2013-07-31

Wasted Post

Two minutes to midnight and wanted to get my 150th post in for the month. Shameless I know.

The record was 168 set in August of 2011.

Off to watch Breaking Bad.

Quick Sports Take

Fuck you Boston Red Sox-Seattle Mariners. It's not everyday I get to watch the Dodgers and tonight I had one of those few chances to do so. But nooooo, the Sox-Mariners had to go into extra innings and the channel didn't leave that match for the Dodgers-Yankees game.

Fuck.

***

AS Roma beat the MLS All-Stars 3-1 tonight in Kansas City. It was just the third loss for MLS (the other two came against Manchester United) in 11 games.

I'm liking the new look Roma - a team looking to globalize its brand.

Roma pretty much dictated play led by their legendary captain Francesco Totti. I know people may be tempted to conclude MLS is "inferior" or even "crap" but I won't go that far. Yes, it's a notch below great leagues found in Europe, however, I think it's a solid product that has much room to grow.

***

Read about Eagles receiver Riley Cooper . I think we're starting to get a little to excessive with our reactions to racial slurs. I think we should be careful with condemning someone as racist for what in reality is just ignorance. I understand about the whole slavery/segregation story but is it really fair to use that in today's context? Always remember yes (like the Holocaust) but let's chill a little. The guy looked really contrite by it.

It's a little like French-Canadian nationalists who are hell bent on "suppressing" English even though I had nothing to do with it.

It's sad and shouldn't happen.

Universal Health In Canada And Its Challenges

Study on health in Canada titled "How to bend the cost curve in health care" by Steven Lewis and Terrence Sullivan.

Apologies for the formatting. 

Some excerpts (bold mine):

"...Despite some promising innovations across Canada, medicine remains for the most part a cottage industry of small businesses in which neither payers (governments) nor providers adequately
scrutinize quality, health outcomes or resource-consumption patterns. And still governments wonder why it’s hard to contain costs we doubled real health care spending in 14 years..."

"Behold the results. Serious access, safety, quality and fairness problems remain. The spend-to-greatness experiment failed. And now, following the fiscal fallout from the 2007-08 worldwide financial crisis, governments once again want to bend the cost curve — down, not up. The new mantras are “value for money,” “appropriateness” and “waste reduction.”

"...Good luck to ’em. Costs rise, and health care absorbs all money made available to it, because the system is designed that way. It will take blood and guts to redesign it. The good news is that there is nothing inevitable about either the level or the rate of increase in health care spending.

Bending the cost curve is technically simple: governments can decide to allocate less money, just as they did in the mid-1990s."

"...Scientific evidence, quality improvement, sound policy, thoughtful incentives, cultural change and political courage, judiciously applied, are the key ingredients of a successful transition to a lower-cost future. The real issue is not how much we spend or even the rate of growth we attain; it is what health value we achieve for what we spend. The bad news is that there are few painless and easy-to-implement measures that would significantly and permanently alter spending growth patterns. That is why governments always flinch unless and until there is literally no alternative."

"...Similar logic pervades the entire system. Health care equates productivity with service volumes, not health outcomes. Individuals and organizations get paid regardless of whether the services they deliver are appropriate or inappropriate, high quality or mediocre. In the US Medicare system for the elderly, per capita spending is three times higher in some regions than in others, with no difference
in outcomes or patient satisfaction."

"...(policies and practices in Canada) thwart innovation and increase costs. The incentives under which health professionals work strongly influence the organization, delivery and cost of services, and they are among the most resistant to change. Enhanced credentials require extra time to produce graduates, and they create barriers to entry for lower-income groups. Perhaps even more worrisome, they may further fragment the system as students spend more time in parallel educational streams and graduate-level training programs that promote distinct theories of health."

"...health care is famous for contradicting the normal economic laws of innovation. Computers, bicycles and smart phones get cheaper as they get better. Health care technology gets marginally better and vastly more expensive."

"..Costs are price times quantity. Reducing either will alleviate pressure on total costs, and reducing both will compound the benefit. Canadian health policy has rarely addressed price, and as a result, Canada’s health care system fares poorly in international comparisons of value for money."

"...many factors contribute to drive health care costs up. It will take nothing less than a
sustained, carefully designed, multipronged strategy to avoid reliving the experience of the past 20 years. 

"...Many elements need to change: culture, incentives, education, structures, relationships, accountability, transparency. The first step has to be a shared commitment to improving value for money based on recognition that the system just isn’t good enough."

"...The system does a woeful job of managing the chronic conditions that account for up to two-thirds of all spending. It puts the elderly at risk of debilitating and costly health breakdown by denying them help until a crisis occurs. Canadian medicare has effectively deinsured home support and
community rehabilitation. Deferring maintenance costs exacts an enormous and partly avoidable subsequent cost."
"...A family doctor at Seattle’s renowned Group Health Cooperative works 40 hours a week
and has a roster of 1,800 patients, several hundred more than a typically beleaguered Canadian counterpart."

"That conversation begins with truth telling.

Compared with other countries, Canada has a woefully underdeveloped health information culture. Citizens have little access to health information that would help them make more informed decisions about whether and where to undergo treatment, or about the quality and value of the system. When organizations such as the Canadian Institute for Health Information publish even the most innocuous comparative, high-level performance data, the poor performers will often try to explain away their failures, and on occasion provinces threaten to withhold data or cease to participate in future studies. It is virtually impossible for Canadians to obtain information such as a surgeon’s complication or mortality rate, or a hospital ward’s readmission rate — information that is published in newspapers in many American cities."

"The irony is that the absence of full public disclosure of what insiders know to be the system’s deficiencies undermines the case for widespread and rapid reform. The public remains fixated on access problems and is largely oblivious to the issues of variation, overuse, poor outcomes and waste.  

Ultimately, there can be no transformation unless the public considers it necessary and legitimate. Without full and sustained public reporting on the quality, fairness and efficiency of the system and its components, the status quo will prevail over attempts to bend the cost curve, take on the guilds, insist on real accountability or reinvent the workforce. When the massive US Veterans Health Administration reached its nadir — ruthlessly portrayed in the movie Born on the Fourth of July— it changed on a dime. Within four years, it closed 55 percent of its hospital beds, opened over 300 new primary care clinics and improved its preventive health performance across the board."

"In Canada, we talk as if we’re mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, but our revolutionary zeal is easily deflated. The system does just enough in small increments to quell a sustained uprising. Our expectations are modest, and we are grateful when they are met at great cost. Only a deeper and more forthright commitment to truth telling can free us from complacency and give us the courage to act decisively to make the changes long called for and seldom acted upon."
Amen.

All points touched on here over the years through simple observation and experience.

In the end, we accept mediocrity. 








Taxes As A Percentage Of GDP

For the heck of it I wanted to see how much the Canadian and U.S. governments tax citizens as a percentage of GDP.

Canada's economy is $1.6 trillion. It pulls in about $238 billion in taxes (largely through personal income taxes).

That represents 15% (rounded up from 14.8%) of the wealth generated. Doesn't seem like much but I suppose it's all in how we collect, distribute and spend it.

The U.S. economy is $15 trillion with $2.7 trillion in taxes (note that's larger than the entire Canadian economy) translating into about 19%. 

So the U.S. seems to "tax more." Which is not surprising since it spends more on education and health on a per capita basis than any country. The U.S. probably has a bigger social safety net than Canada.


How Americans Vote

Voteview.

100 Year-Old Exam

Not sure why a 101 year-old 8th grade exam from Kentucky was posted on Lew Rockwell. 

My wife (a school teacher) and I went though it and felt - plus ou moin - we learn the same things today. The grammar part may be a little more difficult but the arithmetic, geography and history didn't seem out of the ordinary.

Is it different in the USA?


Quote Of The Day

"It is interesting how comparisons to Rome always place the US at the Fall of the Empire. But we have no Empire. We are(possibly) at the Fall of the Republic. The Empire stage is still before us."

Comment from the internet.

***

As an aside, just thinking: Beware the leader who demonizes the 'rich.'


Latest Health Buffoonery Courtesy Of New York

They keep getting dumber and dumber; politicians that is. Chuck Schumer, take a bow.

All this "Greek yogurt' trend bull shit. Greek, Lebanese, Middle-Eastern yogurt has been around for ages but now that Michelle has discovered it, it's the best thing since bread came sliced.

Wait 'til they come out with, I don't know, Swedish yogurt, and watch all the fadists (my word) run to it.

So stupid.

Greek yogurt is great (and delicious) but it shouldn't be fucking subsidized in schools especially considering regular plain yogurt is just as good. Besides, doesn't it have more fat content? I thought 'fat' was 'bad.' What will they do? Pay more for shitty 'low-fat?' Add all sorts of preservative garbage in it because you can't deliver pure, fresh Greek yogurt, right?

If it ain't real, authentic Greek yogurt, it's all waste of money and time. Something tells me this is all for show. 

Like I said. The people coming up with this shit are buffoons.

Case 29349595959696797979 why the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers. Seriously, why should ONE company (Chobani) get the contract? Why not, if you so god damn believe in free-enterprise, let schools chose the brand? Ah. But it's not about that is it? You can't have cronyism without the cronies, right?

This is getting retarded.

Trust me, the bureaucrats that come in here scrutinizing the menu know jack shit about food. Jack. Shit. As a matter of fact, interestingly enough, according to the last inspector who snooped around dairy was not considered a source of protein. We respectfully disagreed and not even Health Canada gave us a straight answer choosing instead to send all sorts of charts and other pamphlets.

I'll stick with family recipes.

The head spins sometimes.

2013-07-30

Christie Should Switch Parties

Enough already attacking Paul like a crazy uncle.

The bromance he had going with Obama during Sandy also seems to have upset conservatives and libertarians. 


 


Combatting Sex Offenders

B! Offenders.

Braun: It's A Big Deal

It's tempting to dismiss Ryan Braun's suspension for using PED's and shrug our shoulders saying, "it's no big deal" and "everyone is juiced."

First off, no, not everyone is juiced. Cheaters are juiced.

Second, it is a big deal. A fucking big deal. Again, consider the unforeseen injustice of this selfish action. Aside from leaving the Milwaukee Brewers in the lurch (remember, they let Prince Fielder go to Detroit), Braun probably took the spot of an honest player.

Now, I don't expect him to apologize to his teammates and all these journalists acting holier than thou can all go fuck a persimmon, but don't try and tell me this is 'no big deal.'

Think of the Olympics. All the spoils (endorsements) go to the victor. So if you win, gold, you're set for life - you're gold. If win silver, may as well go work at a gas station. Ok, maybe not that bad but it's close since money isn't freed up for #2. If you're not first, you're last as Ricky Bobby would say.

If the gold winner is a cheater where does that leave the silver medalist? By then, all the money is spent and their chance at endorsement is likely dead.

THAT'S why it's a serious issue.

I get the "let's just make it legal and monitor it" but I fear that's easier said than done.

Nah. Just suspend their sorry asses and quit making excuses for these guys.

Nations Of Many Laws

4500 laws on the books in the land of the free. Chances are, someone is breaking one as we type.

I'm sure the story is rather similar in Canada. I just haven't been successful finding links to this.

Too many laws invites corruption as the Romans used to say. The question is do we in fact have too many laws?

Link to the book 'One nation under arrest.'

At some point, the people said to protect the public trust actually begin to work against the people. The temptation for greater ambition overtakes.

Demanding Results

Slowly, the public sector will have no choice but to demand better results in education. Not just in North Carolina but across the continent. 

One of the ways, like in the private sector, is to fire bad teachers. Right now, it's impossible to get rid of one. My wife is a teacher and concedes that this is indeed a problem. Some teachers have no business being one. 

“We need to move to a situation where we provide the best teachers the security of multi-year contracts” and provide principals the means to remove ineffective teachers from classrooms, Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, told The News & Observer of Raleigh earlier this month.
But opponents fear the new rules will promote rapid teacher turnover.

It’s going to create a revolving door for public educators in North Carolina,” said Rodney Ellis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators."

On the way to getting better teachers I would add. I don't see a problem here.

I face the same issues. I get rid of bad educators all the time. Yes, there's turnover and parents don't like it but guess what? We hate it more. Nobody likes instability. However,  we wouldn't be responsible to our parents and children by keeping an educator not meeting our standards.


Technology And Unions: Mutually, Mutually Exclusive

If they were were elements, one would be fire and the other water. I mean, if these two would ever marry, it would be War of the Roses redux.

No two entities need to stay as far away from each other as techies and unions do. For the sake of humanity.

Unions are a scourge preventing innovation and forward progress. All they're good for is to point to their union contract, going on strike, and driving costs up.

They are the "sticks" in our wheels. One-touch Raid is needed to keep them away.

Silicon Valley has done well to thwart this infestation.

How they do it in charts.

Minnesota's (SWAT) Finest

Now is that a way to treat heroes?


Proofreading A Dead Art

"...Totti, 36, was contacted by Marco Di Vaio, of Toronto FC, and the former Italy international asked him to join the club, who play Roma in a friendly on August 7."

For the love of Chaucer, what the fuck? Olde ye fuck?

Di Viao plays for the Montreal Impact, where he leads the team in scoring.

It's not the first time I see epic glaring errors that can easily be spotted and rectified at ESPN.

If you can't be relied on to get facts straight, there's little hope for anything else.

Oh come now, T.C. You're such a tight ass. After all, people try their best.

Meanwhile, I have to keep hearing about how bloggers threaten good journalism. 




Sobering Economic Figures In The EU

Don't worry.

"Recovery" is right around the corner.

12.2% unemployment and meek growth in the EU. 

If only we could just tax more then we'd get more revenues for the government to invest in our future.

***

Same story in America. Every other news report talks of a "modest recovery." After five years of this even a person with a remedial grasp on economic news should raise an eyebrow.

If only we could just tax more then we'd get more revenues for the government to invest in our future...but evil conservatives want to eat your babies and won't let Obama do his job dammit!

In The Conversation Now

Mommy, they're scared.

There's no doubt that libertarianism (classical liberalism, ahem) is in the national discussion.  I hope this will spill into Canada too. /progressive runs out of room screaming kicking sandals off.

Libertarian doctrines are a complete unknown to the people at large. As such, it is open and vulnerable to misinterpretation. For example, advocating for smaller government doesn't mean they call for the destruction of the entire government apparatus including the welfare state. Yes, as with any philosophical branch, there are degrees of positions and some may indeed wish for the abolishing of all government but they be a smaller percentage and have still a bigger road to climb - if that could ever be.

Demanding a simpler or even revising of the tax code is not extremism but a sensible request with a long history in the course of human affairs.

Above all, libertarians simply don't believe, if laws be just, in coercive action against voluntary will. In other words, you can't force people what they won't do. If you do, they either become sheep or find ways to circumnavigate a perceived unjust law or regulation.

It's a simple axiom that finds credence as far back as ancient cultures like Athens and Rome.

We're in desperate need of a 'third' voice in our national conversations. When all the solutions, say, to economic troubles come down to "tax more" or "spend" you know you've hit a wall that lacks any creativity or imagination. Basically, we're stagnant.

Of course, there will be over reaction to simple "victories" by libertarian positions. However, libertarian thought has a massive road ahead given the embedded power of liberal orthodoxy.

Take it away Pink Floyd:

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they'll like the song
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls
Ooooh aah, Mother should I build a wall
Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Ooooh aah, is it just a waste of time
Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mama's gonna make all of your
Nightmares come true
Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you
Mama's gonna keep you right here
Under her wing
She won't let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cosy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
Of course Mama's gonna help build the wall



Arena Paid For...Detroit

I've yet to hear a (convincing) counter-argument about why corporate welfare for sports venues is good. Years ago there was a debate as to whether the province should kick in cash for a stadium for the Expos. If memory serves me right, they said no.

It's even more bizarre given the state of Detroit that the city would give $444 million for a new arena for the Red Wings - Detroit's most successful sports team in the last 20 years. Heck, probably all-time.

It was explained to me that the suburbs around Detroit are actually affluent and intact but still...




2013-07-29

ACL Tear Watch

Caught the gold medal match at the Gold Cup between USA-Panama on Sunday. The U.S. prevailed 1-0 to win its 5th title.

It was apparent a continental European (German Jurgen Klinsmann) took over the U.S. national team. How can I tell? The Americans had a solid ground game - or at least were aware of one. It was easy to observe.

Anyway, midfielder Stuart Holden left the game with what was reported to be a sprained knee.

However, my ears perked up after learning he had sustained a broken leg and an ACL tear. Some guys simply get their fair share of injuries (like me for example).

Now he has suffered a second ACL tear. Six months is the expected recovery time.

I'm still baffled by what used to be a one-year minimum recovery has been cut by half. 

Quote Of The Day

"Bull makes the world go 'round." The Fonz.

Ayy!

Palin's Vindication

All that ridicule.

And Palin was mercilessly ridiculed about the 'death panels" regarding the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

In the end, she was right.

And she's finding an ally in Howard Dean of all people.

As for what he's writing in the article...

When is it safe to say "told you so?"

America has a great example to draw upon when it comes to command universal health: Canada.

Tough On Crime: Feel Better?

This person deserves punishment for his crime. However, does he deserve a life sentence?

Of course not.


Being D.C.

But when David Gregory does it...

It's like D.C. doesn't even try to hide its double standard anymore.


IRS Identity Theft

Just an isolated incident. Nothing to see here. 

***

People, when they discover an irrational law or regulation they never heard about, generally tend to just nod their heads and accept it. I think there's a sense of hopeless resignation wrapped up with the belief "there must be a reason" for it.

It's funny how the "reason" rarely applies to you: The good taxpaying citizen.

Bah.

The Fall Of NBC

Last week, I was reading about how NBC is apparently planning a show centered around Hilary Clinton (sorry I forgot the link) and had forgotten about it.

Until I saw this about NBC.

There is no journalism. Just lies and sensationalism. How can anyone actually watch the big networks and papers these days and take it at face value?

They lie to your face.

NBC, as we know, already doctored footage about Zimmerman. The New York Times has been caught with its pants down a couple of times and Dan Rather basically tried to frame Bush II.

And Fox News is the problem?

Amazing.

Back to Hilary. Yes, because we can expect an objective account about the Clinton dynasty from NBC.


2013-07-28

Quote From A Dead White Guy

"Rather a dangerous liberty than a peaceful servitude."

Thomas Jefferson

Free Or Not?

Think you live in a free society?

You don't.

Reminds me of when Les Nessman asked in Mr. Carlson's office, "are we free?" Or something like that.

Freedom is not a some of the time deal. It's an all the time contract. And no, it doesn't mean "anarchy."




2013-07-27

ACL Tear Watch

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin has torn his ACL.

That's the sound of the Eagles NFC title chance gone 'poof.'

This team has suffered its fair share of injuries in the past couple of years.

Damn.


Question

Someone asked me "do you think the poor should pay taxes?"

I replied, "no."

Define, though, "poor."

Thoughts?

2013-07-26

Keeping The Drug War Is Not A Sane Policy

Justin Trudeau is not leadership material in my view.

However, I don't think he's that nuts for angling for the legalization of marijuana. It's a real debate. I have no idea where the rest of the part stands on this issue.

I don't think any drug is "harmless" and legalizing anything should be carefully scrutinized.

But.

What's the alternative? Throwing people in jail for simple possession? Ruining a life over that doesn't seem all the wise to me. The War on Drugs is an abysmal failure that probably has ruined more lives than smoking up ever did.

How much do we spend on correctional institutions? Never mind about criminal gangs that make a killing off this drug. 

SWAT teams in the USA are killing innocent people and dogs every single day on this immoral war.




Dishonoring A Profession

It's ok.

It doesn't 'matter' because in the end, politicians do what's best for us!

But if that was any of US we'd be in jail in no time flat.

Politicians are really beginning to get on my nerves.


Fall Of The West Reason 5969978777

Spain makes its contribution to the free fall of the West.

A consumption tax on...sunlight.

Consumption tax is the next level of tyranny in the name of "reasonable" governance.


Sum Ting Wong

Crazy story out of San Francisco.

Honestly, I see a lot of sloppiness in journalism today. Mistakes are made that are plain unacceptable but in today's low standard world, people just accept it.

I think, and this is just my impression, real smart people are avoiding politics and journalism.

***

Speaking of sycophantic journalism, Andrea Mitchell -  Queen Lik Sum Kim - was falling all over herself about Caroline Kennedy being appointed Ambassador to Japan.

Aside from saying, "Caroline Kennedy was almost born to be an ambassador, a picture perfect daughter in a telegenic first family. She captured our hearts all the way through her intense personal heartbreak."

Vomit.

And who is "born" to be anything anyway? 

"...Mitchell noted that Kennedy would undergo some State Department training, but remarked: "I'm not sure that there would be actually learning Japanese, that's a very hard language to learn..."

Whoa. Excuse me! This is hard! Heaven forbid we strive for excellence!

Call me old fashioned but learning the local customs and culture - which includes language - is kinda important in order to do an effective job, no?

Part of being a diplomat is gaining the trust and respect of that country. If you can't speak the damn language what good are you really?

Sum ting wong for real.


IRS Employee Union Run From Obamacare

Let's see. The agency expected to run Obamacare wants out?

Apparently the IRS employee union"don't want" Obamacare.

Well this is just a fine mess.

To think all people had to do beforehand was read it.

But in the bizarro you have to pass it to know what's in it.

It never gets old.

I wonder what it will take to take this legislation back to the drawing board? Clearly this wasn't well thought out.

Jackass Of The Day: Michel Brule; Liberty 101

Nothing depresses (and frightens) me more than ignorant minds calling other people ignorant while in search of power.

That is the very example of what a dark age entails.

Brule translated into English means "burnt". And this is exactly what this douche is: Burnt.

"In a recent piece for Le Devoir — titled “For or against Anglo-American cultural imperialism?” — he bemoans the omnipresence of English culture and says the language of Paul McCartney is also the language of the genocide of aboriginal peoples and the Acadian deportations.

And he appears less than enamoured with Americans. He told Metro newspaper in 2009 that not all Americans are dumb, obese, imbecilic, uncultured ignoramuses — only about 80 per cent of them.
“If I say Americans are a bunch of big, obese, imbecilic, ignorant, uncultured dummies, it’s the truth,” he told the newspaper.

“Of course it’s sure bet that out of 303 million Americans, there are maybe 50 million who aren’t like that. But, collectively, they’re still a bunch of uncultured imbeciles.”

It’s unclear what sort of a constituency Brule’s message might gain him."

Nice. Just great. I know the number of quality people running for office is low but this is ridiculous. There's a problem somewhere along the line if the political profession attracts morons like this guy.

Yes, because Quebec is a model state filled with geniuses.

I love his arbitrary 80% model. Now, understand, it's the 80-20 rule he's likely using here. But that rule can't be applied selectively. It's applied to, for example, corporations. In this case, he can't apply it to America and remain logically consistent if he doesn't apply to Quebec.

Nah. All this is is the rants and screed of a know-nothing nationalist blowhard. The irony is, in the America he thinks is so dumb, he'd be one step above the guy who wanted to burn the Koran I think it was in Florida.

Wait. There's more?

“English is not a nice language,” he told Metro in 2009, while promoting his published essay on the scourge of English.

“Intolerance and all the most extremist, racist, segregationist movements — they’re the KKK, White Power, the expression ‘Speak White’, these are all English things. They come from the United States, Canada, England.”

It's also the culture that brought the concept of individual liberty to its height and is the single most important language in world history. Moreover, Brule is just pitifully angling for attention because "racism" has been a part of humanity (including the slave trade) way before the "Anglos" came to power. 

Cards on the table. The French spoken here is a "countryside" French. Immigrants from Belgium, Switzerland, France and North Africa listen in horror to our French. Perhaps he should, you know, focus on the quality of French being taught in Quebec schools. Our dropout rates, educational standards and high debt are a god damn national disgrace. We have our own health problems (including high smoking rates), as well a major societal issues where the family structure is secondary here and the levels of political corruption embedded in our apathetic mindset.

Keep up, though, the strawman fallacy Michel. Quebec is Alabama North.

As Red Foreman would say, "dumbass."

And yes, I insert a pop culture reference in there along with a big middle-finger.

As for "speak white" Quebec has its own little fascistic game going with the OLF so he can kiss my ass.

What I find fascinating is the pure, arrogance of how Quebec nationalists consistently over rate their own culture while belittling others.

In Quebec, apparently, this is the manner to which to enhance pride. Suppress anything English and American.

Intelligent people, of course, see through this naked cynical ignorance. Unfortunately, in Quebec too many people privately possibly agree with Brule to some extent.

Which means, in Quebec, the 80-20 rule is probably 50-50.

Anyway.

Enough of this crap about crappy people.

***

One of things we joke about is whenever we see a word that's not French how the OLF and its pathetic apologists would react to it.

Sushi was the latest. I mean, after all, they irrationally attack words like 'souvlaki' and 'trattoria' under the excuse that French people can't understand them - which begs the question, how uneducated or dumb are they in the eyes of the state? I mean, like, people in dumb America know what a 'trattoria' is. Any remedial individual is capable of equating the word to an Italian restaurant.

Ah, apparently no such logical ability is existent in Quebec.

If I'm Quebecois, I'd be real pissed these days. But that's just me. 

Sooooo, we need a law to protect the people from such infestation!

How to translate sushi into French? We don't want some poor slack in Northern Quebec ordering some raw fish.

What a laughing joke.

***

But it's not always a joke. Sometimes the laws are so inane they literally infringe on civil liberties and amount to nothing more than attack on freedom of expression.

Flunkies and junkies and their apologists live in splendid collective misery but to the rest of the productive population it's not funny.

Consider the story of the 17 year-old Xavier Menard who was told by the registry office for business he couldn't use the name he chose because it "sounded too English."

Oi. I can just imagine what Target went through - and boy I hope Quebec adds to their bottom line because they'll be investing in a little more than profits here.

Anyway.

The kid has spunk and is fighting back.

Aside from that, he's one of the few wise kids (as opposed to the idiots who want everything free) that wonders what are the unseen ramifications to the economy in Quebec's hostile behavior towards freedom. Remember, this is a place where women have no right to choose what family name they can use when married. The government - without CONSENT - demands and forces them (under specious feminist logic) to keep their name - ask you pay for $600 to have it "reviewed" and seen by a psychologist to make sure you're not crazy (no, I'm serious and they say we're a democracy) only to say no.

In my family, for example, my daughter takes my family name but my wife can't. Which bothers her and rightfully so. But hey, the government knows what's good for us. Amiright?

In any event.

Of course, he's absolutely right and this blog supports him.

Bonne chance mon ami. On a besoin des jeunes hommes comme toi sur notre (entrepreneurs) cote.

See his video here.













Men Of Honor

These are the men that take world decisions on our behalf.

Criminals.

2013-07-25

By George!

Ah.

When Worlds Collide

Let's see. Unions in Chicago want out of Obamacare?

Now how in the world will this be spun against Bush and the GOP?

The great, well thought out piece of legislation of their time had to be passed in order to find out what was in it.

People are slowly finding out.

It's ok. Celebrities are on the way to knock sense back into these folks!

Reminds of this great song Boots or Hearts from The Tragically Hip:

Well, I think that there's a problem here
Her voice just don't sound right
But I left myself on her answering machine
Said, "I'm back in town tonight"
I feel I've stepped out of the wilderness
All squint eyed and confused
But even babies raised by wolves
They know exactly when they've been used

See when it starts
To fall apart
Man, it really falls apart
Like boots or hearts
Oh when they start
They really fall apart


The Warrior Renegade Police Brotherhood

I'm afraid that if budgets continue to be constrained, the police will seek other means of revenues. Like governments since the time of Athens, they will eventually resort to coercion and bullying tactics to get their money. Eventually, something will give because people and citizens won't take that for too long. It's a sad, long fact of history.

Life is funny that way. They will behave no differently than mobster shaking down weak and innocent people.

In my town, the cops are everywhere pinching people for all sorts of things. It's what small town cops do since crime is almost non-existent. They have to do something.

So they install themselves on side streets looking for "bunny-hoppers" at Stop signs or set up speed traps or look for people with hand held devices as they drive.

And they get creative too. One guy, I remember, was slouched in an unmarked van looking more like a Mohawk warrior defending the Oka reserve than a police officer. It really left me with a chuckle but an unnerving feeling. To what lengths to they have to go?

Part of the reason is for "pubic safety" but I'm getting the feeling it has little or nothing to do with that. I think he odd "set-up" is fine and sufficient to send social safety cues to the public. But when you're out there everyday, you lend yourself to some paranoia.

Alas, the rise of the police state (in the USA in particular) is slowly taking root. From what I hear, in France the police force is in a state of anarchy. Here in Montreal, there has been debate about the "quota" (or as New York police chief Ray Kelley preposterously and coyly calls them "goals") mystery to which the police chief denies. He doesn't sound convincing.

If we demand "regulations" on corporations for unethical practices, why shouldn't we ask the same of our public institutions? Maybe we need to look at this a little harder and if we see abuses, then "quotas" should be eliminated. You'll never convince me that blowing a stop or parking infractions pose a major public safety hazard.

The police are not a bank. They shouldn't be "upselling" because when you think of it to its logical end you will end more and more and more up with stories like this one.

Ironically, the rise of police aggression coincides with the hero-worshipping of law enforcement evident since 9/11.

I think it's gone a little beyond "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about" or "if you follow the law they will leave you alone."

Too often, cases of people observing each are targeted everyday in America now. I don't think Canada is far behind.

And that's disturbing.

If trends keep up, all police forces will attract are the sort of people with a natural talent for bullying. The sort of thug you want to keep out of "law & order." Like we see with the low-caliber individual attracted to politics, the same will happen to police forces everywhere.



Modern Civilization And The Age Of Enlightenment

Over the next few posts I'm going to discuss the philosophers of The Enlightenment and how we've become disconnected and perhaps apathetic to the reasoned ideas they bestowed upon our civilization in the West.

My belief is contemporary politics has completely forgotten - perhaps conveniently so - the heritage in our possession thus putting us on a foolish path designed and maintained by knaves and jesters.

I will, furthermore, attempt reveal that while the left are fond of warning us about 'history repeating itself' they in fact sit on the wrong side of The Enlightenment. Sometimes comically and disgracefully so as we see, to be sure, with fundamental Christians.

The weird thing I've detected is that if you suggest a simple position like 'small government' you're chastised. If you warn against rising taxes, you're an 'extremist' or "right-wing extremist." If you ask to consider free-enterprise more profoundly, you're "greedy" and that capitalism is a failed system. Equally destructive and reminiscent of the ignorance of time long gone, if you posit an idea that stands in the way of the progressive (socialist) agenda, you are, apparently, a racist now. Above all, the base root of Enlightenment thought - neigh, of man's thought stretching back to Athens, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, London and Washington - is liberty.

Could you imagine Smith speaking of "free-enterprise" on campus of our universities? Or Montesquieu or Locke or any of the others? Their talk would be viewed with suspicion and outrage I would guess. Dead-men talking.

Unwittingly, or perhaps otherwise, we've positioned the narrative to lull people into believing we are free and that the state does all for our benefit. Perhaps there is some truth and validity to this up to a point but...I don't believe we're as free as we think. We're freeish. But not free. Alas, like sheep, we've accepted this deal with the government - at best a necessary evil as the Age of Enlightenment believe.

What makes modern punditry on the left so maddening and frightening is their claim to be the holders or spiritual inheritors of the The Enlightenment. That they represent the soul of men like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Even though, it's been said, "they are dead white men and the Constitution is a piece of paper that doesn't evolve with the times." Code for it doesn't fit our visions.

Therein lies the major weakness in their views. All that is dead in the flesh, can be safely ignored since those ideas died with them.

They seem to accept this notion for contemporary debate. Yet, they will resurrect the parts of the past that attempts to prove their modern points. It's a knaves game.

To be fair, this is a problem we all face when understanding history. 

We believe civilization persists only with government involvement where the power strings remain in its hands. It's an irrational value to hold indeed since official are but mere mortal men with the same vices and virtues of any man. They suffer the same wounds by their swords we do.

There's a malaise in Western thought.

The thinkers of this period sought to subjugate if not eliminate superstition outright so evident in the Middle-Ages. They drew upon and expanded on the Humanists of the Italian and Northern Renaissance. In their writings, you see their respect for great minds of the period offset with an outrage and scorn for parts of our existence they considered irrational.

We're in an irrational stage.

It is our job to keep alive their ideas and thoughts for when the time comes real leaders of true courage and ability enter the political realm once again. 




2013-07-24

A Town Run By Clerks And Bureaucrats

There's an awful lot of 'for rent' signs all along St. Laurent blvd. from Sherbrooke all the way up to Little Italy.

There's no question heavy commercial tax burdens are wreaking havoc on this city.

To argue otherwise is foolish. Small business are strangled by red tape and taxes.

We used to frequent this pizzeria located in a once vibrant, uber-trendy part of town. Nothing said 'pizza' like 4am.

But hey, the same sort of folk who argue along anti-business lines explaining Detroit's decline make up all sorts of incoherent excuses for Montreal's marvelous mediocrity.

This city is in dire need of leadership and vision. Alas, there seems to be a dearth of quality people on the continent at the moment. Sheesh, I mean, look at the caliber or men running in New York City. Spitzer and Weiner are not exactly men of high character. As for Bloomberg, he's a maniacal interventionist busy-body.

Montreal needs a reinvigorating game plan to resuscitate an entrepreneurial spirit that's slowly being crushed under the weight of taxes and corruption. Somehow it will have to find a way to work around the restrictive and regressive language laws, loosen the grip of the unions and truly clean up its disgusting corruption.




Quote Of The Day

"This is what it looks like when government is small enough to drown in your bathtub, and it is not a pretty picture." Melissa Harris-Perry on Detroit (MSNBC).

I may have to come up with a 'Peak Dumb' segment.

It just can't be a major network allows for this nonsense. 

Then again former Mayor Coleman Young chimed in with this gem:

"To attack Detroit is to attack black." 

It's all starting to make some sense. Never mind markets shift and you need to adjust. Nah. It's about race. A race to the bottom that is.

Sigh. Everyone has an opinion about Detroit. 

/face palm. Repeat.

The I Didn't Do It President

I swear, President Obama has made me raise my eyebrow more than most leaders. To me, there hasn't been a leader I've witnessed that has turned the tables on the opposition like he does.

Asking the GOP "what's your agenda?" only fortifies my view of him as a weak leader.

No leader, with natural ability, spins like this.

The GOP are not the party of power.

He is. Asking this question is a cynical ploy to deflect.

No, Mr. President.

What's your agenda. Because from where I sit, I see no there, there.

Quote Of The Day

"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
― Thomas Sowell

Lac Megantic Decimated

The destruction at Lac Megantic is awful and tragic.

In Canadian history, Halifax remains the most destructive explosion of them all. I wonder where Megantic ranks in all this.

Update: Apparently biggest land oil spoil in North American history.


The Law

In law, you're innocent until proven guilty.
In tax law, you're guilty until proven innocent - and even then.

A Win For Privacy Rights

Every once in a while, Canada jolts itself into privacy sanity. 

The long-gun registry was an expensive and inefficient disaster that, in the end, did little to prevent crime and everything to piss off law-abiding gun owners (they do exist you know).

Shucks, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the PQ bunker. Marois must be all "maudit federalistes" this and "maudit anglais" that. This is how they roll. It will be used to "prove" Ottawa doesn't understand Quebec's needs.

Blah, blah.

Of course Quebec is the only big province dead set against destroying records. THAT would mean privacy is restored to people. In a province where the nationalist ideology based on one language dependent on the (manufactured) collective and "will" there's no place for individual thought.

I still can't fathom how anyone could accept a registry with their private information to which a bureaucratic agency has access to is a good idea. Notice what's happening in the USA where a police state is slowly shaping. Venture capitalists are now pouring money in security firms for the love of God. Canada is not immune. If anything, we're an easier target for becoming a benign police state - after all, we've abdicated the concept of individual rights and handed it over to the government a long time ago.

****

So what does "statism" mean to me? It's such a weird term I agree and it means many things to different people to be sure. I can only look upon examples and draw from my own personal experiences. For example, in my business, I just found out, that if I don't follow every arbitrary regulation set down by the Ministry, they can come in and "take over my business."

A PRIVATE enterprise that doesn't receive a subsidy it must be reminded.

Think about this for a second. Digest it. Swallow that banana.

A bureaucracy, thanks to the law written by civil servants, can take over a private business in Quebec.

And people dare say A) we're extremists and paranoid and B) we're a capitalist democracy? More like socialist tyranny. I never voted or consented to allow the government that kind of power.

And for the record, the people running the Ministry wouldn't know the first clue of how to operate a business. They can write the laws and apply them but they don't have to live with them. I can just picture the scenario...

Bureaucrat (taking over): What's this?
Former owner: It's the form we must fill out.
Bureaucrat: Seems long to me.
Owner: I know. But it's required.
Bureaucrat: Not anymore it is! (laughs)
Owner: Not following
Bureaucrat: Seems to me we need efficiency. Who came up with that document?
Owner: It says....Tremblay.
(looks at tag)
Owner: Would that be you?
Bureaucrat: What's the difference? We have a business to run! How much does this person earn?
Owner: $16 an hour.
Bureaucrat: Seems a lot to me. You really are generous.
Owner: But I was just following the wage tables set by the Ministry.
Bureaucrat: Yeah well, what do we know, right?
Owner: Well, it was kinda of a struggle to balance the books.
Bureaucrat: Don't you worry. I fix. I, government.
Owner: Will I ever get my business back?
Bureaucrat: So. Will $13 an hour do for you?




2013-07-23

Celebrities Boycott Florida; Send In The Clowns

It's okay, Florida.

I'll be visiting in November (Disney) and will be sure to hit all the spots "boycotted." First order of business will be Chick-fil-A.

Very, profoundly disappointed in Rod Stewart taking part in this nonsense. I guess wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. They're contributing to a narrative rooted in lies, disruption and misinformation.







Zimmerman Pulls Family Out Of Car Wreckage

You know, when the backgrounds of Zimmerman and Martin are consulted and considered, it's apparent that one was a decent, civic oriented individual while another was possibly on a path to crime.

Yet, according to the mainstream narrative, it is Zimmerman the racist who "executed" an innocent child in "cold-blood."

This story is consistent with Zimmerman's civic instincts.

But the troglodytes (supported by the government and the jackass pundits like Maher) and opportunistic race-baiting demons (like Sharpton and Jackson) continue to threaten his and his family's life.

Imagine. The nerve of Zimmerman to not stick to the narrative. And why did he get out of his car anyway?

Banning Smoking On Beaches

Marisol Touraine told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper she wanted to see more tobacco-free zones, to protect children's health.

The Socialist minister said she hoped smoking would also be banned outside schools and on university campuses.

Yes. For the children.

The words "banned" and "socialist" go hand in hand. Tyrants with a (claimed) social conscience.

I remember years ago when the issue of smoking first came into the public discourse. Soon after the campaign began its fascist descent, reasonable people (smokers and non-smokers alike) began to wonder where will it end? They were told their fears (and slippery slope fallacies) would never pass.

Guess what?

And if you're the sort to argue "it's for your own good" perhaps you should consider this: What the fuck do you know what's good for others? Or better still. Mind you own fucking business. Mes tes affaires!

Oh. They're a cost to the medical system? Then our "compassionate" system isn't worth a dime if it views people in this manner.

2013-07-22

The Future?

Mob rule.

Comes in many different shapes, sizes and cultures.

Let's see. Rising Muslim demographics, little growth and high debt in Europe.

Cinder box ready to explode?

Quote Of The Day

"This whole "underfunded liabilities" argument is absurd. It's accounting gone mad.  If you use that logic, every human born has "underfunded liabilities of $xxx.xxx.  You'll have to eat, wear clothes, live some where, get a car, go to school...so in effect, the child born has underfunded liabilities, and so do his parents.  Think about it.  And, that means that every single nation on earth has MASSIVE underfunded liabilities. It's a bogus argument by this  Kotlikoof joker. He fails to tell you that these liabilities, just like with a child/person are not due all at once and, there is income along the way. He leaves that out though."

Yes, "underfunded liabilities" is absurd, sonny. Here's a bone. Suck on it. Shh. I know. It's strangely comforting.

I think I'm gonna just step back here a moment and...dig myself a nice little moat...a little house, with some weapons...food....to shelter myself from the zombies.

And there I shall wait...in fear.

Obamacare Continues To Face Challenges

"...Thanks again to Obamacare, companies are either dropping health-insurance coverage altogether, shifting employees to part-time status to avoid providing coverage, or (if they’re small) finding ways to avoid crossing the 50-employee threshold for mandatory coverage. Partly because of such developments, the leaders from three of America’s biggest unions, including the Teamsters’ James Hoffa, wrote to the administration complaining that “you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat.” Their support for the president, they said, “has come back to haunt us...”

Ouch.

Something tells me they'll blame the "market," the GOP and perhaps even Bush. Fixed. That's why you need, say, single payer. People are evil and the only way to solve this problem is to eliminate what's left of the greedy players.

Fixed.

“If you already have health insurance,” candidate Obama promised, “the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less.” Obama.

"Aetna says its most popular policy for a 29-year-oldman currently costs $118 per month in Richmond. Once Obamacare kicks in, the rate will jump to $225 – an increase of more than 90 percent.

Obamacare supporters say this is only natural, because one of the ideas behind expanding coverage is to get young, healthy people to help pay the health-care costs of sicker, older people. (Not exactly a point they stressed during debate over the bill, but never mind.) That’s why the law forbids charging the latter more than three times the rate charged to the former. Jacking up rates for “young invincibles” is supposed to help hold down rates for old vulnerables.

But it doesn’t appear to be working. Aetna says its rate for the family with two kids is liable to jump 36 percent, and the rate for the older couple is liable to jump 44 percent."










Bad Article Of The Day

Oh. Now The Atlantic is into posting trivial bull shit.
  
Title: The Time Obama Was Mistaken for a Waiter at a Tina Brown Book Party.

Ooof. Cue sad, violin music. Paganini, over to you!

I thought it was TA's experimenting with satire.

Alas, I be wrong.

Holy shit. Am I supposed to believe this as a poor sob story for a politician? That we live in a cess pool of racial stereotypes? Why is this even a story? Boo-hoo-hoo. Here, I call outright bull shit.

Anyway, I'm not buying this one bit. If Obama feels he was hard done by it has less to do with his race and more his ego.

This sort of stuff cuts across race. It happens, I'm sure, to a lot of people. I know it's happened to me on a number of occasions where people think I'm a waiter or worker in a store.

Stranger: "Excuse me, where are the anal plowers?"
T.C. (puts down KY): "Erm, how should I know?"
Stranger: "Are you not gay?"

The best way to deal with it is with humor - or to kindly point the person in the proper direction and move on with your God dang life.

Jesus.
 

   



Dennis Farina Dead At 69

Damn.

Enjoyed him as an actor.

He was great in Snatch and Get Shorty.

CMHC Is Canada's Freddie Mac

Hey, as long as prices keep rising it's all good, right?

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (corporation..snicker), is holding guaranteed mortgages equal to the national debt.

Nice.

The Economist discusses Canada's housing bubble here.

B-b-but...we're smarter than Americans. Isn't that the obligatory narrative to keep prices up?

ACLU Reverses Its Stance On Zimmerman

In a letter to AG Eric Holder:

"We are writing to clearly state the ACLU’s position on whether or not the Department of Justice (DOJ) should consider bringing federal civil rights or hate crimes charges as a result of the state court acquittal in the George Zimmerman case. Even though the Supreme Court permits a federal prosecution following a state prosecution, the ACLU believes the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution protects someone from being prosecuted in another court for charges arising from the same transaction. A jury found Zimmerman not guilty, and that should be the end of the criminal case. "

La-dee-da.

2013-07-21

Canada Does Well At Volleyball World League; Ichiro's Uncoventional Batting Stance Works

In a previous post I talked about Canada's excellent performance at the FIVB Volleyball World League. At the time, they had beaten Russia but soon after lost to Brazil but not before securing a 5th place finish.

The victory over Russia was particularly impressive given they were the Olympic champions and eventually went on to win gold at VWL. 

Not that I'm into volleyball or particularly good at it (in fact, I'm mediocre except for the time in high school when I won nine straight service points), it's a shame there wasn't more coverage.

Russia, as mentioned, won gold, leaving Brazil with the silver. Italy won its first medal since 2004 after beating Bulgaria.

Overall, Brazil continues to lead with nine gold and 17 medals. Italy follows with eight and 14 and Russia with three gold and 15 medals. The United States, a traditional power at the Olympics has just one gold, one silver and four total medals.

***

Watching the Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball, there was an awkward moment involving John Kruk. Play-by-play man - I think David O'Brien - revealed that Ichiro Suzuki has 4000 professional baseball hits between Japan and MLB. That's a lot of hits. What does Kruk reply with? That Ichiro's stance is all 'wrong.' He repeated this later in the broadcast but this time he used the more appropriate "unorthodox" (which it is) to describe his style.

Still.

What the heck? Obviously, 4000 hits suggests he's doing something right, no?

Awkward.


There's Hope

For some journalists yet.

This by way of Dallas Morning news where an editorial questions why the IRS scandal wasn't reported more at his paper.

Or as progressives call it, the "fake scandal."

"It happens all the time!"

Oi.



Quote Of The Day

Reporter post game press conference: "Coach McKay, how do you feel about the team executing the offense?"

(USC coach) John McKay, "I think it is a pretty good idea."

Employment Insurance Quota Scandal

You know. We just may be onto something here.

Meet Sylvie Therrien.

Canada's female Eric Snowden light.

While I'm not surprised, thank you.

The irony, of course, the best way to "save money" is to cut redundant jobs. Maybe like those of the people who come up with this stuff.

So rejection citizens of the EI (to which WE PAY into) is a "cost saving" initiative?

For the love of...

Past Due

Shit, what's the statutes of limitations on obituaries for blogs?

Actor Kevin McCarthy died three years ago at the age of 96. Maybe I took it for granted he'd already passed. For most people who either lived through his career or are silver screen classic movie buffs, McCarthy is a face familiar to cinema.

More here.

The blog brought back a quote I always liked. Mary McCarthy, famous for having said about Lillian Hellman, "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'."

Applies to the political class, n'est pas?

When Krugman And Conscience Collide

Meet Dr. Paul Krugman, PhD. and his conscience.

Online Taxing

I want my money.

Where's my money?

/busts table.

Detroit Bail Out City

"It's not just about putting more money in a situation," the governor said. "It's about better services to citizens again. It's about accountable government."

It is to progressives and people like Obama and that judge.

Without knowing anything about Gov. Rick Snyder, I like the cut of his assertion. For once, a politician is brave enough to do the hard thing; the right thing.

A bail out while maintaining the same mindset that helped let Detroit deteriorate (my guess this is not political ideology that suckered Detroit but more of a bunch of things that conspired against it over the years starting with the fall of the auto industry) will only defer it down the road.

Big Bureaucracy Business

I was reading about Napolitano's hiring as President to the University of California and somewhere in the threads it was said the UofC has 234 000 students....and 208 000 employees?

Holy. Shit.

That's some bureaucracy.

If accurate, then her appointment isn't surprising. A bloated bureaucracy needs more...bodies!


The Left Loses A Loved One

Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists. No question, in my opinion."
--Helen Thomas, December 2, 2010

"I know where you're leading with this. You know damn well the power [Jews] have...It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"
--Helen Thomas (speaking to David Hochman), March 2011

She was a vile, miserable, tyrannical, left-wing anti-semitic journalist.

No surprise a far left-wing ideologue like President Obama would fete Helen Thomas.

Next.





Under Obama America Is A Banana Republic

On its path to officially filing for bankruptcy (the largest in American history to do so), Detroit has hit a major, disturbing obstacle by the hand of an activist judge.

“It’s also not honoring the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.”

Banana.

Republic.



Free Economic Zones

I hope to be a part of these economic free zones one day.

Quebec, I fear, may be a long way from being in a position to discuss what's in the link. First, it will need to reform its perspective on freedom of expression regarding language. Then, begins the long overhaul of reconfiguring the role of the state in small-business to encourage entrepreneurship.

We're not there.

Ontario, on the other hand, may have hope. Bigger, more wealth, no language baggage. It may be a candidate for this. 

***

I've grown weary and tired of having to deal with silly, regressive and expensive regulations at both the provincial and municipal level.

Not to mention rude, myopic civil servants who have no business making business decisions - excuse the pun. Seems to me, if you're in a position of power to make decisions about business, you should you know, actually have experience with enterprise.

Sticking in a young, inexperienced individual in there who interprets regulations in the most severe way leads to a dysfunctional relationship riddled with animosity.


Quote Of The Day

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
- Goethe

2013-07-20

Quote Of The Day

"Economists in the ancien regime believed that the best medicine to cure poverty was heavy taxation. Indeed, the poorer a region, the heavier it should be taxed. Increased taxation, said these experts, would increase productivity and benefit everyone; consequently, taxes were the appropriate tool to combat poverty. The poor were like grass - the more they were cut down, the stronger they would become. We should not ridicule this logic to severely. In 1947, the U.S. Treasury espoused this idea to justify high progressive peacetime taxes. In the nineteenth century the dogma of the rich and powerful was Social Darwinism. Nature's survival of the fittest meant that the strong and rich could abuse the poor - this was nature's intent. At the same time the Marxist taught that the extermination of the capital class would bring Utopia for oppressed workers."

For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization; Charles Adams. p.231.

I think I may be pulling a couple more from this book.

Kneel Before Pepin

I'm a big proponent of introducing entrepreneurship classes in schools across this continent. I also wish for more basic finance and economics.

In the aftermath of Zimmerman, I'd like to add another: Civics and ethics and law.

People are losing their minds confusing the law and "what ought to be."

In the beginning, all activists and the family of Trayvon Martin asked for was a trial. A chance for Martin to be heard through the law. They got that. They refuse the verdict.

Today, there's a general. overall malaise in that we wallow in cesspool of ignorance and stupidity. It's the Dark Ages out there.

The reaction, to me, is exaggerated to the known facts. It reminds me when revolutionists in France over-hyped the actual abuses of the Monarchy. What they thought was fact, was only proven wrong after much murder and mayhem.

Bastille, for example, wasn't the symbol of oppression they thought it was. Nor did poor Louie owe as much as was claimed.

Mob rule.

There's a reason why we ask to govern against it.




DOJ Goes After Zimmerman

Holder is investigating Zimmerman.

He's going with the narrative.

They're going to stretch and spin this into a death spiral.

Meanwhile, the New Black Panthers have publicly uttered death threats on a couple of occasions under this administration without investigation. Death threats are illegal. Defending yourself isn't.

Hope. Change. Justice under President Obama. The Noble Peace winner and seer of the 'most transparent administration in history.'


2013-07-19

More On Zimmerman

Some interesting statistics and comments about Martin-Zimmerman.

95% of murders committed against blacks are by other blacks. Shoot, one need only to wonder off to the Chicago Tribune where murders in that city are tracked to see the majority of murders don't involve whites.

Yet the narrative is "I'm scared of whites killing my kids" or "it's open season on black kids." Fuck you, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews (who died and left you Emperor of Whites fool?) you lying pieces of dead bark.

Fucking sickening.

This is not to negate or dismiss the heavy, ugly, violent, retarded oppression blacks have faced but....

Time for the African-American community to look where it all matters: In the mirror.

Vote:

Do you like or dislike the vulgar T.C.?

I don't care. Fuck off.

Killing Entrepreneurship In New York

Cato Institute.

Check out the documentary No Vans Land.

What a bunch of sons of bitches the politicians, cops and unions are if you ask me.

Gang of immoral, self-serving miscreants preserving their little fiefdoms.

That goes for many jurisdictions on the continent. It blows my mind just how much power we've off loaded to the government. A government run by fools and thieves. 


Fall Of The West Reason 3959697

Pulling regulations out of their asses.

America. She's in a free-fall.

****

About deregulation.

I bet, for every 'deregulated' industry (which are few), multiple excessive regulations were created.

Civilizations collapse not because of "free-enterprise" or "consumerism."

They fall under the collapse of their own weight brought upon by heavy taxation and regulation.

When one looks at how the greatest civilizations in world history came to be, one common, distinct feature is found in every single one of them - they rose when taxes were low sand money for grand projects came from the patrician class voluntarily. They fell when tyrants rose to power, imposed heavy regulations and heavy taxes on the peasants. History was replete with tax rebellions dating back to Assyria.

2013-07-18

Despicable Me: Applebaum Gets Hefty Severence Package

Sometimes, crime pays.

People need to look and ponder next time taxes go up.

$267 000. Sweet.

Our taxes help fund corruption.

Until we make a stink and rise up, it will always be the case.

Once upon a time tax rebellions were common; a way to purge the rot.

Jefferson once mused that a rebellion was needed every 20 or 30 years.

He knew what he was talking about.

The bums and criminals won't leave on their own. The trick is to change the game as well.

Shooting Down Drones With Licenses

Deer Trail, Colorado doesn't want drones in their town.

And with damn good reason. Armed with a 'secret kill list' President Commodus is a tad trigger happy - ironic given his gun-control bill.

The question I have is that drones are Federal property. What happens if they shoot one down? Will the Feds go after them or are they shielded by some (what's left anyway) state rights laws?


Tragic Murder Of 6 Year-Old Should Bring Perspective

Now THIS is a tragedy.

Where's the outcry?

Would this little girl look like one of Obama's daughters? 

In fact, since Zimmerman a number of senseless black on black murders (as well as 'reprisal' murders on whites) have taken place.

The silence has been more the deafening. They speak lout and crystal clear: Murder must come with a political edge.

***

Trayvon Martin is being compared to Emmitt Till which should be a national disgrace. Martin's case had little in common with what the poor kid Till suffered. 

Sickening.

No sense of anything anymore.

 



Vapid Maher

I don't like Bill Maher. He seems to be popular but to me, he's mendacious, vapid, and incoherent in his political views.

He "claims" to be or have been a libertarian - which he never was from what I've heard over the years - but it was "ruined" by Paul Ryan (not a libertarian) and Rand Paul (libertarian).

Or check this out:

"Better to be a minority owner of the New York Mets than a minority in Florida".

Right.

Tell that to the Cuban-Americans, sport.

And never mind the tragedy had NOTHING to do with race. Not even the prosecution didn't even bring it up.

An awful lot of energy is being spent by the left (and that's what Maher is - a liberal) on ignoring the fact that Zimmerman is part black and Hispanic.

This part didn't fit, you know, the narrative.

The Hispanic community is being awfully quiet.

2013-07-17

American Cops Into Killing Dogs

It seems every other day a new story rises where cops in the States are killing family dogs.

SWAT teams are becoming infamous for banging down the wrong homes while terrorizing innocent people.

In this story, watching that dog lie there is sickening.

Sometimes cops are just jerks with guns. I dunno about you, but I don't see civilians killing dogs yet the government wants checks on them.

Is America spiraling out of control?

FIFA May Ask World Cup 2022 Be Held In Winter

Shouldn't these corrupt clowns at FIFA have known this before hand?

That was pointed out the day Qatar bid for the World Cup.

"Temperatures in the Gulf state can reach 50°C during the summer, and FIFA president Blatter told L’Equipe..."

"If this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can’t play football in the summer. You can cool down the stadiums, but you can’t cool down the whole country.”

Unbelievable.

Fall Of The West Reason r9585858

Stick to music Rolling Stone.

Sticking it to the man, man! It used to be about the music, I guess.

My eyes hurt.

And then they pull this.

Free to do it, but in poor taste in my view.

Fall Of The West Reason 485858666

I have it on good authority (a friend of a friend) that professors in universities have had to explain that papers/essays should not contain textspeak. Apparently, retarded students think it's intelligent to use emoticons and 'lol' to express a view.

Wow.

I'm not surprise. Nothing worse than listening to an idiot with a degree. 


Racist Dry Asparagus

As we all know, in life, there are great people and there are, well, assholes.

David Orlander is an asshole.

An ignorant one at that.

I see a lot of similarities between race hucksters in the U.S. and language hucksters here in Quebec.

Both sets of people are losers.

My advice to people is stay clear of assholes and losers. They'll fuck you up.

Now. About this story. Does it strike you as normal a city-councilman charges a grocery store with a long and reputable history in the community with racism for, get this, dry asparagus?

No, you idiot. Asparagus doesn't have to be in water. As long as it's kept moist. I see asparagus not placed in water a lot in many places. 

That's right. A grocery store wants to dry out asparagus meant to be sold to the public not to be sold. The store has ZERO incentive to sell dry asparagus because it knows customers likely won't buy it regardless of creed or race. A business who jeopardizes its bottom-line for race won't be in business long. Interesting that they do operate in a black neighborhood though. The taxes they pay and jobs they provide, I suppose, are racist too? What a lemming this guy is. 

People are a tad fucked up these days.

I don't know if this has anything to do with Zimmerman but that's not an excuse.

Honestly, folks like Obama and Holder are not helping matters with their irresponsible rhetoric. Again, sort of like how Marois plays the language game. The rhetoric leads to - wink, wink - social vigilantes.

At some point, good, decent people will push back. No one is going to tolerate being called racist at the most trivial of things.

There will be a tipping point. One can only hope once, it tips over, people like Sharpton and Jackson and Marois fall into the abyss of nothingness for their shallow and myopic babblings.



Things You Won't Read In The New York Times

Or Boston Globe.

Or Los Angeles Times.

Or CBC.

Or Toronto Star.

Oh compassionate CBC! You too?

School meal leaves 22 dead CHILDREN in India.

I mean, come on, this is a fluke.

Benefit of the doubt to the government! Private enterprise? J'amais!

Imagine if this was a private company...

So what does the government do to expand itself and its power whenever they mess up?