Looking for Some New Torch Bearers(Where are the new heros)

I watched a new show on Discovery channel(New for Discovery channel) this Sunday night, it was called Whale Wars, I find it amazing that these sea battles and cultural clashes get such little exposure from the main stream media, then I watched CNN overseas business news,.......

Portugal has a new Government but the austerity measures remain in place, as you know Portugal received a bail-out of $110 billion Euros,.....Portugal in order to receive the bail-out has agreed to privatize services and reduce that burden by 3% of GDP within 3 years and also to tax the public by 2% of the gdp more then they are paying now over the same time frame.......Austerity measures, austerity measures, man do I hate that word, it`s like calling a root canal a dental procedure, we know how a root canal feels, austerity measures, such a mellow phrase, why don`t they just call it what it is, were gonna reduce services, break promises and slash pensions and deny new pensions for the next generations.....With Portugal`s unemployment rate at 16% the chances that the new Government fulfills any of those commitments is pie in the sky dreaming, expect even more cuts being unleashed on the masses.......The IMF(International monetary fund) and the woman who reported the story from Portugal stated...."The Portugese Government definitely was on public spending spree".....Yes, they reported that too much Government spending on the public caused their demise, I find that very interesting...

 100,000 people this Sunday protested in Greece in their main square over even more austerity measures, Greece is trying to arrange another bail out, they are asking for $47 billion Euros more, they already received more than that the first time, apparently that money didn`t stick,......Can you imagine, the Greek Government like Portugal was on a "public spending spree" too....But the reports and howls from a down-trodden public blame the Greek Government for squandering and wasting money like it grew on trees, .......Ha, I don`t think I have ever written that phrase before on our site, Mom and Dad always told me that growing up, don`t waste your money it doesn`t grow on trees, ...Where was I....Anyway, the Greeks are ready to explode with anger, maybe even extreme violence.....

So the Greek Government is gonna play hardball, who will blink first, this won`t sit well with those fiery Greeks, but who is right, surely that ancient culture knew how to handle money and budgets, they have an HST in Greece, and Portugal, only they call it a VAT tax, same thing and coincidently their VAT tax started very low,  when the money rolled in the Greek Government spent it and over time they kept raising the VAT until.....Until huge swaths of the economy went underground.....But Greece, they were on top of the world just 7 years ago when they hosted the summer Olympic games.......I`m surprised none of our local media or Michael Campbell/Michael Levy  or any of the other "economists" who discuss how better off we are than Europe or any other jurisdiction in the world haven`t mentioned that.......We were lied too so many times about the Olympic windfall coming our way, there there, don`t worry about the thefts and cost over-runs, don`t fret the taking of your rights, your freedoms, don`t mind BC ceding your freedom and human rights over to the IOC...We were told it will all be worth it, Remember the Montreal Olympic games, they finally paid off their Olympic debt a couple of years ago, ....The Montreal games were in 1976!..What`s 30 years.

Let me remind you of the "Public spending spree" Greek was on....Here`s a little cut n paste..

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They are undoubtedly spectacular, but Greece's determination to stage the Olympic Games has also come at a spectacular cost.
Official government figures show that the initial £3 billion budget has increased by half as much again. But government economists admit in private that the end figure may be nearly £7 billion.
This year alone the amounts have spiralled out of control. "The budget for various Olympic projects this year was 1.4 billion euros [£933 million]" said Petros Doukas, the deputy finance minister, this week, blaming the government's socialist predecessors, voted out of office in March, for the mess.
But Mr Doukas, like everyone else in Greece, is betting on the Olympics paying the country back. "The games are about putting Greece in the mind of the world," he said.
While global attention is guaranteed, many are asking whether it is for the right reasons. After building delays, threats by the International Olympic Committee to withdraw the Games and concern over security measures, the Athens Olympics have received such a worldwide public relations battering that surely only Hitler's Berlin Games have a worse reputation. As a public relations exercise, even the government's Olympic co-ordinator, Fanny Palli-Petralia, admits that the Games so far have been a costly failure.
"We failed to exploit the pre-Olympic period," she admitted, as figures showed that the number of foreigners visiting to Greece has fallen by 12 per cent in the past year.
Commentators agree that in the seven years since Greece won the right to host the Olympics, it has squandered the opportunity to "brand" the country positively.

You can read the whole story here (Courtesy of The Telegraph)

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All those tall tales from the Greek Government about a financial windfall from hosting the games, $ billions on security, an Olympic village fiasco, cost over runs and rampant corruption throughout the Government contracts, $billions and billions seemed too just vanish....The stories of increased tourism, putting Greece on the map, ....Like no one knew where Greece was,......Could the story of Greece be the story of British Columbia, the similarities are scary, ....Have we not been on a "public spending spree"....A $billion dollars for security, in fact we payed a very heavy price for having Stephen Harper agree to pay for most of the security, Gordon Campbell in a panic over the security budget, he and Colin Hansen claimed that.....

"Total security would cost $175 million dollars" 

We were told that lie for a year, and it`s my belief that at that time.....Gordon Campbell in order to secure Harper picked up the bulk of the security cost agreed to sell us out on the HST....That`s why Gordon Campbell was a red mitten giant Canadian flag waving buffoon, Campbell was screaming and shouting look at me, I`m a proud Canadian, you love me, I am Canadian,......

Yes indeed, it all makes sense now, Campbell sold us out because he went on a Greek style "Public spending spree" where shady contracts and criminal wrong doing lurked everywhere, the secret $1 billion dollars over budget Canada line, the $2.4 billion dollar 25 year maintenance contract on the sea to sky highway...Yes we knew that someone was going to pay for the Olympics, now you know who, YOU....All the bonuses, the cushy jobs, the secrets deals, the Millennium athletes village theft, yes it was theft...And were we not promised future prosperity, promised record future tourism, were we not also told that the Olympic games would put BC on the map.

"Public spending spree"....Like $700 million dollars on a ugly retractable roof....

Who will ultimately pay the price, the Greek people, the Portugese, you and me, you bet....Government squanders and spends and fill their own pockets with gold plated indexed pensions with double dipping gravy train jobs for keeping quiet and more...Like breaking the law, ignoring ethics and destroying Democracy....

Yes indeed, I did enjoy watching Whale Wars tonight and the massive protest in Greece that`s on the verge of going violent,....I remember Greenpeace when it was in its infancy, it started right here in British Columbia, without those warriors chasing the whalers nearly 40 years ago there wouldn`t be a whale left alive today...And it still angers me that they are still needed, warriors or terrorists, how many of the early Greenpeace were arrested and ridiculed by the corporate mafia, how many of them DIED for the cause......

British Columbia has always been unique that way, the home of Greenpeace warriors, the home place of a once young vibrant David Suzuki, its unfortunate that David Suzuki surrendered some of his ethics for the sake of money, yes Suzuki cares about the big picture but he also knows where his bread is buttered, what else could explain his silence on Enbridge pipeline and Fish lake, ....I guess a useless carbon tax with associated tax cuts is more important....

I also remember a young cute Tzeporah Berman who ventured into Clayoquot Sound and chained herself too a ancient tree and dared the fallers to cut it down,....Tzeporah has been quiet too, did she not go to Copenhagen  with Campbell to collect an award for the carbon tax, I wonder what Tzeporah Berman And David Suzuki think of BC hospitals and schools being forced by the BC Liberals to give money to Lafarge cement and Encana gas for Co2 emissions, less surgeries, less care, shuttered schools, over crowding nightmare in Surrey and school boards are giving away $millions for offsets, and not just once, this will happen every year,...I wonder what Tzeporah thinks about that, Encana gas made $billions of dollars last year, and the year before that, and before that and on and on.....Meanwhile the Queen Charlotte hospital is using an Atco trailer for a morgue, a greenhouse for therapy and a smokehouse for mixing chemo drugs, or is it the smokehouse for the morgue, it`s all so confusing, meanwhile the Queen Charlotte hospital has to give Encana gas money because they aren`t carbon neutral.....

Carbon neutral, all the efforts to fight global climate change, 2011 was the coldest BC spring in 55 years, our useless carbon tax, cap n trade, all the wasted money on climate summits, the big question is, have we made any progress or have we only succeeded in ripping off Mom and Pops around the world....Lay a guilt trip on a gullible public and pick their pocket.....The answer is no, world emissions are on the rise and are forecast to continue to rise for the next decade. Meanwhile the little Province of BC that has almost zero manufacturing and is covered in trees is forced by a corrupt Government to pay an extra 5cents a liter on fuels and our hospitals and schools are forced by BC Liberal legislation to give Encana gas money.....All that money for what?..So the BC Government can ship record tonnage of coal into China....The hypocrisy reeks...Only BC Liberals would steal money from students and patients for Encana gas!

The young female page in parliament is a hero, "STOP HARPER"....Yes we had our heros years ago, who will be the next Tzeporah Berman, the next Paul Watson, who will stand up for Democracy, who will stand against Enbridge, against Tsesako mines, where have all the heros gone, ....I`m reminded of an old commercial

"I shoot the puck in the net".....Rocket Richard, that`s what he did, not complicated, was he a hero, no he was a hockey player.....I wonder who the next hero will be and when will they show up....

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts...........And the curse of the Olympics....Make sure to read all  three pages of that last link, the good stuff is on page 3


VOTE YES TO KILL THE HST


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open