Wicked and Weird

Buck 65 rocks. Yeah.

Anyway... Humouroceros

The Harley lifestyle

Cruising home and buddy on a Harley passes me. Guy has his ride all decked out with saddlebags and leather tassels hanging off the ends of his handle-bars (the tassels my sister had when she was five were not leather but they did hang off her bike's handle-bars). Guy had the full leathers and was wearing a fair sporty helmet. The image was pretty "urban biker" or "biker wannabe" with chrome studs and mirrored leather.

To me what tied in all together was the huge chrome skull he had bolted just above his tail-lights. That little bit of "wild-side" just made it all so, I don't know, odd. Some bikers are bad dudes and some are "bad" dudes and I think this buddy was one of those "bad" dudes. Buddy has bought into the whole Harley Davidson lifestyle, or at least he's bought into the look. It's sort of like Born to be Wild being sung by Paul Anka or maybe Pat Boone doing a heavy metal album or something. Actually Pat Boone did do a heavy metal album and shouldn't that be a sign of the Apocalypse?

Anyway... Humouroceros

The mysterious double rainbow

Just saw this double rainbow from my deck about a half hour ago. I never noticed before but the colours are inverted from one another and I had to wonder if this were normal or was this some sort of weird mutant double rainbow? Of course in this brave new of ours I just had to turn to the information super-hi-way to get the lowdown, thus from Wikipedia: Frequently, a dim secondary rainbow is seen outside the primary bow. Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and appear at an angle of 50°–53°. As a result of the second reflection, the colours of a secondary rainbow are inverted compared to the primary bow, with blue on the outside and red on the inside. The secondary rainbow is fainter than the primary because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one and because the rainbow itself is spread over a greater area of the sky. The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called Alexander's band, after Alexander of Aphrodisias who first described it. Yep, knowledge are good.

So, if I ever start a Rock and Roll beat combo I'm going to call it Alexander's Band, after Alexander of Aphrodisias and I bet nobody will get the joke. Heh.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Naked and down in Kennebacasis Valley High

My name should be 'Dick' and I don't have

a sense of humour

Three students from Kennebacasis Valley high-school in the great province of New Brunswick took the frivolity and hi-jinks that is graduation a little too far early this week and wearing only their birthday suits and some face-masks took a short run throughout the school. The school Principal, Bob Munro, took the frivolity and hi-jinks to the next level and banned the students from all graduation ceremonies including the prom. Then just to show that he knows how to hi-jinks old school, Bob contacted the local police and he says that a file has been opened on these students. Bob, your name should have been Dick because that is what you are behaving.

When I first heard about this story I thought it must have come from south of the 49th since it seems like the sort of thing some ultra-conservative self-righteous jag-off from some backwards rat-nest of intolerance would do. Well I guess we have those creeps up here in the Great White North too. This guy seems to have delusions of being like the old-style Abraham God where one little mistake could get you sent to Hell for all eternity. Bob, or 'Dick', has made the decision to have charges filed against these kids, charges which could now follow them around for the rest of their lives, because of a prank. A prank, by the way, with a relatively low death count.

Personally I thought that banning them from their graduation activities was too much, but then I am sure that Bob, or 'Dick', is way more edumacated than I are and I are sure that a man as smart like that could have come up with a punishment that would have deterred this from happening again, so short of flogging or decapitation this must have been the best punishment option, correct? But of course the ban is just easier and requires less thought, and the police thing must have required even lesser thought yet which makes me wonder if Bob, or 'Dick', is possibly lazy as well as being a dick.

Next week Bob (or 'Dick') will be meeting with the students parents to "discuss the matter", although I wonder if it is going to be one of those "you are failures as parents and if you beg enough I'll pretend to be a reasonable man, and not a dick" meetings I have heard about, you know, where Bob, or 'Dick', preens because he is holding all the cards, which is a bad place for a pompous toad like Bob, or 'Dick', to be. He has said that he is willing to consider another form of 'consequence' for these students if one he considers suitable is suggested by the students or their families. "I'll have to determine if there is going to be, from the students' suggestion, a replacement consequence for their inappropriate act." However, as Dick, or 'Bob' also says,"... when you leave it to the last day of school, there's going to be some consequences and now it's up to them to offer me some suggestions other than what has been offered." Sure, and a little bit of boot-licking might be just right up your alley too, right? Party on, dick.

Anyway... Humouroceros

California's Prop. Hate - still vile

It's been a while since the good people of California, USA actually voted to take away a right from some of their fellow citizens, that being the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry. Democracy in action, if by "democracy" you mean "intolerant homophobia" and a shining example to the world of just how narrow the view of our friends to the south (the United States) can be. Funny but it seems to me that at one time California was considered to be a little too liberal to be taken seriously what with all those radicals out in Berkley and the whole San Fransisco gay thing, but it seems that California is actually more conservative than a bunch of bankers begging for a government bailout.

There has been a trial going on in the great state of Kalifornia as to whether the voters should be ignored when it comes to Proposition Hate (yeah, yeah, Prop. 8). It looks as though it will be heading to the US Supreme Court regardless of how the trial judge, District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, rules and hopefully the Nine will be able to bring sanity back to this situation, giving the Kalifornia populace a quick slap for trying to take some citizens human rights away.

I read that the leading lawyer defending Prop Hate is named Charles Cooper and he was an assistant Attorney General under the zombie-like Ron Reagan. Charles believes that allowing gays to marry would cause heterosexual men to leave their families. "These changes are likely to reduce the willingness of biological parents, especially fathers, to make the commitment and sacrifices necessary to marry, stay married, and play an active role in raising their children." Okay, all I have to say to Charles is, "what the f*ck are you talking about you crack-addled piece of shit?" I mean, Jesus Christ. What a butt-hole.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Charles Cooper - an asshole

The HST Looms!

As July 1, 2010 races towards us with the promise of an entirely new and exciting tax regime right here in beautiful British Columbia I just sort of thought I might take another look at the latest way the L.O.G. (Liberal Occupying Government) in Victoria has decided to suck money out of my dust-crusted wallet. Those who say the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)is good for the province and all who live here (not counting Liberal politicians of course) are business owners, think tanks and "leading economists". A letter from BC minister of finance, Colin Hansen, posted online at www.gregbuck.ca/hst.html says, "the leading economists and think tanks tell us that the introduction of the HST is the single biggest thing we can do to improve our economy..." Of course one hopes that these are not the same leading economists who completely failed to see the 2008 economic meltdown coming, but I suspect they are.

Colin Hanson implementing the HST

As I understand it the HST is supposed to make British Columbia more competitive by essentially removing some taxes from the business community. The example Colin uses in his online letter (or rather, one of the examples) is that of a 2x4 chunk of lumber. That 2x4 has a number of PSTs (Provincial Sales Tax) already embedded in its cost, from the PST charged on the axe that a tree-chopper buddy wields in the deep bush to the PST charges for the forklift polish used to shine up the forklift at the lumber-yard. Under the HST, "companies are refunded the PST on items they buy to carry on their business." This is expected to remove almost 2-billion dollarses from the business community's tax burden per year. Well, that's nice.

But the obvious question is, why not just take the PST off of business related items now? Why change the entire sales tax regime? Well, as Colin says, "the revenue generated from the HST will be about the same as the revenue projected from the current PST system." In other words the HST is revenue neutral compared to the current PST. No more or less money will be brought in to the government. If the government just removed the PST on business related items then they (the government) would be out by nearly 2-billion bucks a year. With the HST money can be raised from other areas. What other areas? Grab yourself a mirror and take a good look since we British Columbians will be picking up that particular tab.

Okay, that sucks, but wait, there's more! Maybe I'm just not looking at the big picture, after all if all sorts of super-smart economists, all of whom went to school and got good grades and stuff, say that the HST is going to be a good thing, what am I missing? I gots to say, being uneducated is such a trial. So; economist Roslyn Kunin, who is also the director of the BC office of the Canada West Foundation, wrote in the newstabloid the Province regarding the HST. It is unfortunate that she chose to write with a question/answer style but then she is an economist not a writer. The questions she uses are, to my mind, desperately general, the first being, "Are you or anyone you know ever likely to want to have a job in this province?" I mean, how sad is a question like that? I have chosen to generously ignore the question part and focus on her answer to her own question which is that with reduced taxes BC companies will be more competitive, thus selling more and hiring more employees due to increased demand for their products or services. Of course this rests on the theory that companies will pass their tax savings on the the consumer. Ms Kunin points out that in the private market, "all it takes is for one company in each sector to try to increase its market share by passing on the savings as lower prices and all others have to follow or risk losing customers." Sure, just like the gas companies, right? A quick drive down any main drag shows that every gas station in sight has the exact same price, or is this another one of those "special cases" like the booze companies that have already said they will not be lowering their prices after the HST kicks in and their taxes are reduced. I wonder how many other "special cases" there are? http://www.theprovince.com/business/Guest+column+Economist+questions+opponents/3134676/story.html
Another question Ms Kunin asks is, "Why do you want to deny the benefits of the HST to the poorest citizens of BC who will gain the most from its implementation?" Let's see, according to the BC government (http://hst.blog.gov.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/GST_PST_HST_List_v04.pdf) The poor will be paying more for newspapers, magazines, school supplies, smoke detectors, adult sized clothing for children, used adult clothing, residential phone service, appliance repair, over the counter medications, vitamins, and lots more. That is one benefit I could definitely do without. So to offset the benefit of paying more the government will give a tax rebate to the poor. Well, if an economist such as Roslyn Kunin says this is better then who am I to say what a bundled load of crap it all is. Hmm? Hahh? Hmm?

I have read a fair amount of what the pro and anti HST squads have to say, but looking to somewhere in Canada where there is already an HST can be instructive too. Possibly even instructiver. In 1997 three Canadian provinces signed up for the HST, Newfoundland/Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Previous to the HST theirs combined sales taxes (GST and PST) were between 19% and 18.7% and after the HST they dropped to 15%, then later to 13%. Of course the citizens would have been in favour of that but what other benefits have their been? I bet a TON of jobs must have been created, right? Isn't that one of the expected benefits of the HST? Well in 1997 the unemployment figures were: NF/L - 16.4%, NS - 10.2% and NB - 10.4%. In February 2009, twelve years after they instituted the HST the figures were: NF/L - 15.9%, NS - 9.5% and NB - 8.8% (incidentally - BC in 1997 was 8.1% and in Feb. 2009 was 8.3%). Not exactly a stunning improvement. The two provinces with the healthiest employment numbers are Saskatchewan and Manitoba, neither of which want anything to do with a HST (in fact in 1991 Saskatchewan had a HST and they couldn't get rid of it or the provincial government that brought it in fast enough). Incidentally, Nova Scotia will be raising their HST to 15% on July 1 this year. Happy Birthday Canada!

So, I have signed the anti-HST petition and I hope that my fellow British Columbians have educated themselves enough to make an informed decision on whether to sign or not. Now, does the L.O.G. have to pay attention to the petition? Depends on who you listen to but my thinking is that they ignore it at their own risk. Remember the federal Conservatives after they inflicted the country with the GST (Goods and Services Tax)? They were nearly wiped out as a party and then PM Brian Mulrooney is still considered by many to be a bigger waste of space than a rusty car on blocks in a rednecks living-room. It took a kiss of life by the Reform Party for the Conservatives to get back in the federal political game and even then they have yet to form a majority government. Oh well, I'm sure the L.O.G. know what they are doing.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Cripple Creek

Jimmy Stearn playing Cripple Creek.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Baghdad Bob

Where is Baghdad Bob these days? As we all remember, he was the Iraqi information officer who, when the US army was moving in to Baghdad, claimed that everything was good and the Iraqi army was about the wipe out the USers. It was good humour in a bad time and there are times when I think we could use Bob's particular form of information. Busted deep-water oil well pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico, destroying the environment and the economies of the Southern coast states. Bob would say it's all good and that fish and birds thrive on oil and the oil also makes the shrimp even saltier. So I was wondering if Bob was now the head of BP (the owners of the disaster in the Gulf), but I don't really think so. So, what is Bob up to these days? I hope he isn't in some detention center. That would be a pretty unfortunate precedent to set, sending press secretaries to jail for lying. Yep, that would be some kind of awkward.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Ok, now that's just mean.

Nike World Cup commercial 2010

I'm not a big fan of soccer (or football, whatever) but this commercial rocks the heck out. Where else can you hear Hocus Pocus by Focus and see Homer Simpson in the same commercial. The soccer playing is pretty cool too.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Thoughts on a hairs-cut

"So," I figured, "time to get a hairs-cut." My bi-yearly hairs-cut, in fact, where I go from my quasi-anarchistic head-mop down to a semi-military burr-cut. Some may say that I do this to save money because I am a cheapskate and all, and while this view certainly has merit, if I am asked out in public I say that the long hair look is to honour the Fathers of Confederation. Buddies who thought outside the box back in the long-ago when thinking outside the box could get one hanged (well, most of the Fathers of Confederation. Joey Smallwood had pretty short hair I believe). The military style burr-cut is to show support for the troops and to deny support to the terrorist hoards, because those terrorist hoards are a bunch of dicks.

So anyway, I went to do a pre-cut wash on the old noggin-mop when it struck me (after all these decades it finally struck me); what the heck was I doing? Isn't washing your hair before a haircut sort of like washing the garbage before throwing it out? Barbers do not save the hairs they cut to make pillows or something, they throw it away! Why throw away clean hair when you can throw away slightly less clean hair and then wash your hair when is is all nice and freshly cut? Yep, that's about the size of it.

Anyway... Humouroceros

AC/DC on The Midnight Special

This is great! This was the first time I had ever heard of AC/DC. It was the Midnight Special (on Friday nights) which I didn't really watch much any more at the time because it had really gone disco, with Wolfman Jack all dressed up in a shiny suit and terrible "music". Then I heard about Ted Nugent hosting and calling the show the Extravagonzo and I knew I had to watch that. Ted rocks the heck out and Aerosmith was going to be on so it was all good. Then AC/DC came on, and Thin Lizzy and it was the best.

Now sort of the funny part. Around the same time a friend of mine was going to Vancouver to see Aerosmith. He talked about it for months. When he got back I asked him how it was and he said, and I quote, "Fuck Aerosmith. You should have seen the opener. They were called AC/DC and they blew Aerosmith off the stage." Anyway, it was great. Sin City is the first AC/DC song I ever heard.

Anyway... Humouroceros