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We beat the germans in 2 wars yet are still technically ruled by them. House of "Windsor" indeed.
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May 31, 2013 18:20
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I'd unironically be 100% down and supportive for Queen Michaëlle Jean
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May 31, 2013 23:08
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Lexicon posted:^ You still haven't stated your position on bus fares - should those go away also (with the difference funded by rich unicorn taxpayers also)? That sounds good to me actually. Outright eliminating fares would eliminate the need to collect fares, which is really loving expensive.
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Jun 4, 2013 18:35
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Pretty much every good transit system I've ever been on used a system of "buy a single ticket worth X amount of time on the entire transit network" or a monthly pass or what ever plus very very random inspections with big fines. Actually paying or swiping a card to get on a bus or tram or train or what ever slow everything down and needs amazingly expensive equipment. It also means you can only get on via the front door. I'd love it if Vancouver moved to a system more like that plus the tickets were cheap as poo poo because most of the funding came from taxes. Or just go 100% free. If people complain "What if a homeless sleeps on the train!" then we raise taxes again and solve poverty and homeless issues. Just keep taxing until poo poo is fixed! I call it my "tax and spend" strategy. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 18:47
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Mr. Wynand posted:Lower fares with spotty in-person enforcement (which is essentially what we had before) is fine too. The fines are so low compared to the ticket price atm that I wouldn't be surprised if from a strictly cost-benefit point of view, skipping fares may actually come out ahead. Yeah actually I'd say this is the most ideal system. Have transit passes done a bit like your medical premiums. If you make under X amount you get a free pass, if you make over X amount your yearly pass is $100, if you make over Y it's $150 and so on. Also gently caress ikea http://politicsrespun.org/2013/05/profits-before-people-richmond-ikea-lockout-enters-day-17/ \/\/ I've heard they're actually making less profit after the high costs of the new fare gates and the whole thing was political and they were TOLD it was worthless to implement. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 19:00
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I think everyone just has an anecdote from a friend who's brother lived in quebec an the LANGUAGE POLICE told him he had to re-name his cafe because it didn't sound french enough and he couldn't afford a new sign and went out of business BILINGUALISM RUN AMOK!
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Jun 4, 2013 19:11
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I'd love an all out ban on most forms of advertisement and marketing, in french AND english!!
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Jun 4, 2013 19:46
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JawKnee posted:We can probably take specific Vancouver bus-chat to the Vancouver thread Western exclusion strikes again...
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Jun 4, 2013 20:09
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HookShot posted:Whatever happened to that douchebag that was suing Air Canada because they didn't have a French speaking flight attendant on board and he demanded to be served in French despite being fluent in English? It's poo poo like this that form the bank of anecdotes westerns collect to support their "uhg forced bilingualism is awful, the Quebecois are the worst whiners..." They're pretty rare cases, they almost remind me of Kate Beaton's "Straw Feminists". She should do a comic about "Straw Quebecois". This straw-man version of the western idea of the militant Quebecois who wants nothing more than to force their language on western canada just to antagonize (or dare I say oppress!) us.
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Jun 4, 2013 23:05
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Am I loving crazy or do you actually wear a helmet playing soccer? I thought they meant american foodball, but no, they say "soccer". I've never seen anyone playing soccer in any sort of a helmet or gear. You wear shorts and a t-shirt, that's about it.
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Jun 5, 2013 01:27
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Persona non grata posted:Do you like it when people "try to educate" you? Hell yeah, I love learning poo poo, specially if the person educating me really knows their poo poo. I loving hate May and the green party but she did nothing wrong in her interview and she's 100% right about shrimp, stop eating that poo poo you idiots. If she didn't explain in detail the reporter would have said something like "May told me not to eat shrimp but didn't back up why." and people would would going on about that instead. \/\/ I don't know, ask Elizabeth May! Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 19:15
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We can hate the greens for more than one thing at once you know! Come on guys, we all hate the greens. Can we not celebrate the cultural-mosaic that is the diversity of our hatred for that party? This should be bringing us together, not pushing us apart!
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Jun 6, 2013 00:22
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DerDestroyer posted:There are lots of good designs for nuclear reactors that due to politics are not being implemented while more obsolete and dangerous designs are being preserved. It's really ironic that the anti-nuclear lobby has done more to increase the risk of a nuclear accident than reduce one. And the best part is, many of them know this and celebrate this. They want more accidents to happen to accelerate its total banning. They want more Fukoshimas, look at the german reaction to that (ie opening up more coal plants!). It's not even about the environment or safety, it's become an almost religious-like crusade.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:35
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Poizen Jam posted:I don't think it's 'ironic' at all. I'm completely unsurprised. Perhaps I'm cynical but it would be a very effective strategy, kind of like a more cruel and sociopathic version of starving the beast. Surely anti nuclear scaremongering is funded by coal/oil power companies in part? They absolutely do fund anti-nuclear scaremongering, along with anti-wind which they invest big-time in denouncing (KILLING BIRDS!!!!). They usually don't really work together very well because although coal is anti-nuclear they're also anti-anything that isn't coal, while most anti-nuclear types believe solar and wind are a magic bullet that will solve all our energy problems but is only being held back by big-nuclear and big-coal and big-basic-understand-of-science. But most of it really is true-believers who sinceerly believe nuclear power is the most evil dangerous threat and are wiling to do anything to stop, block, slow down, or discredit the entire umbrella field of anything nuclear related. It's a mix of cold-war era nuclear fears, anti-"big science" hippy paranoia, and a heaping bucket of ignorance. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 00:47
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Gus Hobbleton posted:I'm still waiting for a coal power plant to explode and shower the surrounding areas with radioactive fallout and for everyone to just wave it off with "oh it's just coal it never hurt anybody." You've pretty much describing the normal daily operation of a coal plant. They toss up wayyy more "radioactive fallout" than any nuclear plant.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:52
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That's a good move, I know quite a few permanent residents that would love to vote in their civic elections but can't due to silly old rules. Also can anyone explain why becoming a citizen takes so loving long? I literally can't in my most wild kafka fantasy land imagine why it takes more than a week or two. If you're a permanent resident you've already been vetted many times by the country so what is there left to check, and what is there left to check that wouldn't take more than a couple minutes on a computer? What are they actually doing? How is it not more than them getting the application, reading it over, typing some poo poo into a computer and mailing back a card or what ever? I could see it maybe taking as long as getting a passport, but taking 1-2 YEARS? What the gently caress are they doing? Or are they just so under-staffed that there's just a massive back log?
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Jun 11, 2013 23:24
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Oh also even if your poo poo has been processed it's not official till you have a useless stupid public ceremony which you might have to wait months extra on and be forced to say some pretty lovely stuff.
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Jun 11, 2013 23:39
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Shofixti posted:Seriously. I commute into downtown Toronto every day using the GO train. Those trains are often packed - standing room only. If all of those people started driving and looking for parking downtown it would be a god drat disaster. Ah a congestion charge with no alternative to driving, what an amazing plan. Poor? gently caress you you aren't getting to work today! Perhaps people too poor to drive should consider working the oil sands?
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Jun 13, 2013 17:33
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Nothing unites the rest of canada more than hating on Quebec. All petty regionalism goes out the window when there's a quebec to scoff at. Doesn't matter if you're a yaletown yuppie or an albertan oil worker, it's the one thing that can bring canadians together. Tim Hortons should use it in a disgustingly sentimental ad.
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Jun 14, 2013 19:53
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I find the same people who totally define them selves as "not american" and think we're so much better than the US are the same ones who will be totally politically apathetic and not at all enraged by what harper is doing because "Hey we're still way better than the US" It's like the canadian version of american exceptionalism. We will always be more progressive than the US so there's no need to fight for or defend said progress. Our health system is great, we're not racist, we don't have crime problems. Why? Not because of successful government and social programs that are now being dismantled, but just by the very nature of our not-americanness. So chill out, don't worry, it's canada, we'll always be the most progressive place in north america.
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Jun 14, 2013 21:55
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My issue with the idea of stocking an org with skilled technocrats is that these groups of "skilled technocrats" that get in power in various parts of the world don't really have that much of a better track record than elected politicians. Like it sounds good, have a check/balance of a bunch of smart successful people, but who's picking those people, who's vetting them, who's ensuring they have the skills and ethics to handle that sort of power? Oh, it's generally politicians doing favours? Yeah great way to get the best of the best in there.
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Jun 26, 2013 23:34
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I'd unironically love a FREE VANCOUVER ISLAND. We have the best flag. Beavers and pine cones man
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Jun 27, 2013 17:58
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Is that a problem outside of Victoria? I always shop around for doctors, if I don't like mine after a year or so I just go looking at reviews for others.
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Jun 28, 2013 06:37
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I'd just love to see all our immigration related Kafka-esq bullshit be a little faster and less Kafka-esq. All this poo poo shouldn't take years to process, it should take weeks or months tops, there's absolutely no reason or excuse for it taking so long or being so confusing and complicated.
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Jun 28, 2013 17:33
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I'm not sure the media is saying al-Qaeda enough in relation to this attempted bombing by 2 people born and raised in canada with absolutely no international or "terrorist" contacts.
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Jul 2, 2013 20:06
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So when they say the public was never at risk and everything was under control why do I get the feeling the RCMP made the bombs or supplied the kids with everything and set the entire thing up? How did they know everything was under control and they knew what was going on? Is this another case where the RCMP invents the entire plot and aggressively recruits some poor idiots to go plant the "bombs" then swoops in to heroically thwart their own dud terrorist plot?
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Jul 2, 2013 20:15
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Browns making bombs, that's about the extent of it. Are you brown and or muslim? Are you angry about something, maybe something political to do with the mid-east? Congrats, you're now al-qaeda linked. /\/\ I didn't know how old they were, but the last time I remember the RCMP setting up a fake terrorist plot they best they netted were some stupid teens, who then got tried as adults because TERRORISM. It's usually kids with these RCMP-inspired terrorist honey-traps. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 20:17
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Am I completely remembering wrong that there was a case a few years ago where the RCMP infiltrated a group of semi-radical youths and then actually gave them the ideas and instigated them to start putting together a violent plan, then provided training and materials, then busted them ? Wasn't there a bunch of controversy about the RCMP instigating and escalating the group to the point that they did something incriminating? edit, yeah this one I think. The kids were actually given due process and treated as minors, impressive canada! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Ontario_terrorism_plot I wonder if these two will be given proper due process. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 20:29
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I've got a great idea for fighting terrorism in Canada: get the gently caress out of Afghanistan and stop desperately trying to copy the US's worst foreign policies and vocal "support" of Israel.
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Jul 2, 2013 20:41
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Canada: "we're really upset about income inequality and social issues! Not really worried at all about taxes though!" *votes in conservative majority* gently caress this country.
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Jul 2, 2013 22:22
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I went to a CBSA office in Victoria in a very nice downtown office building full of very normal offices. Their office is just a little place you pay your taxes and duties on poo poo. The lady in there, who looked like your typical middle-aged office lady, was sporting a loving bullet proof vest and everyone there was all TACTICAL. It looked loving ridiculous. Who makes these policies? It seems absolutely pathetic to take them selves that seriously.
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Jul 9, 2013 04:26
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I love it when people go on about how global warming will benefit Canada so it's good, but then if you bring up what it will do to India and the rest of the world suddenly climate change isn't real or won't be as severe and they want to change the topic. Also it's a stereotype for sure but there's something about geologists working for oil and gas and engineers that attract some of the worst political and scientific idiocy. Geologists NOT working for oil & gas though have been some of the biggest marxist hippies I've ever met though. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Jul 15, 2013 |
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Jul 15, 2013 20:32
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What sort of monsters don't flush loving toilets?? Instant voting black-list for me. Call me a single issue voter but I couldn't support any no-flush or flush-impaired party.
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Jul 22, 2013 00:38
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I was actually reading an article on sunday laws in Victoria a while ago, it was quite the struggle with shops refusing to obey the law and angry customers and shop owners protesting and uniting in solidarity but big-church won out over little-business. It's so weird such laws were passed when it seemed even at the time very few people supported them. And yeah, Germany is really weird. Whole loving country just shuts down on sunday. When I travel I'm usually in this non-stop "wow, this place is so much better than lovely garbage canada in every way" but that sunday thing made me feel like such an angry american consumer. BUT I WANT TO BUY THINGS ON SUNDAY UHG!!! Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 17:25
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Yeah, the more I travel the more I really dislike Canada. When I was a kid and had only been to the US Canada seemed amazing and I was actually sort of proud to be Canadian. But once you leave north america, holy poo poo does it look bad in comparison. The culture, the politics, the infrastructure, the cities, the people, you realize how far behind we are in so many fields plus the infuriating waste. There's trade offs in other places but it's always like 10 way better things for 1 slightly worse or just different thing. Victoria is tolerable and the nature here is amazingly fantastic but if they had matrix-like mind-patches for languages I'd be out of here so fast. The highest most patriotic thing I can say about my country is "most of the people around me speak a language I also speak and I'm generally not regarded as an outsider or other." But one of the saddest things is the level of political engagement and interest, people here are so apathetic about politics or just kinda pick a team and stick with it through life. I see so many more protests and outright riots at injustice in other places, and during elections people seem much more interested and engaged with the process. Not having FPTP really helps in civilized countries too.
Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 19:40
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It's a good panacea for the crushing depression of living under the Harper Government(tm) to know that yes, most other places have it even worse, but a lovely corrupt government based on vile ideology is still an awful thing. I know you're not trying to say "other places have it worse so don't complain about harper!" but I hear that to defend so many lovely things. If feminists want to see real sexism they should look at the muslim world. If the poor here think the class divide is bad they should check out Brazil. If you think the government is giving polluting industries a free pass maybe you should read up on china. Perspective is good to have, but corruption, injustice, incompetence, and general shittyness should always be called out.
Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 23:29
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Any european party with "liberal" in its name generally means they're really really into "free markets" and think the solution to every single problem is privatization and tax cuts.
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Jul 23, 2013 05:57
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No one I know is even talking about it, I only just heard about it or even knew it was a thing via sarcastic comments here on SA. The reaction ranges from "Kate who?" to "gently caress the monarchy" but I guess everyone I know is just too cool. I thought only the 60+ crowd cared at all about the Royal family anymore. I'd love to see a survey that ranks even knowledge of the royal family as well as "support" for them along with age, income, and region.
Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 20:27
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I was following this as I know quite a few "small business owners" (as in actually small, shops and restaurants) and this sort of poo poo really hurts them. One dude is really right wing and was going on about how as much as the credit card companies are predatory and horrible the ruling is good because the government should never tell anyone how they can make money or punish someone for being successful as one day he'll be successful and would hate it if the government came and regulated him.
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Jul 24, 2013 18:10
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You can't offer any discount, penalty, or incentive in any way to pay with one method over another. In fact the credit card companies were even making GBS threads on retailers who even just put up little signs saying simply stating factually how much each transaction type cost them and then something like "If you support small business, choose your payment option carefully"
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Jul 24, 2013 18:33
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