March 25, 2009

 

Are you up for a challenge?


See if you can put the following statements from this Gauntlet article in order, from dumb to dumbest.
The last three sentences comprise 100% of a single paragraph!

It's a shame that the cause of anti-Nazism and anti-racism risks being sullied by association with these idiots.

As for how to deal with the "Aryan Guard"... :)

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March 17, 2009

 

Tax cuts for the rich

I suspect many people have seen this before, but it's a good analogy that bears repeating.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the 20," declared the fifth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the sixth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important: they didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

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October 13, 2008

 

Peanut gallery 2008

CBC did another series of interviews with leaders of the fringe parties last night. I also covered this bit in the last election. On the question of "what would be the first thing you'd do if you won the election", they said:

Christian Heritage Party: Recognize that personhood goes from conception to natural death
Libertarian Party: End the drug war
Marijuana Party: Legalize marijuna federally (municipalities could set their own laws)
Progressive Canadian Party: Free post-secondary education
Marxist-Leninist Party: Choose your candidates before the election (I think this was related to party nominations)
Communist Party: Pull out of NAFTA
Canadian Action Party: Launch an international investigation of what really happened on 9/11; remove the "competitiveness council" of sixteen corporate leaders who tell the Prime Minister what to do
Neorhino.ca: Abolish Canada; abolish the military budget; Quebec separates and joins Cuba to form "Cubec"; Cubec's national drink will be made from maple syrup and Cuban rum

I wonder if the leaders of the Work Less Party, First Peoples National Party, and Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party will threaten a lawsuit because they weren't included. :)

Oh, and it's a bit sad that the Rhinos' platform was only about the third-dumbest of the bunch...

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April 23, 2008

 

Clearly not a fan of the new union deal




Down with the Security & Prosperity Partnership!
Down with the North American Union!
Down with the New World Order!


But most of all...

Down with the Toronto Transit Commission!!

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August 24, 2007

 

Help me understand a conspiracy theory



If you were an evil continentalist bent on oppressing the masses with your deep integration schemes, why would you build your top-secret superhighway to Winnipeg?

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December 12, 2005

 

Views from the peanut gallery

CBC's nightly news had a piece on Canada' minor political parties which I thought was interesting. This is how the party representatives responded when asked about the first thing they'd do if they formed the government.

Canadian Action Party: Get rid of NAFTA
Communist Party: Get rid of NAFTA
Progressive Canadian Party: Fix health care
Marxist-Leninist Party: Declare that Canadian government is anti-war
Marijuana Party: Stop using police resources against drug users
Libertarian Party: Severely restrict power and scope of government
Christian Heritage Party: Bring forward a socially conservative platform

I agree with the Libertarian's message, and to a lesser extent the Marijuana Party's.

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