Category: government

should we imprison vagrants?

On By Rick McIn government, product complaintsLeave a comment

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

With a mild climate, Lisbon, Portugal has a lot of homeless on the streets.

Twice in one day I happened upon one of them defecating in the street. … I had to restrain my inner Ayn Rand.

Having these guys sleeping outside your place of business is not good for your business. It’s not healthy for them, obviously.

Same place tomorrow...

What should we do with vagrants?

Note: Europe’s worse than North America in that there are so few public toilets.

Canadian traveler Jennifer snapped this photo in the U.K.

You can text to find the nearest public toilet. That’s an improvement.

… Of course this guy doesn’t have a phone. Looks like he’s heading into the Metro looking for a loo.

Barefoot

in defence of the French strikers

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

GOOD NEWS – the tug and pull between labour and management is still healthy in France.

I tried to take a train from Amsterdam to Portugal. It was possible, but tricky, since all the French trains are parked. In the end, I was forced to fly.

My previous train journey had me taking an Italian sleeper train to Paris, … dashing from one rail station to the next by public bus, … and connecting to a Dutch train to Amsterdam. All the French trains were on strike.

Yep, I missed my connection.

But if tourists need suffer to maintain the right of comrades to protest of the government increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 (MERDE!), so be it.

Worse, age for pension from age 65 to 67. (MERDE MERDE!)


A car was set on fire as students and policemen clashed in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France on Oct. 18.

Sarkozy, are you an enemy of the people? … Off with your head.

Hey … You can’t make an omelette in France without smashing the chicken coop to smithereens for a few weeks.

Joie de Vie, mon Cheminots amis. I sing L’Internationale with you.

Note: Other travelers, like my friend Blythe, teaching English in France, are not nearly so open minded as moi.

Canadian hero – Sheila Fraser

On By Rick McIn government1 Comment

Her 10yr term as Canada’s Auditor General is coming to an end.

That’s a shame.

Sheila Fraser has been an effective government watchdog. And watchdogs are what government needs.

… She made headlines across Canada when her report on the sponsorship scandal rocked the country’s political scene.

She confirmed serious problems in the federal government’s management of its Sponsorship Program for a four-year period beginning in 1997. In a few very troubling cases, sponsorship funds were transferred to Crown corporations using what the Auditor General called “highly questionable methods.”

That is, they appeared to have been designed to pay significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funding and the true nature of the transactions. Parliament and the parliamentary appropriations process were not respected …

I LOVE those long term appointments of watchdogs. We need more of those at all levels, in all kinds of governance.

In a much-anticipated report, released yesterday, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser concluded the Harper government’s stimulus program was well-managed but criticized the purchase of military helicopters as overbudget and at least a half a decade behind schedule.

National Post – The stimulus audit

Her replacement is yet to be named.

prediction – Obama narrowly loses in 2012

On By Rick McIn government2 Comments

At the end of 2009 I predicted that Obama would lose the next Presidential election.

2010 has confirmed. There’s an astonishing groundswell of support for the far right in the USA, especially the Tea Party movement.

Wingnut Christine O’Donnell pulled off a “stunning upset over nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware”. (53% to 47%)

O’Donnell is kooky enough to get Sarah Palin’s endorsement.

END of the world - O'Donnell and Palin in 2012

Many are thinking that Democrats would rather run against easy targets like O’Donnell than established Republicans like Mike Castle.

Tea Party extremism will help Obama. But not enough for him to win a second term.

And that’s a shame. He’s a good man who came to power at exactly the wrong time.

_____

O’Donnell actually got good reviews for her first speech after being elected.

_____

UPDATE link thanks to Peter Long:

Will Sarah’s mini-me steal her limelight? Margaret Carlson on the dangers of the new It Girl.

Watch Your Back, Sarah

Stewart, Colbert rallies in Washington

On By Rick McIn government, humourLeave a comment

Awesome.

Comedy Central funnymen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have announced dueling rallies in Washington D.C. in an apparent attempt to poke fun at the sometimes self-important and serious tone of political discourse in America.

On Thursday’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart said he’d host the “Rally to Restore Sanity” on Oct. 30 on the National Mall. He said the goal was to “take it down a notch for America.” …

The call to rally is apparently a play on Fox talk show host Glenn Beck, who hosted a highly-publicized “Restoring Honor” rally in D.C. less than three weeks ago. …

NY Daily News

Colbert responded as a right wing fear monger with his own: ‘March to Keep Fear Alive‘

Throwing down the gauntlet at Stewart, Colbert says, “They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget — “Reason” is just one letter away from “Treason.”

Coincidence?

Reasonable people would say it is, but America can’t afford to take that chance.”

USA Today

I want to PAY for my motorcycle accident

On By Rick McIn economics, government4 Comments

Coming from Canada, I’m still shocked at the number of Americans riding hogs without helmets.

… Motorcycle helmets greatly reduce injuries and fatalities in motorcycle accidents, thus many countries have laws requiring acceptable helmets to be worn by motorcycle riders. These laws vary considerably, often exempting mopeds and other small-displacement bikes.

In some countries, most notably the USA and India, there is some opposition to compulsory helmet use …

Ah, right.

In America (and India) FREEDOM is more important than personal safety. Got it.

… Twenty-seven states have a motorcycle helmet law that only require some riders to wear a helmet. Three states (Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire) do not have a motorcycle helmet law. …

Current US motorcycle and bicycle helmet laws

I assume that people forfeit their government and/or corporate insurance if they take a fall without a helmet.

Head Injury

It would be idiotic to expect others to pay for my brain damage, self inflicted.

By the way, does riding a Harley Hog make you fat? … Cause and effect?

why a FREE MARKET won’t work

On By Rick McIn economics, Google, governmentLeave a comment

In response to Google and Verizon trying to circumvent FCC rules on Net Neutrality:

The Economist:

If companies always agreed with regulators’ rules, there would be no need for regulators. The very point of a regulator is to do things that companies don’t like, out of concern for the welfare of the market or the consumer.

I’ve seen in my lifetime that competition will diminish if markets can do what they like. We end up with oligopoly or, even worse, monopoly.

Oligopoly and monopoly are normally very, very BAD for consumers.

In my opinion we need “regulators” but they should regulate as little as possible, … mainly with the goal of maintaining a high level of competition.

(via one of the best blogs Daring Fireball)

… I’ve got mixed feelings on the Net Neutrality issue, myself. … I’ll support Net Neutrality, for now.

abolish nukes?

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

Climate Change is not my issue.

I’m much more worried about nuclear annihilation.

The US ambassador to Japan, John Roos, today became the first US representative to attend an annual ceremony to honour the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Roos’s presence at an event to mark 65 years since a US bomb left Hiroshima in ruins has raised hopes that president Barack Obama will visit the city when he attends a meeting of Apec leaders in Japan in November. …

Guardian

I only wish I could wave a magic wand and disable all nuclear weapons simultaneously.

breaking – politicians are lying scumbags

On By Rick McIn economics, government2 Comments

Who knew …

Only those of us who live in tents and don’t drive vehicles can righteously criticize the Alberta oilsands.

… Oops. Actually I own a vehicle now. Therefore I support the oilsands.

Garth linked to an article in the Montreal Gazette criticizing their own Premier and other politicians for disingenuous grandstanding:

Oil patch reeling from unfair attacks

Alberta is being slagged by anti-oilsands ads and criticized by eastern premiers and politicians

… the oilsands, ominously labelled the tarsands, is compared to the worst environmental disaster in American history, which has for three months been spewing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, posing a major threat to the economy and environment of five states from Texas to Florida. And the companies extracting oil out of bitumen in Fort McMurray are compared to BP.

Everyone likes ducks. But more of them apparently die from flying into wind power turbines than from being soaked in tailing ponds in the oilsands.

Enough already, say Albertans. They are still shaking their heads at the performance of Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, and Toronto Mayor David Miller, trashing the oilsands on the world stage at the Copenhagen conference on climate change last December.

Since then, Albertans have started pointing out that Ontario and Quebec are beneficiary provinces of equalization, paid for by four donor provinces led by Alberta. Cheap tuition at universities, private high schools half-funded by Quebec, $7-a-day child care and now, in-vitro fertilization treatments in public health care, are all partly supported by Alberta tax dollars. This is what happens when politicians play a short game for easy headlines, rather than the long game that serves everyone’s interests.

And it wasn’t a good day for Michael Ignatieff when the Liberal leader said he wouldn’t permit trans-Pacific shipment of oil on tankers from the coast of northern British Columbia. The next time Iggy goes to China, they’ll want to talk to him about that, because they’ll buy as much product from the oilsands as Alberta is not shipping to the United States. In the oilpatch and pipeline industry, they’re simply gob-smacked by the stupidity of Ignatieff being in favour of the oilsands on the one hand, but against building a northern pipeline and shipping it overseas on the other. …

Read more …

If you don’t drive a motor vehicle, climb on your high horse and criticize the Petro-toxin industry. I’ll applaud you.

Otherwise, don’t you feel a bit sheepish gassing up your vehicle with that “Alberta has the dirtiest oil in the world” bumper sticker.