Tuesday, March 31, 2009
New Home Of Big Three
U.S. offers olive branch to non-violent Taliban
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offers Taliban fighters who renounce violence in Afghanistan an 'honourable form of reconciliation'
'Marginalize' Taliban to achieve success in Afghanistan: general
Clinton hopes Iran will be 'constructive' on Afghanistan
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offers Taliban fighters who renounce violence in Afghanistan an 'honourable form of reconciliation'
'Marginalize' Taliban to achieve success in Afghanistan: general
Clinton hopes Iran will be 'constructive' on Afghanistan
And In This Corner - New Leader Of Ndp
Hargrove vs. Layton - Round 3?The Hill Times is reporting that all is not well with Canada’s New Democrats. Hargrove says: “Jack as a leader has developed a hell of a profile for himself, but I don’t believe he’s developed a profile for the party on the issues that are critical to Canadian families.” Now, I don’t always agree with Buzz. But this time, I have to agree (with the statement abConservatism.ca
Leftists Are Quoted Daily In The Daily Worker....
Multiculturalism of inclusion’Kudos to Dr. Roy for this excellent letter in today’s National Post. His was one of several that were responding to Kevin Libin’s column on Jason Kenney’s efforts to reform multiculturalism. The Post like Dr. Roy’s letter so much, that they used a quote for the headline on the letters page: Give them ‘a multiculturalism of inclusion, [...]Blue Like You
You Won't Convince Leftists (but who cares)
Conservatism.. doesn't mean closed-minded.I read a couple of interesting articles in the New York Times yesterday. (Yes, Conservatives can, and should, read something other than the National Post.. I listen to CBC Radio occasionally as well.)The writer, Nicholas Kristoff, penned two articles that I think make some very valid points that are worth considering and putting in the back of your mind for future reference.The first, "The Daily Searching for Liberty
Harperization = Success
Kelly McParland: Ontario gets 'Harperized', Ignatieff gets victimized
osted: March 31, 2009, 8:00 AM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland,Canadian politics
If you’ve been having trouble keeping track of who’s pals with who on the federal-provincial front, you’re not alone.
The alliances can change with bewildering speed. A year ago Ontario’s Liberal government and Stephen Harper’s Conservative government were at each other’s throat. Mr. Harper seemed to get a kick out of slighting the Ontario premier. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty brought much opprobrium on himself when he declared Ontario was “the last place” in Canada to start a business. Ottawa appeared to delight in offering regular bits of advice on how to run the province.
Not any more. Ottawa and Queen’s Park are now such close buddies that the Toronto Star, Liberal down to its last headline, is upset at the “Harperization” of Ontario’s government.
Click here to read more...
osted: March 31, 2009, 8:00 AM by NP Editor
Filed under: Full Comment,Kelly McParland,Canadian politics
If you’ve been having trouble keeping track of who’s pals with who on the federal-provincial front, you’re not alone.
The alliances can change with bewildering speed. A year ago Ontario’s Liberal government and Stephen Harper’s Conservative government were at each other’s throat. Mr. Harper seemed to get a kick out of slighting the Ontario premier. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty brought much opprobrium on himself when he declared Ontario was “the last place” in Canada to start a business. Ottawa appeared to delight in offering regular bits of advice on how to run the province.
Not any more. Ottawa and Queen’s Park are now such close buddies that the Toronto Star, Liberal down to its last headline, is upset at the “Harperization” of Ontario’s government.
Click here to read more...
No One At Silly Hall Has Heard About "Wily Coyote"
National Post editorial board: Toronto mobilizes to save coyote on the lam
Posted: March 31, 2009, 7:45 AM by NP Editor
The wheels of government may turn slowly if you’re a single mother seeking affordable housing, a transit rider seeking less-crowded conditions or a car company seeking a bailout.
But for a coyote in a Toronto residential neighbourhood, it’s sirens wailing all the way.
Toronto City Councillor Sandra Bussin and Ontario Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield showed just how quickly politicians can act when something really significant is on the line, getting together over the weekend to solve the coyote crisis in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood.
Click here to read more...
Posted: March 31, 2009, 7:45 AM by NP Editor
The wheels of government may turn slowly if you’re a single mother seeking affordable housing, a transit rider seeking less-crowded conditions or a car company seeking a bailout.
But for a coyote in a Toronto residential neighbourhood, it’s sirens wailing all the way.
Toronto City Councillor Sandra Bussin and Ontario Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield showed just how quickly politicians can act when something really significant is on the line, getting together over the weekend to solve the coyote crisis in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood.
Click here to read more...
Translation: Lies, Bloody Lies, F&^%king Lies
City budget economical with truth
by Royson James
D-day for city budget
Mar. 31, 2009
Toronto's municipal budget process this year has been relatively uneventful compared to 2008, when the public was left fuming over a 21.5 per cent jump in recreation user fees.
Toronto tax hikes not sustainable
March 31, 2009
My municipal taxes from 2003, when Mayor David Miller was elected, until 2009 have risen from $1,426 to $2,156. Had taxes increased by the same percentage as Canada Pension Plan payments, which are linked to changes in the Consumer Price Index, my total tax payments would have been lower by 17.5 per cent, or $1,676.30. In other words, I had to divert funds that could ...
by Royson James
D-day for city budget
Mar. 31, 2009
Toronto's municipal budget process this year has been relatively uneventful compared to 2008, when the public was left fuming over a 21.5 per cent jump in recreation user fees.
Toronto tax hikes not sustainable
March 31, 2009
My municipal taxes from 2003, when Mayor David Miller was elected, until 2009 have risen from $1,426 to $2,156. Had taxes increased by the same percentage as Canada Pension Plan payments, which are linked to changes in the Consumer Price Index, my total tax payments would have been lower by 17.5 per cent, or $1,676.30. In other words, I had to divert funds that could ...
Bridge Coming Soon
Island airport boost
By TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA
Toronto Island Airport is getting more than $1.7 million in taxpayers' money to pick up the cost for border service officers, a move Ottawa says could lead to reduced air fares.
By TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA
Toronto Island Airport is getting more than $1.7 million in taxpayers' money to pick up the cost for border service officers, a move Ottawa says could lead to reduced air fares.
Let's Go For A Field Goal And Kick From Office
McGuinty boots Miller
By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Toronto Mayor David Miller is being punted from the GTA's regional transit authority -- leaving the city's ambitious light-rail Transit City plans up in the air
Politicians shunned in transit planning overhaul
by Rob Ferguson, Tess Kalinowski
Mar 31, 2009 (31)
In a bid to speed up transit improvements in the Toronto region, the province has evicted all municipal politicians from the board of Metrolinx.
By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Toronto Mayor David Miller is being punted from the GTA's regional transit authority -- leaving the city's ambitious light-rail Transit City plans up in the air
Politicians shunned in transit planning overhaul
by Rob Ferguson, Tess Kalinowski
Mar 31, 2009 (31)
In a bid to speed up transit improvements in the Toronto region, the province has evicted all municipal politicians from the board of Metrolinx.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Canadian Tire Syndrome
Here we go again; Update: The auto repairman-in-chief speaks
By Michelle Malkin March 30, 2009 09:46 AM
By Michelle Malkin March 30, 2009 09:46 AM
The Left Can Only Dream
Today's political grab bag.The "homeless cons" make the news, spurring more talk of a fracture in the Conservative Party, but with Harper at the helm and in the PMO it's all premature if you ask me. Pollsters and Buzz Hargrove interpret a returning of the Liberal base to their party after the disaster that was Stephane Dion as weakness on the NDP's, and more specifically Jack Layton's part.Pierre Poilievre noticed thatLiberty is Good
Goreacle Celebrates Earth Acheivement hour
Seems I wasn't the only one to leave the lights on during "earth hour". Hard to take this Nobel Laureate all that seriously.The kicker, though, were the dozen or so floodlights grandly highlighting several trees and illuminating the driveway entrance of Gore’s mansion.I [kid] you not, my friends, the savior of the environment couldn’t be bothered to turn off the gaudy lights that show off his goofy trees. Dr. Roy's Thoughts
I Thought Iggy Was The Liberal Leader
Before giving, ask Bob Rae how much he needs for his leadership fund
Politicians raise money. That's fine. Leadership candidates need money to run for party leaderships. That's also fine. But with the recent controversy over incoming Liberal Party president Alfred Apps email to wealthy Liberal donors encouraging them to donate to MIchael Ignatieff's campaign fund, a campaign in which he is the only contender, I think it's fair to ask whether Angry in the Great White North
Politicians raise money. That's fine. Leadership candidates need money to run for party leaderships. That's also fine. But with the recent controversy over incoming Liberal Party president Alfred Apps email to wealthy Liberal donors encouraging them to donate to MIchael Ignatieff's campaign fund, a campaign in which he is the only contender, I think it's fair to ask whether Angry in the Great White North
Questions About G20 Demos
Five arrested in G20 'bomb plot' as London goes into lockdown...
* Are anarchists ( supporter of anarchism: somebody who believes that governments should be abolished as unnecessary- lawless person: somebody who tries to overthrow a government or behaves in a lawless way) involved in protests?
*Is Galloway involved in protest?
* Are anarchists ( supporter of anarchism: somebody who believes that governments should be abolished as unnecessary- lawless person: somebody who tries to overthrow a government or behaves in a lawless way) involved in protests?
*Is Galloway involved in protest?
The Have A Leader Now?????
NDP loses ground, Hargrove questions why party doesn't look for a new leader
Pollster Nik Nanos calls it a steady decline in support for the NDP with voters moving to Liberals.
Pollster Nik Nanos calls it a steady decline in support for the NDP with voters moving to Liberals.
Worth Repeating, Repeating. Repeating....
McGuinty taking cues from Harper playbook
TheStar.com - Ontario - CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS FILE PHOTO
Premier Dalton McGuinty may scrap a hike to minimum wage.
March 30, 2009 Jim Coyle
The Harperization of Premier Dalton McGuinty has been astonishing to behold.
With the minimum-wage flim-flam he pulled last week, the premier has added a certain bloody-mindedness to the increasingly arrogant and autocratic attitude he's exhibited since his Christmas epiphany.
That was when McGuinty undertook a session of Yuletide soul-searching which led him to conclude he's a leader of boldness rather than an incremental fuss-budget, and when he apparently decided to pucker up for business.
It is bizarre that the Ontario government, in its budget last Thursday, should have reiterated its commitment to raise the minimum wage to $10.25 next year, but that within 18 hours the premier was backing off. "Like all prudent business managers we have to take into account ... the economy as a whole," he said.
In practical terms, just about everything in any budget is a projection contingent on variables. But to have singled out one commitment as less equal than others, and before a group strongly opposed to it, blithely undercutting his own finance minister in the process, sends a strong signal the premier is ready and willing to renege.
In its cynicism, it was positively Harper-like.
Once upon a time, McGuinty was at perpetual loggerheads with the Prime Minister and claimed to stand for a different vision. Now, he seems an increasingly kindred spirit in both substance and style.
In last week's budget, he served up the sales tax harmonization and corporate tax cuts federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had long urged in his feud with the province. The Ontario government even mimicked the feds in the way major components of the budget were rolled out in a series of announcements and leaks the week before its tabling.
The parliamentary convention of releasing such matters to the Legislature has now been sacrificed, by the premier's own admission, to the greater imperative of news management.
Every day last week, Progressive Conservative MPP Ted Arnott, as courteous a parliamentarian as there is at Queen's Park, complained of the disrespect to the institution.
Every day – even on the day McGuinty sang praises to "our heritage and parliamentary democracy" during a ceremony to return the refurbished mace to the Legislature – the premier brushed him off.
To add insult to injury, Arnott was even barred from the Legislature one evening by security when he attempted to fetch a book from his desk because Finance Minister Dwight Duncan – using the place as a glorified rehearsal hall – was inside practising his budget speech.
As a symbol for the diminishment of the chamber into a place of theatre, while the Legislature's intended work has been outsourced to roving premierial photo-ops, it could hardly be topped.
Finally, it even seems possible now that the premier was less than forthcoming with his own Liberal caucus when the matter of the harmonized sales tax was discussed at a meeting earlier this month.
Afterwards, many MPPs from the government side still seemed to think the matter was up for debate and said privately they were nervous about sparking in Ontario the sort of consumer tax revolt that had toppled governments in other provinces.
"There were lots of questions asked and few answers given," one MPP told the Star's Robert Benzie.
It's difficult to see why answers were scarce. The deal was already done. The feds had signed the memorandum of understanding about blending the PST and GST a day earlier. And Duncan, by the date on the document, was signing it that very day.
By the looks of things, don't be surprised if the premier's next musing is about the pleasures of prorogation.
Jim Coyle's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday
TheStar.com - Ontario - CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS FILE PHOTO
Premier Dalton McGuinty may scrap a hike to minimum wage.
March 30, 2009 Jim Coyle
The Harperization of Premier Dalton McGuinty has been astonishing to behold.
With the minimum-wage flim-flam he pulled last week, the premier has added a certain bloody-mindedness to the increasingly arrogant and autocratic attitude he's exhibited since his Christmas epiphany.
That was when McGuinty undertook a session of Yuletide soul-searching which led him to conclude he's a leader of boldness rather than an incremental fuss-budget, and when he apparently decided to pucker up for business.
It is bizarre that the Ontario government, in its budget last Thursday, should have reiterated its commitment to raise the minimum wage to $10.25 next year, but that within 18 hours the premier was backing off. "Like all prudent business managers we have to take into account ... the economy as a whole," he said.
In practical terms, just about everything in any budget is a projection contingent on variables. But to have singled out one commitment as less equal than others, and before a group strongly opposed to it, blithely undercutting his own finance minister in the process, sends a strong signal the premier is ready and willing to renege.
In its cynicism, it was positively Harper-like.
Once upon a time, McGuinty was at perpetual loggerheads with the Prime Minister and claimed to stand for a different vision. Now, he seems an increasingly kindred spirit in both substance and style.
In last week's budget, he served up the sales tax harmonization and corporate tax cuts federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had long urged in his feud with the province. The Ontario government even mimicked the feds in the way major components of the budget were rolled out in a series of announcements and leaks the week before its tabling.
The parliamentary convention of releasing such matters to the Legislature has now been sacrificed, by the premier's own admission, to the greater imperative of news management.
Every day last week, Progressive Conservative MPP Ted Arnott, as courteous a parliamentarian as there is at Queen's Park, complained of the disrespect to the institution.
Every day – even on the day McGuinty sang praises to "our heritage and parliamentary democracy" during a ceremony to return the refurbished mace to the Legislature – the premier brushed him off.
To add insult to injury, Arnott was even barred from the Legislature one evening by security when he attempted to fetch a book from his desk because Finance Minister Dwight Duncan – using the place as a glorified rehearsal hall – was inside practising his budget speech.
As a symbol for the diminishment of the chamber into a place of theatre, while the Legislature's intended work has been outsourced to roving premierial photo-ops, it could hardly be topped.
Finally, it even seems possible now that the premier was less than forthcoming with his own Liberal caucus when the matter of the harmonized sales tax was discussed at a meeting earlier this month.
Afterwards, many MPPs from the government side still seemed to think the matter was up for debate and said privately they were nervous about sparking in Ontario the sort of consumer tax revolt that had toppled governments in other provinces.
"There were lots of questions asked and few answers given," one MPP told the Star's Robert Benzie.
It's difficult to see why answers were scarce. The deal was already done. The feds had signed the memorandum of understanding about blending the PST and GST a day earlier. And Duncan, by the date on the document, was signing it that very day.
By the looks of things, don't be surprised if the premier's next musing is about the pleasures of prorogation.
Jim Coyle's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Don't Belong To Union/Mayor's Clique-You Get Screwed
Mayor won't ask council to take pay freeze
by Paul Moloney
Mar 30, 2009 (60)
Despite urging civic employees to accept a pay freeze in 2009, Toronto Mayor David Miller won't ask his fellow politicians to do the same.
by Paul Moloney
Mar 30, 2009 (60)
Despite urging civic employees to accept a pay freeze in 2009, Toronto Mayor David Miller won't ask his fellow politicians to do the same.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
It Will Put Food On The Tablentil Things Turn Around
Want a Job? Ask a Billionaire
Billionaire-Owned Companies Are Growing and Hiring
By ERIN GELL Forbes.com
March 29, 2009—
For 30 years Gloria Jean Craven was an employee of Pillowtex, the nation's third-largest home textile manufacturer. When the plant abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection and closed its doors in 2003, she and more than 8,000 workers lost their jobs, plunging the blue-collar community of Kannapolis, N.C., into a state of economic flux that lingers nearly six years later.
"I used to think I was middle class. But now we are living at the poverty level," the 56-year-old mother of two said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention last summer.
Click here for more on billionaires hiring at our partner site, Forbes.com.
One billionaire is hoping to help revive Craven's community and create thousands of jobs along the way. Three years ago, David Murdock, who made a fortune in Dole produce and Hawaiian real estate, broke ground on a new $1.5 billion (total investment) biotechnology research center on the old Pillowtex mill site.
The North Carolina Research Campus is partnering with Rowan Cabarrus Community College's R3 Center, a training ground for local displaced and underemployed workers. This August, the college will introduce two associate degree programs in biotechnology, aimed at targeting the needs of NCRC. Right now the campus is advertising for lab assistants, researchers and plant managers at David H. Murdock Research Institute and NCRC-affiliated state universities. Analysts project NCRC will create 30,000 direct and indirect new jobs by 2027.
Over the years, billionaires like Murdock have been responsible for creating thousands of jobs. They started some of the country's biggest employers, including companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Dell, to name a few. In 2002, Home Depot--founded by billionaires Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank--partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor to hire 40,000 associates a year. In 2006, Microsoft added 10,081 worldwide hires, the most in its history.
This year, these businesses, like the moguls who founded them, are feeling the economic pinch: In January, Microsoft announced an 18-month plan to eliminate 5,000 jobs across its research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology departments. Home Depot slashed 7,000 positions. While the Walton family's Wal-Mart just announced it was giving a reported $2 billion to its hourly employees, the nation's largest retailer said in February that it was laying off 700 employees at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters and another 1,200 Canadian employees.
Bucking the layoff trend are a handful of billionaire businesses ranging from Google to trendy fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz that are hanging up "Help Wanted" signs even in this dismal economy.
Just around the corner from Murdock's biotech center in Kannapolis, in Cary, N.C., is SAS, the world's largest privately owned software company, run by billionaires John Sall and James Goodnight. The company enjoyed record sales of $2.3 billion last year and increased its number of employees by 3.5%. It is now looking to fill a few dozen slots at its U.S. headquarters; the jobs will focus on R&D and sales for new ventures in Latin America and Malaysia.
Dallas tycoon H. Ross Perot's eponymous Perot Systems is also adding jobs. "Perot Systems continues to pursue our global growth strategy of expanding in every geography, which currently includes 25 countries," says Chief Executive Peter Altabef.
It is opening a new Chennai, India, facility expected to generate 1,000 jobs by year's end and is also looking to add staff in Romania. Back in the U.S., construction is under way for a 150,000 square foot facility in Lincoln, Neb., that will create an additional 150 positions.
The recession's blight on the automotive industry has frugal drivers eschewing new cars and opting instead to tinker with what they've got. That bodes well for American billionaire Edward Lampert and possibly for some unemployed auto workers; the stock of auto parts chain AutoZone, in which Lampert has a large stake, is up 45% in the last 12 months and its second-quarter 2009 profit rose 9%, thrashing Wall Street's expectations. During the first quarter of 2009, AutoZone opened 20 new U.S. stores (and closed just one) and eight in Mexico. The company says that hiring and retraining employees is a major focus of 2009.
The economic downturn has actually helped boost several billionaire businesses and spurred them to add jobs. The discount-shopping sector, for instance, is red hot right now as savvy "recessionistas" hunt for all sorts of bargains.
German billionaire Karl Albrecht's discount supermarket chain, Aldi, is planning 80 new stores in 29 U.S. states, including its first in New York City. It is holding a series of recruiting events for district managers and trainees this month in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. H&M, headed by Swedish billionaire Stefan Persson, is opening 225 stores this year, a plan that will reportedly create 7,000 new jobs.
So if you are unemployed, consider trying to get a job working for one of these billionaire-owned businesses. It almost certainly won't make you as rich as the founders but perhaps the post will offer a bit more job security than a lot of companies out there.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
Billionaire-Owned Companies Are Growing and Hiring
By ERIN GELL Forbes.com
March 29, 2009—
For 30 years Gloria Jean Craven was an employee of Pillowtex, the nation's third-largest home textile manufacturer. When the plant abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection and closed its doors in 2003, she and more than 8,000 workers lost their jobs, plunging the blue-collar community of Kannapolis, N.C., into a state of economic flux that lingers nearly six years later.
"I used to think I was middle class. But now we are living at the poverty level," the 56-year-old mother of two said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention last summer.
Click here for more on billionaires hiring at our partner site, Forbes.com.
One billionaire is hoping to help revive Craven's community and create thousands of jobs along the way. Three years ago, David Murdock, who made a fortune in Dole produce and Hawaiian real estate, broke ground on a new $1.5 billion (total investment) biotechnology research center on the old Pillowtex mill site.
The North Carolina Research Campus is partnering with Rowan Cabarrus Community College's R3 Center, a training ground for local displaced and underemployed workers. This August, the college will introduce two associate degree programs in biotechnology, aimed at targeting the needs of NCRC. Right now the campus is advertising for lab assistants, researchers and plant managers at David H. Murdock Research Institute and NCRC-affiliated state universities. Analysts project NCRC will create 30,000 direct and indirect new jobs by 2027.
Over the years, billionaires like Murdock have been responsible for creating thousands of jobs. They started some of the country's biggest employers, including companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Dell, to name a few. In 2002, Home Depot--founded by billionaires Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank--partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor to hire 40,000 associates a year. In 2006, Microsoft added 10,081 worldwide hires, the most in its history.
This year, these businesses, like the moguls who founded them, are feeling the economic pinch: In January, Microsoft announced an 18-month plan to eliminate 5,000 jobs across its research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology departments. Home Depot slashed 7,000 positions. While the Walton family's Wal-Mart just announced it was giving a reported $2 billion to its hourly employees, the nation's largest retailer said in February that it was laying off 700 employees at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters and another 1,200 Canadian employees.
Bucking the layoff trend are a handful of billionaire businesses ranging from Google to trendy fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz that are hanging up "Help Wanted" signs even in this dismal economy.
Just around the corner from Murdock's biotech center in Kannapolis, in Cary, N.C., is SAS, the world's largest privately owned software company, run by billionaires John Sall and James Goodnight. The company enjoyed record sales of $2.3 billion last year and increased its number of employees by 3.5%. It is now looking to fill a few dozen slots at its U.S. headquarters; the jobs will focus on R&D and sales for new ventures in Latin America and Malaysia.
Dallas tycoon H. Ross Perot's eponymous Perot Systems is also adding jobs. "Perot Systems continues to pursue our global growth strategy of expanding in every geography, which currently includes 25 countries," says Chief Executive Peter Altabef.
It is opening a new Chennai, India, facility expected to generate 1,000 jobs by year's end and is also looking to add staff in Romania. Back in the U.S., construction is under way for a 150,000 square foot facility in Lincoln, Neb., that will create an additional 150 positions.
The recession's blight on the automotive industry has frugal drivers eschewing new cars and opting instead to tinker with what they've got. That bodes well for American billionaire Edward Lampert and possibly for some unemployed auto workers; the stock of auto parts chain AutoZone, in which Lampert has a large stake, is up 45% in the last 12 months and its second-quarter 2009 profit rose 9%, thrashing Wall Street's expectations. During the first quarter of 2009, AutoZone opened 20 new U.S. stores (and closed just one) and eight in Mexico. The company says that hiring and retraining employees is a major focus of 2009.
The economic downturn has actually helped boost several billionaire businesses and spurred them to add jobs. The discount-shopping sector, for instance, is red hot right now as savvy "recessionistas" hunt for all sorts of bargains.
German billionaire Karl Albrecht's discount supermarket chain, Aldi, is planning 80 new stores in 29 U.S. states, including its first in New York City. It is holding a series of recruiting events for district managers and trainees this month in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. H&M, headed by Swedish billionaire Stefan Persson, is opening 225 stores this year, a plan that will reportedly create 7,000 new jobs.
So if you are unemployed, consider trying to get a job working for one of these billionaire-owned businesses. It almost certainly won't make you as rich as the founders but perhaps the post will offer a bit more job security than a lot of companies out there.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
Note To TNT
Memo to all name-c
alling cave-dwelling troglodytes
Listen up, bitches. Sharon has a newsflash for you: name-calling is not a substitute for reasoned argumentation. This goes for all you demented half-wit morons, regardless of political stripe.Unless you're Mark Steyn, who does everything with panache, distorting someone's name and using it as their moniker in all future references to them does not constitute a refutation of their arguments. You.. Sharon's Asylum
alling cave-dwelling troglodytesListen up, bitches. Sharon has a newsflash for you: name-calling is not a substitute for reasoned argumentation. This goes for all you demented half-wit morons, regardless of political stripe.Unless you're Mark Steyn, who does everything with panache, distorting someone's name and using it as their moniker in all future references to them does not constitute a refutation of their arguments. You.. Sharon's Asylum
Why Do McGintites Never Stand Up And Show Support
Common sense was never a neo-con plot
Snobelen: I am a Harrisite. There, I've said it. According to a recent column in that bastion of conservative thought, the Toronto Star, that makes me mean, vulgar and angry. Perhaps that could be considered a thoughtful catalogue of my better traits but what about the other Harrisites? MORE...
Snobelen: I am a Harrisite. There, I've said it. According to a recent column in that bastion of conservative thought, the Toronto Star, that makes me mean, vulgar and angry. Perhaps that could be considered a thoughtful catalogue of my better traits but what about the other Harrisites? MORE...
As Usual...Leftists Too Little Too Late
Clearly, in hindsight, Bob Rae's a genius
Blizzard: It was tough to tell the red ink from the blood being squeezed from a stone in Thursday's budget. By the end of next year, the province's debt will have swollen to a record $200 billion. As of July 2010, the harmonization of the GST and PST.. MORE...
Blizzard: It was tough to tell the red ink from the blood being squeezed from a stone in Thursday's budget. By the end of next year, the province's debt will have swollen to a record $200 billion. As of July 2010, the harmonization of the GST and PST.. MORE...
Busy Time For Our Leader
PM begins a busy week with two summits and a US media tour
Prime Minister Stephen Harper begins a busy week today that will see him travel to four countries in seven days, attending two summits along the way.
Very ImpressiveI have been watching HM PM Stephen Harper on Fox News Sunday. He was very impressive. He held his own with Chris Wallace. He repeatedly said he was a conservative. He avoided criticizing obamessiah, but did talk about the differences between the US and Canada. Canada will have the lowest taxes in the G8 by 2012. We will ahve the freest financial system in the G8 at the end of this. That's a veryDr Roy's Thoughts
Prime Minister Stephen Harper begins a busy week today that will see him travel to four countries in seven days, attending two summits along the way.
Very ImpressiveI have been watching HM PM Stephen Harper on Fox News Sunday. He was very impressive. He held his own with Chris Wallace. He repeatedly said he was a conservative. He avoided criticizing obamessiah, but did talk about the differences between the US and Canada. Canada will have the lowest taxes in the G8 by 2012. We will ahve the freest financial system in the G8 at the end of this. That's a veryDr Roy's Thoughts
Have Charest and Harper kissed and made up - or is the recent spring thaw in their dealings with each other a case of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?
I Didn't Notice Change
David Frum: Lies about me, and the lying liars who tell them
Posted: March 28, 2009, 10:31 AM
These days, the question I hear most from political comrades is: “What the hell happened to you?”
Okay, okay, my old friend Andrew Coyne put it a little more politely than that in a recent magazine column. Here’s what he actually wrote: “Things have come to a pretty pass in the Republican Party when David Frum is the mushy moderate of the piece.”
I feel exactly the same way! So if it’s not too personal, let me request a few minutes of your time to explain how I ended up being bashed by Rush Limbaugh on the airwaves — and taking a few shots of my own in the pages of Newsweek.
Click here to read more...
Posted: March 28, 2009, 10:31 AM
These days, the question I hear most from political comrades is: “What the hell happened to you?”
Okay, okay, my old friend Andrew Coyne put it a little more politely than that in a recent magazine column. Here’s what he actually wrote: “Things have come to a pretty pass in the Republican Party when David Frum is the mushy moderate of the piece.”
I feel exactly the same way! So if it’s not too personal, let me request a few minutes of your time to explain how I ended up being bashed by Rush Limbaugh on the airwaves — and taking a few shots of my own in the pages of Newsweek.
Click here to read more...
Today's Glimpse At SillyHall
More fees a sign of the times
By SUE-ANN LEVY
At executive committee last week, Coun. Howard Moscoe -- who has approached his self-appointed crusade to licence everything that moves (and doesn't) with zeal -- sounded off against the business community.
Trying not to repeat T.O.'s lakefront mistakes
By MARIANNE MEED WARD
When us 905ers think about waterfront development, we consider downtown Toronto an example of what not to do (recent improvements notwithstanding). The criticisms centre on three things
By SUE-ANN LEVY
At executive committee last week, Coun. Howard Moscoe -- who has approached his self-appointed crusade to licence everything that moves (and doesn't) with zeal -- sounded off against the business community.
Trying not to repeat T.O.'s lakefront mistakes
By MARIANNE MEED WARD
When us 905ers think about waterfront development, we consider downtown Toronto an example of what not to do (recent improvements notwithstanding). The criticisms centre on three things
Saturday, March 28, 2009
You Goes Where You Are Given A Fair Shake
PM’s U.S. interviews angers Canadian media
Why on earth would some in the Canadian media be angered or upset about the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the U.S. this weekend to conduct some media interviews? Yet, from what I have read and heard on this subject, many in the Canadian media — particularly those on the Ottawa beat — [...]Crux of the Matter
Why on earth would some in the Canadian media be angered or upset about the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the U.S. this weekend to conduct some media interviews? Yet, from what I have read and heard on this subject, many in the Canadian media — particularly those on the Ottawa beat — [...]Crux of the Matter
ANOTHER BABY MURDER
'Cold, calculated' murder
By CHRIS DOUCETTE AND JOE WARMINGTON, SUN MEDIA
A baby boy was found dead in an SUV at a Mississauga office building yesterday and his mother is now charged with his murder -- a killing that even veteran homicide investigators are having a tough time coming to grips with.
By CHRIS DOUCETTE AND JOE WARMINGTON, SUN MEDIA
A baby boy was found dead in an SUV at a Mississauga office building yesterday and his mother is now charged with his murder -- a killing that even veteran homicide investigators are having a tough time coming to grips with.
Harmonization Not Yet Implemented But Has Cost us $43.3 billion
Quebec decries Ontario's compensation from Ottawa
Quebec is asking the federal government for $2.6 billion in compensation following a decision to give Ontario $4.3 billion in federal funding for the harmonization of its provincial sales tax with the GST.
Quebec is asking the federal government for $2.6 billion in compensation following a decision to give Ontario $4.3 billion in federal funding for the harmonization of its provincial sales tax with the GST.
Recovery Stimulus Being Depleted
Conservatives give grant to conservative magazineREPORT Magazine is proud to bill itself as "Western Canada's Conservative Voice" and today, Canada's government, on behalf of all taxpayers, were pleased to give "Canada's Conservative Voice" a grant of $27,124.
Summer Is Coming-Anarchists Take To Streets....
The coming G20 riots & the spread of mob rule
By Michelle Malkin • March 27, 2009 04:32 AM
London Protesters Threaten Bankers as Police Prepare for G-20 Onslaught...
By Michelle Malkin • March 27, 2009 04:32 AM
London Protesters Threaten Bankers as Police Prepare for G-20 Onslaught...
McGinty"s Saviour?
Chris Selley's Full Pundit: Can Jim Flaherty save Ontario?
Posted: March 28, 2009, 8:00 AM by Chris Selley Filed under: Full Comment,Full Pundit,Chris Selley
The man comes aroundDalton McGuinty’s budget could have been written by Jim Flaherty. But will it save Ontario?
The Globe and Mail’s editorialists have only minor quibbles with the budget—such as its “unsettlingly vague” promises of infrastructure spending, its politically motivated rebates to taxpayers to offset the harmonized sales tax and its “minimal investment in research and post-secondary education”—but overall they are impressed, not just with the content but with McGuinty’s ability to actually do something reasonably bold for once.
The Toronto Star’s Jim Coyle believes “the buckets of cash and exemption flexibility the feds ponied up” has much to do with McGuinty’s newfound flare for the dramatic. (Indeed, as the Globe’s Adam Radwanski notes, if the Liberals had liked the HST idea all along, they probably wouldn’t have let the opposition frame it as an insidious plot to jack up the price of onesies and tampons.) Still, says Coyle, McGuinty’s reasoning doesn’t diminish the risk he faces: if the economy continues its hellward slide, he “might well have signed his death warrant”; if it turns around, “he might have written himself a place in [the] history books.”
Click here to read more...
Posted: March 28, 2009, 8:00 AM by Chris Selley Filed under: Full Comment,Full Pundit,Chris Selley
The man comes aroundDalton McGuinty’s budget could have been written by Jim Flaherty. But will it save Ontario?
The Globe and Mail’s editorialists have only minor quibbles with the budget—such as its “unsettlingly vague” promises of infrastructure spending, its politically motivated rebates to taxpayers to offset the harmonized sales tax and its “minimal investment in research and post-secondary education”—but overall they are impressed, not just with the content but with McGuinty’s ability to actually do something reasonably bold for once.
The Toronto Star’s Jim Coyle believes “the buckets of cash and exemption flexibility the feds ponied up” has much to do with McGuinty’s newfound flare for the dramatic. (Indeed, as the Globe’s Adam Radwanski notes, if the Liberals had liked the HST idea all along, they probably wouldn’t have let the opposition frame it as an insidious plot to jack up the price of onesies and tampons.) Still, says Coyle, McGuinty’s reasoning doesn’t diminish the risk he faces: if the economy continues its hellward slide, he “might well have signed his death warrant”; if it turns around, “he might have written himself a place in [the] history books.”
Click here to read more...
CON JOB At Silly Hall
Opposition checks pulse ahead of budget debate
March 28, 2009 Royson James
Dissent is essential to the practice of democracy. That's why lovers of the messy practice of local democracy cannot be happy with the trend at city hall.
The Ontario government handed city councillors a four-year term; gave Toronto's mayor increased and unchecked powers; diminished council's role. Essentially, the mayor frames and delivers Toronto's budget. Resistance is futile.
But a bit of a pulse was detected this week when a group of right-leaning councillors put themselves forward as an unofficial opposition to the ruling regime, led by Mayor David Miller, his left-leaning allies and the mushy middle whose "flexible core principles" allow them to prop up the government in exchange for plum appointments.
With a user-unfriendly moniker, the Responsible Government Group presented themselves as 13 who represent the "voice of those who disagree with the regime at city hall."
Now, for years, left-leaning councillors formed such an unofficial opposition. In fact, the NDP even formed a caucus out of it. They pushed a progressive agenda for social services, green initiatives, arts funding and other worthy causes. That they flourished was due to their political acumen and stamina. But these skills were enhanced by a system of government that welcomed dissent, enabled it, and embraced the practitioners, if not always their policies.
For example, Councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow, the power couple who now lead the federal NDP, wielded considerable influence in the regime of Mel Lastman without having to vote against their conscience or their politics. Ditto for Joe Pantalone, Mayor's Miller's current deputy. What is troubling about the current politics at city hall is that Pantalone and Layton and Chow could not survive as influential entities in a right-wing administration – not if the mayor behaves the way Miller does.
Remember Brian Ashton, a moderate, bright and capable councillor? Miller kicked Ashton off his hand-picked executive committee because Ashton voted against the mayor's land transfer tax proposal. So much for non-partisan government at city hall. So, there was Ashton this week, pushed to line up with the right-wing councillors to coalesce a strong enough voice to register a protest.
City council debates the $8.7 billion budget this week. The proposed 4 per cent tax hike will be approved, essentially unchanged, unless the dissidents can somehow win over another six votes to its 13 members – Case Ootes, Karen Stintz, David Shiner, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, Chin Lee, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Mike Del Grande, Michael Feldman, John Parker, Peter Milczyn, Cliff Jenkins and Ashton.
Michael Thompson and Michael Walker will vote with them, though not official members. Rob Ford and Doug Holyday will, too, though they're mavericks who can't endure even the informal collaboration of an unofficial group.
But winning isn't the important thing here. More significant will be the impact of the endeavour. Can they show the current regime to be "reckless" in the face of a recession, as Ootes said this week? Can they use the two days of television air time to elicit answers that build the foundation of a challenge at the polls in 2010?
Why add more than 1,000 hires when the private sector is shedding jobs? How does one justify the largest budgetary spending increase in Toronto's history and a $2.25 billion jump in spending in the past six years? Toronto city council as a collaborative body is a relic of a better time. That's the by-product of a strong mayor system with not enough checks and balances.
All we are left with is staged dissent, a precursor to something more permanent and formal – official party politics at city hall.
March 28, 2009 Royson James
Dissent is essential to the practice of democracy. That's why lovers of the messy practice of local democracy cannot be happy with the trend at city hall.
The Ontario government handed city councillors a four-year term; gave Toronto's mayor increased and unchecked powers; diminished council's role. Essentially, the mayor frames and delivers Toronto's budget. Resistance is futile.
But a bit of a pulse was detected this week when a group of right-leaning councillors put themselves forward as an unofficial opposition to the ruling regime, led by Mayor David Miller, his left-leaning allies and the mushy middle whose "flexible core principles" allow them to prop up the government in exchange for plum appointments.
With a user-unfriendly moniker, the Responsible Government Group presented themselves as 13 who represent the "voice of those who disagree with the regime at city hall."
Now, for years, left-leaning councillors formed such an unofficial opposition. In fact, the NDP even formed a caucus out of it. They pushed a progressive agenda for social services, green initiatives, arts funding and other worthy causes. That they flourished was due to their political acumen and stamina. But these skills were enhanced by a system of government that welcomed dissent, enabled it, and embraced the practitioners, if not always their policies.
For example, Councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow, the power couple who now lead the federal NDP, wielded considerable influence in the regime of Mel Lastman without having to vote against their conscience or their politics. Ditto for Joe Pantalone, Mayor's Miller's current deputy. What is troubling about the current politics at city hall is that Pantalone and Layton and Chow could not survive as influential entities in a right-wing administration – not if the mayor behaves the way Miller does.
Remember Brian Ashton, a moderate, bright and capable councillor? Miller kicked Ashton off his hand-picked executive committee because Ashton voted against the mayor's land transfer tax proposal. So much for non-partisan government at city hall. So, there was Ashton this week, pushed to line up with the right-wing councillors to coalesce a strong enough voice to register a protest.
City council debates the $8.7 billion budget this week. The proposed 4 per cent tax hike will be approved, essentially unchanged, unless the dissidents can somehow win over another six votes to its 13 members – Case Ootes, Karen Stintz, David Shiner, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, Chin Lee, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Mike Del Grande, Michael Feldman, John Parker, Peter Milczyn, Cliff Jenkins and Ashton.
Michael Thompson and Michael Walker will vote with them, though not official members. Rob Ford and Doug Holyday will, too, though they're mavericks who can't endure even the informal collaboration of an unofficial group.
But winning isn't the important thing here. More significant will be the impact of the endeavour. Can they show the current regime to be "reckless" in the face of a recession, as Ootes said this week? Can they use the two days of television air time to elicit answers that build the foundation of a challenge at the polls in 2010?
Why add more than 1,000 hires when the private sector is shedding jobs? How does one justify the largest budgetary spending increase in Toronto's history and a $2.25 billion jump in spending in the past six years? Toronto city council as a collaborative body is a relic of a better time. That's the by-product of a strong mayor system with not enough checks and balances.
All we are left with is staged dissent, a precursor to something more permanent and formal – official party politics at city hall.
Earth Day Hour?????
Earth Hour: The night the lights go out for a billion
by John Goddard
Mar 28, 2009 (2)
Almost a billion people in more than 2,800 cities worldwide are expected to turn off lights for Earth Hour tonight beginning at 8:30 local time.
by John Goddard
Mar 28, 2009 (2)
Almost a billion people in more than 2,800 cities worldwide are expected to turn off lights for Earth Hour tonight beginning at 8:30 local time.
Don't Belong To Union And Show Support For Miller During Election.....
TTC plans wage freeze
Move comes on heels of similar policy from mayor
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Mayor David Miller's wage freeze seems to be contagious.
The TTC has put a planned 3% increase on hold for its non-unionized staff and is considering the pros and cons of bringing their salaries in line with Miller's new policy.
That announcement, delivered in a memo to all TTC staff employees, came Wednesday -- days after Miller scrapped a cost-of-living increase for the city's 3,900 non-unionized staff and cancelled bonuses for his top bureaucrats who can't climb any higher on the pay scale. The TTC has 2,300 non-unionized employees.
Non-unionized staff typically got the same increase as unionized staff, TTC spokesman Brad Ross said.
A 3% increase was due to kick in next week to match the 3% a year increase the union received in arbitration last fall.
"We had made that commitment last fall," Ross said. "That has been put on hold for now."
The transit authority hasn't done away with the raises yet and would be reviewing its policies in relation to Miller's latest directive.
Along with scrapping this year's cost-of-living increase, Miller limited non-unionized city employees to a 1% cost-of-living increase next year, and again scrapped bonuses for the 2,000 or so non-unionized staff, including senior management, who are earning the top salary for their positions.
The measures were passed this week by the city's employee and labour relations committee.
City councillors are still being allowed to keep the $2,348 cost-of-living increase they got this year, hiking their pay to $99,153.
ATU 113 president Bob Kinnear said a freeze on non-union salaries won't impact his membership,which is guaranteed a 3% increase each year until March 31, 2011.
He wouldn't be surprised if TTC management tried to use the freeze in future bargaining but doubted it would make a difference in the union's position, he said.
"I prefer not to make a general statement on TTC management," Kinnear said. "But those at the high end of the salaries, particularly (TTC general manager) Gary Webster at $270,000 a year, can afford not to have an increase."
DON.PEAT@SUNMEDIA.CA
Move comes on heels of similar policy from mayor
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Mayor David Miller's wage freeze seems to be contagious.
The TTC has put a planned 3% increase on hold for its non-unionized staff and is considering the pros and cons of bringing their salaries in line with Miller's new policy.
That announcement, delivered in a memo to all TTC staff employees, came Wednesday -- days after Miller scrapped a cost-of-living increase for the city's 3,900 non-unionized staff and cancelled bonuses for his top bureaucrats who can't climb any higher on the pay scale. The TTC has 2,300 non-unionized employees.
Non-unionized staff typically got the same increase as unionized staff, TTC spokesman Brad Ross said.
A 3% increase was due to kick in next week to match the 3% a year increase the union received in arbitration last fall.
"We had made that commitment last fall," Ross said. "That has been put on hold for now."
The transit authority hasn't done away with the raises yet and would be reviewing its policies in relation to Miller's latest directive.
Along with scrapping this year's cost-of-living increase, Miller limited non-unionized city employees to a 1% cost-of-living increase next year, and again scrapped bonuses for the 2,000 or so non-unionized staff, including senior management, who are earning the top salary for their positions.
The measures were passed this week by the city's employee and labour relations committee.
City councillors are still being allowed to keep the $2,348 cost-of-living increase they got this year, hiking their pay to $99,153.
ATU 113 president Bob Kinnear said a freeze on non-union salaries won't impact his membership,which is guaranteed a 3% increase each year until March 31, 2011.
He wouldn't be surprised if TTC management tried to use the freeze in future bargaining but doubted it would make a difference in the union's position, he said.
"I prefer not to make a general statement on TTC management," Kinnear said. "But those at the high end of the salaries, particularly (TTC general manager) Gary Webster at $270,000 a year, can afford not to have an increase."
DON.PEAT@SUNMEDIA.CA
Friday, March 27, 2009
Following Jim Flaherty's Advice
Ontario budget finally does what needed to be done
John Ivison: Mr. McGuinty’s challenge was to pluck the largest amount of goose feathers with the least amount of hissing
Hard-hit Ontario headed for six years of deficits
2009 Ontario budget highlights
John Ivison: Mr. McGuinty’s challenge was to pluck the largest amount of goose feathers with the least amount of hissing
Hard-hit Ontario headed for six years of deficits
2009 Ontario budget highlights
Budget Con Job
Infrastructure gets $34B boost
By ROMINA MAURINO, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario's stimulus plan will see billions of dollars put into the province's roads, hospitals, schools and training programs in a bid to create jobs and boost the economy.
By ROMINA MAURINO, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario's stimulus plan will see billions of dollars put into the province's roads, hospitals, schools and training programs in a bid to create jobs and boost the economy.
How many laid off GM workers will be building bridges, paving roads, etc.?
Give him a break Christina. Let's not forget he is going to give $1000, of our money, in the first year.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Go Home. Come Back Thru Mexico And Rio Grande.....
Obama’s deportation fugitive aunt gets another day in court
By Michelle Malkin •
March 26, 2009 09:23 AM
By Michelle Malkin •
March 26, 2009 09:23 AM
Open Arms
A note on refugee claims from commonsense landWe've been saying the same things for years when we post articles about terrorists, convicted rapists and murders from other countries here in Canada on a refugee claim. They get convicted, sentenced, serve time and then please don't deport us because we will be tortured or even worse. Canada ends up with a cesspool of the worlds least wanted as they wallow around in nowhere land. Immigration MiHome
NO NEW TAXES??????
National Post editorial board: Is this really the best time for Ontario to harmonize its sales tax?
Posted: March 25, 2009, 10:23 PM by Ron Nurwisah
Posted: March 25, 2009, 10:23 PM by Ron Nurwisah
Filed under: Editorial
The trouble with consumption taxes — such as provincial sales taxes and the federal GST — is that economic theory and political reality are out of sync: Economists love these taxes because their effect is transparent, and they permit consumers to control the amount of tax they pay by controlling how much they spend. But consumers themselves take a more emotional view. Unlike payroll and income taxes, sales taxes hit consumers in the face every time they buy something — which is why they are so hated, notwithstanding their popularity among eggheads. Thus the controversy over reports that the Ontario Liberals plan to harmonize their province’s sales tax with the GST in today’s budget.
While introducing a new form of sales tax may be justified on paper, doing so at the depth of a recession, when working families are already nervous, could easily spook consumers, causing them to postpone purchases — particularly big-ticket items — thereby worsening the current downturn in Ontario.
The big problem for harmonization advocates is the manner in which matching provincial sales taxes to the GST suddenly broadens the number of goods and services that are subject to provincial levies. Books, home heating oil and children’s clothing, for instance, are all currently exempt from Ontario’s 8% PST, but not from the GST. Since the GST cannot be applied differently in each province — it must apply to the same items all across the country — when federal and provincial sales taxes are “blended,” it is the PST that must change. So the day after Ontario’s tax is matched up with Ottawa’s, Ontarians will wake up to a whole range of goods that cost more because of the reformed tax (although, as noted below, that range of goods may turn out to be more narrow than one might otherwise expect)
Absent any special exemptions (again, see below) the most obvious effect on consumer behaviour would be in regard to new homes. A forecast two weeks ago by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) claimed that harmonizing federal and provincial sales taxes would add nearly $47,000 to the price of a new home in Greater Toronto and about half that amount in the rest of the province. These figures seem inflated to us, especially since homebuilders already pay PST on building materials and pass some or all of that amount on to consumers in the price of a finished home. The problem, though, is not the final price, but the irrational manner by which consumers respond to its additive components: The new, higher tax amount would be glaringly obvious, while the lower base price may not be. Voters often rebel against the perception rather than the reality of a tax change.
According to Finn Poschmann, vice-president of the C.D. Howe Institute, a Toronto economic think-tank, after the harmonization in 1997 of provincial sales taxes in Atlantic Canada with Ottawa’s GST, “overall consumer prices fell.” Competitive markets forced retailers to pass on to consumers the PST savings they gained rather than pocketing that part of the pre-existing retail price that consisted of manufacturing or wholesale sales taxes. But would Ontario consumers appreciate that they were beneficiaries of an “overall” price decline from two merged taxes?
Certainly, many Atlantic Canadians did not. Prices rose on housing, clothing, footwear and some foods while falling on “household operations, health and personal care.” If prices rise dramatically on big-ticket purchases or on goods and services people use every day, and fall only on out-of-sight purchases, most consumers will not recognize that they are coming out ahead overall. And that psychological perception is more likely to drive their buying decisions than all the statistics economists can muster.
Mindful of this, the Ontario Liberals reportedly are set to carve out a set of exemptions and special rules. Some items — including children’s clothes, books, certain hygiene products, and child car seats — will be exempt from the provincial portion of the harmonized tax. It is also reported that there will be no increase in taxes on new homes worth less than $400,000, and that middle- and lower-class Ontarians will get lump sum cheques of $1,000 to offset the effects of the tax.
All this will make the tax harmonization more politically palatable. But it will do so at the expense of the main virtues of tax harmonization: simplicity and universality. In the final analysis, we expect that most Ontarians won’t have their overall buying habits affected much one way or another. They will simply be wondering why it was necessary to advance this confusing and complex tax change at this sensitive economic time.
The trouble with consumption taxes — such as provincial sales taxes and the federal GST — is that economic theory and political reality are out of sync: Economists love these taxes because their effect is transparent, and they permit consumers to control the amount of tax they pay by controlling how much they spend. But consumers themselves take a more emotional view. Unlike payroll and income taxes, sales taxes hit consumers in the face every time they buy something — which is why they are so hated, notwithstanding their popularity among eggheads. Thus the controversy over reports that the Ontario Liberals plan to harmonize their province’s sales tax with the GST in today’s budget.
While introducing a new form of sales tax may be justified on paper, doing so at the depth of a recession, when working families are already nervous, could easily spook consumers, causing them to postpone purchases — particularly big-ticket items — thereby worsening the current downturn in Ontario.
The big problem for harmonization advocates is the manner in which matching provincial sales taxes to the GST suddenly broadens the number of goods and services that are subject to provincial levies. Books, home heating oil and children’s clothing, for instance, are all currently exempt from Ontario’s 8% PST, but not from the GST. Since the GST cannot be applied differently in each province — it must apply to the same items all across the country — when federal and provincial sales taxes are “blended,” it is the PST that must change. So the day after Ontario’s tax is matched up with Ottawa’s, Ontarians will wake up to a whole range of goods that cost more because of the reformed tax (although, as noted below, that range of goods may turn out to be more narrow than one might otherwise expect)
Absent any special exemptions (again, see below) the most obvious effect on consumer behaviour would be in regard to new homes. A forecast two weeks ago by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) claimed that harmonizing federal and provincial sales taxes would add nearly $47,000 to the price of a new home in Greater Toronto and about half that amount in the rest of the province. These figures seem inflated to us, especially since homebuilders already pay PST on building materials and pass some or all of that amount on to consumers in the price of a finished home. The problem, though, is not the final price, but the irrational manner by which consumers respond to its additive components: The new, higher tax amount would be glaringly obvious, while the lower base price may not be. Voters often rebel against the perception rather than the reality of a tax change.
According to Finn Poschmann, vice-president of the C.D. Howe Institute, a Toronto economic think-tank, after the harmonization in 1997 of provincial sales taxes in Atlantic Canada with Ottawa’s GST, “overall consumer prices fell.” Competitive markets forced retailers to pass on to consumers the PST savings they gained rather than pocketing that part of the pre-existing retail price that consisted of manufacturing or wholesale sales taxes. But would Ontario consumers appreciate that they were beneficiaries of an “overall” price decline from two merged taxes?
Certainly, many Atlantic Canadians did not. Prices rose on housing, clothing, footwear and some foods while falling on “household operations, health and personal care.” If prices rise dramatically on big-ticket purchases or on goods and services people use every day, and fall only on out-of-sight purchases, most consumers will not recognize that they are coming out ahead overall. And that psychological perception is more likely to drive their buying decisions than all the statistics economists can muster.
Mindful of this, the Ontario Liberals reportedly are set to carve out a set of exemptions and special rules. Some items — including children’s clothes, books, certain hygiene products, and child car seats — will be exempt from the provincial portion of the harmonized tax. It is also reported that there will be no increase in taxes on new homes worth less than $400,000, and that middle- and lower-class Ontarians will get lump sum cheques of $1,000 to offset the effects of the tax.
All this will make the tax harmonization more politically palatable. But it will do so at the expense of the main virtues of tax harmonization: simplicity and universality. In the final analysis, we expect that most Ontarians won’t have their overall buying habits affected much one way or another. They will simply be wondering why it was necessary to advance this confusing and complex tax change at this sensitive economic time.
Galloway...Go Away
Have your say: Controversial MP a hypocrite
Would you not think that in all of the media hysteria over Canada's barring of British MP George Galloway, a relevant fact is that Galloway led a campaign to bar uber-right-wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen from the U.K. in 2004?
Jewish group proud of role in barring Galloway
Would you not think that in all of the media hysteria over Canada's barring of British MP George Galloway, a relevant fact is that Galloway led a campaign to bar uber-right-wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen from the U.K. in 2004?
Jewish group proud of role in barring Galloway
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
To GIVE and to SERVE: the $6 billion National Service boondoggle
By Michelle Malkin •
March 25, 2009 09:50 AM
My syndicated column today looks at the massive expansion of government-funded “national service.” Debate began yesterday in the Senate, where the $6 billion SERVE Act’s primary co-sponsors are Sens. Ted Kennedy and…Orrin Hatch. And there’s the rub. Since its inception, AmeriCorps has been a bipartisan-supported beast. The Evil Party and the Stupid Party strike again. If this does lead to the establishment of a civilian national security force, as Obama signaled during the campaign, Republicans who vote for this Trojan Horse will have no one to blame but themselves. MORE
By Michelle Malkin •
March 25, 2009 09:50 AM
My syndicated column today looks at the massive expansion of government-funded “national service.” Debate began yesterday in the Senate, where the $6 billion SERVE Act’s primary co-sponsors are Sens. Ted Kennedy and…Orrin Hatch. And there’s the rub. Since its inception, AmeriCorps has been a bipartisan-supported beast. The Evil Party and the Stupid Party strike again. If this does lead to the establishment of a civilian national security force, as Obama signaled during the campaign, Republicans who vote for this Trojan Horse will have no one to blame but themselves. MORE
The PET Cradle To Grave Syndrome
The Gimmee generation
Asking for Student Loan Forgiveness
Yes, I ate the meal but I shouldn't have to pay for it. Yes, you should because you used other people's money. It's called theft you ignoramus.
Posted by jerry
Asking for Student Loan Forgiveness
Yes, I ate the meal but I shouldn't have to pay for it. Yes, you should because you used other people's money. It's called theft you ignoramus.
Posted by jerry
Malkin Has Been On This.......
Housing timeline
Just in case anybody needs a reminder of the American housing mess timeline.H/T Proud to be Canadian aking Sense with Nicholls
Just in case anybody needs a reminder of the American housing mess timeline.H/T Proud to be Canadian aking Sense with Nicholls
Get Out The Vaseline...Dullton Is At It Again No New Taxes
No harmony in merged taxes
Blizzard: Watch out, consumers. You're about to be soaked -- with a tax on everything. No, it's not Stephane Dion back to haunt us. But you'd think at a time of shifting economic fortunes, no politician would dream of burdening taxpayers even more. MORE...
Blizzard: Watch out, consumers. You're about to be soaked -- with a tax on everything. No, it's not Stephane Dion back to haunt us. But you'd think at a time of shifting economic fortunes, no politician would dream of burdening taxpayers even more. MORE...
It Is About Friggin Time
Tories want to kill 'two-for-one' prison-time credit
CTV News has learned that the government plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to end the "two-for-one" credit for convicted felons for time spent in pre-trial custody.
Should the Tories introduce legislation to end the 'two-for-one' prison time credit?
Yes
90%
No
10%
This is not a scientific poll
Toews supports new crime rate measure
Article
Comments (47)
BILL CURRY
Globe and Mail Update
March 25, 2009 at 12:07 AM EDT
OTTAWA — A senior Conservative cabinet minister on Tuesday threw his support behind calls to measure Canada's crime in a completely different way – one that is likely to show the problem is growing, not shrinking.
Treasury Board President Vic Toews told reporters he supports an annual Criminal Victimization Survey. The survey now is conducted only once every five years by Statistics Canada.
Mr. Toews said it would be an “excellent idea” to measure annual crime rates through such surveys, rather than relying solely on reports filed with police.
“Police reports, especially at a time when many people aren't reporting crimes, are not an accurate way of determining your crime rate,” Mr. Toews said.
Statistics Canada conducts its survey by asking Canadians to respond to a standard questionnaire. The agency has said its results can reflect the fact that some cultures treat certain crimes more seriously than others. However, the agency has said there are also problems with relying solely on reports to police because police agencies don't all report crime in the same way.
Mr. Toews, a former justice minister, was responding to calls from the Vancouver Board of Trade, whose representatives are making the rounds in Ottawa this week urging federal leaders to move more aggressively on crime.
As a deadly gang war rages in British Columbia and debate heats up over how to manage Vancouver's drug addicts, the board says more needs to be done than the justice bills before Parliament.
The board's managing director Darcy Rezac and chief economist David Park are lobbying Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, senior public servants, MPs and senators. Their message is that action on crime should continue to be a priority, even while the political focus is on the economy.
“There's no question that gang members who are using guns – those bills [in the House of Commons] will address that,” Mr. Rezac said. “The point we're making is that you must do that, it's absolutely vital … but it's not sufficient to address the problem.”
The board members said the head of Statistics Canada, Munir Sheikh, told them the agency is equipped to do an annual crime survey but that it would require Treasury Board approval and an extra $4-million.
The board says the annual gathering of crime reports filed with police – commonly referred to as the crime rate – gives a false impression that crime is going down when in fact, they argue, random victim surveys would show the opposite.
Such reporting would likely fuel the political debate over crime.
Opposition parties sometimes cite the crime rate to argue that the Conservative Party exaggerates the need for its justice proposals.
NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said his concern is that people who are surveyed may exaggerate their experience with crime.
“I'm really worried,” he said. “You can't do public policy based on perception.”
The board's wish list also includes:
- Mandatory minimum sentences that escalate for chronic, repeat offenders, accompanied by addiction and mental-health support;
- Victim impact statements read in court for all Criminal Code offences;
- An end to the practice whereby judges sometimes treat time served prior to sentencing as “two for one,” meaning criminals do not serve their full prison sentence.
CTV News has learned that the government plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to end the "two-for-one" credit for convicted felons for time spent in pre-trial custody.
Should the Tories introduce legislation to end the 'two-for-one' prison time credit?
Yes
90%
No
10%
This is not a scientific poll
Toews supports new crime rate measure
Article
Comments (47)
BILL CURRY
Globe and Mail Update
March 25, 2009 at 12:07 AM EDT
OTTAWA — A senior Conservative cabinet minister on Tuesday threw his support behind calls to measure Canada's crime in a completely different way – one that is likely to show the problem is growing, not shrinking.
Treasury Board President Vic Toews told reporters he supports an annual Criminal Victimization Survey. The survey now is conducted only once every five years by Statistics Canada.
Mr. Toews said it would be an “excellent idea” to measure annual crime rates through such surveys, rather than relying solely on reports filed with police.
“Police reports, especially at a time when many people aren't reporting crimes, are not an accurate way of determining your crime rate,” Mr. Toews said.
Statistics Canada conducts its survey by asking Canadians to respond to a standard questionnaire. The agency has said its results can reflect the fact that some cultures treat certain crimes more seriously than others. However, the agency has said there are also problems with relying solely on reports to police because police agencies don't all report crime in the same way.
Mr. Toews, a former justice minister, was responding to calls from the Vancouver Board of Trade, whose representatives are making the rounds in Ottawa this week urging federal leaders to move more aggressively on crime.
As a deadly gang war rages in British Columbia and debate heats up over how to manage Vancouver's drug addicts, the board says more needs to be done than the justice bills before Parliament.
The board's managing director Darcy Rezac and chief economist David Park are lobbying Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, senior public servants, MPs and senators. Their message is that action on crime should continue to be a priority, even while the political focus is on the economy.
“There's no question that gang members who are using guns – those bills [in the House of Commons] will address that,” Mr. Rezac said. “The point we're making is that you must do that, it's absolutely vital … but it's not sufficient to address the problem.”
The board members said the head of Statistics Canada, Munir Sheikh, told them the agency is equipped to do an annual crime survey but that it would require Treasury Board approval and an extra $4-million.
The board says the annual gathering of crime reports filed with police – commonly referred to as the crime rate – gives a false impression that crime is going down when in fact, they argue, random victim surveys would show the opposite.
Such reporting would likely fuel the political debate over crime.
Opposition parties sometimes cite the crime rate to argue that the Conservative Party exaggerates the need for its justice proposals.
NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said his concern is that people who are surveyed may exaggerate their experience with crime.
“I'm really worried,” he said. “You can't do public policy based on perception.”
The board's wish list also includes:
- Mandatory minimum sentences that escalate for chronic, repeat offenders, accompanied by addiction and mental-health support;
- Victim impact statements read in court for all Criminal Code offences;
- An end to the practice whereby judges sometimes treat time served prior to sentencing as “two for one,” meaning criminals do not serve their full prison sentence.
It It Feels Like An Elephant, If It Smells Like An Elephant, If it........
...It probably is an Elephant
Learning from race data
TheStar.com - Opinion -
March 25, 2009
The argument for collecting race-based police statistics gained more allies last week when two arm's length federal organizations called for such data as a way to address racial profiling.
In a joint statement, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation urged police, border guards, and security agencies across the country to systematically track their interaction with the public – a process that would include collecting information on people's race.
Elsewhere, this is done routinely, including in many U.S. states and in Britain. But – with rare exceptions – police forces in Canada are unwilling to collect and analyze statistics that could shed light on racial profiling by some officers.
Police adamantly maintain that they do not discriminate according to race, but there is much anecdotal evidence, especially in the black community, to suggest profiling does indeed happen. It is impossible to know how much.
That's why a systematic collection of statistics is so important: It can alert police departments if they have a problem with racial profiling.
The federal human rights commission and the foundation, which is a Crown corporation dedicated to fighting racism, issued their joint statement after the authors of a study they commissioned recommended "more rigorous data collection to demonstrate whether or not profiling occurs."
Several methodologies exist to do exactly this sort of analysis. Indeed, as the joint statement notes: "The collection of such data is becoming the norm." Given that trend, Canada's police and security forces should take up the challenge and confront race-based statistics – sooner rather than later.
Learning from race data
TheStar.com - Opinion -
March 25, 2009
The argument for collecting race-based police statistics gained more allies last week when two arm's length federal organizations called for such data as a way to address racial profiling.
In a joint statement, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation urged police, border guards, and security agencies across the country to systematically track their interaction with the public – a process that would include collecting information on people's race.
Elsewhere, this is done routinely, including in many U.S. states and in Britain. But – with rare exceptions – police forces in Canada are unwilling to collect and analyze statistics that could shed light on racial profiling by some officers.
Police adamantly maintain that they do not discriminate according to race, but there is much anecdotal evidence, especially in the black community, to suggest profiling does indeed happen. It is impossible to know how much.
That's why a systematic collection of statistics is so important: It can alert police departments if they have a problem with racial profiling.
The federal human rights commission and the foundation, which is a Crown corporation dedicated to fighting racism, issued their joint statement after the authors of a study they commissioned recommended "more rigorous data collection to demonstrate whether or not profiling occurs."
Several methodologies exist to do exactly this sort of analysis. Indeed, as the joint statement notes: "The collection of such data is becoming the norm." Given that trend, Canada's police and security forces should take up the challenge and confront race-based statistics – sooner rather than later.
Let's Start With The Mayor And Work Our Way Down.....
All must tighten belts at City Hall
Mar. 25, 2009
Mar. 25, 2009
By freezing the pay of Toronto's 3,900 non-union municipal workers, city councillors can save $20 million and, at the same time, tone down wage expectations on the part of unionized staff. Restraint is vital.
Will We See Jack Back At Silly Hall...Big Fish, Small Pond
Layton's star turns to dust as coalition fails
by Chantal Hébert
The Reactionary Left
March 21st, 2009 by Paul Holmes
It’s time to for the NDP to try contributing something constructive to Canadian political discourse, instead of the typical reactionary drivel they’ve been dishing up for the last few years.
I know many of their supporters are reasonable, intelligent people, with constructive ideas, but the leadership continues to dish out nonsense.
Here’s a few examples:
The Problem: Somebody gets shot during gang violence crossfire in Surrey or Toronto.The Left’s Solution: Take hunter’s rifles away.
The Problem: Canadian soldiers die serving their country, defending Afghan people from the Taliban. The same Taliban that would sooner burn a school-aged girl than see her go to school.The Left’s Solution: Peace talks with the Taliban.
The Problem: A recession takes hold after the longest bull market in a generation.The Left’s Solution: Protectionism, higher taxes, and a new national holiday in February. Honestly.
These are serious problems that deserve serious solutions.
Does anybody take Jack Layton and the NDP seriously anymore?
by Chantal Hébert
The Reactionary Left
March 21st, 2009 by Paul Holmes
It’s time to for the NDP to try contributing something constructive to Canadian political discourse, instead of the typical reactionary drivel they’ve been dishing up for the last few years.
I know many of their supporters are reasonable, intelligent people, with constructive ideas, but the leadership continues to dish out nonsense.
Here’s a few examples:
The Problem: Somebody gets shot during gang violence crossfire in Surrey or Toronto.The Left’s Solution: Take hunter’s rifles away.
The Problem: Canadian soldiers die serving their country, defending Afghan people from the Taliban. The same Taliban that would sooner burn a school-aged girl than see her go to school.The Left’s Solution: Peace talks with the Taliban.
The Problem: A recession takes hold after the longest bull market in a generation.The Left’s Solution: Protectionism, higher taxes, and a new national holiday in February. Honestly.
These are serious problems that deserve serious solutions.
Does anybody take Jack Layton and the NDP seriously anymore?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Something I Swear By.....
.Jack: “When you’re up to your ass in alligators”…
…”It’s hard to remember that your original intent was to drain the swamp.”
Not three months ago the world watched in breathless anticipation as the “second coming” of the hallowed one appeared to be on the horizon. I wasn’t one of them because there’s another old saying that propounds…
“If it looks to good to be true it probably is” (or words to that effect).
And so this very day we find the new president in more political trouble than he (or any other democrat) ever imagined as he ran for the office. Who knew that the “BNH Act” (Barney, Nancy, Harry) would get him into so much trouble? Obviously, he didn’t and therein lies the rub. When a person who comes off like Elvis Presley enters the highest office in the land with an entire world dependent upon his decisions and has no executive experience at all these things tend to happen. It becomes far worse when said person is highly reliant on people who can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time and they get to make the hard calls he can’t make himself because he simply doesn’t know BUT APPARENTLY BELIEVES HE DOES.
Not his fault people scream. He must be given time to learn the job.
“Indeed” and I would agree with that reasoning if it were not for the fact that he wants to change everything he disagrees with overnight and in doing so is causing world consternation as countries affected try to figure out what he is going to do next (with a lot of help from the “BNH” crowd). It has also not escaped my notice and I have warned about this in the past that a lot of old faces from the Clinton years are reappearing in powerful positions and we all know how that story went. If I’ve picked up on it you can be certain people like Harper have and that is deep cause for concern because Clinton with his “namby pamby” excuses and limp wristed reprisals regarding renegade Arabs helped in large part to bring on ”911″.
My view is it is going to happen again if something doesn’t change soon.
So “what to do” if you’re an American citizen and the future of the country you and your ancestors worked so hard to build appears to be disappearing in less time than it takes to tell about it?
I’ll tell you.
You do as the video in the sidebar suggests. You get on the phone, you attend those “tea parties” and you express your anger “in peaceful ways” in any way you can. If you can’t do anything else mail your representative a tea bag. They’ll get the message.
“Hey Jack, you’re up there in the great white north. Why would you care?”
I care because when that elephant to my south starts stumbling I am affected and right now it looks like it has been smoking something it shouldn’t have.
This is not the “Obama administration”.
This show we are watching is Bill Clinton “the rerun” and if you, as an American citizen aren’t scared, you should be.
Popularity: 19% [?]
17 Comments
…”It’s hard to remember that your original intent was to drain the swamp.”
Not three months ago the world watched in breathless anticipation as the “second coming” of the hallowed one appeared to be on the horizon. I wasn’t one of them because there’s another old saying that propounds…
“If it looks to good to be true it probably is” (or words to that effect).
And so this very day we find the new president in more political trouble than he (or any other democrat) ever imagined as he ran for the office. Who knew that the “BNH Act” (Barney, Nancy, Harry) would get him into so much trouble? Obviously, he didn’t and therein lies the rub. When a person who comes off like Elvis Presley enters the highest office in the land with an entire world dependent upon his decisions and has no executive experience at all these things tend to happen. It becomes far worse when said person is highly reliant on people who can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time and they get to make the hard calls he can’t make himself because he simply doesn’t know BUT APPARENTLY BELIEVES HE DOES.
Not his fault people scream. He must be given time to learn the job.
“Indeed” and I would agree with that reasoning if it were not for the fact that he wants to change everything he disagrees with overnight and in doing so is causing world consternation as countries affected try to figure out what he is going to do next (with a lot of help from the “BNH” crowd). It has also not escaped my notice and I have warned about this in the past that a lot of old faces from the Clinton years are reappearing in powerful positions and we all know how that story went. If I’ve picked up on it you can be certain people like Harper have and that is deep cause for concern because Clinton with his “namby pamby” excuses and limp wristed reprisals regarding renegade Arabs helped in large part to bring on ”911″.
My view is it is going to happen again if something doesn’t change soon.
So “what to do” if you’re an American citizen and the future of the country you and your ancestors worked so hard to build appears to be disappearing in less time than it takes to tell about it?
I’ll tell you.
You do as the video in the sidebar suggests. You get on the phone, you attend those “tea parties” and you express your anger “in peaceful ways” in any way you can. If you can’t do anything else mail your representative a tea bag. They’ll get the message.
“Hey Jack, you’re up there in the great white north. Why would you care?”
I care because when that elephant to my south starts stumbling I am affected and right now it looks like it has been smoking something it shouldn’t have.
This is not the “Obama administration”.
This show we are watching is Bill Clinton “the rerun” and if you, as an American citizen aren’t scared, you should be.
Popularity: 19% [?]
17 Comments
Let The Passengers Do The Praying....
Pilot jailed for Sicily air crash
An Italian court has jailed a Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before ditching his plane, killing 16 people.
A fuel gauge fault was partly to blame for the crash off Sicily in 2005 but judges convicted Chafik Garbi of manslaughter, jailing him for 10 years.
Six others, including the co-pilot and head of the airline Tuninter, were jailed for between eight and 10 years.
The accused will not spend time in jail until the appeals process is completed.
”This was an unprecedented sentence but we have always maintained that it was an unprecedented incident,” Niky Persico, a lawyer for one of the victims, told Italy’s Ansa news agency.
”Never before in the history of aviation disasters has there been such a chain of events and counter-events.”
[More]
An Italian court has jailed a Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before ditching his plane, killing 16 people.
A fuel gauge fault was partly to blame for the crash off Sicily in 2005 but judges convicted Chafik Garbi of manslaughter, jailing him for 10 years.
Six others, including the co-pilot and head of the airline Tuninter, were jailed for between eight and 10 years.
The accused will not spend time in jail until the appeals process is completed.
”This was an unprecedented sentence but we have always maintained that it was an unprecedented incident,” Niky Persico, a lawyer for one of the victims, told Italy’s Ansa news agency.
”Never before in the history of aviation disasters has there been such a chain of events and counter-events.”
[More]
Seems To Have A Bakground In Auto Mechanics
Some VERY "incorrect" speech
This is much-quoted on the net but Snopes.com appears to have no mention of it so it seems to be authentic.
"T. B. Bechtel, a part-time City Councilman from Midland , TX , was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.HIS STATEMENT:'If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's nuts to a car's battery cables will save just one Texas GI's life, then I have just three things to say,''Red is positive,Black is negative, andMake sure his nuts are wet.Source
Posted by jonjayray at 12:15 AM 3 comments
This is much-quoted on the net but Snopes.com appears to have no mention of it so it seems to be authentic.
"T. B. Bechtel, a part-time City Councilman from Midland , TX , was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.HIS STATEMENT:'If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's nuts to a car's battery cables will save just one Texas GI's life, then I have just three things to say,''Red is positive,Black is negative, andMake sure his nuts are wet.Source
Posted by jonjayray at 12:15 AM 3 comments
Intelligent People Looking For Truth
Posted on Drudge....Liberty and TyrannyCongrats to Mark Levin on the success of his new book, Liberty and Tyranny - A Conservative Manifesto. I listen to Mark daily on Sirius Patriot (you can also listen free on his website, link in Right Column). Mark ran out of books at his book signing in NY this weekend and was there for about 6 hours apparently, and ended up shaking the hands of people who had waited but didn't get a book, and chRandom Musings of a Tormented Mind
.
Iggy On The Move
Steve Janke: Michael Ignatieff gets his own in-and-out financing scheme
Monday, March 23, 2009 Remember all the noise about the Conservatives' "in and out" advertising scheme, and how outraged Liberals were? Keep that...
Monday, March 23, 2009 Remember all the noise about the Conservatives' "in and out" advertising scheme, and how outraged Liberals were? Keep that...
Gives New Meaning To Twit
March 25, 2009
Re: When a Twitterer becomes a twit
Mayor David Miller's use of Twitter is a fun and useful way to feel connected to a mayor who has a decent sense of humour.
However, a Twittering Mayor should not be confused with real transparent and open civic government.
For one thing, the city clerk's incorrigible non-compliance with provincial freedom of information law is a scandal.
Fortunately, city council itself has recognized this. In fact, council has recently begun to take the necessary steps to ensure that the municipal bureaucracy provides the openness and transparency that Torontonians expect.
For example, in October, city council voted to challenge its own City Clerk's Department in court over the clerk's refusal to disclose law enforcement information necessary to scrutinize the performance of the city's Licensing and Standards Department.
The culture at city hall is changing; but it is the diligent and too often unrecognized work of city councillors behind the scenes that is making the real difference, not Miller's Twitter.
Rami Tabello, Toronto
Re: When a Twitterer becomes a twit
Mayor David Miller's use of Twitter is a fun and useful way to feel connected to a mayor who has a decent sense of humour.
However, a Twittering Mayor should not be confused with real transparent and open civic government.
For one thing, the city clerk's incorrigible non-compliance with provincial freedom of information law is a scandal.
Fortunately, city council itself has recognized this. In fact, council has recently begun to take the necessary steps to ensure that the municipal bureaucracy provides the openness and transparency that Torontonians expect.
For example, in October, city council voted to challenge its own City Clerk's Department in court over the clerk's refusal to disclose law enforcement information necessary to scrutinize the performance of the city's Licensing and Standards Department.
The culture at city hall is changing; but it is the diligent and too often unrecognized work of city councillors behind the scenes that is making the real difference, not Miller's Twitter.
Rami Tabello, Toronto
Cuts where convenient
David Miller finally holds the line on salaries, but only for a fraction of staff -- and not council
By SUE-ANN LEVY
David Miller finally holds the line on salaries, but only for a fraction of staff -- and not council
By SUE-ANN LEVY
When Mayor David Miller came to call about this year's $8,7-billion operating budget at the Toronto Sun three weeks ago, he was pretty adamant that he couldn't "arbitrarily" touch the generous bonus scheme for non-union employees.
Or freeze employee wages for that matter.
"We know we can't just arbitrarily do it," the mayor said in response to our questions about getting rid of the scheme that in past years has rewarded managers with a 3% performance bonus on top of their cost-of-living increases.
"We're trying to compete for talent with a lot of other people."
But that was then. This is now. Being as his management of the city is forever a moving target, I suspect the public backlash in the past few weeks has been pretty darn vehement and consistent that his free-spending regime is completely out of touch with the reality of the economy around them.
Besides, competing for talent is pretty much a moot point considering 7,000 Torontonians lost their jobs last month. I'm sure any number of them would give their eyeteeth to have a "job for life" at Socialist Silly Hall.
So all of a sudden yesterday His Blondness arbitrarily decided the city's 3,900 management and non-unionized employees will forgo their cost-of-living increase this year and take just a 1% hike next year.
He also arbitrarily opted to cut -- both this year and next -- the generous lump sum bonuses that will be given to some 51% of management and non-union employees who are already at the top of their pay grid. Some 46% of non-unionized employees still working through their salary ranges will be allowed to continue to collect their merit pay.
Miller said he brought forward the proposal to labour relations committee because of the "challenging situation the city faces" and hopes to put the money saved -- about $20 million -- into the depleted welfare reserve fund.
"We must lead by example and show restraint wherever possible," he wrote to councillors.
Now far be it from me to criticize the mayor for at least taking a step to tackle the city's huge wage bill. I've been writing about the generous merit pay scheme for more than two years.
Its strongest critic, Coun. Peter Milczyn, was also pleased with yesterday's move.
"I'm happy to see the mayor has finally followed my lead on performance bonuses for city staff," he said.
LITTLE PAYBACK
That said, King David's measures are much like my dachsie Kishke's, shall we say, dogged efforts to snare each feisty squirrel that taunts him in our backyard: Much sound and fury is expended for little payback.
For one thing, the wage freeze will only impact about 7.5% of the city's 52,000 employees in total. If you consider the performance bonus freeze separately, that will affect a mere 2.8% of city employees.
The mayor adamantly refused to impose the same policy on the city's agencies, boards and commissions (staffed by another 25,000 employees) -- including the TTC and Toronto Public Health -- insisting he has to respect the fact they are "arms-length" from the city with their own human resources policies.
I asked him why he can impose a TTC fare freeze but not a wage freeze. He told me I should "know the rules.
"All of the ABCs are independent corporations who have their own policies ... that's the law," he said.
When questions were repeatedly raised about whether the mayor intends to ask all of council to take the same wage freeze (instead of 2.4% already in place), he said that was a "separate issue" and council's increases are "moderate."
When asked whether he'd send a "clear message" to the unions that they should consider a wage freeze too, he again hid behind the process.
"I can't negotiate collective agreements in public ... it's not appropriate, it's never done," he said.
Yes, but he can sure set a tone.
But we all know King David won't stick his neck out when it comes to his cherished union pals and his favoured councillors. After all, it won't be long now before they're all holding hands and forming the re-election committee for November 2010.
Still, I'm not fooled by his meagre efforts to target a few thousand city employees and you shouldn't be, either.
Showing restraint wherever possible means right across the city, his council included. There's no excuse.
Or freeze employee wages for that matter.
"We know we can't just arbitrarily do it," the mayor said in response to our questions about getting rid of the scheme that in past years has rewarded managers with a 3% performance bonus on top of their cost-of-living increases.
"We're trying to compete for talent with a lot of other people."
But that was then. This is now. Being as his management of the city is forever a moving target, I suspect the public backlash in the past few weeks has been pretty darn vehement and consistent that his free-spending regime is completely out of touch with the reality of the economy around them.
Besides, competing for talent is pretty much a moot point considering 7,000 Torontonians lost their jobs last month. I'm sure any number of them would give their eyeteeth to have a "job for life" at Socialist Silly Hall.
So all of a sudden yesterday His Blondness arbitrarily decided the city's 3,900 management and non-unionized employees will forgo their cost-of-living increase this year and take just a 1% hike next year.
He also arbitrarily opted to cut -- both this year and next -- the generous lump sum bonuses that will be given to some 51% of management and non-union employees who are already at the top of their pay grid. Some 46% of non-unionized employees still working through their salary ranges will be allowed to continue to collect their merit pay.
Miller said he brought forward the proposal to labour relations committee because of the "challenging situation the city faces" and hopes to put the money saved -- about $20 million -- into the depleted welfare reserve fund.
"We must lead by example and show restraint wherever possible," he wrote to councillors.
Now far be it from me to criticize the mayor for at least taking a step to tackle the city's huge wage bill. I've been writing about the generous merit pay scheme for more than two years.
Its strongest critic, Coun. Peter Milczyn, was also pleased with yesterday's move.
"I'm happy to see the mayor has finally followed my lead on performance bonuses for city staff," he said.
LITTLE PAYBACK
That said, King David's measures are much like my dachsie Kishke's, shall we say, dogged efforts to snare each feisty squirrel that taunts him in our backyard: Much sound and fury is expended for little payback.
For one thing, the wage freeze will only impact about 7.5% of the city's 52,000 employees in total. If you consider the performance bonus freeze separately, that will affect a mere 2.8% of city employees.
The mayor adamantly refused to impose the same policy on the city's agencies, boards and commissions (staffed by another 25,000 employees) -- including the TTC and Toronto Public Health -- insisting he has to respect the fact they are "arms-length" from the city with their own human resources policies.
I asked him why he can impose a TTC fare freeze but not a wage freeze. He told me I should "know the rules.
"All of the ABCs are independent corporations who have their own policies ... that's the law," he said.
When questions were repeatedly raised about whether the mayor intends to ask all of council to take the same wage freeze (instead of 2.4% already in place), he said that was a "separate issue" and council's increases are "moderate."
When asked whether he'd send a "clear message" to the unions that they should consider a wage freeze too, he again hid behind the process.
"I can't negotiate collective agreements in public ... it's not appropriate, it's never done," he said.
Yes, but he can sure set a tone.
But we all know King David won't stick his neck out when it comes to his cherished union pals and his favoured councillors. After all, it won't be long now before they're all holding hands and forming the re-election committee for November 2010.
Still, I'm not fooled by his meagre efforts to target a few thousand city employees and you shouldn't be, either.
Showing restraint wherever possible means right across the city, his council included. There's no excuse.
The Unions Can Afford To Be Critical-They Get Their Increases
Miller clamps down
Mayor cancels bonuses, non-union increases
By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA
Luckily for city councillors, they don't work for Toronto Mayor David Miller.
He has decided to scrap cost-of-living wage increases for the city's 3,900 non-unionized staff this year, and cancel bonuses for the city's top bureaucrats who can't climb any higher on the pay scale.
City councillors, though, are being allowed to keep the $2,348 cost-of-living increase they got this year, hiking their pay to $99,153.
Miller is also limiting non-unionized city employees to 1% cost-of-living increase next year, and again scrapping bonuses for the 2,000 or so non-unionized staff, including senior management, who are earning the top salary for their positions.
Miller decided on the measures, which were passed yesterday at the city's employee and labour relations committee, after "considerable thought."
He said councillors should be allowed to keep their increase because for several years they have tied their compensation to inflation, while city staff were eligible for a 6% wage increase.
"A city councillor is paid what a policeman who gets some overtime is paid," Miller said. "It's open to members of council, if they wish, to choose not to accept the increase."
Miller and several councillors have rejected the increase. Other councillors, though, think allowing some to give back the increase isn't good enough, and argue council should be leading by example.
"We're not giving senior management the option of giving back their bonuses," Councillor Frances Nunziata said.
"I don't think we can possibly ask city staff to give up their increases when we're taking one," added Councillor Doug Holyday.
The cost-saving measures still need to be approved by council.
A memo Miller sent out to all councillors yesterday said the measures will save the city $20 million -- or one property tax percentage point -- over two years, and that the money will be set aside to buffer increasing welfare costs, as caseloads continue to rise.
The mayor's wage freeze and bonus-scrapping only applies to the city, and not to its agencies, boards, and commissions like the Toronto Police Service and the TTC.
The city's two biggest unions, CUPE 416 and CUPE 79, criticized the mayor for his treatment of the city's non-unionized employees.
"Attacking the wages of city employees, union or non-union, is not the right way to help get us through and out of the recession," said Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE 416.
City not spending taxpayer money wisely: Poll
By BRYN WEESE
Most Torontonians think City Hall could be more "efficient" with taxpayers' money and the land transfer tax is "unfair," a poll says
City paid $4,500 to fix politician's 'shrill' voice
by Donovan Vincent, Louise Brown
Mar 24, 2009 (35)
Criticized for talking too fast and sounding "shrill" during city hall meetings, Councillor Karen Stintz decided she needed to do something...
Mayor cancels bonuses, non-union increases
By BRYN WEESE, SUN MEDIA
Luckily for city councillors, they don't work for Toronto Mayor David Miller.
He has decided to scrap cost-of-living wage increases for the city's 3,900 non-unionized staff this year, and cancel bonuses for the city's top bureaucrats who can't climb any higher on the pay scale.
City councillors, though, are being allowed to keep the $2,348 cost-of-living increase they got this year, hiking their pay to $99,153.
Miller is also limiting non-unionized city employees to 1% cost-of-living increase next year, and again scrapping bonuses for the 2,000 or so non-unionized staff, including senior management, who are earning the top salary for their positions.
Miller decided on the measures, which were passed yesterday at the city's employee and labour relations committee, after "considerable thought."
He said councillors should be allowed to keep their increase because for several years they have tied their compensation to inflation, while city staff were eligible for a 6% wage increase.
"A city councillor is paid what a policeman who gets some overtime is paid," Miller said. "It's open to members of council, if they wish, to choose not to accept the increase."
Miller and several councillors have rejected the increase. Other councillors, though, think allowing some to give back the increase isn't good enough, and argue council should be leading by example.
"We're not giving senior management the option of giving back their bonuses," Councillor Frances Nunziata said.
"I don't think we can possibly ask city staff to give up their increases when we're taking one," added Councillor Doug Holyday.
The cost-saving measures still need to be approved by council.
A memo Miller sent out to all councillors yesterday said the measures will save the city $20 million -- or one property tax percentage point -- over two years, and that the money will be set aside to buffer increasing welfare costs, as caseloads continue to rise.
The mayor's wage freeze and bonus-scrapping only applies to the city, and not to its agencies, boards, and commissions like the Toronto Police Service and the TTC.
The city's two biggest unions, CUPE 416 and CUPE 79, criticized the mayor for his treatment of the city's non-unionized employees.
"Attacking the wages of city employees, union or non-union, is not the right way to help get us through and out of the recession," said Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE 416.
City not spending taxpayer money wisely: Poll
By BRYN WEESE
Most Torontonians think City Hall could be more "efficient" with taxpayers' money and the land transfer tax is "unfair," a poll says
City paid $4,500 to fix politician's 'shrill' voice
by Donovan Vincent, Louise Brown
Mar 24, 2009 (35)
Criticized for talking too fast and sounding "shrill" during city hall meetings, Councillor Karen Stintz decided she needed to do something...
Monday, March 23, 2009
When Ann Is Speechless I Go To......
Still Waters
Skippy joins the pile on...
Warren Kinsella is a preening, smug, inept, hypocrite and in that he embodies everything that is wrong with both professional politics and the human spirit. That so many Liberals hate him far more than I do - and I loathe the cocksucker more than words can say - tells me that the battle for whatever is left of the party's soul is far from over. He's an intellectual and moral dwarf and a SLAPP-happy thug, more than willing to play both sides of the fence, depending on which is more beneficial to his personal vendettas, both real and imagined. He relies on "libel chill" far more often than he does actual argument. Words like "sleazy" and "stupid" don't go far enough in describing everything he embodies, but the limitations of the English language are what they are. He's the skunk who farts at a garden party and then levels an accusing glare at an innocent fat guy in the corner.
And really, who can argue with that?
h/t
Wonder Woman on March 23, 2009
Skippy joins the pile on...
Warren Kinsella is a preening, smug, inept, hypocrite and in that he embodies everything that is wrong with both professional politics and the human spirit. That so many Liberals hate him far more than I do - and I loathe the cocksucker more than words can say - tells me that the battle for whatever is left of the party's soul is far from over. He's an intellectual and moral dwarf and a SLAPP-happy thug, more than willing to play both sides of the fence, depending on which is more beneficial to his personal vendettas, both real and imagined. He relies on "libel chill" far more often than he does actual argument. Words like "sleazy" and "stupid" don't go far enough in describing everything he embodies, but the limitations of the English language are what they are. He's the skunk who farts at a garden party and then levels an accusing glare at an innocent fat guy in the corner.
And really, who can argue with that?
h/t
Wonder Woman on March 23, 2009
He Has A Little Way To Go Yet.....
Red Meat
Written by Publius
Monday, 23 March 2009 04:56
After years of saying not much in particular about the gun registry, and that odd year long silence about the CWB, Stephen Harper started sounding like his old self yesterday:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper set his sights on the federal long gun registry Saturday, asking a meeting of recreational sportsmen to help him build enough support in Parliament to scrap the registry.
Harper urged members of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to contact opposition MPs and pressure them to support legislation that would target the six-year-old program.
"We are looking to unite a majority of MPs in repealing the long gun registry," Harper told the group in a speech in Mississauga, west of Toronto.
"The leaders of the opposition parties continue to be against this. But there are MPs in all these parties that know what we know, that law-abiding hunters and farmers are not part of the crime problem."
"I challenge you to press these MPs to follow their consciences."
In its entire lifetime, Harper's minority government has never brought a bill to abolish the registry to a vote, fearing there would not be enough support in the House of Commons.
Three years in and now he thinks it's a priority? Even Brian Mulroney got around to scrapping the NEP within 2 years of entering office. Could this conversion to the cause of gun rights be spontaneous? Or driven by other less dignified factors:
There is a "schism" in the governing Conservative Party between the old Reform and PC wings that will likely erupt whenever Prime Minister Stephen Harper steps down as leader because there is no obvious successor who can unite the two sides, say some conservatives.
"I think as long as Harper is the leader, there's going to be a unity there, but I think there is definitely a schism in the party between the old Progressive Conservative wing and the Canadian Alliance/Reform wing. The day Stephen Harper steps down as leader, you're going to see that become a real issue because I don't see anybody as a possible successor to Stephen, who could appeal to both wings," said Democracy Institute senior fellow Gerry Nicholls, former vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in an interview with The Hill Times recently.
OK. Gerry Nicholls is the professional prophet of doom for the conservative movement, always bitchin' about how the Harper Conservatives have lost their way. How many agree with Nicholls? The Prime Minister's recent revelation on the gun registry sounds like shoring up the party's base. A sudden announcement about the CWB, some new legal initiative or perhaps even a bill laid before the House, might be in the offing. The dogs are growling and Papa Stephen needs to throw them some red meat.
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Hits: 107
Written by Publius
Monday, 23 March 2009 04:56
After years of saying not much in particular about the gun registry, and that odd year long silence about the CWB, Stephen Harper started sounding like his old self yesterday:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper set his sights on the federal long gun registry Saturday, asking a meeting of recreational sportsmen to help him build enough support in Parliament to scrap the registry.
Harper urged members of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to contact opposition MPs and pressure them to support legislation that would target the six-year-old program.
"We are looking to unite a majority of MPs in repealing the long gun registry," Harper told the group in a speech in Mississauga, west of Toronto.
"The leaders of the opposition parties continue to be against this. But there are MPs in all these parties that know what we know, that law-abiding hunters and farmers are not part of the crime problem."
"I challenge you to press these MPs to follow their consciences."
In its entire lifetime, Harper's minority government has never brought a bill to abolish the registry to a vote, fearing there would not be enough support in the House of Commons.
Three years in and now he thinks it's a priority? Even Brian Mulroney got around to scrapping the NEP within 2 years of entering office. Could this conversion to the cause of gun rights be spontaneous? Or driven by other less dignified factors:
There is a "schism" in the governing Conservative Party between the old Reform and PC wings that will likely erupt whenever Prime Minister Stephen Harper steps down as leader because there is no obvious successor who can unite the two sides, say some conservatives.
"I think as long as Harper is the leader, there's going to be a unity there, but I think there is definitely a schism in the party between the old Progressive Conservative wing and the Canadian Alliance/Reform wing. The day Stephen Harper steps down as leader, you're going to see that become a real issue because I don't see anybody as a possible successor to Stephen, who could appeal to both wings," said Democracy Institute senior fellow Gerry Nicholls, former vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in an interview with The Hill Times recently.
OK. Gerry Nicholls is the professional prophet of doom for the conservative movement, always bitchin' about how the Harper Conservatives have lost their way. How many agree with Nicholls? The Prime Minister's recent revelation on the gun registry sounds like shoring up the party's base. A sudden announcement about the CWB, some new legal initiative or perhaps even a bill laid before the House, might be in the offing. The dogs are growling and Papa Stephen needs to throw them some red meat.
Add comment (2)
Hits: 107
Freedom Of Expression??????
Canada demands apology over Fox TV Afghan comments
By Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service,
March 23, 2009 OTTAWA
— As the bodies of Canada's four latest war dead returned from Afghanistan on Monday, the federal government demanded that the U.S. TV network Fox News apologize for airing a weekend panel discussion that mocks Canada's contribution to the NATO-led mission.The Fox item has provoked a storm of outrage among Canadians who were offended by the broadcast, which originally aired overnight on the weekend, but has since taken on a new life on the Internet."We want an apology from this so-called comedian and his panel. These are despicable, hurtful and ignorant comments. No one is laughing and they owe Canada, and more importantly the families of each one of our fallen heroes, an apology for their ill-informed mistakes," Dan Dugas, the spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, told Canwest News ...
[ READ MORE ]
By Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service,
March 23, 2009 OTTAWA
— As the bodies of Canada's four latest war dead returned from Afghanistan on Monday, the federal government demanded that the U.S. TV network Fox News apologize for airing a weekend panel discussion that mocks Canada's contribution to the NATO-led mission.The Fox item has provoked a storm of outrage among Canadians who were offended by the broadcast, which originally aired overnight on the weekend, but has since taken on a new life on the Internet."We want an apology from this so-called comedian and his panel. These are despicable, hurtful and ignorant comments. No one is laughing and they owe Canada, and more importantly the families of each one of our fallen heroes, an apology for their ill-informed mistakes," Dan Dugas, the spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, told Canwest News ...
[ READ MORE ]
We Are Waiting For Enlightment....and waiting and waiting and....
What us knuckle-draggin' Neocons......can learn from the compassionate, intellectual left.You wanna rebut accusations of anti-semitism... hey, just trot out another stereotype...Geez... I hate to think what Zee's got in his back pocket... a little Amos and Andy?(swept up @ dmb)halls of macadamia
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.