1.14.2010

The Late, Late, Late Afternoon, Okay, Evening, News

1.) HAITI: IT JUST GETS WORSE Sounds like we should expect more Canadian deaths in Haiti. That's in addition to the 100,000 Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive is gussing were killed in Tuesday's brutal earthquake. Also, there are problems getting medical help, food and water and other aid to people who need it--the scale of destruction in Port-Au-Prince and other devastated areas includes collapsed buildings and impassible streets. What fun. At least Ottawa will match individul Canadians' donations (up to $50 million anyway). Then again, is that really an efficient or practical disaster relief strategy? Sounds kind of like a multimillion dollar version of a bake sale to me. Someone left me know if I'm off base here. (CBC)

2.) CONSERVATIVES CRASH IN POLLS Thanks to Harper's diabolical proroguerry, support for the Tories has tumbled. Yeah, well, that was the Prime Minister's gamble. We'll see where the voters sit when parliament comes back and everbody's forgotten about this. Harper's betting things will be just fine for his party. Think he might be right. (Globe And Mail)

3.) LOTS OF INTEREST IN MARRIAGE COMMISSIONER LAW Yeah, not so surprising. And I'll just add here that prejudices masquerading as legitimate religious values don't belong in all kinds of public spheres: education, science, medicine, politics, etc. (Leader-Post)

4.) YOU CALL IT A "STRUCTURAL DEFICIT", I CALL IT A PLOT AGAINST CANADA Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says Canada can't have a balanced budget while it continues to spend far, far more than it raises in taxes. So do you suppose when the Conservatives sliced two per cent off the GST--which lost the government $8-10 billion in revenue--they knew they were manufacturing a fiscal crisis that would help create support for savage government cuts? (CBC)

5.) A RARE SHARK ATTACK Great whites don't usually eat people. This one did. (Guardian)

6.) HAITI: GOOD GOD, PAT ROBERTSON IS A DICK So what's he saying, Haiti deserved the earthquake? Yes, he is saying that. My question: what kind of an asshole worships a god who earthquake-nukes the poorest country in the western hemisphere anyway? A miserable creep, that's who. Sure as hell not any kind of real Christian. The only public forum Pat Robertson should have is his family's dining room table on major holidays. Get off the TV, evil loon.



(Note to woman nodding in sad agreement: Fuck you, too.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cons cuts taxes and have defecits for two reasons:
1. So they can justify cuts in programs.
2. So they can saddle the next government with the task of raising taxes, and use that as political ammunition to get back into power. Or, should anyone such as Iggy say "hey you know what we will need to raise taxes to, you know, PAY FOR THINGS", use that as ammunition now to keep the opposition down.
I hate this government so much.