jacee

You are the one getting inordinately bent out of shape about the protest, and now rattling your gun collection.One can't ignore such warning signs. There are crazies out there and you could well be one. I can assure you that any threats of violence against protesters will receive full attention of police. That is one of the concerns of police, of course, that the protesters are unprotected from any looneytoons who think their 'god' is telling them the protesters are evil and deserve death. Frankly, some of your posts come close to that line.

Is that a threat?Maybe a visit from police would be helpful to clarify ...

My "ilk" and I are comfortably retired and concerned about the next generations who, without serious change to the system, just won't be able to get ahead at all. The 1% are draining wealth from the rest oof us, and are not reinvesting it in Canadian jobs and products and people. It really isn't about people like you, bb. Not sure why you're so defensive about it: The 1%'rs aren't defending you. They're just as happy sucking wealth from you as anyone else.

It' BANK TRANSFER DAY !! Move your business to a Credit Union! http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hate-your-bank-bank-transfer-day-is-saturday-2011-11-04 Meanwhile, an estimated 650,000 consumers have joined credit unions nationwide since Sept. 29, according to a statement on Thursday from the Credit Union National Association or CUNA, a credit-union advocacy group. That’s the day Bank of America announced its debit-card fee. Credit unions saw savings-account deposits grow by $4.5 billion in that time, “likely from the new members and existing members shifting their funds,” CUNA said. Cool!

... except the wealthiEST 1% Had one for 35 years. Done now.

A few young protesters really have you in knots. What's your problem? Why is it such an issue? If they're so unimportant, ignore them! Either way ... get an f'ng grip! Force will lead to a major uprising like this country has never seen. It will solve nothing and explode everything. Can't you see that? Oppression of free speech WILL lead to the revolution you so fear. Patience is the only solution, and not your forte I see, but your 'solutions' are designed to ignite revolution. You're moving into looneytoon territory. Btw, your mayor will do nothing but make a bit of noise until after the election.

So ... Justin Trudeau tells high school students to 'get involved' by protesting or occupying something ... an unusual approach for a politician ... but very refreshing! And the Cons are jealous of his rapport and influence ... so they attack him on grounds of being bad at his religion ... That's disgusting. I guess they've forgotten that Jesus was the revolutionary who threw the 'moneychangers' out of the temple. I guess they've also failed to understand how absolutely stupid it makes them look.

“The system is concentrating wealth in fewer and fewer hands. It’s not a sustainable trajectory,” she said. In a study last December, Yalnizyan found that the richest one per cent of Canadians capture a whopping 32 per cent of all income growth That’s a far bigger slice than even in the 1920s when the wealthiest one per cent took in 17 per cent of income gains. “Canada’s elite are breaking new frontiers in ncome inequality,” she wrote in the study“Nothing in the course of the previous century resembles what has occurred in the last generation.” The excesses of the 1920s eventually resulted n the 1929-32 stock market crash, which ushered in two decades of depression and world war. In response to the 1930s Depression, governments implemented new social programs and better union rights that buoyed ncomes of the middle class and lower-income people They also raised taxes on the wealthy and tightened financial and securities regulations to curb market speculation Income inequality quickly fell to modest levels where it remained for the next 50 years. Between the 1930s and ’70s, the wealthiest one per cent of Canadians saw their share of total income gains remain flat at a tame five to 10 per cent. But this great postwar social pact started to unravel in the 1980s. That’s when many Western governments began to cut social programs and deregulate industries such as the financial sector, allowing banks to effectively police themselves. They also cut tax rates dramatically for the well-to-do. In 1948, the top marginal tax rate n Canada was 80 per cent. Today, the top rate is 43 per cent. Meanwhile, wages for the average Canadian stagnated as many corporations moved manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries and unionization rates fell All this was good news for the bank accounts of well-heeled Canadians. In the 1980s, the richest one per cent of Canadians captured 11 per cent of total income growth In the 1990s and 2000s, their portion shot into record territory, climbing to 32 per cent. Some economists call it the “great u-turn.” Yalnizyan calls it the start of “Canada’s neo- gilded age” – a throwback to the “gilded age” of a century ago when robber barons and tycoons enjoyed opulence and wild excess Today’s new gilded age saw “a flip from decades of steady declines in income nequality to its opposite: a steady increase in nequality, in good times and bad,” she said in her study “Economic growth no longer paved the path to widespread prosperity. But for a select few, good times never seemed so good.” I think it's very fortunate that the OCCUPY movement has provided an organized, democratically structured physical focus for the inevitable civil unrest that results from the current excesses of income inequality perpetrated by the 1% on the rest of us. Cos it's not going to be pretty. For the wealthy who are not the 1% but ride on the coattails of them ... you have the most to lose when the real financial implosion happens, and keeping your head down and hoping the protesters will go away and the problems with them ... just isn't going to be enough. We need your voices NOW, before it's too late.

If you think Harper cares about grassroots Reform values, you haven't been paying attention: He's corporate bought and sold all the way. He only cares about power and he gets that only by kowtowing to them. It looks like the Vancouver Occupy camp is dug in and the mayor is waffling between removal by force and his political future.

Thanks for this Rick. The support in Toronto is awesome! I just have to quote some ... but there's lots more in the article. Stand by the food tent for a morning. Watch the woman in a grey, haut-couture skirt charge into the kitchen, rolling up her sleeves. Watch Mike Myers pull up in his wife’s black SUV, loaded down with 250 compostable bags of water. He runs a waste-water technology company in Burlington. He might be part of the 1 per cent, he says. But he supports the protest– both philosophically and financially. “There needs to be a correction of how global financial businesses work. Something is wrong,” he says. “Hopefully, this helps them buy more time to keep pressure up until something more concrete comes out of it.” ... The unions are the biggest benefactors. A group of seven — lead by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Canadian Labour Congress — paid for and installed the line of porta-potties, the humming generators, the three elegant Mongolian tents that went up last weekend, and more. Their biggest a gleaming 28-foot mobile kitchen equipped with gas stoves, deep fryers, a chrome fridge and gaping freezer (not that they’ll need that). It’s the permanent solution to the occupiers’ perennia cooking quandary, and it comes at a price of $8,500 a month, parking included.“ ... My point: Mayor Rob Ford has announced he is “working on a plan” for St. James Park. I suspect it does not entail delivering sleeping bags and solar panels. If he cues the police to empty the park, he will incite a real revolution in this city. Five hundred bodies occupy the park. Thousands are holding them there. I think Toronto is setting a great standard for accommodating peaceful protesters. And right in Rob Ford and Bill Blair's territory! I think what we have here is a coup of sorts, A fait accompli already ... Occupy Toronto is fully installed for the winter. Awesome! I do wonder whether Harper's RCMP and CSIS are giving the orders again like at the G20, With outstanding business like a 700+ people class action lawsuit for compensation of violated charter rights (damages and costs), criminal charges against police officers, public inquiry into the 'spontaneous' (by order/authorization of whom?) illegal removal of ID#'s by 100+ police officers ... I'm thinking Rob Ford's "plan" will be to continue to avoid talking about it as much as possible.

"Not including capital gains"

Coyne makes some interesting points, like this one: As I say, that’s looking at the top quintile. But drill deeper into the numbers, and you find something quite remarkable. It turns out it isn’t the top 20 per cent of the population whose share of the income pie has grown. It’s all in the top one per cent: the bottom 19 per cent of the top 20 per cent, that is those in the 81st through 99th percentiles, have seen no increase in their share. Interesting that the protesters are right, that even the wealthy are in the same boat as the rest of us - no improvement in income - except for the highest income 1% - so the 99% is a very real phenomenon. However, Andrew Coyne is (purposely?) obfuscating the real issue by focusing only on income and avoiding discussion of accumulation of WEALTH: WealthiEST and highest income are NOT the same thing/people. To clarify the difference, in each year some hockey players may make the highest income bracket, but their careers are short and it's unlikely that they'll ever accumulate the kind of wealth as those among the wealthiEST 1%, ie, the kind of wealth that seems to multiply itself. In quintiles, dividing the population into 5 groups, each containing 20% of Canadian households, 2005 data shows this distribution of wealth in Canada in 2005: 1Poorest 20% - .1% of wealth 2Second 20% - 2.3% 3Middle 20% - 8.4% 4Fourth 20% - 20.2% 5Top 20% - 69.2% But if you break down the 'Top 20%' you get 5a Wealthy 19% - 29% of the wealth 5b WealthiEST 1% - 40% of the wealth.

You would likely lease it out for someone else to farm.Truck driving's a vicious business. Lot's of pressure to break laws, falsify logs, etc. And those are the good employers.

Democracy is a slow process. Patience is required.

Good work!

Well if that's what you think then you should do it! I think you have to admit that they've got your attention.

At a general assembly meeting held Thursday evening, the group rejected the call to remove the structures, saying the city's demand was rushed and did not come through the appropriate channel. The group came to the consensus that "all and any demands, announcements and threats" from the city would have to be raised by a city representative at a general assembly meeting. Anyone claiming to speak on behalf of Occupy Vancouver outside of this channel would be considered illegitimate, the group agreed. The tent city council also issued a brief statement saying "tent city is already in the midst of reconstruction plans and will continue to carry those out," meaning there are no plans to leave any time soon. At the camp, protesters vowed to stay indefinitely. “I’m in it for the long-run and that is the general sentiment from everyone down there,” said protester Lauren Gill. Well, there's your answer: If the Mayor (etc) has something to say to them, they can come to a general assembly. I think that makes a lot of sense. I mean the police will tell lies just to start rumours that scare people so who are they supposed to believe? The people who come and speak to them through proper channels. Seems appropriate to me. And you can bet that if police use force and video goes viral (as it will), the Mayor and council will be the ones who live to regret it

I really don't want to get into this right now because as you can see my life's as you can see my life's been made very difficult over this child," been made very difficult over this child," he said. "In my mind I have not done anything wrong other than discipline my child when she was caught stealing. I did lose my temper, I've apologized. Too bad the statute of limitations has run out. I certainly hope he'll never judge child abuse cases again.

John Crosbie has always been an asshat.

Hmm ... gee ... I guess they'll want to start looking to some resolutions to the issues raised ... a little pressure here, a little there ...some discussion of issues perhaps? Ya the scary revolutionaries ... waggling their fingers and all ... Even Quebec is moving very carefully. http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-prepares-to-dismantle-occupy-camp/article2225078/?service=mobile But the city was concerned that if it acted too swiftly, it could trigger the opposite effect and give the Occupy movement even more exposure and public support.

I think they're saying they haven't seen it much yet, but the population bulge actually came in 1965. With the third/fourth/fifth children of the baby boom era, so it will go on for years yet, maybe peaking after 2030 when 'the bulge' is 65. Lots of time to prepare.

Why, then, extend an estimated $125-billion bailout package to these behemoths? Remember that this is the amount that Ottawa has earmarked for the chartered banks in the past 6 months through its scheme to purchase “secure” bank mortgages called the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program(IMPP). Although this transaction, implemented through the CMHC, is not taking the form of a direct injection of capital or buyout of toxic assets as government bailout programs in the USA or the UK have done, it is nonetheless a massive handout to the local financial sector. [3] Furthermore, it is seen as such by the relevant international institutions. Quoting a study published on February 18 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the French weekly Point calculated that Canada ranks third in the world in terms of percentage of GNP allocated in public aid to national banks. Canada's program amounts to 8.6% of GNP ahead of the USA which is at 6.3% and well behind the UK which has sunk no less than 19.8% of its GNP into various bank bailout schemes. Disguised as a market transaction, the Canadian aid package is nonetheless a form of government bank bailout, and by international standards, a huge one at that. http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet210.html I've seen varying estimates, but apparently Harper authorized up to $500b. I believe he's buying up US banks. He obviously doesn't want us to know.

They ... and all of us.If the mayors think they've got problems demanding police to use force now, they're risking a lot down the line. Use of violence against peaceful protesters is why we sent armed forces to Libya. Once you start, it can only escalate. Do the mayors want to start something? Does Harper want to start something ... again? I say 'Bring it' ... but that's just me.

Go back and ask them if they want the police to use force to remove them.It'll be less than 20%, the usual knee-jerk 'let's you and him fight' crowd.

But the police are not to use force? I think we have a stalemate here. No mayor wants to be the next Jean Quon and wake up explaining to the media. The SQ are always a bit of a wild card and not dismayed by bad press. ...