Vancouver Secrets

Enjoying California This Week

California in June is the best time to be here – other than going broke, everything here is at its summer’s best.

Can’t really feel the collapse that is here, but I am seeing empty malls, and finding it easy to get into great restaurants.

Here’s how California and Arnold drove the state into collapse…

It turns out there’s a force in California politics that’s much more powerful than the Governator: a culture of spending pushed by public-employee unions, money-grubbing corporate-welfare cases, and more.

Sadly, California and Schwarzenegger are hardly alone in spending well beyond their means. As many as 40 states face whopping deficits that are only going to get worse as the recession continues.

If country-wide trends do start in California, Rep. McClintock worries about what’s in store for our nation. “As high taxes, high borrowing and high spending destroy Californias economy, Californians are moving to those 49 other states. If we allow the same policies to destroy our country where are we going to go?”

“Hasta La Vista, Arnold” is written and produced by Ted Balaker. Director of Photography is Alex Manning and Associate Producer is Paul Detrick.

Carole James Shares NDP Logic

Considering beer is $28/dozen, and I have to take out a small loan to buy scotch, I’m not sure how NDP left-wing logic explains how raising wholesale prices won’t mean we’ll pay more… Carole James is a gift to Gordon Campbell… she should change her name to Carole Dion.

VANCOUVER — A New Democratic Party commitment to raise wholesale prices charged to private liquor vendors doesn’t necessarily mean higher booze prices, Leader Carole James said yesterday while campaigning in on Commercial Drive in Vancouver.

James said there has to be a level playing field for the government liquor stores and the hundreds of private liquor stores opened in B.C. after the Liberals allowed them into the market. The Liberal government recently reduced the wholesale prices charged to private vendors and an NDP campaign promise is to raise it to match the public store cost, about six per cent.

“It’s up to them as businesses whether they pass that cost on,” she said. “It was the government that gave the private stores a break, gave a gift to them and said we’re going to let you buy liquor cheaper than the public liquor stores do.”

She said people will still be able to buy at the same price in public or private stores, “unless the owners decide to hike up prices.”

So, those nasty private liquor store owners will decide if we get screwed again… for some reason they pay their staff 1/2 that of a government liquor employee, and they are still more expensive. Maybe Carole could look into why this is? And why we get taxed twice if we have a drink at a restaurant?

Find me a party that promises to lower beer prices,  privatize the government liquor stores (and auto insurance), get rid of the fraudulent carbon tax – generally move BC into the 1990’s – and they get my vote.

Canadian Environmental Tax Fraud

Here’s how imposing taxes on anything under the banner of the environmentalism gets out of control.

BC has perfected the system – taxing us for throwing out a TV 10 years ahead of time (the disposal tax), a double tax on bottled water (deposit and environmental taxes), a tax on the environmentally safe replacement for Roundup, and the list goes on…

Now we see how we were duped into the continent’s first test of a carbon tax:

First, we have a tax that is revenue neutral – the Carbon Tax – sold to the people of BC by bribing them with a cheque of $100:

From the government website:

On July 1, 2008, subject to approval by the legislature, British Columbia will begin to phase in a fully revenue-neutral carbon tax with built-in protection for lower income British Columbians.

The purpose of the carbon tax is to encourage individuals and businesses to make more environmentally responsible choices, reducing their use of fossil fuels and related emissions. The tax has the advantage of providing an incentive without favouring one way to reduce emissions over another. Business and individuals can choose to avoid it by reducing usage, increasing efficiency, changing fuels, adopting new technology or any combination of these approaches.

A propoganda support site for the tax pops up…

For months we’ve been touting the British Columbia carbon tax, and for good reason. Not only is BC’s carbon tax the highest by far in North America ($10 per metric ton of CO2 this year, rising stepwise to $30 in 2012), but the rollout of the tax has seemed to be handled with great intelligence.

And now we have the mayors clamoring to get at the revenue generated…

Metro Vancouver’s 21 mayors kicked a $300-million political football into the B.C. election campaign yesterday, calling for carbon-tax revenues to be put toward transit shortfalls.

“This money has already been collected and needs to be redistributed,” said Diane Watts, who chairs the Mayors Council on Regional Transportation. “We don’t need any more taxation.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, a former NDP MLA, praised the mayors’ decision as a “bold step.”

So, a tax that was to be revenue neutral will soon morph into a new way to fund an out of control transit system.

Keep this in mind next time your province wants to levy a tax on your behavior… BC has become the poster child for the fraud called Global Warming.

If The $10 A Pack Doesn’t Get You…

Marijuana may increase smokers’ risks, study says

Smokers who light up an occasional joint may be putting themselves at a dramatically higher risk of developing chronic lung disease, according to a new study by Canadian researchers.

The findings indicate that marijuana, even in small doses, seems to accelerate the harmful effects of smoking and greatly boosts respiratory problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The disease, which is often caused by smoking, actually encompasses a few disorders, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. People with COPD often have difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, and experience increased coughing. It’s one of the leading causes of death in Canada.

In the study, published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers found that, as expected, smokers were at an increased risk of developing COPD. But that risk was much higher among those who smoked cigarettes as well as marijuana, according to Wan Tan of the James Hogg iCapture Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, based at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver….

Despite this, an editorial being published today with the study suggests that marijuana users may not need to worry their habit will lead to serious lung problems. Dr. Tan’s study, as well as past research, hasn’t identified a strong association between marijuana use and chronic lung disease, writes Donald Tashkin, medical director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But, you can have your pot and smokes too… Check out e-smokers magazine – all the nicotine with no smoke or taxes.

photo credit: rougerouge

Wish We Could Have A Tea Party In BC?

If you are following the Tea Party movement in the US, and starting to hear of the backlash against them, you’ll find this video interesting.

The Tea parties are growing at an incredible rate, and should dwarf the anti-war and illegal immigrant protests of the Bush years.

As the far-left has taken over BC long ago, we’ve learned to quietly live in the nanny state. Our health system that now takes up 60%+ of our budget, homeless funding that tops $50,000 per homeless, and in a not-to-distant future when we run out of money, we’ll be encountering a “get the rich” mentality the US in now under.

As this movement rises in the US, one can only hope Canadians are paying attention. Here’s the main web site.

Bonus: Obama Rap… h/t

Where Does The $6-7 A Pack Go?

Ontario Looking To Extortion To Stop The Bleeding.

TORONTO — The Ontario government will introduce legislation Wednesday that would allow the province to sue tobacco companies to recover costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses, Attorney General Chris Bentley said.

Mr. Bentley said the legislation, if passed, would allow the province to directly sue tobacco companies for alleged wrongdoing and for the recovery of past, present and continuing tobacco-related damages.

I think someday they’ll prove that…

…  smokers cost the health system less over the long run – usually smoking leads to a short, terminal disease. Think of how much Alzheimer patients chew up our health care money. Or those folks living to 100.

Could it be that enough people have decided against paying the exorbitant taxes on smokes? You’d think at $10 a pack there would be a fortune to pay for the health care of smokers.

How much does the tax on cigarettes bring in? Shouldn’t this go directly to health care?

Or are cigarette companies just an easy target for extortion.

Just saying…

photo credit: Thomas Hawk