In light of folks from the Pope to Muslim groups in Saskatoon calling for the illegalization of religious critique this little video is well timed.
We cant let free speech be impeded even in little increments no matter who may yowl that they are offended. People really need to get over themselves.
A short video well worth a watch on what the future may indeed be like if we keep caving to the chronically offended.
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Supply management in agriculture is a policy in Canada that is harming consumers and producers from coast to coast. It is hard to believe that we maintain an economic policy that is so detrimental to Canadians as a whole. Part of the issue is that most Canadians don’t even know that such a policy even exists and I suspect if most people realized that they are paying hundreds of dollars a year due to this market control system that they would happily support dumping this primitive policy.
There are nothing but benefits to be seen for Canadians if we get rid of our supply management policies. People will spend less on food essentials and have more opportunity to eat healthier while Canadian producers will be able to expand our export markets and diversify our economy.
Supply management is a socialist market control policy that allows government to micromanage supplies of dairy, eggs and poultry products through a system of quotas and tariffs. This protects a small number of producers who have production quotas thus forcing higher prices on consumers. A dairy producer pays roughly $28,000 for the right to keep one dairy cow. That means a herd of 70 (not terribly large) has a quota value of $2 million. That price is of course forwarded to consumers. Quotas are restricted and it literally is illegal to produce milk, eggs or chickens over a certain number without a quota.
The waste from this system is brutal too. My wife grew up on a small dairy farm for example. Her father had a quota to sell a certain amount of cream but was not allowed to sell milk. The cows were milked and the cream separated and sold. The remaining milk that was not consumed by the household was literally dumped. It would have been illegal to sell it. Sounds rather Soviet doesn’t it? These sorts of examples abound in all supply managed industries and we are all paying dearly for it.
In dairy alone families pay an extra $276 per year due to supply management. When chicken and eggs are taken into account, families are spending nearly $500 per year for these policies. These are premiums paid on staple food items. If families paid regular (much lower) market cost for these items, they would be more encouraged to purchase them of course meaning a likelihood of less processed and unhealthy foods being in the cupboards.
In Canada we actually had organized crime participating in cheese smuggling because our cheese costs so much more in Canada than right across the border in the United States. This sounds like a comedy but it really is happening. When supply of an item in demand is restricted by government, smuggling is always soon to follow.
Some people lamely try to claim that these market controls protect the family farm which is utterly untrue. Supply management has actually wiped out small farms and led to larger factory style production as only large companies can afford to operate under our quota system. From 1971 to 2011 the number of dairy farms in Canada dropped by 91%! This trend has happened in poultry and egg industries too. So much for the family farm.
Market diversification and creative production is stifled by these horrible policies. Free range chickens are much in demand by consumers. Nobody is allowed to produce more than 300 chickens without a quota however which is not enough to live on while a quota application could take years and may never be granted. Quotas are usually in the range of 70,000 or more birds too which hardly helps a small producer. How does one get started in this foolish system? The same applies to eggs.
Small farms making specialty cheeses or types of milk are nearly impossible. I remember a story of a small ice cream producer in Ontario being shut down because the cream costs were simply too damn high. How many other small to medium sized enterprises are we missing out on because of supply management?
Our policies are costing us billions in lost exports as well according to one report. Tariffs and quotas get our producers barred from foreign markets thus costing us countless jobs and tax revenue. Our outdated policies have been a sticking point in many trade negotiations with other nations too so we are losing on import and export opportunities that range outside of supply managed products due to these disputes.
Supply management is a losing policy that costs us all and only benefits a tiny number of people who hold those precious quotas. Most nations on Earth have moved away from supply management policies and have seen nothing but benefits in doing so. New Zealand is now known as “the Saudi Arabia of milk” now that they rid themselves of their supply management and let their economy develop and expand. With the size of our nation with so much viable farmland, we really are missing out on huge opportunities here.
Rarely is a single policy ever doing so much damage. People fight back and forth about the merit of cutting taxes to put more money back in the pockets of consumers. Well, if we got rid of supply management we would put billions of dollars back in the pockets of consumers and it would not cost the government a cent.
The protected dairy, egg and cheese producers are price fixing in a way that would be illegal if any other industry tried it. They are a strong lobby and are essentially racketeers sliding under the radar of public perception. Government hides from the issue for fear of angering the producers with quotas while all consumers and most producers pay the price.
We need to inform the public of the price they are paying for these idiotic policies and then have government repeal them. There is nothing but benefit to us all in doing so. As far as I can tell only the Libertarian Party of Canada is promoting such a repeal. We need common sense and open markets and neither Harper nor Trudeau appear prepared to give them to us.
As the world is rocked yet again by barbaric violent acts perpetuated by Islamic extremists, the Western appeasers appear like flies to wring their hands and demand that people not condemn Islam. When these timorous twits find themselves cornered in debate by the simple hard fact that Islam is the most violent, intolerant and troublesome major religion on the planet as is demonstrated by a plethora of Islamic dictatorships and theocracies that violate every human right imaginable, who are constantly at war with their neighbors (and factions within their own nations) and who spawn, train and sponsor murderous lunatics that commit acts of terror throughout the world the callow apologists will invariably scream RACIST in hopes of quelling discussion of these facts.
This concept appears so simple yet somehow is utterly lost among the politically correct. The word that clearly defines the difference between race and religion and culture is CHOICE! Anti-freedom types loathe choice of any type of course so I guess I can sort of understand how they are confused.
I cannot choose to be another race. I could aspire or wish to become another race I guess but I simply can’t change the reality of which race I was born to be. Michael Jackson proved that with almost bottomless resources, one still can’t change their race. That is why racism is so odious. How can you condemn somebody for a reality that they had and have no choice in? Racism is ridiculous, divisive and repugnant and is worthy of social condemnation.
Religion and culture are choices. I can choose and convert to any religion I like at any time. I can choose to practice any cultural thing I like as well. Because of this reality, I should be open to all and any critique of my choices in these regards and I sure as hell maintain my right to be critical and even insulting of the religious and cultural choices of others.
I am allowed to point out that the cultural practice of mutilating the genitalia of little girls and then trading them off like cattle in arranged marriages is a disgusting and unacceptable practice. I am allowed to point out that stoning women to death for their having been raped or whipping people to death for their being gay is vulgar and that the world must not accept this. I have every right to point out how forcing women to cover themselves and banning them from such simple things as driving and education is a stone-aged bullshit practice. The most important right that I have is in being able point out that all of these cultural practices and facilitated and justified by claims of being adherent to Islam.
I have no use for any religion personally. I can and will pick and choose however which ones I find to be the most destructive and repellent. I do think all races are equal, but I damn well know that not all cultures or religions are and I will point out the ones that are most egregious in the world. Today Islam is by far the most primitive and damaging religious choice on the planet and I am not a racist for saying it.
When I call out the religious or cultural choices of others, I can (and often am) called everything under the sun. I can be called intolerant, shallow, simple, stupid or simply an asshole. All of those are arguable. One thing I will not tolerate though is being called a racist as Islam is not a race.
We have a real and worldwide problem caused by radical Islam. It is hardly a minority thing when one considers that dozens of entire nations practice it. We need to discuss and address these issues. In order to do so, we must tell those who try to quell discussion by shouting “racism” to kiss our collective asses.
Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) summarized it much more concisely than I in the image below as Britain fought a battle to protect free speech from Islamic nuts and their facilitating apologists.
Note to stone age cultists who feel that killing the innocent serves your religion:
The more innocent people you assholes kill, the more cartoons and depictions of your vile “prophet” will be produced and the more people like me will keep spreading them around.
When the hell will Islam join the 18th century already?
I have always wondered why governments feel that they have to advertise themselves. I sort of understand the self-serving nature of advertising a government initiative or policy (though I don’t care for such advertising), but I really am stumped as to why the government spends money simply to promote the fact that it exists. We will have government no matter which party happens to be leading it at any given time and people know that we have a government whether we spend money to advertise it or not.
What I am getting at here is a profound example of tax dollars being pissed away for utterly no purpose by the government of Alberta aside from advertising the fact that it exists to the people of Los Angeles.
Last night I saw a tweet go out from a fellow asking why the hell the government of Alberta was advertising in the LA Kings arena.
Anyone else find it weird that the Alberta government bought advertising in the @LAKings arena? #yeg #yyc #ymm #abpoli
— ?eo ?avente (@Dingwell) January 3, 2015
I made a comment on it and then he replied with the picture above.
Sure enough, when one looks at the picture one can see an advertisement for the government of Alberta. I see the word “Canada” below which may or may not mean that the federal government is pissing money into this idiotic advertising campaign. What is clear is that tax dollars are being wasted to promote government in foreign hockey arenas.
Make no mistake, that ad is not to promote the province of Alberta itself. That ad is for the government of Alberta and nothing else. As can be seen in the link here, that signature is the registered logo of our government as a corporate entity. That means nobody else but the government of Alberta can use it.
Travel Alberta has a similar logo but the word “Travel” usually appears above it. Even if this is from that department, the money is coming from the same taxpayers. Do we really think that people will suddenly choose to visit Alberta because they saw it as a signature on a hockey board? Why would they have dropped the word “Travel” from the logo if indeed it was them in this case? It is a rather big distinction.
The ad doesn’t say “Visit Alberta!” or “Spend in Alberta!”. The ad is nothing more than a pasting of the government’s logo prompting one again to ask, what the hell is the purpose of this? It can be noted that this snap was while two American teams were playing so it is not even like the ad was targeted for when Canadian teams play. The space on the boards was probably purchased for the entire season.
How much is this costing taxpayers? It is tough to find out how much it costs to buy space on the boards in an NHL arena but according to this article in the Toronto Star it can range around $600,000 per year. Is the government advertising in every arena? With 30 teams and let’s say a lower tag of $500,000 each that is $15 million per year being spent for no purpose whatsoever. Even if Los Angeles is the only arena out there with these ads it is still a gross waste of tax dollars.
Premier Prentice is getting ready to hike taxes this spring while using lower oil prices as an excuse. We have to force our governments to streamline before they can talk about tax hikes and it is clear that there is plenty of room to cut spending. This is but one egregious example of waste among many in government.
It is unfortunate that Danielle Smith tried to destroy Alberta’s official opposition in her self-serving floor crossing. It is pretty clear that Alberta still needs a strong and vigilant opposition more than ever. Thankfully Heather Forsyth and Rachel Notley can demonstrate principle in providing for that critical role while Prentice simply seeks to expand his collection of weasels.
