jacee

Because US'n republicans are so weird and freakin' hilarious !! It's entertainment. How can any halfways intelligent human being really take US'n republicans seriously??? I'd say they're from the Stone Age, but that would underestimate Stone Agers, who were able to share, cooperate and evolve.

Spies and infiltrators and instigators, yup. Went to a protest once, a few. Months before the G20,US sent a BIG-TIME (I mean the BIGGEST ... JCoS ... Obama knows EXACTLY which individual I mean) military type. ('attache'). Our cops wanted ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with him. (Even ratted him out TO US.) His presence, his HUGE BLACK 'unmarked' vehicle, his demeanour, his interrogations, his attitudes were simply FOREIGN TO US. Idiot that he was, he zeroed in on a bunch of rainbow-haired kids from a street-involved youth program ... protesters who told him they had "no leader". To him that meant they might be (scary) ANARCHISTS, now defined by law as TERRORISTS by conservatives on both sides of the border. Afterall, they were rainbow-haired, tatooed, pierced, and silently, courageously defiant to police requests to vacate their chosen free speech location. After we sorted out their complaint (they'd been subject to hate speech by those we were protesting) and police were properly censured for not intervening on their behalf (WE pay their salaries ... They work FOR us!), all was well, and they joined the rest of us for "The most peaceful and organized protests I've ever seen! (Police spokesperson to media) ... Except for big bad bald Rosy with his big bad bald black car, who looked like he'd just swallowed a lump of sht!! Truly hilarious. You can tell our 'cops' on here easily: Long as they can figure out you're not violent, they don't really care about your opinions. The infiltrators from the south, however, they think it's their duty (to God? Wall Street?) to change your opinion. No respect for freedom of speech (except their own) or choice. Canada will always be Canada, and rich or poor, we're all just 'a little' oppositional to US pressure and control, and that seems to frustrate them into apopleptic fits of insults. LISTEN WHAT I SAY, AMWO: This is a Canadian board for discussion of Canadian issues. Some US issues affect us, some don't, and we're not much interested in your problems that aren't our problems. We have one simple system of welfare (per province, but most operate similarly). It's much cheaper to administer and easier to police than your multiple types of benefits with multiple bureaucracies for means-testing and multiple opportunities for fraud. If you have a problem, deal with it but stop trying to instigate trouble among Canadians. While on the topic of multiple EXPENSIVE bureaucracies, let's talk about health care coverage, costs and fraud: US health care for those who are even covered, costs 20% more per capita than. Canadian universal coverage and care. The cost overruns are not the care itself, which costs the same, but administrative costs: The US 'system' involves many private companies all with their own administrative staff, little communication between them, many different forms and rules and procedures that drive customers and doctors nuts trying to negotiate and costs them much staff time, all of which adds to the bill. Now, WHY is it that US benefit programs are so cumbersome, varied, expensive, more easily defrauded and less efficient and effective than Canadian benefit systems? I have a theory about that. I think the conservative lobby in the US is squarely at fault for the increased fraud and cost, because they operate with an ill-informed individual 'charity' mindset but have little actual knowledge of poverty, ill health, illiteracy, disability, and the myriad of other challenges facing those less fortunate. An example from Ontario. Some may remember the cutbacks to everything by Mike Harris. One of the things cut back/off was supposed to be the support for parents/caregivers of severely/profoundly handicapped dependent children (who may be adults, but infirm. They constitute a very small percentage of the population, way less than half a percent, but consume a lot of resources. During legislative debate, one opposition MP read a letter from a parent of a profoundly handicapped adult child, outlining the medical procedures, equipment, such as lifts for bath and bed, special transportation, and 24 hour care required. Ernie Eves was Premier by then, stuck with trying to justify Harris' 'laws' that cut off such support. Ernie wasn't a bad man like Harris, just duped in the same way many conservatives dupe themselves . Ernie's heartfelt response in the legislature was "Of course where there are REALLY UNIQUE and special cases like that, we can work out an exception for them". WELL! ... His office, and all MPP offices were quickly was INUNDATED with requests for "exceptions" for their severely/profoundly. handicapped dependents: WHY? Because half a percent may seem small, like something easily dismissed and defunded, but it's still 6000 people, about 55 such cases in EVERY Ontario riding, and each handicapped person has many family members, family friends, support programs and staff and doctors and nurses ... etc etc, advocating on their behalf and on behalf of the parents who struggle with the extreme physical, emotional and financials costs of caring for them ... And that's A LOT of people ringing phones and doorbells of MPP's. My point about the conservative mindset is this: They like to live in a fantasy mindworld where everybody starts out with equal opportunity and everyone's success and misfortunes are their own doing, and thus the rest of the population bears NO COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY to help them. If someone's circumstances are especially DESERVING, they'll help them out of a sense of charity, largesse, virtuosity ... but don't let anyone tell them who's DESERVING and not, and don't take their money (via taxes) and let someone else decide who DESERVES their 'charity', because THEY KNOW IT'S JUST A COMMIE/LEFTY PLOT TO STEAL THEIR MONEY AND ALL THOSE SO-CALLED 'LESS FORTUNATE' ARE JUST CON ARTISTS AND FRAUDSTERS!! Have I got it right? I think so. Conservatives on both sides of the border have a hugely inflated sense of their own superiority which leads to a paranoid sense that everyone else is out to steal from them what is 'theirs', a lack of human faith and regard for all other human beings, who are surely not as virtuous or 'deserving' as themselves. It's a sickness we have under better control than the US, by virtue of better care, more efficeent and effective services. So ... deal with your own problems down south, but don't paint us with your brush, AMWO. Long winded, I know, but I'm fed up with US'n provocateurs and their 'divide and conquer the stupid Canadians' mentality on here. You have nothing to teach us. LISTEN AND LEARN for a change. And keep your big bad bald rosy's on your own side of the border. If conservative US'ns weren't so disgusting all around the world, US'ns wouldn't have to be so paranoid. I have BC on ignore, and now you too, AMWO. You have nothing to say that's of the least interest to me and you are both, imo, just ignorant provocateurs with a completely undeserved and inflated sense of your own superiority, couched in paranoia and ignorance. Stew in it.

Well no, it's proof that some conservatives THOUGHT it was a problem and the then premier Mike harris agreed. However, 9 out of 10 of the people reported WERE NOT EVEN ON WELFARE. That says a lot about the validity of people's perceptions of welfare fraud - ie, that they're not very accurate. I'll have to see your evidence. So far I've seen none but your perceptions (which may not be accurate) and opinions. Do you actually know people like that? Are you sure they're on welfare? I know people who are only able to work sporadically and could collect welfare and just take their earnings off, so their rent/food would be covered in months where there is no work, but they refuse to. People go through job search and retraining, addictions rehab, etc. There's always both sides, and maybe a balance. What evidence? Are you sure they're on welfare? In Ontario I'd said max $50k/mo, $600k/yr, about 8cents per year from each taxpayer. I'm concerned, but in our jurisdiction it's under control. Perhaps not so in yours, so you'll have to deal with it there.

Being in prison does involve some loss of rights, but he'll be able to restart his education.We have special secret facilities for 'enemies of the state'. He'll be protected.

Looks like Bush won. In Rebuilding Iraq’s Oil Industry, U.S. Subcontractors Hold Sway Mr. Munton estimated that about half of the $150 billion the international majors are expected to invest at Iraqi oil fields over the next decade would go to drilling subcontractors — most of it to the big four operators, which all have ties to the Texas oil industry. Halliburton and Baker Hughes are based in Houston, as is the drilling unit of Schlumberger, which is based in Paris. Weatherford, though now incorporated in Switzerland, was founded in Texas and still has big operations there.

Great post cybercoma! I think this is my favourite quote so far. From a guy in a cage in Liberty Park NY: The system of corporate greed that we have in the United States causes most of the pain and suffering in the world," says the Occupy Wall Street activist. "It fuels our oppresses minorities, fuels child labour oppresses women. It rapes our environment, hurts animals. It poisons our own people. What is there not to be pissed off about?" The kids are AWESOME !!!

I'm thinking a boycott of credit would be a very good idea, and since 50-60% + support the 'occupy' movement, it could have quite an impact.

And the 1% does a good job manipulating the 'market' to suit itself. There is no 'free market'. It's just a playground for the manipulators.

Good ... a new index to supplement the GDP and allow us to look at whether gains in the 'economy' are producing anything of value for most Canadians. Answer: NO ... Only for the wealthy. Our resources and people are being sucked dry and no one's quality of life is improving ... except the wealthy, assuming they care about or have quality of life beyond sucking and hoarding our money. Index finds inequalities in Canadians' quality of life OTTAWA — A generation of solid economic growth has meant little in the everyday lives of most Canadians according to a new index of wellbeing. ... The index suggests the middle class, in particular, is eroding. ... The Canadian Index of Wellbeing is meant to be GDP's alter ego, measuring the quality of life in society in ways gross domestic product does not. ... While GDP measures what companies and government produce, the wellbeing index measures how Canada and its people are faring. It shows that between 1994 and 2008, wellbeing improved by just 11 per cent. The economy over that period grew by 31 per cent. ... "The divergence in the (index of wellbeing) and GDP tells us emphatically that we have not been making the right investments in our people and in our communities. And we have not been doing it for a long time," the report on the index says. ... Living standards rose 26.4 per cent, but at the expense of income inequality. The rich took the lion's share. ... In other words, a typical household is now working harder and longer to keep on track financially, at the expense of having free time with family and friends, enjoying arts and culture, and volunteering." ... he work is recognized by the Organization for Economic Co- operation as leading edge. The policy prescriptions, however, point to failures at every level of government over the past couple of decades, Romanow says -- adding that he, too, carries some of the blame. "We all wear some of this."

Your anti-Canadian bigotry is disgusting. I don't want to see any more of it. I gather you've been kicked off all the US'n boards. /ignore

Agreed.

I guess it must be a lot easier to get disability benefits down there than it is here. Just show them a few of your posts and you'll be in the money!

Occupy Melbourne: Riot police wade in ... Three principles for a new Wall Street Integrity, Transparency, Embracing the commons “What would Jesus think of Occupy Wall Street?” Occupy Wall Street Succeeds Where Bush-Era Peace Protests Failed And this gem ... seems to hit a nail on the head ... A black eye for Bay Street Spencer Lanthier, a former member of the Bank of Canada’s board, ... “This city, this province, this country has a reputation of being the best location to carry out white-collar crime— corporate fraud—in the industrialized world.” Anybody care to explain why a former Bank of Canada board member would say that?

George's snippets had nothing to do with religion ... but I'll never hear someone say "bro" again without cracking up!

Ya ... disgusting isn't it ... but true. I just heard about another house today that was used to house kids temporarily. And I don't go looking for this stuff.

And you know that how?I do know.

Anybody see George Strombolopolis' takes from the repub debate? Hilarious!

I agree fraud is wrong. However I think the numbers say that there's a greater perception of fraud (38,000 people reported on the 'hotline') than actual fraud (38). It might be a good idea to have a similar investigation of stock market fraud ... a hotline ... hmmm ...

But not a minor ethical issue.Still outstanding: contempt of parliament. Also, Harper's seniors constituency got hoodwinked into believing he would be maintaining increased costs of health care. Not so: The 6% he promised them might cover increased cost of care for existing population, but not annual increase in population itself, esp increase in senior population. I had the dubious pleasure of explaining that to some. They were embarrassed that they'd been taken in by the manipulation of numbers, and furious and VERY worried. "This year's budget for health care was the BIGGEST EVER IN THE HISTORY OF CANADA!" Ya ... so's the population. Means nothing for per capita funding, esp for cost intensive senior health care. I can't wait 'til they hit the streets!

Why not? Rich people complain about it all the time. Are you saying they're TOO LAZY to do anything about it? Re "% of the population committing welfare fraud" ... In Ontario, it's about .0003% of the population, $50,000 per year max. TOTAL. But hey ... if rich people everywhere want to wast their time protesting about peanuts, who am I to stop them.

And many can't. Doctors decide.What's your point?

From cybercoma's link and the auditors' report, I find the following for Ontario: Welfare recipients - 200,000 Dependents. - 100,000 Total 300,000 = 2.5% of the population Welfare fraud 'hotline' investigations - 38,000 Not on welfare - 34,200 Committing fraud - 38 = .1% of those investigated = .02 % of recipients (corrected) IE, 1 in every 5,000 recipients may commit some welfare fraud. Most commonly, it may involve only the 'special diet' allowance (about $50/mo) or might be undeclared spouse-in-the-house. Where 'spouse' also receives welfare, there is a clawback, but it's not large ($200/mo). If temporary 'spouse' has a job, they usually disappear pretty fast if woman and kids lose their welfare benefits and he'll have to support them. So in $$$ we are probably looking at a heck of a lot less than those investigations cost!

Mike Harris' law was cut off for LIFE when fraud of welfare OR disability was committed.