...and lies and videotape...

I have realized the futility of explaining fairness, decency, honour, the Westminster Parliamentary system, the constitution, history, and a whole lot more.

Just remember Goebbels' meme about repeating a lie often enough.



from here, by way of Garth Turner's.

fool on the hill

(Globe) Ottawa bled $1.7-billion in red ink in August, offering the latest sign that Canada is in serious economic turmoil and that balancing the federal books will be a tricky challenge this year.

“We’re in for rough times. These are difficult times. Canadians should not underestimate what we’re facing. We’re not an island. We’re a trading nation,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said yesterday.

From Garth Turner's blog. (he apparently lifted it from the G&M).

When you have the Finance Minister making dire warnings, it is time to head for the hills. I know that he is incompetent, but still, he should be whispering sweet nothings in Canadians' ears to keep them from panicking. The point is, it is always much worse than is officially revealed. It was just a couple of weeks ago, during the election campaign, when we heard such things as "Canada is insulated", "We have planned for this", "We will not run deficits", and so on. Then it is revealed that there was a $1.7 Billion deficit in August, and that was before this melt-down got under way.

There has been trillions of dollars pumped into banks world wide, and Canada has probably pumped in 100 billion or more by now. Businesses still have trouble getting credit for inventory and operating expenses. I am not sure about mortgages right now, I won't bother thinking about that for some time to come. We hear that the problem is with liquidity, but the real problem is debt. The whole world is up to its eyeballs in it, and now the money tap is turned off. I've always called it "The Big Grab". "They" use the peons to generate vast wealth, and then "They" take it all back. It's just a huge shell game. My question is, why are we pumping money in to create more debt? How does this address the sea of debt that we are drowning in? How will that debt be reconciled when nobody has a job? It's too late to go back to basics, nobody knows them anymore.

I caught a bit of the Senatorial Inquisition into this sub-prime debacle - featuring Alan Greenspan. A Democrat by the name of Waxman (supposedly widely feared) was grilling Greenspan, who ended up having to admit that his whole ideology was fatally flawed, and that the whole economic structure of the global economy is a house of cards. My first thought on hearing that was that it was deliberate, and calculated - a conspiracy on an unbelievable scale. Derivatives, and all of the other legerdemain that is pulled off. Layers upon layers of pyramidal rip-offs. How could any body, in its right mind, allow banks and markets to regulate themselves? Why bother having transportation safety agencies, food inspection agencies, medical and drug standards, workplace safety standards?

This is going to be wild.

talkies

BREAKING NEWS - 12:56 PM Monday,Sept. 29, 2008

The bail-out package has been rejected in Washington. TSX crashed 900 points today.

Make sure that all of your deposits are covered by CDIC. The shite is hitting the fan - now.
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Back to testerday's post...

There are lots of media to speak, so I'm cutting short my rants, and will try to entertain you instead.

First viddy is Rick Mercer on the Cadman scandal. (2:10 in length)

The second (2:52 in length) is Stephen Harper, in his own words, regarding the "financial considerations" that were offered to Mr. Cadman.

Mr. Ignatieff asked: "Is it the prime minister's position that the people close enough to Chuck Cadman to know are lying, and if so, how are Canadians going to believe that he alone is telling the truth?"

CPAC-Nanos Tracking CP 36, LP 27, NDP 19, GP 9, BQ 9

With their 15 point margin last week, the campaign was looking like a runaway freight train for the Harper Conservatives. However, a number of new factors have diminished the Conservative lead, which is still comfortable, to 9 points.

First, Harper’s culture comments renewed BQ support in Quebec. Combine the Richardson comments related to immigrants causing crime and Harper’s comments asserting Dion wanted the economy to perform poorly and the gap narrowed from 15 to 9 points. These two comments represent a tenuous lifeline to the Liberal campaign.

I hope that trend continues.

Harper tried to ridicule "the arts" and cut funding. The CBC was once a great Canadian institution, and now is just a shadow of what it was. We have tens of thousands of people directly employed in BC's film industry. A lot of our clients work in it, and are already hurting. They (and we) won't be turning on the TV and getting pissed off with elitist galas, because things like cable are the first to go when money is short.

Speaking of elite galas;

Harper at an 18 course dinner (just hours after a 14 course lunch) at a conference on the global food crisis (exacerbated by ethanol production). (Too bad he doesn't have the class to keep his elbows off the table. My Grandma would straighten him out!)

Summit that's hard to swallow - world leaders enjoy 18-course banquet as they discuss how to solve global food crisis

Laureen Harper at the Gala Juno Dinner


Then there is the elite Conservative caucus, and Laureen Harper rubbing shoulders with every-day Canadians at a literary gala; H/t to James Curran
Laureen Harper at literary gala with Minister of Environment John Baird in background

Minister Jay Hill (and House Speaker Peter Milliken) at the same gala with Julie Couillard (she sure gets around...)


Minister Jasob Kenney and his "date" (well, he doesn't have a girlfriend, or wife.) He seems to like terrorists too. Tory MP attended rally for group on terror list


And here is the very elite Vic Toews (and his son - who's evening you paid for!) at that same gala.


In my riding (Van.-Kingsway, it looks as if the NDP candidate is the only one who actually lives here, and is involved. It looks as if the Con. candidate is not attending - he needn't bother anyhow, he hasn't a hope in hades. I have some questions to pose at the all-candidates' meeting. Are you going to your local meeting? Ask them how long they have lived there, and whether they were nominated by the riding association. I'll bet that most Con. candidates will not be present. Try sending an e-mail, or calling them. See if they will answer your questions.

As promised, a look at the plans the various parties have on carbon taxes (yes, they all have them, in one form or another - even the Conservatives).

There are a lot of lies being spread by the Conservatives (Well, by Stiff Heartless, anyhow. The clones that keep opening their mouths just reveal the vindictiveness and small-minded nastiness of the whole party, and it is a top-down party. Those clones "lose" their jobs, or Snide Humpler backs them up) about "A Tax on Everything", (Herplex Attacks Everything!) - that the other parties would raise the GST, cut the (taxed) child care pittance, throw the country into recession (aren't we there yet?), and so forth. I will address those lies first.

First, the GST. I still think that the GST is a good tax, and think that 8-10 percent is not unreasonable. It could be tweaked to a table of necessity, so that home new purchases, renovations, etc., could be at 5%, but cars over a certain engine displacement, emission level, whatever, would be taxed at 10%. Eliminate the GST on other taxes, which is a big scam.

Elizabeth May says that she will raise the GST by 1%, and give that to the cities for infrastructure (I have seen and heard her say so). That would be $6 billion a year. The transit in Vancouver is appalling, and we are already paying more than that for hokey "Gateway Projects". The car, as we know it, is on the way out. Just think what it would be like if we had electric cars that would top out at 70k. We would save billions on insurance pay-outs to victims of vehicular crashes, auto thefts, etc. (it wouldn't be much of a joy ride in a Zenn that tops out at 50 km/h).

Read about the Greens' carbon tax here. It is comprehensive, and succinct (much more so than my ramblings). I like their plan the best so far - easy to absorb, and the middle class Vancouver household will have a Total Impact as % of Household Income - 0.3%. Oh, ouch. Rural peeps will be hit with 0.7%, (that hurts a bit more). High income households will be hit with 0.8% (I think they can a handle that, don't you?), and unemployed people will see -2.6% (and there are 90,000 that have lost their jobs this year). Is that so onerous?

People need to stop thinking about what they will pay, and start thinking about what they can save. It's a mental paradigm shift. It really involves getting over the me-me-me that is pumped into our heads by manipulative advertising. /end rant

Dion says that he will not raise the GST (I have seen and heard him say so) unless fiscal circumstances require it to stay out of deficit. That is an extreme likelihood, because The Loathsome One has spent the cupboards bare, but intends to have a $50 billion tax cut to corporations. Those taxes are already down to 14 - odd % (before Paul Martin got onto it, it was 29-odd percent), but still, corporations off-shored everything, and don't have much presence in Canada itself. Our jobs went with them and their capital. It is our government, and it can no more live on credit cards than we can. Harper repeats his lies every time there is a radio ad, TV ad, interview, scrum. There is no truth in him. Harper does have a hidden agenda. I'll get to that tomorrow.

From Dion's Green Shift pdf;

...in a revenue neutral way – putting it in law that every dollar that is raised from carbon pollution will be returned to Canadians in tax cuts. The Auditor General will ensure the Green Shift’s revenue neutrality on an annual basis.

The price will begin immediately at $10 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions and steadily rise by an additional $10 per tonne each year, reaching $40 per tonne within four years. Since the existing excise tax on gas at the pump is already at the equivalent of $42 per tonne of carbon, the tax at the pump will not rise. Likewise, because there is already a tax on diesel and aviation fuel of four cents per litre, the tax on these fuels will see no increase in the first year.

The NDP plan is a "cap-and-trade as the carbon pricing system that targets big polluters best—in line with the European Union, all US presidential contenders,..." Firstly, I don't think that cap and trade is where it is at. Secondly, I'm not big on the mess that is the EU, and third, why does Layton want to be just like the Americam contenders? No original ideas? The page that his "outline" is on starts with a few paragraphs attacking the Liberals, then moves on to attacking the Conservatives. That does not show much confidence, or leadership to me. Chump. Where are Tommy Douglas (ok, he's gone), Ed Broadbent, Bill Blaikie, Alexa McDonough? Sad.

The Conservatives also have a cap and trade plan, but it looks like a bunch of voodoo bullshite to me (you try reading it!), and is likely deliberately obfuscating, and ponderous. Their cap and trade program means that above a certain level of emissions, the tax will kick in @ $65/ton. There is no tax relief whatsoever to us, just $50 billion to the corporations so that they can pay that tax, after we pay for the "increased input costs".

I do ramble on, so I hope that I am not putting anyone off, but the links to all of the parties' plans are above. Please look at their truths, and lies.

It is notable that the Liberal plan is basically an adaptation of the Greens' plan (the Greens had it first).

I had a meeting tonight with someone who knows some key Liberals on a very personal basis, and I asked her to put the plea for a Liberal/Green coalition into their ears. I am hearing rumblings of a Lib/NDP coalition, but I like the former. The NDP will hold the balance of power for a while to come though, and I think that would be a very difficult marriage. Layton is going on about being Prime Minister, so I think that will be his demand for the dowry.

Our election is much more exciting than the American one, in my view. Obama will win that. I want to write more - my very innocent musings - but the Secret Service has Internet access too, and I do not want to be misconstrued.

We are in critical times. Pay attention. This election is more about the course of this country than any since the FTA and NAFTA. I want my kids to be sovereign Canadians, and to make their purchases in Canadian dollars, and travel on Canadian passports. Don't you?

Tomorrow - Harper's History: Revealing the Man Behind the Lipstick. (and some more about how the Green plans came about. A teaser, Harpier's buried, government commissioned report says that the plans are the way to go. Most economists agree.

not nanos

put yer mouse over the picky, and clicky, and it will get biggy.

Thanks to everyone for voting. I am gratified by the interest, and the discussion. I am so, because it seems that more people are invested in our social futures than not. I hope that those who are not interested in this election are visitors from other countries, and not Canadians (but then again, I am always interested in their elections, so why not?). I feel everyone ought to take an interest, because so much is dependent on what our governments (and agencies, like Health Canada, CFIA, BoC, CMHC, EI, for starters) are doing. A new Free Trade Pact with the EU if Harper is re-elected? (I'll get to that)

I have to disclose that I made the first answer on the poll @ There is an election?. I put the question about Obama in for fun, and I don't know if the votes are from American visitors who are actually voting for him, or people having fun back. Both are totally cool with me. Overall though, it seems that there is an interest, and so I will rant on as I can. Mostly, it will be a deluge of links, with some commentary (I really don't have a lot of time!) I like that the comments have been measured and reasonable too. I don't mind what your brand of politics, it's great that you have them! I like debate, so I will counter stuff like "a tax on everything", "he can't speak English", "she's a fat American who worked for Brian Mulroney"... you get it. I admit to being facile with my photoshop, but that was just the artist in me. Plus, it was funny! Harper didn't look sinister at all, he looked like a kid - all dressed up. My point is, let's not make slurs and such. Let's talk about facts, with links. I am obviously not too keen on Hapless and his henchmen though.

I'll toss a bone to those who just want RE, and do my best to illustrate how RE and this election are joined at the hip. And I will intersperse it with Vancouver RE stuff - 'cause I still care. Besides, it's only 3 more weeks, so house prices will only slide $15 G's or so. Inventory will start to swell even more, Foreclosures will start kicking in. Employment will be down a bit. A couple of projects will go into receivership, or be cancelled... Further, more people are going to vote for Obama, and the other two that didn't know there is an election (unless of course everyone is pulling my leg!) beat out the Survivor fan and CTV.

And that is why this is not Nanos (but here is a link )

Tomorrow: Debunking the Green Shift Prevarications. And Turning The Corner - Only To Find a Washed-Out Bridge.

Oh, and farewell to summer. Tomorrow there will be more night than day, and it won't be equitable again until The Waters of March. Sigh.