Stephen Harper's Promises...

In Stephen Harpers acceptance speech last night, he said "god bless Canadians", this morning Canadians said "Jesus Christ"!?!?

Stephen Harper is our new Prime Minister, by a slim minority. Is anyone happy with the results of yesterdays election? The NDP are probably the only group that are smiling today. I'm happy the Conservatives didn't get a majority. I'm a little concerned the Bloc Québécois will side with the Conservatives in Parliamentnt. The Conservatives had a strong showing in Quebec. It appears this election has quieted the sovereign debate for awhile, the Bloc didn't get the support they expected. The Bloc Québécois received only 42% of the popular vote in Quebec.

Paul Martin...A great Finance Minister, a lousy leader. Where does this leave the Liberals? This is day 1, start the rebuilding process and I look forward to Belinda Stronach as our next Prime Minister. (I'm kidding)









The following is a list of promises made by Stephen Harper. We'll be revisiting this list to see how he does over the next 4 years.

Cities

• $2 Billion for Municipalities
• Maintain Infrastructure Deals
• Tax Credit for Monthly Transit Passes
• Improve Highways
  

Crime

• Scrap Gun Registry
• 14-Year-Olds Tried as Adults for Serious or Repeat Crimes
• Eliminate House Arrest for Serious Crimes
• Hire 1000 RCMP Officers
• Amend Youth Criminal Justice Act
  

Armed Forces

• $5.3 Billion Over 5 Years
• Increase Regular Forces by 13,000 & the Reserves by 10,000
• Arm Border Patrol
• Bring Back Airborne Regiment
• Double the Size of DART
  

Economic Development

• $500 Million Annually to Farm Support
• Back Regional Development Agencies Like ACOA
• Change Equalization Formula
• Address "Fiscal Imbalance" Between Ottawa and Provinces
  

Education

• First $10,000 of Scholarships, Bursaries Tax-Free
• Remove Parental Income as a Consideration for Student Loans
• Up to $500 Tax Deduction for Books
• Allow Trades People and Apprentices to Deduct Cost of Equipment & Tools
  

Environment

• Clean Air Act
• Tax Credit for Transit Passes
• Review "Fatally Flawed" Kyoto Accord
• Long-Term Funding for Cleanup of Contaminated Federal Sites
  

Ethics / Accountability

• Allow MP's to Elect Officers to Enforce Accountability
• Toughen Lobbyists Registration Act
• Elected Senate
• Stop Partisan Polling with Public Money
  

Health Care

• Amend Canada Health Act to Provide Stable, Transparent Federal Funding
• Speed Accreditationt of Foreign Doctors
• Reduce Wait Times
• Stop Advance Toward Two-Tiered System
  

Social

• Free Vote on Same-Sex Marriage
• Appoint Minister of Seniors
• 125,000 New Child-Care Spaces
• $1,200 per Family for Child-Care
• No New Abortion Legislation

Taxes

• Cut GST to %5
• Remove Capital Gains Tax on Fishing Assets
• Maximum $500 Tax Break to Parents Childs' Sports Fees

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya

Canada decides it's future tomorrow...

Our civic duty is upon us and I hope everyone votes tomorrow. This election is the most important election in my lifetime. The media have sold us the conservatives weeks before the vote. It's time to put some rules in place for future elections. Once the election is announced, no poll results should be talked about in the media. Canadians have endured a constant media barrage of poll results, simplified and reduced to the lowest common denominator. There is no doubt in my mind, the politically uneducated folks are influenced by polls and deservedly, they will vote on Monday. After several weeks of the same, simplified messages, how can people not be influenced?

Stephen Harper is promising everything to everybody, I wonder who will pay? You and I will pay, with our wallet and our hard earned personal freedoms and rights. Canadians don't need government to determine what's right and/or wrong for us. The role of government is to keep it's citizens safe and foster an economic model that is sustainable over the long haul. Not sexual orientation or the right for a women to decide her and baby's future. Not making religion a part of government and forcing it upon it's citizens. We can only hope for a slim minority government.

My biggest fear is this election might split the country in two. What happens if we have a red east and a blue west? Most Canadians I know are in the middle, between the Liberals and the NDP. Is it time for Jack Layton, Paul Martin, and Gilles Duceppe "get together" to keep the country together? Strange bed-fellows, indeed.

Paul Martin blew this election with his negativity, he has the "deer in the headlights" look. Liberals got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Accountability should have been the PM's catchword during the campaign. Is it any wonder Quebecors are laughing at our national party's and cuddling up to Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois. I'd hate to think the foolish action of our so called leaders, during the campaign, has an affect on Quebec separating from Canada.

The wild bunch over at Election Prediction Project are Figgerin' on the followin':

(Roman numerals are used because I felt like using them)
Liberals: CIV (Seats)
Conservatives: CXVIII
NDP: XXIX
Bloc Québécois: LVI
Other: I
TOTAL: 308

If you are interested, you can checkout predictions on any riding in Canada. These guys have a decent track record for predicting these things. You can check their methodology here.


I'm BC and I'll Probably BCi'ng Blue After Monday's Election

Guess-the-Google...

This is an addictive little game that uses Google's image search. Basically a montage of pictures is shown on the screen and you have to guess what word was used to search for these pics. I can't stop playing. So far my highest score is 276. (Jan 23/06 - New high score: 286) (Mar. 2, 2006 - New High Score: 295)

From the site:
After creating Montage-a-google, several people wrote to me suggesting I make a game based on the same technology. Montage-a-google is a simple web app that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking the keywords for you, the player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it's surprisingly addictive.

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya

Incredible Art...

Click here to see some art from The Sidewalk Chalk Guy.


More information about the artist (Kurt Wenner) can be found on his website.

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya

Tattoo to Extreme...

I'm not sure if the this is a tattoo or airbrushed. Whoa!



I'm BC and...I Hope I don't BC'ing THAT Guy

Out with the old and in with the new...

I love this time of year, its a time for renewal.

And top ten list time.

Here is a list of banned phrases/words from the previous year. Phrases are banished for

• over-use
• mis-use
• plain uselessness. (Whoa! Checkout the s's in that word)

Thanks to the Lake Superior State University for this list.

---------------------------------------
Banned phrases from 2005
---------------------------------------
SURREAL – One part opiate of the masses, 13 parts overuse. Oddly, news anchor and television small talk is becoming more surreal. “Dreams are surreal, not daily adjectives.”

HUNKER DOWN – To brace oneself, in anticipation of media onslaught. Trotted out in reports about everything from politics to hurricanes. “I have a hankering to ban all of this hunkering.”

PERSON OF INTEREST – Found within the context of legal commentary, but seldom encountered at cocktail parties. “People with guns want to talk with you.” – Melissa Carroll from Greensboro, NC. “Does this mean the rest of us are too boring to deal with?”

COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS – A five-dollar phrase on a nickel-errand. Value-added into many higher education mission statements. “Not to be confused with ‘school.'”

UP OR DOWN VOTE – A casualty of today's partisanship. No discussion on this one; the committee just tossed a coin. “I see a bright future for ex-senators as elevator operators.”

BREAKING NEWS – Once it stopped presses. Now it's a lower-intestinal condition brought about by eating dinner during newscasts. “Now they have to interrupt my supper to tell me that Katie Holmes is pregnant.”

DESIGNER BREED – Many nominators consider this a bastardization of dog breeding. It may be a good line to use on angry neighbors when an un-neutered dog escapes. “When you mate a miniature schnauzer to a toy poodle, it's not a ‘Schnoodle,' it's a mongrel.”

FEMA – Dedicated to the memory of a great federal agency consigned to the ash heap of parody. “If they don't do anything, we don't need their acronym.”

FIRST-TIME CALLER – Preamble often heard on talk radio. “I am serious in asking: who in any universe gives a care?”

PASS THE SAVINGS ON TO YOU! – Marketing catch phrase that became a lost-leader long ago. “Read: Pass the markup along to you.”

97% FAT FREE – Adventures in delusion. “Still has 3% fat . . . accept it.”

AN ACCIDENT THAT DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN – Best-laid mayhem. “This means some accidents need to happen, for whatever reason, I can't figure.”

JUNK SCIENCE – Banished from the Marketplace of Ideas. “It's not scientists who are using this phrase so much as the people who practice junk politics.”

GIT-ER-DONE – (Any of its variations) It's overdone. “There's no escaping it. It's everywhere, from TV to T-shirts,” says Amanda Tikkanen of LaGrange, Ind. “Please tell me when we're done with this one.”

DAWG – No designer breed here. Someone should wash out this Spot. “Even parents are starting to use it!” – complains Mrs. Swartz's Fifth Grade Class in Church Road, Va. “This is species confusion.” – Rob Bowers, Santa Clara, Calif. “Don't call me ‘dawg'! I'm not your pet!” – Michael Swartz, Albuquerque, NM.

TALKING POINTS – Cover your ears! “Topics which will please those you want to impress.” – Michele Mooney believes the phrase was created after PR staffers stopped attending seminars on how to put a positive ‘spin' on their press releases.

HOLIDAY TREE – Many salvoes were fired during this past season's “war on Christmas.” At the risk of jumping into the breach, the committee feels that “Holiday tree” is a silly name for what most folks hold as a Christmas tree, no matter your preference of religion. Thank goodness we all agree on the first day of winter.


In a similar vain, here are a few new phrases we can use in 2006:

----------------------------------
New Phrases for 2006
----------------------------------
Jump the Couch - This phrase is a direct result of Tom Cruises embarrasing visit on the Oprah show. The Historical Dictionary of American Slang defines "jump the couch" as exhibiting "strange or frenetic behavior. It's a play on the famous "Jump the Shark" phrase from Happy Days when the Fonz was going to jump a shark filled tank with his motorcycle.

Spokesweasle - Any reference to an annoying public relations representative.

Floodweiser - The the canned water Anheuser-Busch donated to hurricane victims

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya

Are rules are meant to broken?

This site contains links to official rules for games, sports, etc.

From the site:
The first in-depth, informative online Rules weekly. It provides serious coverage, found nowhere else, of constant changes, interpretations, and violations of Rules in sports and other activities. It also offers interviews and quizes to keep you informed and on top of your game.

Our mission is to develop, maintain, and provide simple access to the largest database of Rules in the world. So much of our lives are structured by Rules either unavailable or inconvenient to review.

Also, checkout this site for a huge list of card games and how to play them.

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya

Shut up and take quiz...

Ever wonder what kind of an impact you, as an individual have on this earth? Click here to find out. This is an online quiz (a short one) to measure the impact on the earths resources. At the end of the quiz, you are giving a couple of ratings.

The result of my quiz stated we would need 3 1/2 earths if all humans lived their life as I do. I know, pretty sad. Answer the questions honestly to see how your (my) piddly little life is affecting our fragile planet.

From the site:
This Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates how much productive land
and water you need to support what you use and what you discard.
After answering 15 easy questions you'll be able to compare your
Ecological Footprint to what other people use and to what is
available on this planet.

CAUTION: THIS QUIZ MAY SURPRISE YOU, SHOCK YOU, OR MAKE
YOU THINK. PLEASE REMAIN CALM...BUT NOT TOO CALM!!

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing Ya