2014-08-29

Fall Of The West Reasons 95956868; Britain Is Burning

Things aren't going so well in Britain and quite frankly I'm embarrassed for them.

This is an emotionally and morally crippled nation at the moment. Its steadfast compliance and adherence to the madness of political correctness is most shocking.

Quite a shocking revelation from a self-described civilized society. It's actually utterly depressing but a great ally and nation to be behaving in such a weak manner.

1400 hundred kids raped over 30 years in the Pakistani community (and I use the term loosely) and the police and politicians stood by and DID NOTHING for fear of being called racist by left-wing progressive hacks and dipshits?

Those poor, poor, helpless children. Stuck between cultural barbarianism and Western political immortality.

Shame. 

I don't know what else to say except Britain is burning.

***

Britain doesn't seem to be alone in descending into quiet madness.

Norway of all places too is getting weird as Mohammed becomes the most popular name in Oslo.

"I love the name so much I had five children and named them all Mohammed!"

"I am taking a stand against my violent Viking heritage!"

Oh dear. Gee. Something tells me somewhere down the line the United States of America - itself in a precarious state - will have to brace itself for the harsh reality it may very well have to intervene and save Europe from itself or perhaps outside threats - again.

*Above quotes mine.

He's Thinking, He's Thinking, He's...Th...ink....

If he thinks anymore his head may explode.

Behold the President of the free world.

He has no plan for ISIS.

That's because he's thoughtfully considering all options.

Ha, ha. I know. Too funny.

On a serious note, it is interesting to observe that for a President allegedly known for his "macro" and "long-term" thinking skills, he sure doesn't seem to have a coherent foreign policy to prove this point. They've known about ISIS for months.

My hunch? This administration is rudderless and divided behind the scenes as the nation continues to be led by a man who leads from behind. Actually, I don't even think he's leading.


Heroes!

Again, I ask, how badly trained or stupid (or both) are cops to think tasering a suspect multiple times (13 in this article to be exact) INCAPACITATES them and by jolting them risks KILLING them?

It's unbelievable. This is unacceptable police behavior and tactics when someone  is already cuffed.

Yes. It is murder. To be clear.

Put it to you another way. Reverse the story. If a civilian does this to another human or animal what do you think would happen to them? Prison or the mental war I reckon.

Why You Must Oppose Environmentalism

Europe has lost its mind.

See what happens when you emasculate a continent be confiscating and/or banning its guns and armies?

They have too much time on their hands.

"The European Union is considering pulling the plug on high-wattage hair dryers, lawn mowers and electric kettles in a follow up to its controversial ban on powerful vacuum cleaners.

The power of hairdryers could be reduced by as much as 30 per cent in order to be more eco-friendly, a draft study commissioned by Brussels suggests, threatening many of the models favoured by hairdressers and consumers for speedy blow-dries."

They're whacked out of their minds. It's all part of the obsession over the environment.

Translation: Shittier products that don't last as long or break down thus likely costing consumers more not just in the short-term (because crappy environmental products cost more - scams usually do) but in the long-run too since you have to replace products more often.

And I'm pretty sure - I admit I'm no scientist (unlike dumbass, ignorant environmental activists) - - but its "positive" impact on the environment will be negligible.

Just a hunch.

My hunches usually don't let me down. Except that time I took a girl on a date who had one tooth...

Rome Ho!

ISIS turns its barbaric attention to calling for a conquering of Rome.

Loser as they are, I'd kinda take this chilling call a tad seriously.

Speaking of Italians, we've read about British subjects fighting for ISIS reported to be in the hundreds. Italy has contributed 50 of its sons to ISIS according to the news paper Corriere della Sera.







Heroes!

Trigger happy cops in the USA is a problem. Equally problematic are the police chiefs acting as if they're in denial about the excessive force we're seeing among police officers across the United States - and Canada too.

To wit:

"When I watch this video, I don’t see a car full of young men who are behaving in a manner consistent with fear of the police,’ Katz stated.

‘These young men are escalating this incident, being uncooperative with officers who are investigating a violent crime, and recording their interaction – presumably with the hopes of catching a “gotcha” moment on the part of our personnel."

Is this guy serious? I mean, is he for real? How unprofessional and uncouth. 

So to him responding ‘I’ll put a round in your a** so quick' is an appropriate response to defiant kids recording them?

Nice.

Brav.

We have to be fearful of the effen police? What happened to the notion a police officer is 'your friend?'

Here's the skinny sir. People are within their rights to record cops. Simple as that. And when officers pull out their guns and threaten to shoot someone over it, well, it's excessive in my view.

 

 

BC Teachers: For The Children

Among what the teachers are demanding:

"BCTF: Improvements to the extended health benefits plan such as $3,000 of massage therapy per year and the inclusion of fertility drugs. The BCTF is also seeking improvements to the dental plan, continuation of benefits for dependents 12 months after a teacher’s death, and for teachers on long-term disability to receive the same benefits coverage as those who are working, among other things."

All for the children.


For the first 100 years of B.C. history there was no public funding of private or religious schools. The Social Credit government introduced public funding of private education in 1977 and only then did enrolment in private schools increase, taking a larger share of the provincial education budget.

Since the BC Liberals ascended to power, we have been subjected to a steady stream of ideologically driven public policy decisions that shift responsibility for providing and financing public services from the public to the private domain. As with other public assets, their aim is to privatize the commonwealth of the province. This is consistent with the ideology of the BC Liberals and the corporate media that supports reducing taxes on the wealthy and corporations and cutting public spending for social services.

Privatizing public enterprises, goods, and services is usually done in the name of increased efficiency, but mainly has the effect of 1) concentrating wealth in fewer hands (the gap between the wealthiest and the majority of B.C. families has grown dramatically the past 30 years) and 2) making the public pay more for its needs (see, for example, BC Ferries).

Not unlike charter schools in the U.S., public funding of private schools in B.C. is privatization through the back door. Elite private schools are subsidized by the public, while public schools are told to look to the market — recruiting tuition paying international students, setting up school district business companies, opening their doors to corporate programs and parent fundraising — to solve a budget crisis imposed by government’s distorted priorities.

Private school enrolment is soaring because it is encouraged by public policies that divert public money to support private interests and by ideologies that promote individualism and private gain over community and shared interests.

Public funding for private schools is at odds with creating a more equitable, just, and democratic society.

E. WAYNE ROSS, PHD, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, UBC


For the first 100 years of B.C. history there was no public funding of private or religious schools. The Social Credit government introduced public funding of private education in 1977 and only then did enrolment in private schools increase, taking a larger share of the provincial education budget.

Since the BC Liberals ascended to power, we have been subjected to a steady stream of ideologically driven public policy decisions that shift responsibility for providing and financing public services from the public to the private domain. As with other public assets, their aim is to privatize the commonwealth of the province. This is consistent with the ideology of the BC Liberals and the corporate media that supports reducing taxes on the wealthy and corporations and cutting public spending for social services.

Privatizing public enterprises, goods, and services is usually done in the name of increased efficiency, but mainly has the effect of 1) concentrating wealth in fewer hands (the gap between the wealthiest and the majority of B.C. families has grown dramatically the past 30 years) and 2) making the public pay more for its needs (see, for example, BC Ferries).

Not unlike charter schools in the U.S., public funding of private schools in B.C. is privatization through the back door. Elite private schools are subsidized by the public, while public schools are told to look to the market — recruiting tuition paying international students, setting up school district business companies, opening their doors to corporate programs and parent fundraising — to solve a budget crisis imposed by government’s distorted priorities.

Private school enrolment is soaring because it is encouraged by public policies that divert public money to support private interests and by ideologies that promote individualism and private gain over community and shared interests.

Public funding for private schools is at odds with creating a more equitable, just, and democratic society.

E. WAYNE ROSS, PHD, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, UBC

2014-08-27

Question

Does the European Union exist without U.S. military might?

Not A Series Of Pipes

"The corporate regulator has revealed that it accidentally blocked access to a quarter of a million websites because its staff misunderstood a basic feature of internet technology.
 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission made the blunder when it was trying to black-list a small number of websites it suspected of defrauding Australians.

But it says staff who ordered the block didn't realise that suspending access to the site would affect many more hosted on the same IP address."

 

Needs Mores TOP MEN

The Congressional Black Caucus is asking for a police czar position be created. Like the other czar posts have been such a smashing success. But hey, statists are gonna statist even if their race hustlers or opportunists.

It's interesting the CBC (funny writing that) is asking for one now over one shooting while have never done so regarding, say, Chicago and the problem of black on black crime.

No. White on black crime is the evil in their back yard.

Sharpton, Jackson and all who pounce like jackals on such events before facts are collected to further an agenda...well...

The Eighth Circle of Hell await.

****

But the Washington Posts seems to have arrived at a similar conclusion as the CBC.

There's no sugar coating it, America needs more top men.

****

And they need a President who ignores Congress as he plans to do with climate change. That's still an issues?

Because the GOP are obstructionist 'savages' as one NYT commenter put it. Not that he's gonna do squat. He's the weak man of Western countries at the moment. His only option is to, as a Constitutional lecturer, ignore the law and scream, 'but they won't help me!"

It's STRATEGY!

The NYT and its commenters are officially (according to me) on par with Huffington and Salon.

That is, shitty.

Reason.com rules and squashes their communities and sends the rest home like whiny little derps - without a trigger warning.

2014-08-26

Gelato In North America

"There are more than 39,000 gelato shops in Italy and thousands more in other European countries, but only 900 in North America."

And of those 900, a few aren't true gelato shops. A few ice-cream shops just jump on the gelato craze by offering seemingly Italian flavors with the same presentation but the taste and ingredients just aren't the same.




Burger King Tim Horton's Merger: Juxtaposition Time!

First the bad.

From MoveOn.org.

Childish, ignorant. Ridiculous.

What else is new?

Now the good.

By Matt Levine.

THIS is what you get when grown ups act like big people.

THIS is an article that articulate in a lucid manner the issues and factors that went into the decision as well as provide a rational context to the merger.


Adjusting The Narrative

"When Ipsos Reid polls voters on which party shares their values, the New Democrats rule on anything social while the Conservatives dominate on economic affairs. “The NDP owns the compassion side of the agenda, the Tories own the management side, and the Liberals own nothing,” observes pollster Darrell Bricker."

See. To me all these perceptions are bull shit. It suggests Tories can't be compassionate and the NDP functional on the management side.

I don't think the NDP compassionate at all. It's easy to play the part of nice guy - especially with other people's money. Their values don't match mine and I'll be damned if anyone dares assert I lack compassion. How I help my fellow man is personal and I don't need state coerced policy do make me do the 'right thing' as dictated by somebody else.

I don't view progressive policy as compassionate. Paternalistic and vulnerable to projections yes. Heck, even arrogant. Passionate I'll give them but they don't have the monopoly on compassion or even empathy. Is there anything empathetic in welfare?

It's more enabling than anything.

 

Website Of The Day: eToro

Social investment network site eToro.

Haven't explored it but looks interesting.

If you're interested in buying gold or silver try this site out.

I Am The Machine

Funny story about how the mob ran everything during the 1990s in Russia set to South Park animation on Joe Rogan's radio show.




Strange Happenings

My traffic numbers have plunged quite a bit. They weren't all that great to begin with but it has nevertheless left me puzzled and perplexed. I've been more active than ever as the content of my links and subjects are varied.

Maybe they don't like my new hair cut?




Australia Puts Pizza In Vending Machines

Burger King Moving To Canada

Reportedly to avoid high corporate taxes, Burger King (a claim they deny) has decided to come to Canada where rates are more accommodating as they entered an agreement with Tim Horton's.

BK currently pays 40% corporate taxes whereas in Canada the Federal rate rests at 15%. It's good for Canada but our income taxes are just too high. We have less disposable income than Americans, and this to me is the crux of the problem.

Problem is, they still have to pay the IRS since American are forced to pay taxes on money they earn abroad.

***

Speculating, much will be made about the move in the U.S. I'm sure. Already the White House has voiced displeasure about companies who 'escape to pay their fair share.'

They don't realize their tone and rhetoric scares the living crap of not just corporations but small businesses as well.

It's not surprising companies are looking to move before Obama's policies take effect including the business mandate portion of Obamacare. For example, Chiquita split for Ireland.

The U.S. has a crushingly complicated tax code as well as being the only nation on earth that taxes citizens who don't live or work in the country. Obama has only worked to crack down on this further.

He's the worst economic and war time leader in my life time. Hands down.

He's so tone deaf he doesn't seem to realize people vote with their feet and wallet. They don't give a shit about his visions on what 'fair' is. And clearly, they don't think it's all what it's cracked up to be.




2014-08-25

Flash Gordon Movie


Europe Ditching Traffic Signs

I don't doubt if we'd remove many stop signs and traffic lights we'd have better flow of traffic.

It's absolutely irrational to have a stop sign every 30 feet. It's silly.

Europe seems to think so.

American Wealth Runs Deep

Americans are richer than Brits.

Specifically, U.S. states outperform Britain.

Sky is blue.

From The Spectator (link above):

"I came across a striking fact while researching this piece: if Britain were to somehow leave the EU and join the US how would we rank? The answer is that we’d be the 2nd-poorest state in the union, poorer than Missouri. Poorer than the much-maligned Kansas and Alabama. Poorer than any state other than Mississippi, and if you take out the south east we’d be poorer than that too."

British Dry Humor

Britain apologizes for White House tweet.

And no.

Canada or Canadians did not burn down the White House during the War of 1812.

That's just nationalist sentiment.

The British did and the Americans will stick with it.

Disappointed In You Henry Rollins

You had nothing to apologize for.

You should have stood by it.

Fuck people who demand apologies. Fuck them in the ear.

Here's what he said:

"How in the hell could you possibly do that to your children? I don’t care how well adjusted your kid might be — choosing to kill yourself, rather than to be there for that child, is every shade of awful, traumatic and confusing. I think as soon as you have children, you waive your right to take your own life. No matter what mistakes you make in life, it should be your utmost goal not to traumatize your kids. So, you don’t kill yourself."

No one needs to agree with it.

But they do need to get off their high horses and respect it.

If they don't, like I said, fuck them. They're useless.

Humorous Canadian Bashing, Eh.

Someone pointed me to an article from 1989 in Philly.com by Dave Barry.

It's entertaining as hell and sure to ruffle sensitive Canadian feathers.

"Ha ha! Don't mind me. I like to toss out little "zingers" about Canada from time to time because I enjoy getting mounds of letters from irate Canadians who are Sick and Tired of Americans belittling Canada and who often include brochures full of impressive Canadian Facts such as that Canada is the world's largest producer of magnesium dentures as well as the original home of Michael J. Fox, Big Bird, Plato, etc."

"...Meanwhile, the Canadians, being cooperative, quietly went ahead and actually converted. I know this because I was on a Canadian radio program once, and the host announced that the temperature was "8." This was obviously a lie, so I asked him about it, and he confided, off the air, that the real temperature, as far as he knew, was around 40. But then his engineer said he thought it was more like 50, and soon other radio personnel were chiming in with various other interpretations of "8," and I was struck by the fact that these people had cheerfully accepted, in the spirit of cooperation, a system wherein nobody really knew what the temperature was (The correct mathematical answer is: chilly).

The point I am making is that Canada is a fascinating and mysterious country, which is why we should not be surprised to learn that it is the location of the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump historical site and tourist attraction. I found out about this from an extremely alert reader named Sandy LaFave, who sent me an article from The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter that explains the whole buffalo-jump concept.

It seems that many moons ago (in metric, 14.6 megamoons) North America was occupied by large and fortunately very stupid herds of buffalo. Certain Native American tribes used to obtain their food by disguising themselves in buffalo skins and going from tepee to tepee shouting "Trick or Treat!"
No, seriously, according to The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter, they disguised themselves so they could lure a buffalo herd closer and closer to a cliff, then stampede it over the edge. That's where the "Buffalo Jump" part of the name comes from. The "Head-Smashed-In" part comes from a native legend, which holds that one time, a young brave (probable tribal name: "Not Nuclear Physicist") decided to watch the hunt while standing under the cliff. According to The Tourist Greeter, he "watched the buffalo topple in front of him like a mighty waterfall . . . When it was over and the natives were butchering the animals, they found him under the pile of dead buffalo with his head smashed in...."

Embrace Diversity

Here's a surprise (before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims and the Diversity Visa Program):

"...The program is not without its critics, however. Some experts have argued that the program is susceptible to fraud and manipulation. For example, although a DV applicant will be disqualified if the State Department discovers that more than one application per year is filed on his or her behalf, critics have asserted that it is commonplace for aliens to file multiple applications for the lottery, a fact borne out by news reports.

 In addition, reviewers have asserted that identity fraud, in the process, is ''endemic,'' and that the case of fraudulent documents in connection with the visa lottery is ''commonplace.'' This makes sense if aliens are filing multiple applications under various aliases to improve their chances in a lottery. If an alien were to be selected under an alias, the alien must then obtain and use fraudulent documents to support the visa application. Others have complained that the lottery has spawned a cottage industry of sponsors who falsely promise success to applicants in exchange for large sums of money.
 

In addition to, and in part because of, concerns about fraud in the DV Program, critics have argued that the program poses a danger to national security..."

"...For whatever the reason, aliens who have immigrated under the DV Program have been tied to terrorism in the recent past. Hesham Hedayet, who killed two and injured several others in an attack at Los Angeles Airport on July 4th, 2002, received his green card under the DV Program. In an asylum application that he had filed earlier, he had claimed that he had been accused of being a terrorist, a claim that the former INS never investigated.
Similarly, a Pakistani national who pleaded guilty in August 2002 to a single count of conspiracy to use arson or explosives to destroy electrical power stations in Florida and two Moroccans, who were indicted as members of an alleged sleeper cell that same month, also entered the United States under the DV Program.
 

In addition, critics have complained that the DV Program unfairly moves lottery winners ahead of certain family and employer-sponsored immigrants. This is particularly an issue for aliens in lower priority categories who have to wait years for visas.
 

Further, experts have asserted that the cost of the DV Program exceed the revenue that the program raises, despite the fact that Congress, in the 1996 act, authorized the State Department to collect a fee for the processing of DV visas. In the nonimmigrant process, applicants pay a processing fee in advance. Currently, however, only those DV applicants who are selected in the lottery actually pay a fee...."



2014-08-24

Be Careful What You Wish For

The other day I read that 57% of Americans think there should be a law against parents who leave their kids unattended.

Let's leave aside pure insanity and irrationality of those 57 per centers.

Maybe someone should change the question to: Would you agree parents who let their kids play in the park alone should be thrown in prison thus destroying their family?

Maybe then assholes in the 57% who just fall back on a 'there oughta be a law' would actually sit on their fucking asses and think about the consequences.

For example, a normal, sane person would say "do I want to consent to a law that could ruin a family's life over such an issue that statistically is meaningless?"

But people don't think this way. They just jump and scream. Ban guns! Tax soda! Arrest that single mother for leaving her nine year-old alone in the park!

I loath such people. I hold them in low regard.

***

Speaking of excessive reliance on violent laws:



That's from Culver City, LA.


I think Tacitus is appropriate:

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.




People Who Think Cuba Is Grand Are Idiots

2014-08-23

The UN Is A Mess

The UN Human Rights Council.

Check out these stellar names with strong track records on human rights:

China
Cuba
Saudi Arabia
Russian Federation

And then they wonder why the UN isn't invited to any parties.

God, that's beyond pathetic.

For The Good Of The People

Not to be swayed by Michael Bloomberg's spectacular failure and exercise in petty paternalism on a soda ban, Rosa De Lauro (D-CT) has introduced legislation on a soda tax.

These people are incredible. They're addicted to regressive taxes just like people are addicted to cigarettes.

The economy is sputtering and what are they interested in? Taking more cash from the pockets of people - low-income people since it is that group that will be most affected.

If ye demand evidence of shocking ignorance consider this phrase uttered by her:

“When a two-liter cola is 99 cents and blueberries are over three dollars, something has gone very wrong,” 

Something, I say, has gone very wrong when politicians are these ignorant and stupid about economics.

And just so we're clear. There's NOTHING scientific in a soda ban or tax. Progressives are good at claiming their schemes are rooted in science when nothing of the sort is true.

As Baylen Linnekin points out in the article: "For the record, a pint of blueberries contains more than 40g of sugar. That’s about as much sugar as you’ll find in a pint of soda."

They're animists. Animists who want to control.

The quicker people who vote for people like this figure out they don't care one way or another about their health, the faster we can rid ourselves of this corrosive, misguided and over reaching social and political mindset.

In fact, on this issue, people are indeed pushing back. Just read the comments.

However, it doesn't stop dietary paternalists like Bloomberg and De Lauro which should make one wonder why. Why are they so intent on ignoring the will of the people? Is it because they believe they know what's right? Which I'm sure plays some role.  Are they getting some kind of kickback out of it?

Cui bono?

2014-08-22

Not Impressed With Montreal Police

Watching the police act like union tugs the other day as they attacked City Hall really left a sour taste in my mouth. The police are not above the law and they most certainly don't have the right to a different set of laws and standards than citizens. Had regular folk done this, they'd suddenly enforce the law, but when they do it, who will be there to arrest them?

Those officers who stood by and did nothing while their colleagues stormed City Hall must be brought to face justice and should be fired in my view.

As well, I do not stand as a taxpayer for them vandalizing public property by plastering cars with stickers nor am I all that enamored with their move to wear camouflage pants. At the moment, they're not acting professionally at all.

I can't see how this helps them in the public eye. Unless, of course, they don't care which is very likely. 

The public sector has a sense of entitlement that seems to be going off the rails on this continent.

****

Three words to start the process of reminding public unions who they serve:

Right to choose.

***

Police forces across the continent are under duress from the public - and with good reason.

Take Philadelphia.

They're about to put a criminal back on the street.

Any other person would languish in prison. This is piece of shit not only gets back to work but keeps his pension.

2014-08-21

World's First Selfie?

See here. 

Over 100 years old.

Toll Bridge Gonna Toll

I was billed for using the A25 bridge into Montreal.

Here's the breakdown:

Toll: $1.88
Administration fee: $5.20

Grand total: $7.08.

The admin costs more than the toll itself.

It's a way of creating jobs government style I suppose. Someone has to send out the bill, right?

/nods heads.

Miltary R Us

I love America.

Here's a database listing all the military hardware purchased by various towns across the country.

It's a level of disclosed transparency I wish we had in Canada.


2014-08-20

Parody Lost

That's My Bush lasted only eight episodes.


Zombie Fungus!

Kills ants.

Very wicked.


No Dashcams In Ferguson

Or helicopters for that matter.

Anyway.

Mark Steyn on Ferguson.

"It's important, when something goes wrong, to be clear about what it is that's at issue. Talking up Michael Brown as this season's Trayvonesque angel of peace and scholarship was foolish, and looting stores in his saintly memory even worse. But this week's pictures from Ferguson, such as the one above, ought to be profoundly disquieting to those Americans of a non-looting bent.

The most basic problem is that we will never know for certain what happened. Why? Because the Ferguson cruiser did not have a camera recording the incident. That's simply not credible. "Law" "enforcement" in Ferguson apparently has at its disposal tear gas, riot gear, armored vehicles and machine guns ...but not a dashcam. That's ridiculous. I remember a few years ago when my one-man police department in New Hampshire purchased a camera for its cruiser. It's about as cheap and basic a police expense as there is."

And no, there is no war on blacks anymore there isn't one on woman.

The claim on the former is especially galling given it completely ignores black on black crime.

California Nightmare

30% of California now represents 30% of American welfare recipient. with 12% of the population.

What. A. Disaster.

California is not falling. It's on its knees.


Deaths In History

By the way, Augustus, Vilfredo Pareto, Blaise Pascal,James Watt and Groucho Marx died on this day yesterday.

Nice group.

Harper's Government Wrong On Marijuana

Damn, the Conservatives are backwards on drug policy.

They're making me agree with Mimbo Trudeau.

And I don't like that.

For the first time in my life I may just have to spoil my ballot.

Short Movie Of The Day

I, Killer

Run time about 12 minutes. By Francesco Calabrese.


Differences Between Entrepreneurship And Self-Employment

The main difference is an entrepreneur gets capital, builds something up with the intent of selling it for a reward. For example, a contractor may build and sell single homes as a business.

Being self-employed means you create a job where you are your own boss. Where an entrepreneur doesn't have to concern him or herself with paperwork, administration, human resources and other functions that go into a running a business, a self-employed individual literally toils performing all tasks and functions for what often amounts to an average pay.

This is why I get absolutely apoplectic whenever I hear some idiotic, ignortant fuckhead talk as if small business owners are 'greedy capitalists' who somehow 'owe' something back to society because they are 'awash' in cash - 'les riches' as the left-wing nationalists say here in gibberish.

This is where government gets everything wrong. They go with this narrative and so, they come up with all sorts of regulations to 'curb' runaway capitalism. However, a funny thing happens on the way to unintended consequences. People simply don't go into business figuring it's not worth the headaches. Red tape alone is a massive financial and time-consuming burden for small business owners. The price to that is they can't focus on expanding, which in turn, creates more jobs.

It doesn't help that access to capital is very limited as well. A person has to put up their soul to get a small business loan. I went through hell to get one.

It's all about ensuring we don't profit as much and keeping us in check; particularly in Quebec.

And the results are plain and clear to anyone who cares to look. I don't think anyone will mistake Quebec for an attractive place for entrepreneurs to invest in. The taxes alone keeps them away. That's why all we seem to do here is put up condos.

Self-employment is a little difference in that there will always be people looking to open or start a business to earn some income off their expertise but even there, thanks to the racket of licensing and permits, the barriers to entry are superficially high.

***

Speaking of condos, I was in Philadelphia last week and part of the trip was to take in a Phillies game. Citizens Bank Park is a beautiful stadium to catch a ball game. Across the street there's Lincoln Field where the Eagles play and Comcast Center where the Flyers and 76ers share an arena.

Three world class sports facilities all in one setting.

I thought to myself this is a sports town.

Montreal?

We have the Bell Center where the Habs play politics. The Big O is empty and useless, Stade Saputo while a nice park for MLS is still a work in progress and hardly what one would consider world class and our professional football team doesn't even have its own field using McGill's turf instead.

As I stated back when the Expos left town. Montreal became a second-rate sports city when it lost MLB.

Bah. I digress.

****

Where was I?

Yes. The mentality is all wrong. The private versus subsidized daycare battle is a classic example of the free-enterprise system taking on a bureaucratic one wallowed in stale progressive ideas. All their efforts amount to is the plundering of the productive classes to pay for the sloths and opportunists.

I promise to stop digressing.

When you have Nobel prize laureates like Krugman who has argued in the past that saving (hoarding! He pimps the myth that rich people put money under their mattress when in fact all they do is look for ways to invest it) disrupts the cycle of consumption, you kinda get why (in concert with higher taxes and ever-increasing cost of living) we're mired in a stagnant mess. 

The trouble is there is no political will to fix or adjust what ails us. Politicians get into the field not to serve citizens but to get a pension and paycheck as well as get all the contact needed to start their own thing later on. The career politician is not going to risk anything for something like this.

Add to the mix the rise of the sense of entitled class addicted to instant gratification, government policies that itself is hooked on punitive policies that hurt those who work, save, and invest and you get one runaway train that when it runs out of track will leave one disastrous footprint.

****

Quick word on investment. Investment is not a rich man's game. It's a smart person's game. So to go on air, or write a letter to the editor or to proclaim at a dinner party pretending you're so fucking smart about 'we need to tax capital gains and dividends' remember one thing. Companies, where the majority of the middle class work, invest their financial capital in either themselves through buying back stock, paying off debt, or in some cases pensions. Just as critical, they look for capital to expand.

Expansion is another part of the equation progressives don't seem to understand. In order to expand, one needs capital. If capital is squandered through excessive wage mandates, pensions and taxes, there will be little left to expand. Notice, I said excessive where unions make unrealistic guaranteed demands. See GM. Expansion is a huge component to a healthy economy. People want jobs. Jobs give income. Income affords a life and it can lead to investment.

The returns made by people in mutual funds belong to THEM. In my view, there shouldn't even be any taxes on risk taken by investors regardless of class, income, race, religion whatever.

Taxing their rewards is confiscatory and only serves to prevent them from building wealth. Income builds wealth. Wealth is not money.

It drives me up the wall to listen to financially illiterate fucksticks talk about taxing people's money without a care about the impact because 'greater good' and 'pay fair share' and 'welfare.'

They seem incapable of considering how destructive this is.

Leaving investment income alone and letting companies do what they do best which is to expand and create jobs, is the BEST way to keep people off the welfare line.

Sorry if it's all disjointed but I think you get the picture.

One last thing, it's difficult for people to understand inflation and buying power of a currency. The famous analogy of the 'pie chart' is a prime example. Whenever you read liberal interpretations of the economy, they speak as if the pie chart is a fixed, zero-sum phenomena. It fits neatly into their '1%' narrative I guess. It's ludicrous because they talk as if a middle-class individual can't 'graduate' into the upper-class. People move about the classes all the time.

The size of the pie is not fixed and the figures that go into it are ever-changing.  It only stagnates when it faces heavy regulations. An economy that creates real value will expand a chart into infinite sizes and pieces. When that happens, everyone's cut increases. Not just one component or segment.

The key is to keep that pie expanding. 

/blank stare. But...Taxes!!!

Thus concludes our lesson.











The Epitome Of The Police State Through Sunil Dutta

I think by now it's pretty clear police forces across the country have become militarized thanks to politicians (and their blind acceptance of law enforcement without much criticism) and police unions who increasingly ask for bigger toys.

It's not surprising cops are forming a 'the people are the enemy' posture even if they don't realize it.

The more they scream land of the free, the more I wonder if the opposite is the actual case.

Here in Montreal that mentality was put into practice when cops (as part of the on-going the pension protests) stormed City Hall in an act of arrogant defiance for the democratic process.

Who will be the guardians of the people?

Not Dutta:

"Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you," he writes. "Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?"

Isn't that something? When did the police become masters of citizens?

The scary thing about Sunil Dutta is he's a veteran cop and holds a PhD - what's that saying the most dangerous people are the intellectuals?

There's no sugar coating it, Dutta is a douche and a dangerous psychopath with a degree.




2014-08-19

Articles Of Interest

Man, am I falling behind. I have stacks and stacks of articles I want to link to but just haven't found the energy to form thoughts around them.

Anyway.

Quick links.

High seas shooting in Fiji.

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Idiot cop woman in Manderson, South Dakota. Can they really be this stupid and sadistic?

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From the Moscow Times this has to be quite possibly among the coolest articles I've linked to.

"Russia is demanding that Bulgaria try harder to prevent vandalism of Soviet monuments, after yet another monument to Soviet troops in Sofia was spray-painted, ITAR-Tass reported."

Screw the Soviets and their communist murderous reign of bull shit.

Long live Captain America.

Quite frankly, they look better.

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From Craigslist. Don't know if true but funny: