Strange isn’t it?

The Publisher & Editor of the newspaper that wrongly reported that Stevie Boy pocketed a communion wafer, at Romeo LeBlanc’s funeral, are now history, toast, for their inaccurate reporting.

The publisher and editor of the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal are no longer with the paper after it was forced to apologize to Stephen Harper and two of its own reporters over a story about whether the prime minister took communion at the state funeral of former governor general Roméo LeBlanc. ( CBC News )

Frankly, I think that the bosses should be held accountable, and their firings or removals, make sense, but to a point. Seems to me there is a double standard at work here, because gee, didn’t Stephen Harper originally blame Michael Ignatieff for making those comments, and had to apologize for it?

Then how about him stealing John Howard’s speech, and using it as his own. Again he had to sort of apologize, but it didn’t cost him his job either.

And how about his campaign speeches just last October, when he said our economy would not enter a recession, that spending deficits would not happen, and well, the deficit is now up to FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS!

Should they have been axed, I don’t know, but I tend to think so. Should Stephen Harper suffer the same fate, and be turfed form office for his smears, his lies?

ABSOLUTELY!

I think that is the new buzz word, for politicians.  COST SHARING.

Just WHO is going to SHARE in the COST?  Local Governments? Federal Government? OR US, THE USER?

The stink about proposed health services cuts, in the Fraser, and elsewhere, has resulted in where the Fraser Health Authority is saying that first, they look for Cost Sharing & Administrative Effeciences, before looking at cutting services.  Fancy talk, but what does it really mean? 

SELLING OFF OF ASSETS?

Cost-sharing and administrative efficiencies are the first place the health authority will look for savings, but he can’t rule out cuts to services, said Murray. ( CBC News )

To begin with, as I have said, since when does HEALTH CARE need to show a profit? I agree, it needs to be effecient, but what we have now, is far from that. We have a system that is constantly growing, while we shrink offered service. Like casts for those with a broken bone or two. Oh sure, we can give them the heavy plaster cast, but the new lightweight one, that makes it easier to use, is even more waterproof, COSTS EXTRA. 

I don’t know, if the patient is the center of the system, for health, why are their needs ignored, and yet staff, administration, all take front row? Why does it come down to how many paper clips are used, or saved, before the comfort of the patient?

In my opinion, we are approaching health care the wrong way. We are looking at how to save money, instead of how to improve the system. We need to committ to either National Health Care, or to Private Health Care, which is for the rich. Private Health seems to be the way Government is trending, not because it is more effecient, not because it is better, but because it satisfy their need for campaign funds.

IF we truly want our system to work, we need to make Nursing a profession again, a calling. Same goes for Physicians, and other Health Related Jobs, like lab technicians, and yes, even Orderlies.

Today, these are simply jobs, categorized as high paying, so that is where the bean counters go to cut corners. They don’t realize that cutting out a lab technician, means 10 or 20 less patients can be xrayed, or have their bone denisty measured. They don’t realize that cutting an orderly down per shift, means Nurses have to change bedpans, or make beds. TODAY taking a few years to get a degree, isn’t a free ride either, to a huge bank account, to buy a new car every year, and have a summer home and winter home.

TIME TO CHANGE OUR ATTITUDES PEOPLE, WE ARE ALL GOING TO NEED HEALTH CARE.

Lots of fanfare, lots of important VIP’s speaking, and the end result?

Well, we get some great sound bites, and some hinted at solutions, but when it comes to details, the Harper Machine is in true form, giving absolutely nothing away. Oh it announces big plans, without the real guts on display. It is going to boost the Northern Economy, which one can translate into selling off assets.

It will protect our Interests abroad, with dialogue, which can translate into Giving In to Foreign Interests, unless of course, it impacts the needs and goals of the United States. Then, well, we’ll stand firm, until the President gives his marchng orders to Stevie Boy.

“We’re not going down a road toward confrontation. Indeed, we’re going down a road toward co-operation and collaboration. That is the Canadian way. And that’s the way my other colleagues around the table have chosen to go as well,” he said. ( CBC News )

What isn’t said in this gathering of the faithful, of the power group, is HOW it will be done. Russia restarted its flights over the North, and their fishing fleets, along with Norways, continue to push the boundaries. Even the good old United States continues to question our right to the northern waters, and lands.

Our North is rich in resources, and is a plum for anyone to grab hold of. And like days of old, unless we are prepared to defend it, and show that, we won’t hold onto it. That is how it worked, in the past, and nothing has really changed. YES, we do need to strengthen our presence there, economically. WE do need to grow our Northern regions with towns, with villages, with people, but we need to insure that they can grow, by having a clear presence in the North, not just idle chit chat, not just phony promises.

AND we need to insure, that is CANADA that makes the inroads into those resources, by controlling WHO gets access. IF that means PUBLIC expenditures, then it is in our best interests to do that. To SELL THE RIGHTS to some private firm, that is owned by some foreign firm, that is under the control of some foreign government, is just plain STUPID.

We need a real Arctic Strategy, from a Government that is REPRESENTATIVE OF CANADA, NOT ONE THAT REPRESENTS SPECIAL INTERESTS LIKE THE HARPER CONSERVATIVES.

Gordon Campbell unveiled the new harmonized tax for BC that will take effect in July 2010.

Premier Gordon Campbell announced Thursday that the new sales tax, which will combine the five per cent GST and the seven per cent PST into a single 12 per cent levy called the HST, will take effect in July 2010. ( CBC News )

You have to love the politicians, especially those that are so full of it. I mean Campbell opposed the joining of the PST with the GST and now, suddenly reverses course. What happened? Did Harper get the goods on a wild party, so now suddenly BC is added to the rolls of in sync provinces?

AND doesn’t it make you feel all warm & cozy, having your provincial sales tax ‘harmonize’ with the federal one? One has to love the symantics used, to make something unpopular appear to be, well, comfy, cozy, by using such words as HARMONIZED.   Should call it for what it truly is, CASH GRAB.

We have just gone through a tough economic downturn. Many call it a RECESSION, though myself I call it TAXPAYER RAPE. Seriously, I really do, because it is Big Business that came running to us, the taxpayer, demanding we help them sort out their business problems. In return, we get a higher national debt load, and more jobs lost.

Like how does that work?  We pay them, to save their sorry asses and incompetence, and in return we place a huge debt onto future generations, and at the same time, get fired or ‘laid off’ due to restructuring.  Something is a bit cock eyed here, don’t you think?

Now Mr. Campbell is going to add a further tax grab, in a year, on the backs of the people who are still reeling from this latest business boondoggle. I suppose he figures it’ll all be over in a year anyhow, so we won’t fuss too much.  AND IF IT ISN’T?

This whole bailout of Private Business nags at me. I mean, how many SMALL GUYS are being able to seek Government Bailouts? Is there some Mom & Pop operation, or one that maybe just employs a dozen or so people, that can get a slice of the pie, or are they simply SOL (Shit out of Luck)?

Now, due to some closures by Canwest, of a few television stations, they are blaming the cuts on regulatory restrictions, that prevent them from demanding higher fees from Cable Providers. Now I don’t know, when I signed up for Cable, my price was $90 a month, and without adding any changes to my plan, come September my cable bill goes up to $125 a month.

Canwest has complained that federal regulations, which let cable and satellite-TV companies carry the stations without paying a fee, made the stations unviable. Canwest and other broadcasters wanted rules changed so cable and satellite companies would have to pay a carriage fee. ( CBC News )

While the Networks battle the Cable outfits, you and I get stuck with the bill. Okay, we want entertainment, but funny isn’t it, how these two giants seem to forget, that the numbers are down for a reason. Sure PRICE has an impact, but has Canwest stopped to think, ( I know, hard to imagine the pin heads in charge actually thinking.) that perhaps the reason they are seeing less advertising dollars, less viewers, is due to their actual programming?

Do they even stop to think that if they offer ten speciality channels on cable, and they ALL carry virtually the same content, that customers won’t subscribe to all ten of them, but only one?

I know our viewing habits have changed a great deal. We simply can’t find decent shows to watch, so wind up renting a video most nights. Take the Mystery Channel, we pay extra for it, but it is always reruns of the Law & Order series, which is fine, but seven days a week?  TCM has some good old stuff, but that is one channel, that is included in our package, not extra. 

Point is, many of the channels offer the same movies, the same shows, and to be blunt, not a whole lot of them either. Most of the so called speciality channels, FAIL to deliver content to their theme. Like how is Sleepless in Seattle a MYSTERY?  And worse, is that networks offer about 6 hours to 8 hours of programming, then REPEAT IT.  Sorry, but I am not spending extra money to see the same show four or five times in a 24 hour period.

Perhaps if Canwest had bothered to provide true local programming with CHEK 6, it might not be closing down. The fact is, people have shown their displeasure at the programming geniuses that turned CHEK 6 into nothing but a rehash of stuff from the mainland.  AND THAT IS WHY IT HAS FAILED.

GM & CHRYSLER have provided sub standard vehicles, have provided luxury vehicles, at a time when gas economy is one people’s mind, and they wonder why they aren’t selling cars? CANWEST provides one sided, opinions, rehashed American Shows, and they wonder why they can’t get local advertisers to support them? The fact is, business is a dog eat dog world, and it is the fittest that survice. CANWEST has shown, like GM & CHRYSLER, that they are incapable of providing a competent products for us to buy. So naturally they fail, that is just how it is in the business world.

SO WHY THE HELL ARE TAXPAYERS BEING ASKED TO BAIL THEM OUT?