, stupid, inane comment by dear Dion?
Can you imagine if even a Conservative backbencher had said something so absolutely stupid it would be front page news for days and the opposition would hound him or her until they were destroyed – their lives and reputations forever in ruins.
Double standards in the media yet again anyone?
Great article:
“Where No Enemy Has Gone Before”
Culture War Erik Rush
There’s an axiom in Recovery (as in from addiction) circles which asserts that addictions are but symptoms of deeper emotional or psychological problems. Leaving aside the debate as to whether this holds water, I submit that the tremendous success of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama is but a symptom of the broader disease: The establishment media (which includes broadcast news and print sources as well as the entertainment media) has finally subverted enough of the collective mind of America to usher in the era of socialism toward which the far Left has been maneuvering us for the last 40 years.
Like the seizure that alerted Sen. Ted Kennedy’s doctors that he was suffering from a grave condition, it is just a symptom – albeit a very nasty one.
“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals…” – ‘Agent K,’ from the film Men in Black
Being convinced that the Republican Party is to blame for taking us to places we would rather not and shouldn’t have gone, and that the George W. Bush presidency was a mistake that never should have happened, Americans are now shambling, glassy-eyed and drooling toward “Change,” too transfixed by the captivating ultraviolet glow to hear the crackle of those who burst into nothingness in line ahead of them.
They have no idea what they’ve bought into, of course, the magnitude of the lies and the peril which awaits. They do not fathom that they are accepting a fundamental change in the paradigm of our social system from one in which the industrious and principled prosper versus one in which the indolent and capricious prosper.
As regards the political continuum in modern America, over the past 40 years the Democrat Party leadership transmogrified from elitist liberals into socialists. In the last 20, the Republican Party leadership became liberals, and the media has been a prime mover in this transformation. Having themselves been manipulated by those in the press to heed them rather than their constituents and conservative elements within the party leadership (which had brought past success), eunuchs in the GOP, driven by fear for their image and personal self-interest, sold America out to deviant parasites.
The rest: http://newmediajournal.us/staff/rush/2008/06102008.htm
Vit:
Nice musical selection.
One must never be caught saying “Bach-Humbug”, because in Freiburg there is a little street known as “Dreikonigstrasse” or “Three Kings Street”!!
But sometimes the Soweto Gospel Choir has found that “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbQVdLRqJ1w&feature=related
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht
Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
While the Islamists in Canada complain about the Macleans article, this is the kind of stuff they publish in Muslim countries:
Nida’ul Islam magazine, July – August 1997:
Hence, when captives in war fall as bondswomen, it was permissible for Muslims
to have sexual relations with those who they possessed. This sexual relation is
to satisfy the natural need of the captured women, so that they do not involve
in filthy sexual relations like what is happening today with the prisoners of
war all over the world under the New World Order, even though policies have
forbidden them.
Yesterday on Newman he was discussing some poll. It seems 44% of cdns prefer the liberals, but that question was asked of if there were only two choices who would you choose. The fact is that 44% will be divided between liberals, ndp and greens. The conservative 32% will not be divided among any other party.
As for the grease spot ads, they have to be working or the media and liberal bloggers would shut up about them.
Has anyone ever seen an ad of any kind on monitors on gas pumps. What would it cost stations to put in this feature and is it even possible.
How many cusomers, will ask the clerk, do you have the ad, how many will look for it. If even one question is asked the ads have worked. If people ridicule the ad, it is working.
The fact is, a carbon tax will affect everything you buy as it will be passed on down the line.
Everyone will pay it, the poor, unemployed, rich, and even liberals.
Dean makes this statement: “In the future, there will be two categories of newspapers. Those that survive, and those that die ….”.
Is that a tautology? An oxymoron? An Irish bull (It was hereditary in his family to have no children.). A Newfie joke?
…-
“Dean Singleton’s Speech In Sweden: 19 Of The Top 50 US Newspapers Are Losing Money
Last week Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group (which owns the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News, and 55 other American dailies) gave a remarkably candid speech on the state of the American newspaper to the World Newspaper Congress in Sweden.
It’s drawn a bit of attention in the European press, but not so much in the US. Kind of strange, really, when you’ve got the CEO of one of the largest newspaper companies saying stuff like this (emphasis mine):
In the future, there will be two categories of newspapers. Those that survive, and those that die … By my estimate, as many as 19 of the top 50 metro newspapers in America are losing money today, and that number will continue to grow.
(snip)
Too many whining editors, reporters and newspaper unions continue to bark at the dark, thinking their barks will make the night go away. They fondly remember the past as if it will suddenly re-appear and the staffing in newsrooms will suddenly begin to grow again.
Well, as a former journalist, I also wish for the past, but it’s not coming back. The printed space allocated to news and newsroom staffing levels will continue to decline, so it’s time to get over it and move to a print model that matches the reality of a changing business.”
http://tinyurl.com/5db779 (busweek)
One would think this would be a big news story – Ticker Tape parade n’ all that, especially in an election year.
But a quick google, turned up no “big” media pieces. Besides the Washington Sun – only hotair, live leak, news busters, and few others carried it.
‘Iraqi Sheik Offers To Take Fight to Bin Laden
Hero of Anbar Would Stir a Revolt in Afghanistan
By ELI LAKE, Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 9, 2008′
[Of his meeting with Mr. Bush, Sheik Ahmad said he was impressed. “He is a brave man. He is also a wise man. He is taking care of the country’s future, the United States’ future. He is also taking care of the Iraqi people, the ordinary people in Iraq. He wants to accomplish success in Iraq.”
When Sheik Ahmad’s brother, Sheik Sattar, met with Mr. Bush in Anbar last fall, he told the president that he dedicated his victory over Al Qaeda to the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001. On September 13, 2007, Sheik Sattar was assassinated by an improvised explosive device. Since then, his brother Sheik Ahmad has led the awakening movement.]
He also wants Hollywood’s help in telling his story – forget it !!
The only kind of news stories Tinsle Town does is Dumbed Down science flicks for Cult leaders.
[Sheik Ahmad said he wanted Hollywood to make a movie about the life story of his brother, who was so revered after his murder that Iraq’s interior minister dedicated a statue to him on the road from Baghdad to Anbar.]
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/help-against-bin-laden-is-proffered/79524/
Since there’s going to be a lot of warmers that require it when things don’t work our for them and they can’t reconcile it, tax LITHIUM.
Globe-Mail: “it is tantamount to political suicide”
“DION AND CARBON TAX
Death by vagueness'”
“”We [Liberals] will cut taxes on those things we all want more of – income, savings, investment and innovation. And we will shift those taxes to what we all want less of – pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and waste,” Mr. Dion wrote in a newspaper article last week.”
“… it is tantamount to political suicide to unveil (or rather refuse to unveil) that policy in the manner that he has. If that is not enough to concern him, he might consider the damage he is doing to the policy itself. By the time he finally gets around to explaining it, an idea that might have merited serious debate may have been successfully and permanently demolished.”
http://tinyurl.com/54va8q (g-m; no comments.)
…-
G-M omits:
“Dion’s Law Of July, to wit,:
July is “the only month of the year with sun and heat.”
Dion here with a presentiment of his political future?
http://tinyurl.com/5wezql
Another Poll going Horribly Wrong
What Do You Think of the Committee Hearings into the Bernier Affair?
Legitimate search for answers — 33%
Partisan Ploy — 67%
ctv.ca
Being Dion Quixote is tilting at gas pumps these days, it might be a good moment to recall the Cons inaction upon a simple, straightforward, and clear promise made during (and before) the last election:
“As a deficit reduction measure in 1995, Ottawa increased the federal gasoline tax from 8.5 to 10 cents per litre. The deficit was vanquished a decade ago, but the tax remains and the federal government’s gouging at the pumps continues even with multi-year, multi-billion dollar federal surpluses. Since the budget was balanced in fiscal 1997-98, Ottawa has collected $6-billion from its so-called “deficit elimination tax.” All said, the federal gasoline tax increased by 567 per cent between 1985 and 1995 – rising from 1.5 to 10 cents per litre.
In opposition, the Conservatives made repeated promises to remove the GST tax-on-tax bite and pledged to remove the GST completely when gasoline prices exceeded 85 cents per litre. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Harper was quoted saying that gas taxes could be reduced by as much as 5 cents a litre.”
http://tinyurl.com/4rv6oo
It is funny to laugh at Dion’s poor communication skills and ineptitude. It isn’t funny about his massive increase in taxes. And it really isn’t funny that the Cons are still rummaging around in your, or my, wallet on such a simple thing, that should be eliminated.
It is important to note that every $0.10 rise in gas prices bring in $100 million more in revenue every year to the feds….
I guess a fella shouldn’t actually go back to the campaign literature from 2004. One realizes how little the Cons have actually done, aside from cranking up polling spending to levels higher than the Libranos ever did….
From the campaign platform….
“Clean up government – polling and advertising
The Liberal government commissions some $25 million per year in polling and public opinion
research. Much of this polling is conducted by Liberal-connected polling firms. The Auditor
General revealed that Paul Martin’s Finance department commissioned polling for which there
were “only verbal reports” – nothing was written down so there was no paper trail. Yet the Martin
government prevented the Gomery Commission from investigating this part of the Auditor
General’s report.
The plan
A Conservative government will:
• Ensure that all government public opinion research is automatically published within six months of the completion of the project, and prohibit verbal-only reports.
• Ensure that an independent review is conducted of government public opinion research practices discussed in Chapter 5 of the Auditor General’s November 2003 report to determine whether further action, such as a judicial inquiry, is required.
• Open up the bidding process for government advertising and public opinion contracts to prevent insider
firms from monopolizing government business.
http://tinyurl.com/4je4gr
Gosh. O for 3. and the highest ever levels of polling spending by any government in Canada. Ever.
Partisans are fools.
hardboiled – that promise of Harper’s to stop the GST if/when gas rose above 85 a litre was made in the campaign of 2004. Voters didn’t care; they voted for Paul Martin.
In the 2006 campaign, Harper promised to reduce the overall GST by 2% – which also reduces the gas tax. He was elected; he kept this promise.
By the way, do you know what the govt does with gas taxes? At least 37% goes on road construction, then, the other uses act as predictable funding for water and sewer infrastructure building, infrastructure devt of waste management, public transit, including rapid transit,community energy systems. Essentially, the gas taxes go towards the operating infrastructures of cities and towns.
Dion’s carbon tax – vague as it is – is something different. It’s about ‘punishing polluters’ (according to Garth Turner, who was explaining it on Duffy’s show). Ahh, so our national govt is all about ‘punishment’. Hmm. It will tax polluters.
But we all pollute. Oh, only Big Industries. Because they are, well, they are bad. Because they are big. Just like the Liberals are declaring that the Conservatives are ‘in bed with Big Oil’. I don’t know how they come to that conclusion..but…
Did it ever occur to Mr Dion and His Liberals that taxing the Evil Big Companies for daring to pollute will have ONLY one result? They’ll increase their prices; they’ll pass the costs on to the consumers. That’s what will happen.
Instead, the Conservatives have a clear agenda dealing with Emissions. The plan is called Turning The Corner; it was announced in April 2007 and March 2008; it’s an Action Plan rather than Liberal Talk. They’ve set mandatory targest to reduce greenhouse emissions by 150 megatonnes by 2020. Beginning immediately.
You can check it out.
http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/index-eng.cfm
By the way, the Conservatives have kept almost all of their campaign promises. Check out their platform.
By the way, the Conservatives have kept almost all of their campaign promises. Check out their platform. Posted by: ET at June 10, 2008 3:22 PM
ET – they haven’t even come close to that. The 1.5 cents is still there. as is the GST on it. A gouge on a gouge.
Rather than being an apologist for them, or like maz2 (I believe him/her likely a paid partisan), maybe you’d ask why that tax on a tax in still in place. Or why a deficit elimination tax is still in place – despite 100 billion in cumulative surplus being raked in the past 5 years.
Why not? Cognitive dissonance.
It can be painful at first, but when you open up your mind, alot is possible.
“Harper Gov’t Highlights!”
“These are some of the highlights of the current Harper government record.”
” 1. Federal Accountability Act; (link)
2. Universal Child Care Benefit and tax credits for kids sports and public transit;
3. Implemented a Taxpayers Bill of Rights and a Taxpayers Ombudsman; (link)
4. Ombudsman for Victims of Crime; (link)
5. “Tackling Violent Crime Act;” (link) & raised age of consent from 14 to 16; (link)
6. Reduced federal debt by $37 billion and implemented a tax back guarantee;
7. Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement — Formal apology June 11, 2008;
8. Enacted Nunavik Inuit Land Claims agreement;
9. Approved Manley Report on Afghanistan and extended mission until 2011;
10. Apologized for Chinese head tax – $20,000 for every Chinese immigrant or survivor;
11. Agent Orange compensation package of $96 million ($20,000 per person affected);
12. Air India public inquiry and memorials unveiled across Canada;
13. Implemented income splitting for retirees;
14. Initiated a new tax free savings account;
15. Cut the GST from 7% to 5%; (link)”
http://crux-of-the-matter.com/2008/05/18/harper-government-record-greatest-hits/
Iam sure the Sauble Beach Ont.(lake Huron) Tourist Association will be pleased to find out that July is the Only Month with any Heat & Sun in Canada, So they might as well right off the spring, summer & fall That gets No Heat & Sun as There will Be No Tourist visiting the area.
CTV SAYS: Mark Jaccard, an economist from Simon Fraser University (BC) says the Fed. Conservatives are not right in attacking the Stephane Dion Carbon Tax?? Imagine how much Carbon is emmitted from all the post smokers and the gow ops in BC!! No wonder they oppose the tax!! ow as for Mr. Jaccard, he can go straight to h…..
CTV SAYS: Mark Jaccard, an economist from Simon Fraser University (BC) says the Fed. Conservatives are not right in attacking the Stephane Dion Carbon Tax?? Imagine how much Carbon is emmitted from all the post smokers and the gow ops in BC!! No wonder they oppose the tax!! Now as for Mr. Jaccard, he can go straight to h…..
HRCs = ‘roo courts*.
…-
“Cartoon from the Toronto Sun
“Cartoonists don’t draw for themselves; they draw for their readers; they draw with the news in mind. Their job is like an opinion columnist, but they use a picture, instead of 1,000 words.
Six months ago, this cartoon would have been met with a collective “huh?” both by the Sun’s editors and readers. Not now. Now it’s met with a collective “ha!” Enough people know about the corruption at Canada’s HRCs; enough people are outraged; the case has been made; the denormalization of these commissions is well underway.
I think it’s a good cartoon. But the fact that it was even published is my favourite part about it.”
http://ezralevant.com/2008/06/cartoon-from-the-toronto-sun.html
*Kangaroo courts:
“Meaning
An unauthorized, bogus court.
Origin
Kangaroo courts are sham legal proceedings which are set-up in order to give the impression of a fair legal process. In fact, they offer no impartial justice as the verdict, invariably to the detriment of the accused, is decided in advance. Such courts are associated with groups who have found a need to dispense a rough and ready form of justice but are, temporarily at least, outside the bounds of formal judicial processes. For example, inmates in jail, soldiers at war, settlers of lands where no jurisdiction has yet been established.
The origin of ‘kangaroo court’ is unknown, although, given that kangaroos are native nowhere else, we might expect the term to have originated in Australia.” (phrasesorg)
BTW, notwithstanding (clause) Citoyen Dion’s Law of July, the Sun does publish in July.
“Harper Gov’t Lowlights!”
“These are some of the lowlights of the current Harper government record, that no partisan wants to deal with.”
” 1. Federal Accountability Act – partially enacted, critical controls and pieces removed; (link)
2. Selected tax credits for kids sports and public transit rather than broad based tax reductions;
6. Reduced federal debt by $37 billion and implemented a tax back guarantee; took in $57 billion in surplus tax revenues, and increased spending by 20% in three budgets – largest spending increase in Canadian history.
7. Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement — Formal apology June 11, 2008; nothing like the apology industry to keep that poor underworked legal industry busy.
10. Apologized for Chinese head tax – $20,000 for every Chinese immigrant or survivor; More professional apologies. What’s next, an apology to taxpayors for apologizing? Hardly an accomplishment
12. Air India public inquiry and memorials unveiled across Canada; More apologizing. they are good at that I’ll admit.
13. Implemented income splitting for retirees; After breaking the promise not to whack income trusts? How kind.
14. Initiated a new tax free savings account; Years away, smoke and mirrors right now.
15. Cut the GST from 7% to 5%; (link)” Good stuff. But as mentioned, the GST is still collected on the gas tax, which contains the deficit elimination tax.
16. Appointed unelected party bagman Fortier to Cabinet – controlling $30 billion per year in government contracts. Greasier than the Libranos here.
17. Caledonia began and continues under Prentice – who expanded the Indian Industry’s headcount by 18. lawyers – currently in 2nd full year of negotiations. No deadline or end comitted to.
19. Untendered contracts from Flaherty’s office given to bagman/loyalist.
“but by constituency.”
Angry is puzzled. Angry appears to have stumbled onto the modus operandi of Citoyen Dion’s socialist-Liberal party.
It’s the tactics of multiculturalism with a green veneer.
It’s the slithering green snake-in-the-REDGREEN-grass of the Liberal Party; divide-and-conquer.
Plug Ughly divisive tactics by the plugugly AdScam party.
…-
“The carbon tax, bad people, and a country divided”
“So money collected by the carbon taxman will be divvied out not in an equitable way (that is, to compensate each taxpayer for the pain inflicted by the carbon tax on that taxpayer), but by constituency.”
http://stevejanke.com/archives/266345.php
TO terror plotters were deadly serious… welcome to Folkfest in Trudeauopia
=======================
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The leader of an alleged homegrown terrorist plot to attack Canadian targets was clearly intent on wreaking large-scale havoc, something the public doesn’t appear to have fully grasped, the Crown’s star witness testified Tuesday.
[…]
At various meetings over the following weeks, the man told Shaikh he wanted him to train others as part of a scheme to attack power grids, Parliament Hill and RCMP headquarters.
The CBC building and the head office of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service across the road in downtown Toronto were also targets.
[…]
The man’s stated objective was to cripple infrastructure and create chaos; to kill people with assault rifles and with truck bombs.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2008/06/10/5832331-cp.html
hardboiled – what’s your agenda? To discredit Harper? Why? Don’t denigrate ACTIONS by trying to denigrate me and call me ‘an apologist’ for the Harper govt. I’m pointing out ACTIONS taken by the govt. You prefer to ignore and reject the actions and instead, focus on the Liberal/NDP empty rhetoric. I prefer actions to words.
1. The Accountability Act was watered down, not by Harper, but by the Liberals and the Liberal Senate. The includes the Senate removing any Senate accountability. Kindly assign blame where it’s due, not where YOU want it.
2.Kindly don’t operate under an Either-Or fallacious infrastructure. The sports and transit tax reductions, goes along with the child tax credit ($2,000), along with the day care funding of $100 per month, the GST 2% reduction, the increased earnings amount before taxation, eliminating the RESP contribution limit, allowing pension income splitting, instigating a Tax Free Savings Account.
And no, despite your claim, the new savings account isn’t YEARS AWAY. It goes into effect in 2009.
3. You object to reducing the debt? Why?
4. You object to the formal apology for residential schools, for the Chinese head tax? Why?
5. I agree that the govt shouldn’t have apologized for Air India; they didn’t commit the act. BUT – the Liberal govt DID totally bungle the investigation.
6. You may ‘ad hominem’ or name-call Fortier, but he has an impeccable record in industry. Do yo object to expertise just because they happen to be Conservatives?
7. I agree that Caledonia is a mess. I lay the blame on McGuinty; policing behaviour, whether committed by native or non-native, is the job of the province. McGuinty refuses to do so; defining someone as ‘native’ and therefore, as not a citizen, and outside the realm of Ontario jurisdiction is actually discriminatory!
8. As for income trusts, get over it. The best economists in Canada know that the govt had no choice because too many banks and other funding systems were jumping on the bankwagon to evade taxes. Who would have had to pick up the slack? The individual. So, tell me, hardboiled, do you think that the individual taxes should go up to make up for lost revenue caused by more and more and more income trusts? Hmmm?
So, hardboiled, how about getting to know what the Harper govt has really done?