RNG

That would be a real dilemma. If the reality weren't so serious and sad, it would almost be comical thinking of all the spin-doctors having their heads explode.

The BC government definitely implied that all stores had to follow the guidelines in a story published in the Vancouver Sun. Mind you, they have lied to me before. Googling it now, I see you are right. Edit: Or the Sun is continuing their anti-Liberal crusade with a little misdirection.

Not quite right. Not only do you still have to pay CPP, you have to pay double, your contribution and your company's. And you can chose to not pay EI, but then you aren't eligible to receive it.

Perhaps showing how I go out of my way to find things to do since I retired, I have been keeping track since the penny disappeared. I have stayed in the range between being three cents down and two cents up since it happened, and I always use cash for anything less than $20. There is one dollar store in our neighborhood that was rounding everything up but the little old ladies in our area (we have 3 assisted living facilities in walking distance) complained to some government agency and he got a nasty-gram and has been playing by the rules since.

The question becomes "does the demographics of who is willing to pay their $10* or whatever to join the Liberals and vote reflect the general population"? * What my Conservative membership cost when I joined in order to try to defeat Rob Ander's nomination bid two elections ago.

I scanned the top of the International Politics list, but didn't go down far enough, obviously. I thought it would be a much hotter topic. Sorry for the double post.

Brings back memories alright. I'm not totally sure he wants to do that.

Without really studying it in detail, I am amazed at the breadth of opinions I am picking up about the economic situation in Cypress and the potential fall-out. The general amalgam of news and op-eds I have read on the news websites of BBC, CBC, CTV and CNN, as well as a few blogs sent to me by a friend appears to be as follows. The Cypriot banks are about to fail, and the government will totally run out of money in a month. Germany led the EU in offering a bailout as long as the Cypriot government took 10% of people's savings deposited in banks. Apparently Germany wanted this because of all the Russian oligarchy's money deposited there. The less kind sites referred to it as Russian Mafia money. The common folk, somewhat understandably expressed outrage. The government pulled the proposed legislation, but the smart money says it had little to do with respect for the masses but mostly fear of the Russians. Germany is ready to let the country sink. Thoughts and opinions on the next step(s) and potential fallout?

Not true. As wealth is created money can safely be added to the system. When oil is produced, iron mined, cars built, and so on, money can be "created". But there needs to be a balance or eventually the money will become worthless. Take Germany after WWII or Zimbabwe not so long ago. Money supply and interest rates are the governments tools to keep the economy in balance and it is often a difficult job.

Most of the press on the west coast seems to consider him an intellectual lightweight but a real charmer. Just what we need, a leader with charisma and little else.

I'd be perfectly happy to have Flaherty et al completely out of this and other business decisions IF no one screams for bailouts and taxpayer support for failed banks and people who have their house repossessed when the interest rates skyrocket, as is inevitable given the current degree of US money printing quantitative easing.

Ah, yes. The CMHC, our version of Freddie and Fanny.

A CNN breaking news e-mail says

The big fear is that the US is artificially holding down it's interest rates with the massive quantitative easing. (Love those euphimizms, like undocumented workers when you mean illegal aliens.) At some point they are going to have to quit printing money and when that happens there will be high rates and rampant inflation. One of the many things Flaherty and the BoC are trying to juggle is keeping our interest rates realistic and moderating the high personal debt levels being seen in Canada. A tough balancing act. And due to our regulations our banks did way better than those in the US and most of Europe. Remember the shock when Martin disallowed the merger of two of the Canadian big banks? There was lots of shock, but in the end it was probably a good thing.

The fact is keep spending money you don't have leads to Cypress via Greece. I visit a US dominated political forum and about 95% those people are in total denial. We seem to be only about 75%. The government can't be all things to all people. Yes, there are tons of worthy causes out there, but they can't all be funded.

Both CBC and BBC say that the US is denying that any chemical weapons were used by either side. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/19/syria-chemical-weapon-accusations.html (updated 2013-03-19-15:38) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21841217

Sorry about that. I've been away from the site for a while and missed the subtle little blue "CBC".

My question is did the poor, innocent fair evader somehow instigate the attack by being a smart-ass or trying to bully the crazy-man? Lots we don't know about this story, as is so often the case in these discussions. But it does add lots of potential for wild speculation.

I went with a Shaw bundle. I tried very hard to compare the apples to oranges that Shaw and Telus are offering here in BC. It appeared that for the my usage, the combined phone, cable and internet with Shaw was slightly better, and the bundle is better in all my cases than any possible mix and match. The downside is that once the decision is made, it is a pain to change providers.

Any idea where and when? Will it be televised? I sure hope so.

I am a staunch small c conservative, fanatically so. But Harper is pissing me off so bad.................

A sad fact of life in Canadian, American and British politics these days. And I don't comment on other countries because I don't have the knowledge of them.

Yes, and murdering British consular persons is all totally OK and the guys who do it get a total walk. Right on. Vivalla the Revolutions, and all that bullshit.

But the scary thing is that just like at the federal level for how many years with the Conservatives and Reform splitting the vote and letting the Liberals waltz in, can the same thing happen in Alberta now. The official conservatives haven't been conservative since Klein left. I think Wildrose is, but just like Reform in it's early days it has a few too many wingnuts. And the Conservative have become a tired force. Could be trouble.

So the lefties here don't believe in trickle down, either.