I’m starting to feel like I’m getting stuck in a rut with my writing, doing nothing on my blog but ranting about the stupid shit perpetrated upon we the people by our purportedly benevolent governments. With that in mind, let’s have some good news for a change:
(If you’re surprised to hear good news from the CBC — and you should be — bear in mind that those statist Quislings probably see this as a bad thing.)
Those of you from outside my fuckin’ groovy province, dude, may not recognize the name “Wally Oppal”. He’s what used to pass for British Columbia’s Attorney General, notable mostly for the facts that he doesn’t approve of free speech on the grounds that it’s just too goddamn American and that he figures provincial prosecutors should be immune from the consequences of their actions, even when those consequences murder their estranged families. I’d rather see him burnt at the stake, but I’m enjoying the irony of him being defeated in an election he tried to rig.
Adios, motherfucker.
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While I’m on the subject of politics, I note with approval the Canadian Governor General’s multicultural sensitivity and willingness to appreciate the points of view of some of our most frequently ignored but historically important citizens:
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean snacking on a slain seal’s raw heart has sparked criticism from the European Union and animal rights groups.
That is fucking awesome!
(from the CBC’s article)
So not only is the Governor General a better carnivore than I am, but she just tossed a bucket of piss-scented sisu all over PETA and the governments of the European Union. If she follows this up by going shooting with totalrecoil, I’ll become a monarchist.
And while I’m indulging in schadenfreude:
“It amazes us that a Canadian official would indulge in such bloodlust,” Dan Mathews, senior vice-president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told the Toronto Star.
Shut up, you bedwetting furry
But wait, Mathews has more:
“It sounds like she’s trying to give Canadians an even more Neanderthal image around the world than they already have.”
Waitasec… I just read an article about how the rest of the world thinks that Canadians are Neanderthals who should be shunned and ignored:
- World yearns to visit Canada, survey shows (columbusdispatch.com)
(No, I don’t get it either.)
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If any of my readers are also university students in the greater Vancouver area, they’ll be aware of the U-Pass programme. This is essentially a heavily-discounted transit pass for enrollees of certain campuses, the purchase of which is mandatory and rolled into one’s student fees. I am a cheerful beneficiary of this programme, but cannot understand why students who don’t take the bus are being forced to participate in this programme.
Nevertheless, markets are everywhere (as Tyler Cowen notes) and some of these students have been selling their U-Passes — at a loss, no less! — on Craigslist. Some people, including the despicable Bolshies at the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, seem to think of this as a bad thing:
Blunt Object, Inc. is pleased to report that its littoral operations have been certified by the EPA. Dear CBC:
The fee for the passes ranges from about $100 to $150 for a fourth-month semester, depending on the institution. The pass allows unlimited transit on all TransLink buses, the SkyTrain and the SeaBus and is automatically tacked on to students’ tuition fees whether or not they use public transit.
Regular transit users pay $544 for a similar universal multi-zone pass.
My goodness. What a disparity! Aren’t price disparities like this evil and unfair and stuff? Surely it’s horrible that Translink is charging working-class families more for bus passes than they are trust-fund college brats who can even afford a riced-up Acura Integra fergawdsakes!
The CBC News investigation found 35 students flogging their U-Passes on the classifieds website Craigslist even though [blah fucking blah].
Problem… solved!
TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie guesstimated that the prohibited reselling of U-Passes by some university students costs the transit authority tens of thousands of dollars a year.
So you’re no longer thieving from students to the tune of far less than one percent of your annual budget? Gosh, Ken, that’s just about close to a fucking shame, now, isn’t it?
That fire, there? Die in it, Hardie.
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Speaking of Canadian government-mandated payouts, we find this gem:
- Auto bailout costs soar (Globe and Mail)
You don’t say.
The cost to Ottawa and Ontario of the GM rescue package is now expected to be about $10-billion. The two governments are expected to receive an equity stake in a much-shrunken GM in return for the financing to keep GM operating during restructuring.
It’s somewhat demoralizing to think that I’m paying higher taxes so that people who earn four times what I do can keep their jobs producing shitty cars that no-one wants to buy for more than it costs to make them. I mean, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I pay higher taxes so that elected officials who earn eight times what I do can keep their jobs, but at least those are… I mean, if we didn’t have… well, yes, but if it weren’t for… no, I’m still outraged.
Well, at least we’re getting equity in GM, so we’ll end up making a profit when the clever technocrats in all of our respective governments turn the company around and start churning out Ladas the eco-friendly hybrids that everyone wants to buy we’ll all make a profit and it’ll surely be passed on to the taxpayers, right? Right?
Riiiiight.
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So, okay, taxes and mandatory-participation public-transit schemes and so on. But at least it’s all equitable, right? I mean, .gc.ca is paying off General Motors on behalf of the CAW, so if you’ve lost a fortune in the credit crisis our ballyhooed social safety net is going to take care of you. Right?
As they say on the Web 2.0 these days: hahahahahahaha lol n00b!
Thousands of Canadian workers who purchased stock options from their employers before the market downturn are expected to pay millions of dollars in taxes on income they haven’t received because the shares have lost their value.
“I had to take out over a hundred thousand dollars in loans, plus interest, in order to pay off taxes,” said marketing manager Shannon McLeod, a tech-industry worker in Vancouver who faced the same situation several years ago.
That must be how they pronounce “stimulus package” in Ottawa.
Well, at least Michaëlle Jean eats raw seal heart. I suppose it’d be worse if she were a vegan. *sigh*
You know, whatever else anyone says about my country, criticizing free speech because it’s too American is the highest praise of America I’ve heard from outside our borders in a long fucking time.
In that case, you’ll love the Canadian Human Rights Commission:
Free speech is too damn American
Yeah… depends on how you define “love”… Being proud of ones enemys scorn doesn’t make them less an enemy. And a “Human Rights Commission” definitely smells of enmity.
Why does the very term give me chills? I guess it goes back to the whole “self-evident” thing — our truths are self-evident, not defined by some government commission. Our rights are inalienable and endowed by our creator, not granted to us by the fiat of a benevolent but absolute oligarchy. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the US Constitution was NOT meant to be the defining document of our society and government — they had already layed the foundation for it in the Declaration, and the constitution is a framework built ON that foundation, not the foundation itself.
But then I’ve mentioned this before, yes?
“It’s somewhat demoralizing to think that I’m paying higher taxes so that people who earn four times what I do can keep their jobs producing shitty cars that no-one wants to buy for more than it costs to make them.”
To be fair, from what I’ve heard of Consumer Reports, those people are complete idiots when it comes to motor vehicles. (Said he, with a Jeep key in his pocket.) Using them to claim that Chrysler does not make decent vehicles just does not fly. The vehicles themselves are just fine (well, Jeeps are, at least :) ). The problem is with UAW raising personnel costs through the roof.
I’ve no idea one way or the other whether CR are competent at reviewing cars; I’m inclined to agree with you, though, just by virtue of the fact that they’re basically journalists.
Since the quality of vehicles depends greatly on where they were produced, when they were produce (and with which batch of parts, steel, &c.), and so on; yeah, it’s a bit invidious to slander a whole corporation with a single brush like that. GM might make damn fine Corvettes in Bowling Green, but that says nothing about what they build in Oshawa. But the basic problem is that they can’t sell their cars at the prices they need to make a profit.
Anyway, here’s some anecdote to back up my opinion:
Dodge Challenger wheel weights round out the field
Whether chronically unbalanced wheels are a design issue or a manufacturing issue… someone rogered the Rottie on this one. It’s not a world-shattering problem, but it is unsprung weight on what’s supposed to be a sports car.
“I’m starting to feel like I’m getting stuck in a rut with my writing, doing nothing on my blog but ranting about the stupid shit perpetrated upon we the people by our purportedly benevolent governments.”
Yes, you are, but it’s a good rut. Keep writing!
I agree. Beats the hell out of being stuck in the rut of just accepting the stupid shit.