Sterling Silver Hockey Skates, Hypocrisy and Platitude

We know how it feels but unfortunately condolences sympathy and understanding words are way back on our list of describers and nasty expletives we use in venting against our hockey void..

When Wall Street guzzled the world a few years back they also introduced to us a few new words, derivatives, credit default swaps, maybe they weren`t new words but who knew those benign terms translated into..."Weapons of mass destruction.....Too big to fail...." ...As outraged as people were, especially those who saw their rrsp`s and pensions shrink or near vanish the message was sent, pay up, bail us out, we`ll make life worse if you waffle, $trillions were spent propping up brazen economic criminals, corrupt rating agencies along with complicit corrupt Governments, all the tools of oversight removed and replaced with a "trust us" model of we-know-better....

And when we woke up a few years later with every country flat-busted broke, yes, even Canada, every morning we hear the bleatings of the Michael Campbell`s, the Fraser Institutes, business councils, Chambers of commerce and corporate mouth-pieces cry for lower taxes and subsidies, we want the HST, capital gain relief, we want we want we want we want some more, give the people the tax, the HST , the PST, the GST, the VST, hell, let`s just call it the AEEST(the All-Encompassing-on-Everything-Sales-Tax) add in ever rising municipal taxes, raise taxes on fuel, on food, on everything while simultaneously increasing hydro, msp premiums, car insurance, you name it the cost is going up, give the nameless faceless people the tax finger and take it all, the new-land is here, taxbreak and subsidy whiners replace one-time corporate citizens, in lieu of paying anything I corporation X will hire a few people for some money, that sum being as little and temporary as possible..

A weary public said no to bailouts, our Governments capitulated, this week HSBC bank was fined over $1 billion dollars for openly dealing with drug cartels and facilitating money-laundering,


 "HSBC failed to maintain controls designed to prevent money laundering by drug cartels, terrorists and tax cheats, when acting as a financier to clients routing funds from places including Mexico, Iran and Syria.

The bank was unable to properly monitor $15 billion in bulk cash transactions between mid-2006 and mid-2009, and had inadequate staffing and high turnover in its compliance units, July's report said.

HSBC on Tuesday said it expected to also reach a settlement with British watchdog the Financial Services Authority. The FSA declined to comment.

U.S. and European banks have now agreed to settlements with U.S. regulators totaling some $5 billion in recent years on charges they violated U.S. sanctions and failed to police potentially illicit transactions.

No bank or bank executives, however, have been indicted, as prosecutors have instead used deferred prosecutions - under which criminal charges against a firm are set aside if it agrees to conditions such as paying fines and changing behavior."

And when caught red-handed..

"prosecutors have instead used deferred prosecutions - under which criminal charges against a firm are set aside if it agrees to conditions such as paying fines and changing behavior."

 Reuters) - HSBC has agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion fine to settle a multi-year probe by U.S. prosecutors, who accused Europe's biggest bank of failing to enforce rules designed to prevent the laundering of criminal cash.

HSBC Holdings Plc admitted to a breakdown of controls and apologized in a statement on Tuesday announcing it had reached a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, as first reported by Reuters last week.

"We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes," said Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/hsbc-fined-record-money-laundering_n_2276879.html

Oh goody for us, they learned their lesson and won`t do it like that again, and there`s another new one,,"Deferred prosecutions" as in defer to my cheque-book..

a mere fine for deals with corrupt brutal regimes, violent gangs and the like and when caught, ...They pay a fine, say oops and carry on,...You can`t beat these people when they own your politicians, we need term limits on those elected, not time limits but scandal limits, one scandal or dubious action and you`re out..

In 2001 oil was $25 dollars a barrel and both Alberta and OPEC nations were making money, a false flag war against Iraq happened while Dick Cheney distracted George the simple Bush with a sock puppet, $trillions spent, $trillions stolen and now oil is $90 a barrel and no one can make any money on it, royalties, what stinking royalties...

One more pipeline, one more hotel one more casino one more taxpayer and we`re set, yet it never is, record logs, record coal, record farmed fish record exports and record excuses as to why we have no raw resource revenue,

We here in British Columbia, the only province with MSP premiums, with the highest fuel prices in the land, highest food and basic commodity prices, the highest child poverty rates too, ..

What a province,. either live in the sticks without hospital and services or live in the city where you need 2 jobs to afford a garage, flat wages for years, no for decades, seniors and those with property almost all equity borrowing their future, a metropolis spiraling out of control, a land where its own residents are priced out of welcome mat homes..

Everyday the threat of more taxes looms, taxes in the forms of road tolls, higher ferry fees, congestion charges, just wait until those Port Mann bridge users are paying $1800 per year, every year, a mortgage payment worth of tolls, then a Patullo bridge toll, more carbon taxes, can`t we build anything through existing taxes anymore, just why do we have ministry of transportation, we can`t afford to fix potholes, but can fund PPP...

Hockey might be Canada`s game, but personally I`m getting tired of the whining, $billionair owners fighting with $millionaire hockey players, I don`t care if the sport is a gate-driven market,  don`t care if you guys are great people, don`t even care if you lost the last round of bargaining and we don`t care if you take a 30% wage cut...

We had a brutal HST tax shoved down our throat, we have a group of local politicians who spend all their time doing nothing but engaging in public theft, bouncing from lie to scandal to embarrassment all the while racking up debt, public debt while building private pensions, private perks and private bling..

Yes we miss Hockey and life isn`t fair, these owners will win their wants and players will accept the lessor, a lessor which by compare makes average joe`s situation untenable to say the least..

Try to raise a family on a $50 k per year, try to buy a home where the mortgage leaves you broke every month, fight the traffic avoid the tolls and try to smile when you greet your tired wife..

Roberto Luongo, how many $million?....Shane Doan, $14 million a year for Phoenix who..Crosby...You players make more money in 1 year than most make in a lifetime of working, a lifetime of corrupt Governments surgically extracting more and more every year, a lifetime of betrayals..

Big bad hockey team owners and poor over-worked under paid hockey players.

My friends can`t afford to spend a week`s pay to see a game live but they can afford a six-pack, a pizza and the company of few friends, isn`t that what hockey is all about, ..

The first food bank opened up in Edmonton Alberta in 1981

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Banks_Canada

History

The first food bank in Canada opened its doors in 1981 in the city of Edmonton, Alberta.^[3] In 1987, the Canadian food bank community created the Canadian Association of Food Banks to represent food banks nationally.^[4]
There are now over 700 food banks and 3,000 food programs available in Canada.^[5]
In 2008, HungerCount reported that on average, 704,414 individuals used a food bank per month. Other HungerCount 2008 numbers include:

• 37% of those assisted are children under the age of 18
• 50% of assisted households have at least one child
• For 20% of assisted households, primary source of income is current or recent employment
• Approximately 13% are receiving provincial disability income support
• 50% are receiving social assistance
• In March 2008, food banks served 3,091,777 meals
• In March 2008, volunteers gave 440,000 hours of their time to assist food banks^[

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Remember the 1981 NHL season....The same year as Canada`s first foodbank, now there are thousands

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Regular season

The New York Islanders led the league with 118 points, seven more than second place Edmonton Oilers. The Islanders also set a league record by winning 15 consecutive games from January 21 to February 20 [although this was later eclipsed by the Pittsburgh Penguins' 17-game winning streak^[1] from March 9 to April 10, 1993. However, the Islanders 15 game winning streak was accomplished before the advent of the extra OT period in the NHL regular season. The Penguins would need to win 2 of their games in the OT period (in games 2 and 15) and would not have accomplished their streak in 1982 without the extra period, as two of their games would have ended in a tie.]
The Edmonton Oilers' young superstar Wayne Gretzky broke several prestigious records, including the record of 50 goals in 50 games, set by Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy, by scoring 50 goals in only 39 games. Gretzky also broke Phil Esposito's record of 76 goals in a season with 92, his own assists record of 109 which was set the prior season with 120, and his own point total of 164 which was also set the prior season with 212. He was the first, and thus far only, player to ever score 200 points in a season. The Oilers set a record for most goals in a season with 417, in which Gretzky scored or assisted on over half.
The New York Islanders' Mike Bossy set a regular season scoring record for right-wingers with 147 points in an 80 game season, and finished as runner-up to Gretzky for the Art Ross Trophy.


 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981%E2%80%9382_NHL_season

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In 1989 Gretzky signed a long-term contract worth roughly $3 million dollars per year..


On Gretzky's 18th birthday, January 26, 1979, Pocklington signed him to a 10-year 
personal services contract (the longest in hockey history at the time) worth C$3 million, with options for 10 more years.^[42] Gretzky finished third in the league in scoring at 110 points, behind Robbie Ftorek and Réal Cloutier.^[43] Gretzky captured the Lou Kaplan Trophy as rookie of the year,^[35] and helped the Oilers to first overall in the league.^[44] The Oilers reached the Avco World Trophy finals, where they lost to the Winnipeg Jets in six games.^[45] It was Gretzky's only year in the WHA, as the league folded following the season.^[46]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky

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Lockout

Main article: 2012 NHL lockout

On September 13, 2012, all 29 league ownership groups (the league still collectively owns the Phoenix Coyotes) authorized commissioner Gary Bettman to lock out the National Hockey League Players' Association upon the expiration of the CBA on September 15. The action marked the fifth labor dispute in twenty years for the league, following a 1992 strike, lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05, as well as a referee's lockout in 1993;^[3] this is more than any of the other major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada in that time frame. In preparation for the lockout, NHL teams assigned all of their eligible players to their American Hockey League farm clubs.^[4]
Although Bettman acknowledged the 2005–12 CBA was fair, he also stated that he is demanding concessions as a result of the late 2000s recession, even though the league experienced significant growth at that time.^[5] Sports media reported on July 14 on the NHL's first offer to the players. The offer reportedly included: a drop in players' share of "hockey-related revenues" from 57 per cent to 46 per cent; a requirement that players play ten years before becoming an unrestricted free agent (UFA); a limit on players' contracts to five years in length; elimination of salary arbitration; and an extension of entry-level contracts to five years from three.^[6]
The NHLPA made an attempt to strike down the lockout as illegal in Alberta and Quebec;^[7] the Quebec labour board ruled against the NHLPA on September 14.^[8]
The NHL season officially entered a lockout after the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on September 15, 2012, prior to the planned start of the pre-season. Locked-out players immediately began signing with the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Czech Extraliga (ELH), SM-liiga, and the Elitserien (SEL).^[9] As of December 10, 2012, the NHL has cancelled all 526 regular-season games scheduled up to December 30, 2012, as well as the 2013 NHL Winter Classic and the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend.^{[10][11][2][12]}
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Air Canada shoves its employees out the door, Caterpillar tell`s its Canadian employees to take a 50% wage and benefit cut, Canada post workers get nothing, Canada healthcare act, Canada pension, Veterans associations, people on disability, everyone working for less working for fewer crumbs, benefits cut or canceled while the daily grind of life takes more and more of a shrinking pie..The NHLPA just give each player a $10k stipend, you know, bus money, a stipend, a stipend that amounts to 5 years pay for about 5 billion of us, a stipend that Sidney Crosby and most NHL hockey players merely sneeze at...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl-lockout/2012/12/01/hockey_central_meeting_players_owners/

"That $10K should keep players content through Christmas giving season"

The reversed days are here in Canada, labour rules are being rewritten as we speak, outsourcing will be replaced with in-sourcing, Jason Kenney is smoothing out the grease for corporations to bring in temporary workers.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/12/08/pol-skilled-trades-program-kenney.html

 Years 2020 and 2030 being bandied around, we can`t train a workforce, you watch what happens next, corporation x builds project with temporary workforce, by the nature of all energy sector jobs aren`t they temporary, seems like these new high-tech jobs only last a couple of years then....then not much, these $billion dollar projects once built employ but few, Harper and co. sold us out, Canada`s middleclass has taken it on the chin, ..Corporations are pitting province against province and state against state in a silly race to the bottom, we need our manufacturing saved, we need a reason to stay in our little towns, we need clean water and diverse wildlife we need to build towns and communities not just temporary jobs, small town BC needs a long-thinking plan based on the sustainable not on short term hit and run policies of shareholders and investors..

Play your game or not but don`t expect sympathetic voices and encouraging ears to fight for your largesse, hockey, a game we love but one that we find harder and harder to stomach as big wealthy babies pout and cry over what colour the serving sets are, that being gold or sterling silver..

Michigan just made a huge assault on labour today, bit by bit, the new movement, pitting poor workers against poorer workers, the race for a true free market labour code, a race to a not too distant past where only two classes existed, robber baron and serf, a race to show the most disgrace, a race to put us back in our place, asking, pleading, begging for not wants but for needs..

And you talk of fair or evenhanded bargaining, we the public don`t even get a thank you after a shakedown, as for NHL negotiations...

When did living a fairytale life with lotteryesque incentive pay while being showered with youthful idolized praise become such an unworkable problem....

Time to play hockey and accept your fate...Oh the humanity!

 Owners will win the battle, players will be wealthy and the fans will taken for granted and shafted with over-priced wares and inflated ticket prices..

Merry Christmas NHL players, for the love of the game, don`t sweat the little things..

Or is that for the love of the money?



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open