Never the less my so-called new computer is under warranty and is now fixed, unfortunately I won`t be able to pick it up until later this week, in the meantime I dusted off my old windows millennium edition, it`s slow, I can`t browse have the sites, it freezes up, to say the least it`s a pain in the butt posting until I get Windows 7 and my new tower up and running, what can I say, besides, I needed a break, all my horses came in last, Harper got his majority by fluke, my man Horgan came up a little shy, Christy Clark won the leadership and squeaked out a by-election win against David Eby, for gawd`s sake can`t we ever win one, time and time again I, no, make that we, time and time again we warned of the BC Liberal betrayals, 720,000 people signed a petition to remove the HST and when recall came around the same sheeple sat on their hands because they believed some magical referendum would remove the tax, can you believe the advertising on the YES HST side, CKNW, CTV, Global, $millions being spent teaching you how to take the bad medicine for the team, propaganda, the drum is beating and I can`t wait for Christy Crunch to toss that Hail Mary pass a week before the mailout of the ballots, apparantly she has figured out a way to make it better, well, as we discussed, she can`t lower the rate, she can`t increase exemptions, rumour has it that Christy Crunch Clark is going to send out $675 million dollars to BCers, call it a bribe, call it a joke, I don`t know what you call it because the money for this gift is coming from guess where?.....Give up yet, the $675 million dollars is the final payment from Ottawa, Christy Clark is going to bribe us with the same money her and her colleagues are bitching about us having to pay back if we vote down the tax....Does it get any stinkier, you bet it does, like I wrote about in the last couple of posts, there is a $600 million dollar per year difference between what the Dinning report outlined against what the ministry of Finance has tabled in their budget documents, Kevin Falcon and his ministry are in hiding and silent, I heard Davis Shreck on the weekend on CKNW, David too was wondering who or when either Dinning or Falcon will come clean....Either the ministry of finance and all the BC Liberals were lying about the revenue neutral part then or Dinning is lying today, we are talking about a $600 million dollar gap on the revenue side, where is the press conference and the truth...Anyway, it makes me sick that the recall towns shriveled up folded like a cheap suit.....
This cloud eventually will depart, a poll came out last week, an Ipsos Reid poll that had the BC Liberals at 41%..NDP at 39% and the BC Conservatives at 10%....That was a fantastic poll, no one trusts the Liberals, 70% have no confidence on BC Liberal ethics or accountability, that`s a high number, Christy Clark has been photo-oping everywhere, Adrian is unknown with most of the electorate and still he is tied with Cluck Cluck, what I also find amazing is...CKNW and Global tried to do a hatchet job on John Cummins and it appears to have had the reverse affect, instead of scaring people away the far right feel oh so at home with John Cummins, I`m glad my side of the world doesn`t attract the Cummins crowd, and then there is that damn Harper, what a sack of garbage, he sends three loser candidates to Ottawa for lifetime Senate gigs, still stacking the senate, total hypocrisy, and what about a strike at Canada post, what are the odds that a strike happening at the same time ar our HST referendum, who the hell had the inside line and moved up our referendum smack dab into a postal strike, so meanwhile it`s like pulling teeth using this 12 year old throw-away computer, what to do, a week without posting what should I do, I know, I`ll fix the steering on the boat, how hard could that be.....
I mentioned we went salmon fishing a few weeks ago, well, we didn`t catch any salmon but we had a good time, I spent a week getting the boat ready, spit polished and shined, what I didn`t do was some routine maintenance, thus while fishing the steering rod broke, it rusted away too nothing, my brother in law Ted lashed it together and made it work, the following week we fabricated a new steering rod, how hard could it be, I took out the rod all I have to do is replace it, so I stisk my head under the rear deck and I notice the bracket holding the hydraulic ram that pushes the steering rod was half rusted through, certainly it would last for years but now would be the time to replace it, well....The bolts were too rusty to unscrew, fine, I `ll hack-saw them off, what a bad idea, hours and hours of hack-sawing through theses rusty bolts in crampt quarters under the deck, I saw and saw until I get close then I grab a hammer and screw drive and try and break the last little bit to avoid the endless hack-sawing, I was using a metal brace that holds all the rudders and mounts as a base for hammering on the bolts and on the very last bolt when I was hammering away the metal brace just shattered, shattered like glass, 40 year old pig iron was fine until I hammered on it and now I have a big mess, oh well, I remove all the metal, all because I messed with the rusty bracket I`m now having to replace the rear bracing, sheesh....Now that I have the metal removed, the steering rod off, I might as well clean and powerwash the rear hull, so a scrubbing away I was, soap, hot water, suds, powerwasher and boy was the bottom coming clean, meanwhile the water rose and rose, why didn`t the bilge pump kick in?...Oh well, when the water gets higher the rear bilge pump will start, the water rose, the rear bilge flapper float rose and still no pumps, so now I have a rear end with no steering, no metal bracing, the boat is full of water and the pumps don`t run, so I stick my hand up to my elbow in the bilge and disconnect pump 1, then pump 2 and eventually after re-wiring and another day the pumps work and the boat is dry, the steering rod is in, the bracing is replaced, 4 new dead-man braces and deck supports, 3 2 X 10s...2 X 4S...Bolts, lag screws, nuts, washers, drill bits, HACK-SAW BLADES, bilge cleaner, paper towels, band-aids, aspirin, 6 trips to the hardware store, a one day job turned into 6 days and I finally can sit down and relax at the computer except for this heathen of a machine, Windows Millennium, are you kidding me, gawd it`s enough to drive you batty, ah....The repair shop called and I get my new Windows 7 machine back as soon as I make the 90 mile round trip....It will have to wait until Thursday, things to do....
So as I beat up my hands under and in the boat, every screw, all the engine work, the woodwork, the steering rod and hydraulics, the electronics, Dad and I did it all, this 40 foot fiberglass boat is almost 50 years old, Dad can help me fix the boat in a physical way anymore but he had all the right answers over the phone in guiding me through my moments of mechanical despair, it was a trip down memory lane, everywhere I looked and crawled Dad and I were there 30 plus years ago doing first, anyway, the hummingbirds are here, I put up two red feeders this year instead of the one red one and a blue one, for whatever reason in the past the hummingbirds always preferred the red feeder over the blue one, the red one would always go dry first, this year I`m messing with the hummers, I have two identical red feeders out and the verdict is in....
The humming birds are draining the feeders at the same rate, I don`t know why, they prefer the red feeders, hmmm, so anyway I just wanted to say thank you all for tuning in regularly and contributing to our forum, by the way, that Ipsos Reid poll, that really is great news because Ipsos Reid always gives the BC Liberals at least 5 percentage points at the expense of the NDP, so if Daryll Bricker is up to his normal routine the true polling numbers are.....BC Liberal (36%)...BC NDP(40%)...BC Conservative(8%)....
And here I thought Adrian Dix had no chance, I was wrong, the choice couldn`t be clearer, left versus right, right versus wrong.....Red hummingbird feeder or blue hummingbird feeder....Perhaps it`s time I hung up an Orange Hummingbird feeder?
One steering rod, one little tax shift, sometimes the consequences of one act sets a series of events in motion, sometimes there is no turning back, history tells me that the big BC Liberal machine has met its perfect storm!
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
Actually, I'm not surprised that the recalls failed. First of all, I believe that the rules are too stringent, but I really don't think that many people were willing to link the HST to their various MLAs. These MLAs may have voted with their party in enacting the HST, but had virtually nothing to do with entering into an agreement with the feds to implement it. Ida Chong and the others may face a different result come next election, but so far they have received a stay of execution, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteThe pro side of the HST is definitely in a full court press, but depending on what con Christy Clark brings forward, one would assume that the people will vote to eliminate it as long as the vote is held honestly. Considering that Craig James will still be at the helm at Elections BC, the jury is still out on whether we will see a fair vote.
We'll just have to wait and see how things shake out.
Cam
http://cwf.ca/about-us/board-of-directors
ReplyDeleteThe same Mr. Dinning...
Everyone is connected or has connections aren't they?
Just my thoughts on the ads on TV supporting the HST from the Smart Tax Alliance, all the accountants, COA speakers - well we all know how good accountants are at hiding the money, or putting it elsewhere so the the taxman doesn't get it! Have heard that for years - avoid tax, get a good accountant.
But not for you or I, the working people, or the average senior, we can't afford "good" accountants.
Vote YES on the referendum.
I feel your pain, both with Windows Me and the boat. My wife loves being on the water, so we went through a dozen years of boatedness, meaning a constant drain on the exchequer, and the time to get the maintenance done (I shudder to think of the consequences of doing it myself). We "simplified" a decade ago, pitching the boat overboard, along with a sports car, a motorcycle, a truck, a boat trailer and one family sedan, meaning that my wife got to retire that fall, that we could help our boy with a down payment on a townhouse, and that I could eventually retire somewhat earlier than I might otherwise have been able to do.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was still a school teacher, I used many flavours of Windows over the years and I think Millenium may have been the worst, though NT 3.5 had some interesting quirks. Because of my interest in graphic stuff, I got a Mac and live mostly without woes, but I know Windows users who also seem to be able to avoid the general run of silliness. I hope all this gets resolved for you without too much pain.
I spent a lot of money this past long weekend. I bought a hotel for the night. Many meals. Gas. Many goods and services.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, not one penny went to B.C.'s debt plagues economy. Sorry, Ms. Clark but you blew it and the border is just minutes away. Gas has returned to under a buck a litre down south and It's still 35 cents a litre more here.
I'll be doing all my shopping and entertainment elsewhere if the HST remains.
Geez Grant. My Boat is half the size of yours and I've been whining over a four foot crack in the hull. Much easier to fix than what you went through.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the HST goes, have you noticed that Clark and her thieves have not mentioned that this is a tax shift? And have you noticed the Goebbles style advertising repeating over and over that the HST is good for BC.
The statement should read "The HST is good for BC business bottom line and not for the taxpayer"
In BC, no-one is on the citizens side. We have to battle lies, deceit, and, corrupt politicians, also a pro Liberal media.
ReplyDeleteThe BC Liberal party is the worst and most corrupt party, and, has the worst, most corrupt politicians, ever known in this country.
The stop the HST petition had enough signatures to say, the BC people are objecting strongly to the unfair HST. Hansen's stacked HST panel, had no idea what they were doing. They screwed it up, until it was laughable. We all see, Hansen is totally incompetent managing health care, as he was as, minister of finance. He also lied about, the HST wasn't on his radar. He rigged the HST, he also rigged the HST panel. Did everyone see, how the HST forced Mr. Mikes and The Pantry restaurants, to close their doors?
The referendum, is just another BC Liberal scam. Falcon said, he didn't have to accept it. Typical of the BC Liberals dictatorship.
Elections BC is also corrupt, so we found out, AGAIN. No-one told Dix, he could arrange a photo shoot to campaign, out side of the election halls doorway, on voting day, as Christy Clark did. Shame on her, that was disgusting, to stoop to that level. But that's the level of the BC Liberals. If they are afraid of losing, they panic, cheat, and call the opposition dirty names. Many BC citizens, don't believe Christy won the Point Grey by-election either. I guess no-one told Craig James, it was illegal to, alter the wording of the recall documents, after the fact.
Well, we have our underground co-op. They are easy to set up. Price gouging in BC is rampant. The thieving of our tax dollars is rampant. The thieving of the gasoline company's. The HST has destroyed the people in this province. Undergrounds, save you a lot of money. A $41.86 roast beef, is right out of price range for me. I have to rely on the underground, for most of my food and reno's.
Biggest business savings due to HST transfer tax are forestry, mining, oil and gas, construction and manufacturing. Yeah for them, not so for the rest of us where approx 1.5 billion income will be realized through personal expenditures.
ReplyDeleteThe Fiberals have created a fiscal nightmare in BC due to their years of rewarding friends and insiders special government bloated contracts and access to income that should have gone to the government. Now they are sucking us all dry, squeezing blood from a stone, shaking us upside down. Adding insult to injury, they are using more of our tax dollars to help you buy into their mismanagement style and accept the sour tasting HST.
Vote Yes to abolish this tax.
islandcynic
I have to echo Anonymous 9.39 comments - I too shop outside of BC when I can. I never used to, but I never used to get "really screwed" by the provincial government either.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad and all the governments fault. I buy outside of BC to avoid paying the exorbitant taxes and is my way of showing the provincial government my middle finger. However, that is money that could have been spent in BC and help provide business and employment.
Because of the sheer arrogance, dishonesty, corruption and stupidity of the BC Liberal government, I send money out of province.
If I have work done - I pay cash, get a discount and the contractor and I are happy that the government gets diddly squat out of the transactions.
This is the best I can do for now, but it is still better than nothing. Not the right thing to do by any means but since I have to look after me and my family - well you get my drift.
Compared to the amount of money "being given to large businesses" by government, it is of no consequence - but the message is there.
Thanks and keep up the good work Grant.
I don't know which is the worst election lie? The BCR wasn't for sale, or Campbell and Hansen's election lie, the HST wasn't on their radar, and throw the small provincial deficit, in with the HST lie as well.
ReplyDeleteIs there not something wrong with Campbell, who begs the BC peoples forgiveness for a criminal DUI? Who then kicks the very people, who forgave him in the face?
What is really sick, the BC Liberals to this day, honor that out and out liar, thief and criminal. The Liberals haven't changed one iota. Christy uses the same type of dirty tactics, as Campbell did. She has also cheated and lied to win.
But, it is true, the media has aided and abetted, these criminal BC Liberals, right to the hilt. They spread the BC Liberals lies, to all the people in this province and indeed, to all of Canada. The media have sickened me, I canceled my newspapers, and I don't watch the news on TV anymore either. They disgust me. I read the good peoples blogs, and Grant's is one of them.
Hope there is no confusion in the yes/no HST ballot...even in your blog, when I first read it....woke up in the night thinking...YES,HST? is that right?! Yikes! And i am sure that will be one of many little tricks to get a few more votes....or a few less votes against. Hope this horse comes in strong for EVERYONE, Grant.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is something wrong with Gordon"the liar"Campbell DUI. He is sick, evil and doesn't give a hoot about anyone in BC.
ReplyDeleteThis has been a Decade of Dishonesty, Deception and Deceit by the BC Liberal government, led by the now famously disgraced, former premier of BC - Mr. 9% Gordon Campbell !!
Never before has British Columbia witnessed such a contempt for democracy, honesty and integrity, as it has witnessed by the "gutter politics practiced by the contemptable Campbell".
The BC Liberal party are as equally to blame for the sad and sorry situation of British Columbia, as each and every BC Liberal MLA had a choice and each chose to back Campbell to the hilt.
Time to take British Columbia back from the greedy trough feeding business community.
Thanks - sorry about the rant.
The funniest of all are, the HST ads on TV. They say, you decide about the HST. Then the ad of a business, saying the HST has made it possible to hire more staff. Oh right, you decide my butt, the business ad, sort of helps citizens to make their decision for them. It is just impossible for the Liberals, not to be underhanded. Shame on Christy. It seems impossible for the Liberals to win anything, without cheating.
ReplyDeleteWhat the business ad should have said...The HST has made it possible for my business to, buy new company vehicles, a vacation in Hawaii, give out larger bonuses, and made it possible for my place of business, to be renovated. No savings have "trickled" down to the citizens by the HST, from big business. That was the joke of the century. Big business passing their savings on to the consumer.
We should be challenging every statement that is made by the pro-HST forces. OK. The HST creates employment? Where specifically? How many people? Enables your business to buy new vehicles? Let's see the pink slip buddy, and paperwork showing your savings. I call bs on the whole lot of them.
ReplyDeleteThe specific wording on the ballot is:
Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST (Goods and Services Tax)?
The answer is yes.
Christy's problem is, she doesn't remember the first lie she's told. She waffles and flip flops all over the place. The BC Liberal government is running on lies, on top of the old Campbell lies. Christy is scared to death of tripping herself up. She even refused to debate, and does that ever speak volumes. That's exactly what Campbell did, he would leave town. Like the bully, who punches you in the face and then runs.
ReplyDeleteLaila has another revealing article up today on the lieberal's giving away the province to buddies with all the P3 projects.
ReplyDeletehttp://lailayuile.com/