- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/battlefield-horrors-led-howard-richmond-soldier-to-stab-wife-to-death-trial-hears
quote:
Battlefield horrors led Ottawa soldier Howard Richmond to stab wife to death, trial hears
OTTAWA — Warrant Officer Howard Richmond forced back tears in an Ottawa courtroom as he recalled an encounter on a tour of duty in Croatia in 1992: a young girl in a sundress, pleading for his help, was executed just metres from him. He watched helplessly, he said, because he was following peacekeeping orders not to fire unless fired upon.
Such battlefield trauma from Richmond’s service in Croatia and Afghanistan is being linked directly to shocking violence much closer to home as the former soldier defends himself in court, claiming he should not be held criminally responsible for stabbing his wife to death because his post-traumatic stress disorder left him incapable of forming the intent to kill and of knowing it was wrong.
That Richmond, 52, stabbed his 28-year-old wife Melissa Richmond to death on July 25, 2013, is not in dispute.
Testifying in his defence at his first-degree murder trial, Richmond told a jury he was playing “the bad man” in a pre-arranged rape-fantasy tryst just after midnight on July 25, 2013. Dressed in black and armed with a screwdriver and knife, he hid in the bushes at the edge of a parking lot, sprang out on cue as Melissa walked by and “slipped into character.”
Yeah whatever bro. 
More proof that the CF are filled with scum. Abolish it already.
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2015 05:18
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2024 17:48
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Ladies and Gentlemen, your honourable CF, defenders of freedom and Canada's first line of defence against human indignity
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2015 05:58
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Economists like Karl Marx
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 00:09
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Hey SJW fuckfaces. Want to know why the cards are stacked against Prime Minister Pretty Boy?
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/harpers-small-government-agenda-prevails-whether-he-wins-or-loses/
quote:
The Harper agenda prevails, whether he wins or loses
By putting shrewd politics ahead of sound economics, the Prime Minister has guaranteed Canada will have austerity for years to come
Stephen Gordon
December 9, 2014
This is taken from page five of Paul Wells’s 2006 book Right Side Up; the context is a speech that Stephen Harper gave to a Canadian Alliance (remember them?) policy conference in 2001. He would soon go on to announce his candidacy for the CA leadership, and the rest is, well, history:
And what was the policy end to which Harper was urging conservatives? He offered only hints. He cited research suggesting that a nation’s government is simply wasting money if it spends more than 30 per cent of a nation’s gross domestic product. “Canada is 50 cents on the dollar above that level.” That is, Canada’s various levels of governments were spending closer to 45 per cent of GDP.
This is the kind of statement that news reporters never write about. It’s full of numbers; it’s abstract; it’s theoretical. But if Harper’s words had any meaning, the implication of what he was saying was breathtaking. Total federal spending in 2001 was about $120 billion. So Harper was calling, at least in theory, for $40 billion in cuts to government spending.
This passage is key to understanding a significant part of what Harper’s agenda has been, what it will be, and what he hopes will be the baseline with which future governments will be obliged to work.
There are a lot of things to disagree with in Harper’s assessment. For one thing, the 30 per cent threshold isn’t based on much in the way of research. I noted here that share of GDP is not a useful indicator for government size: heavy-handed regulations are cheap to implement. The tax mix is usually more important than amount of tax revenues generated. (See here for how a large tax take can be consistent with strong economic growth.) The goal of a smaller government-spending-to-GDP ratio is one driven by politics, not economics.
Politics, not economics, has also determined the strategy for achieving this goal. If you asked an economist for the best way of reducing revenues, she’d probably prepare a list with the taxes that are the most harmful to the economy at the top, and the taxes that are the least harmful at the bottom. The GST would rank at or near the bottom of that list. (Here is a representative reaction to the Conservatives’ 2005 campaign promise to reduce the GST; here is an explanation for why economists think the GST is a good idea.) In economic terms, reducing the GST was probably the worst possible option available to the Conservatives.
But as far as politics goes, it was an inspired choice. It helped win the election, and—perhaps even more importantly—reducing the GST has made it that much harder for any future government to reverse the trend to lower spending. If the Liberals and the NDP were to ask an economist to provide a list of ways of generating the most revenues at the least economic cost, increasing the GST would be at or near the top of the list. But those two GST points are not going to come back to fill federal coffers in the foreseeable future. Both the Liberals and the NDP have campaigned at some point on anti-GST platforms, and history has not been kind to provincial governments that have raised the HST without an electoral mandate to do so. (The NDP’s proposal to increase corporate tax rates is the doppelgänger of the Conservatives’ GST cut. In economic terms, an increase in corporate taxes is probably the worst possible choice for generating revenues, but it’s a potential vote-winner. Maybe it will work for them as well as it did for the CPC.)
Then there’s the Conservatives’ predilection for boutique tax credits. Here’s how UBC’s (and Macleans.ca’s) Kevin Milligan put it recently:
Since 2006, so-called “boutique” tax credits have proliferated, allowing tax recognition of activities ranging from children’s fitness to volunteer firefighting. These credits are inefficient, and they are biased toward higher earners who are more tax-savvy.
Normally, when we raise revenue using high marginal tax rates, there is a tradeoff: We distort economic activity but we get tax revenue that can be spent on productive public projects. With boutique tax credits, we end up with the worst of both worlds; we distort decisions with higher tax rates, but the issuance of credits means that we don’t raise as much revenue.
But on the political front, the Conservatives probably view boutique tax credits as a win-win-win proposition: They win votes, they reduce revenues, and they are politically difficult to eliminate once in place.
This doesn’t sound like much and, indeed, it’s not supposed to sound like much. But the net result is that federal revenues as a share of total economic activity are now at levels not seen since before the Second World War:
This brings us to the “starve the beast strategy” described in detail here: the reduction in revenues is now a justification for reducing expenditures. But, once again, the strategy is driven by politics, not economics. The elements are as follows (see also here and, most recently, here):
Let transfer payments to individuals grow at the rate of GDP.
Let transfer payments to provinces grow at the rate of GDP.
Hold nominal direct program spending constant.
These elements have been in place in every budget since 2010. The economics of this approach are very dodgy: the economically efficient way to approach the problem of reducing spending is to perform a cost-benefit analysis and eliminate the programs that don’t pass the test. But the politics are something else. Cuts in transfer payments directly affect peoples’ personal finances, and could be reversed at no political cost. The same is true for cuts in transfer payments to the provinces; much of the Jean Chrétien-era cuts to the provinces were rescinded a few year later. The path of least political resistance is through direct program spending: the cost of paying federal public servants’ wages.
I’ve noted that holding nominal spending constant means continued austerity: the costs of delivering a given set of public services increases more or less in line with GDP. The only way to reconcile rising costs with constant spending is to make cuts. Once again, even if you’ve accepted this point, the economically efficient strategy is to eliminate the programs that deliver the least value for money, and the government is free to determine what activities it values. Across-the-board cuts are almost never the best strategy. This point was well-known during the Chrétien budget-cutting years, and the Conservative government was made aware of a similar analysis fairly recently. But since every program has its own constituency, there’s always a risk that cancelling a program outright will provide a focal point for discontent.
Indeed, Conservatives may view some of the economic disadvantages of across-the-board cuts as political advantages. For example:
“The authors found that prolonged cuts of this nature result in a loss of workforce capability, public sector productivity and innovation, and trust and confidence in public sector institutions,” states the memo.
I’m pretty sure that many Conservatives are not overly upset by this prospect. And, even the most imaginative CPC strategist wouldn’t allow herself to dream that an opposition party would campaign on a promise to raise taxes in order to increase public sector productivity and morale.
The third prong of the CPC approach—holding direct program spending constant—has gotten sharper recently. Although the government’s habit of frequently changing its accounting rules obscures the picture—again, another political winner—it seems clear that nominal spending is actually falling:
Splicing these series is almost certainly not the correct way to go about this, but it will have to do for now. If the Department of Finance is willing to provide me with a consistent series, I would be happy—thrilled! ecstatic!—to replace this chart with a better one.
This brings us to the present. Looking forward, I’ve noted that talk of a future surplus is contingent on a baseline in which the Conservatives’ three-point program remains in place over the next few years; without continued austerity, those projected surpluses are transformed into projected deficits.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of establishing this baseline scenario: Election platforms are invariably expressed in terms of deviations from the most recent Department of Finance projection. Proposals for new spending (or new tax cuts) are expected to be accompanied by offsetting measures for new revenues. From what we’ve seen so far, neither opposition party is willing to consider the sort of tax increases that would produce a significant deviation from the Conservatives’ baseline.
The ballot-box question in 2015 may well be: “Which party do you want to implement Stephen Harper’s agenda?”
So let's see what loving dumb rear end in a top hat Prime Minister Pretty Boy is going to appoint Finmin and watch him drown in despair.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 05:19
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
It's still absolutely baffling that Harper actually did away with the goddamn census.
But it's not as important as the most fascinating policy issue of our times: weed
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 06:17
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Wow Kevin Vickers Canadian hero. Next up a goon montage of Wayne Gretzky and that pic of jtf2 leading out their Arab hostages out of the back of an American cargo plane.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 16:05
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Are you loving kidding me? Flaherty was instrumental in executing Harper's strategy to cut government and 'starve the beast' of tax revenue, specifically by cutting the GST. gently caress that fat gently caress and I hope he died screaming.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 03:31
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
So who will be the first to resign?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 16:32
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Hey SJW refugee lovers, defend this pls
http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=11490187
quote:
A Metro Vancouver man with a lengthy criminal record would face undue hardship if deported to his native Somalia, the Federal Court of Canada has ruled.
Salah Awil Abdillahi, 26, has racked up 22 convictions, and faces two outstanding charges, since coming to Canada with his mother a decade ago.
And he’s had over 135 separate encounters with the police since he became a permanent resident here.
But Abdillahi is also an alcoholic who suffered brain damage when he was hit by a bus in September 2013, Judge Russell Zinn noted in his Oct. 23 decision.
And if Abdillahi were sent back to Somalia where he has no support, his prospects would be extremely bleak, Zinn said.
“Mr. Abdillahi is a cognitively-disabled recidivist-offender alcoholic with minimal work experience, access to resources, or social supports,” Zinn said. “He falls squarely within the category of persons identified in the documentary evidence that are unlikely to be able to get by in Mogadishu without experiencing undue hardship.”
Abdillahi has already lost his permanent resident status after being found “inadmissible on the grounds of serious criminality,” the ruling said.
He then requested a pre-removal risk assessment to determine if he could be safely returned to Somalia. An immigration department official said Abdillahi would be all right in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
But Zinn disagreed, saying “Abdillahi has limited family connections in Somalia.”
“His father lives in Somalia but he has had no contact with him since 2007, and does not know where he lives. Similarly, he also has aunts and uncles in Somalia, but does not know where they live,” Zinn said.
Another problem are tattoos Abdillahi has that he says would identify him as being “westernized and not a Muslim.”
His tattoos include the words Outlaw, love, and the acronym SOG for ‘Somalia Original Gangster’ on his forearms.
“Mr. Abdillahi does not know which clan he belongs to and submits that he will be at risk in Somalia without the social and protective support of a clan,” Zinn said.
Zinn also called the immigration official’s finding that Abdillahi could successfully find work in Mogadishu “perverse” given his history in Canada.
“Mr. Abdillahi worked as a forklift driver for a total of four months between his arrival in Canada in 2005 and his removal hearing in 2014. Aside from these four months, he did not work at all while in Canada. Needless to say, and notwithstanding the contrary conclusion of the officer, this work experience does not bode well for Mr. Abdillahi’s economic prospects in Mogadishu,” Zinn said.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 16:39
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
What's the easiest way to figure out what caste each south Asian minister belongs to?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:09
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say Trudeau appointing a 30 year old rookie MP with no political experience as minister of democratic institutions means electoral reform is not going to be taken seriously
How dare u
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:20
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
What an innovative idea to appoint a bus driver as infrastructure minister. Truly the working man now has a voice in government. You did it sjws!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:31
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Navdeep has all markings of an idiot. lol a CMA, MBA from Windsor, ba in ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES at pork u.
Maybe he can implement more brogrammer friendly vc opportunities
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:58
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Haha Freeland is banned from traveling to Russia.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 18:58
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Is JJ also a gay? Now that John Baird has retired, who is going to be the standard bearer of conservative hypocrisy?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 19:22
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
hahahahahaha
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 19:29
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
You loving idiots know what the partition of India is right
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 21:41
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Throw city manager penny ballem on to that pile of burning poo poo.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 00:25
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Also, lol Ruby dhalla
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 00:26
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
So what you're saying is one of you sjw trots would make a fine finmin right
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 00:34
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
you realize sikhs arent hindus, right?
I can't even describe what I'm feeling right now
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 01:20
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Nuke downtown Calgary
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 02:48
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Let's get back to Something Dumb one of you posted. Who here loving thinks Sikhs are exempt from the hindu caste system?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 04:16
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
It's like literally nine keystrokes in google to look up s-i-k-h c-a-s-t-e
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 04:19
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
We should appoint Wayne Gretzky minister of health, ethics and gaming.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 21:17
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Destroy car culture, massive investment in bike and pedestrian infrastructure, mandatory high school cooking classes. Save massive amounts of money on health care costs while also saving people money and making them happier.
Cars, lovely food, and a lovely built environment are killing us and making us fat, stressed, and generally miserable.
And tons of weed
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 23:37
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
420 smoke democracy every day
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 23:37
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
I doubt there are any SJWs that have ever heard of the laws of thermodynamics since that's all just the domain of STEMlords
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 00:01
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Hahaha you smoke menthol cigarettes
What kind of trucknutting bulldogger are you
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 00:50
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Suicide has a lot of social benefits bros. Think of all the generations of human garbage ceos in Japan and Korea that saved not only their honour but the costs of prosecuting their corrupt asses.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 03:29
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
If you think about it there have been many victims of communism who deserve recognition.
like a sponge to mop up all those ndp tears
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 04:15
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
No you see smoking weed yields the following health benefits
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 04:29
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Why aren't any of you talking about Minister Bad rear end's ties to the World Sikh Organization? Melian, were asleep at your desk or something? Why haven't you deployed your jackbooted jarheads? If JT appointed a Palestinian with ties to Fatah how good would you all feel about yourselves?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 05:35
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
and he's bad rear end
so bad rear end he was probably one of the guys in the back of that US cargo plane walking out his arab hostages
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 05:39
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
well if you can't tell me how it's irrelevant that a minister of defence has ties to a separatist/terrorist organization then
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 05:51
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Did I read this right pm hair force is pro keystone XL?
Lmao
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 17:07
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
To anyone in future who wants to herald JT's impeccable environment record, remember this pls
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 17:58
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2024 17:48
|
|
- namaste friends
- Sep 18, 2004
-
by Smythe
|
Yes, the world will return to full communism.
This economic insight is brought to you by weed and unicorn dreams
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2015 18:03
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2015 05:18
