Whatever happened to tasering all criminals?

I thought the Mounties love their tasers?

Or is that for innocent civilians only?

Sorry. I get cynical when I read this.

This might sound outlandish

But government monopoly on auto insurance actually sucks. Mandatory participation in government monopoly insurance has all the warm and fuzzy feelings of robbing people blind.

First, you have to pay the insurance company so you can drive on the road. Then, if something happens to your car, ICBC uses every rule there is in the book to not give you any money or less money than what you should get if they can't weasel their way out of it. Oh and while they're at it, they bilk your money too if they can.

If you hit a deer but did not tow the deer's carcass (or other body parts) back to the ICBC office, then tough, ICBC won't cover you.

If you send in an old beater car to ICBC to have them fix it but ICBC sells it instead, then - wow that's a golden opportunity! Keep charging insurance premiums on a car that doesn't even exist! Not to mention under-offering you on compensations.

And through all of this, ICBC is mostly free from having to be accountable because it's part of the government.

The bottom line is that ICBC is a gang of money-grubbing con artists and criminals who exist in government to cheat people of their money. They must be unceremoniously axed. Not just privatized, but completely dismantled like Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party in Iraq, so that when the auto insurance market is deregulated, there won't be a big player in the field who already has the upper hand. Only then will the industry have any chance of becoming competitive.

Then the idiotic legislation requiring people to insure their cars to drive on the road needs to be scrapped. This is probably more important than deregulating the auto insurance market. With this law, it's like ICBC never had to work a day in its life because people are forced to come to its doorsteps with money in hand. Hey, I'd love to work in some government body where people are forced to come to me with their bank accounts at my disposal, if it wasn't so sleazy and immoral.

Next time, if a leftist tells you to eat shit

You probably will.

Everything is A-okay as long as it's done in the name of leftism.

George W. Bush only lasted for 8 years. But scumbags like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro last for a lifetime. This is the work of leftism.

Obligatory Iraq commentary

The recent elections in Iraq mark two important milestones:

a) the elections are largely peaceful with only a handful of American troops to maintain order.
b) voters mostly did not vote along religious / sectarian lines, as once feared.

It cannot be helped that the world has mixed feelings about democracy in Iraq, given the circumstances under which it was democratized, but for the sake of peace and democracy, a successful election where sensible choices were made is good news, especially during a worldwide economic recession.

So how do elections in Iraq rev up the world economy? Beats me. But during the 2005 parliamentary elections, Wall Street did see significant gains, and I remember very distinctly watching CNN reports repeatedly implying or outright stating that the stock market's surge was precisely because of the successful elections in Iraq. I still don't know how that is supposed to make any sense. But apparently that's what happens.

So here's to the success of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iraq and another stock market surge to get the world out of this hell hole of a recession!

This worries you?

I thought unions exist to destroy businesses. So when GM mulls pulling out of Canada, shouldn't the CAW be dancing in the streets?

Oh. Even unions need businesses? Who knew?

All the comic relief you need in this dire economic turmoil

So if your monthly Bergdorf’s allowance has been halved and bottle service has all but disappeared from your life, lighten your heart with laughter and email your stories to dabagirls@gmail.com.

Warning: overindulgence in the blog above may result in anger more than hilarity. Paying excessive attention to the blog may also land the blog authors a 6~7 figure book deal that they don't deserve (as is part of the speculation about why this blog even exists). As they say, all things in moderation. You hear that, you mindless materialistic whores?! ALL THINGS IN MODERATION?!

Strategic aftermath, post-budget

So I'm just wondering, would it make a difference if the Liberals boycott the budget instead of actually voting in support of the government?

Because I could've sworn, if the Liberals vote in support of the Conservatives, they're essentially in a weaker position than when they were under Stephane Dion, who could at least say that he didn't vote in support of the Conservatives.

Or does that not apply to Iggy because he can "put the government on probation" like no other?

Fiscal conservatism, by the numbers

When all is said and done, Canada is probably more conservative than most governments in the developed world.

The G20 are calling for governments to cough up stimulus packages worth 2% of their GDP. This is the norm these days.

Canada is implementing an $18 billion stimulus, which would be 1.0% ~ 1.5% of Canada's GDP. The deficit is still an outrageous $33 billion for fiscal 2009-2010, because the status quo deficit (the deficit that the government incurs if it does not introduce any spending cuts or new spending) is apparently $15 billion already, tax revenues having fallen faster than expected.

Getting back into the black should still be an important priority, but when you're already at a status quo deficit of $15 billion, balanced budgets don't happen overnight. That doesn't mean we shouldn't endeavor for budgetary surpluses in near future, but to accuse any government for not doing it overnight is, as I've said before, preaching and demanding the impossible.

And finally, let's not forget a deficit-happy conservative icon. Quick! Someone come out and accuse Ronald Reagan of ever being un-conservative!

No takers? Hypocrites.

Congratulations Pittsburgh

There will always be an NFL final each year, but chances are, few will be as nail-biting as the 2008 Steelers v.s. Cardinals game. So congratulations on the sixth NFL victory, Pittsburgh. Er I mean, Sixburgh.

The cursed privilege

It just occurred to me that the NDP can do a lot of things.

They get to slam Stephane Dion for propping up the Conservative government.
They get to slam the Conservative budget for spending too little even as we rack up $85 billion in deficits when all is said and done.
They get to slam Michael Ignatieff for betraying the coalition.

All this stems from the fact that they were never in government, and can therefore say whatever they want (short of supporting the Holocaust like Robert McLelland).

How would the NDP behave in a hypothetical coalition?

They can take credit for all the good times and blame all the bad times on the governing party of the coalition, which won't be them, naturally.

In short, nothing is ever their fault. No matter what happens, they are always the cute little romantic socialists fighting the good fight.

This allure only wears off if they ever become the governing party. And therein lies the silver lining to the dark clouds of perennial privileges that Canadian socialists enjoy.

Phew.

Budget day reflections on conservative principles

What does it mean to be conservative? This budget calls for a serious revisiting of this topic.

There's this growing trend among online conservatives in Canada. Something about taking jabs at the budget to beef up your conservative credentials. People like Gerry Nicholls practically gets paid to go on TV and radio to whine about the deficit.

And there is something wrong with that picture.

Does anyone believe that there would be no deficits if Jean Chretien is prime minister right now instead of Stephen Harper? What about if Gerry Nicholls is prime minister?

Ah.

It's an insult to the intelligence of the Canadian population when people like Nicholls get paid to demand and preach the impossible on TV and radio (but then again, worse people than him are all over mainstream Canadian media). It's an insult to the intelligence of conservatives to remind us of the good old Chretien days, clearly with the intention of implying that Jean Chretien could turn out a surplus in this economic recession if he's still Prime Minister today. Let us not forget that Jean Chretien was one of the backroom architects of the coalition, the one that promised to go even deeper into the red with their budget than the Conservative Party. And apparently, Nicholls thinks that Chretien is fiscally swell. There are some lines you should not cross as a conservative. That's one of them.

Principled conservatives are not about preaching and demanding the impossible (and, quite frankly, turning out a surplus in this recession is impossible). That's an avenue for demagogues and leftist partisans. And, unfortunately, that is the avenue that people like Gerry Nicholls, Andrew Coyne, and several conservative bloggers have taken. The thing about Nicholls and Coyne is that, like I said, they get paid to do this (but I find Coyne somewhat less annoying, for what it's worth), pitting them among the many political parasites of Canadian media.

I myself never thought that turning out a surplus this fiscal year would be possible. However, I have my own reservations about the size of this year's deficit. The deficit could have been a lot smaller. But right now, it's more important to keep the coalition at bay than to whine about the budget.

Budget day jockeying

The NDP and Bloc Quebecois have demonstrated why they must never get their hands on Canadian government money.

My best guess about the Liberal Party is that they'll huddle together to manufacture the best reasons to vote for the budget that will make them look good at the same time. That sounds exactly like what Michael Ignatieff had been doing all day today.

Having a Conservative government is obviously better than a coalition government, to conservative-minded people. However, I can't say that this budget is a principled conservative one.

A sad state of affairs for law enforcement

After the Vancouver RCMP was let off the hook for tasering someone to death in the YVR Airport, we have this. Assaulting ethnic minorities in a highly targeted manner.

It's nothing less than ironic that these mind-bogglingly arrogant organizations (the RCMP and the VPD) that boasts of bureaucratic clusterfucks of screenings and tests and lie detectors before hiring anyone have such crown jewels in their ranks in recent days.

I'd like to think that I'm conservative. I want to believe in the law enforcement establishment. But these days it seems like the cops are more interested in dishing out violation tickets than fighting crime, and the idiots in the provincial government are more interested in punishing people who just happen to want to give money to beggars than cracking down on drug dealers. Okay, that time when they busted a gang stronghold and uncovered a .50 caliber sniper rifle was pretty sweet. But that's about it for the police these days.

I think the biggest problem is that police officers who commit crimes are not held to the same standard as regular criminals. The assaulting cop from New Westminster is still being paid. This needs to change. Crime-committing cops are no different than criminals. And they must have their asses kicked. That's what law and order is about.

Because it's totally badass

Wear a pink shirt and stop bullying!

... Is that the best that Vancouver can do?

Okay, on a more serious note...

Bully victims are like rape victims. A lot of them don't report to the appropriate sources of help, even if they can. The best way to minimize bullying (it probably won't be eliminated) is for school staff members to be proactive. Go out on a limb to take note of any incidence of bullying, and get on it at the first instant.

And, of course, don't even tell anyone that being bullied is a character-building experience. Because that might result in you being shot.

So, $64 billion deficit

Blame George Bush (for the bailouts). Blame Barack Obama (for the even bigger bailouts). Blame Canada (for having a socialist party).

And yeah. The Conservatives do take some responsibility too. But seriously, the Conservatives alone could barely do anything about it.

There will always be an eternal imbalance between the government and the governed, regardless of the type of government:

If you owe money to the government, they give you shit, and then some, until you pay back on time.

If the government owes you money, however, good luck. You ain't gonna get it back (unless the government incurs deficits due to TAX CUTS). At least not with the government running $64 billion deficits in the next 2 years. WITH NO TAX CUTS.

My old boss told me this (and he's not necessarily all that right wing, to be honest). It's a pearl of wisdom I will never forget.

Economic recession, in a nutshell

I've been laid off this Tuesday. No hard feelings with the company.

Today, I found a new job, which I will be starting on Monday. Even though I could probably sit on my five-figure bank account and do nothing for a year until this recession blows over.

The moral of the story?

If I can do it, leftists have no excuse asking the government for bailouts / welfare because of "these economic bad times."

And now, more SDA

This deserves a separate blog post because I'm a UBC alumnus (Department of Political Science).



For all intents and purposes, the Ubyssey is a pinko-commie lefty rag. But since the presidency of UBC is currently run by a true-bred Trudeau crony of a Liberal, then maybe the politics of the Ubyssey had become similarly reflected, and hence this distancing from Michael Byers.

In any case, I refuse to believe that there is a principled motivation behind this particular barrage against Michael Byers, even though I hate the guy myself and was very relieved to see him finish a distant third in the federal election.

Congratulations Small Dead Animals!

And to celebrate the occasion, here are some gems from the recent SDA:

Do as Obama says, not as Bush does - even though they're basically doing the same thing. Choke on a fucking pretzel, Obama bin Lyin'!