…it’s all good.

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 Sorry, got that one wrong.  It’s OPUS… yeah.  The new chip card to take the city bus/metro in Montreal.

Since July 1st, there are little blue people in the metro stations (usually three for every metro station) directing traffic.  These little people wear bright blue STM shirts so we can’t miss them.  It even says “information” on their shirts.

The first little blue person I talked to couldn’t tell me about the personal information issue, she directed me to the STM web site.  How nice to have people there to inform me ABOUT THEIR WEB SITE.  How useful.

Will my personal data be kept confidential ?

Every security measure will be taken to uphold the confidentiality standards that govern all public transit authorities.

Wow.  How informative.  EVERY measure will be taken…  Doesn’t say what information it will hold.  ATM card info?  PIN number info?  Personal address?  Full name and age?  Who knows.

My plan, since I’m not a student and not allowed a reduction of any kind, is to NEVER volonteer any info.  True, if my card gets lost or stolen, I’ll never see it again.  Big deal.

Basically, the OPUS card only costs 4 bucks.  4 bucks plus the price of a monthly pass.  I will keep this card til the end of times and just reload it month after month.

Hopefully, before long the little useless blue people will be gone and the lines to pay will also be gone.

Now if only we could have some standing room in the metro between 4:30 and 6:30 PM, that would be great! 

I’ll try to get you a picture.  Taking the metro is no fun at rush hour, even if it’s nowhere close to Japan’s situation.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The monthly bus pass is tax deductable.  The french version of the site mentions this:

Y aura-t-il encore un crédit d’impôt accordé à l’achat de titre mensuel?

Oui. Lorsque vous chargez votre carte OPUS d’un titre mensuel, un reçu sera émis. Ce reçu pourra être utilisé dans votre déclaration de revenus pour obtenir un crédit d’impôt; conservez-le.

You get a receipt when you recharge/reload your OPUS card.  Keep it, put it in your tax return.

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^{News article in english.}

^{Article de nouvelles en français.}

I`m placing this in my “Heros” category since I believe the people who infiltrated FARC and extracted the hostages without anyone dying, on either side, are heros. Their work wasn’t just a success, it was spectacular. Kudos to all those involved, even if we never hear about you.

“liberty”

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According to information supplied by motorists at www.gasbuddy.com, most gas stations in Metro were selling regular unleaded gas for $1.52 a litre Tuesday.

That’s a full dime more than the $1.42 per litre quoted at several stations the day before and several times the 2.34-cent carbon tax levied by the B.C. government starting Tuesday.

What is it with the West Coast?  From California to BC, the leftists have taken over.  I don’t get it.  Whether it’s “peace” activists, enviromnentallists or leftist politics, the West Coast seems to have excellent representation at every level of government, both north and south of the boarder.

Now is Al Gore making money from all this?  I doubt it.  But the BC provincial government is.

To help people adjust to the cost of the new tax, British Columbians began receiving one-time $100 cheques last week.

People, come on!  Think about this!!!  If they are willing to cough up 100$ for everyone, don’t you think money is coming in the back door?  They’re OBVIOUSLY making money off of this, otherwise they’d NEVER give out money.  You calculate the cost vs the benefit, and if you pay out 100$ to everyone, you can count on the fact that they still have a benefit.

A recent Angus Reid Strategies poll found that 47 per cent of those surveyed said they were willing to pay higher taxes on fossil fuels if they also got an income tax cut, compared to 49 per cent who opposed the idea.

But they’re not.  They’re getting a one-time-100$-deal and that’s it.  You’ll be paying that crap for the rest of your natural life.  Hey, wouldn’t that benefit the provincial government?  I think so…

However, 82 per cent of those polled said they preferred an NDP proposal to “target major industrial producers” instead of imposing a tax at the retail level.

…who make a profit, like any other enterprise which hires employees and pays taxes already.  Should we prevent coffee outlets from making a profit?  Should we prevent lumber yards from making a profit?  Should we prevent hotel managers from turning a profit?

Why should we rob “major industrial producers” (ie”  Oil Companies) from their profits?  They invest money, they should be getting returns on their investments.

Incidently, don’t we all use oil products?  Doesn’t the produce that appears like magic in our grocery stores get shipped her by truck?  Has no one realised that these taxes on gas will affect the price of anything that gets trucked to our doorstep?

The more you tax oil producers, the more you’re gonna pay for…everything else.  We live on the road.  We eat on the road.  Some day, we’re gonna sleep there too.

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Since this blog was offline all day yesterday, here’s the one post I wanted to make but couldn’t. Until now.

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian laborer driving a construction vehicle rammed into packed buses, tossed cars into the air and rolled over pedestrians in a deadly rampage Wednesday that killed three people and wounded dozens in Jerusalem.

The attacker’s unusual weapon — a yellow Caterpillar front loader transformed into a deadly assault vehicle — threatened both Israelis’ sense of security and Palestinians’ fragile status in the city.

Hundreds of panicked people were sent running for cover before the attacker was shot dead by security forces. Three Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for the onslaught, the first major attack in Jerusalem in four months.

However, Israeli police said the assailant, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Arab east Jerusalem, apparently acted alone. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man was working on a railway project in Jerusalem.

That was the CBS News censored version. If you are a Youtube registered user, you can access many other versions where you see the actual end of the terrorist.

Below, a roundup of the incident from CNN.

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He posted this excellent commentary about how barking up the wrong tree over and over again won’t change anything for the better…EVER!

So if Mayor Moron could wave a magic wand tomorrow and strip legal owners of all their guns, what is that going to improve when large sections of the city are still poor, still plagued by gangs and the criminals don’t turn over their guns?

In his previous post, he had a video which I offer to you here about the Greater Toronto Area gang problem.

Note that poverty is the excuse mentioned in that video for drugs and gang proliferation.  Notice that the word “cool” gets dropped along the way too.

Why even try if you can sell drugs and buy nice shit without having to show up from 9 to 5?  No reason to walk the straight and narrow if you get good benefits and no punishment.

Well, there’s always gang shootings, but they’re ready for that, right?  They be gangstas…

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Here’s something that came to my mind yesterday as I “picked up the slack”…

The only thing worse than having a shit job is taking a two week vacation…then coming back to the shit job.

-red collar

That being said, I have a job, I pay rent, I pay bills. I blame myself for my negative cashflow, not the evil society I live in. I could be working better or harder, but I do work. It’s something.

Perhaps I shouldn’t say “shit job”. Doesn’t sound very pc. I was watching George Carlin on youtube, his speech about soft language. Yeah, I’m going to refer to my job from now on as my “temporary situation”. Yeah, maybe it’ll take the suckitude out of the job, make it feel and smell a little bit better…

Now I didn’t leave Montreal during my two weeks off. I do plan to visit Quebec city in July, maybe catch some fish with my dad. Incidently, Paul McCartney will also be in Quebec City for a FREE CONCERT on July 20th…

“Hello everybody in Canada. Hi, how are you doing? Paul McCartney here, and I would like to announce that I am doing a gig — a big gig — in Quebec City on the 20th of July…. We’re coming to Quebec for the first time. We’re going to have a great time! And I would love to see you there.”

Hmmm… Perhaps not. With all his vegan boycots and seal hunt bashing, I’m tempted to boycot him.

We’ll see. Quite an event nonetheless. Quite a party to celebrate Quebec City’s 400th anniversary.

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OTTAWA — Dr. Henry Morgentaler was named a member of the Order of Canada on Tuesday, an appointment that quickly threw fresh fuel on the bitter abortion debate that raged across the country in the 1970s and ‘80s and has carried on at a slow boil ever since.

While pro-choice groups are hailing the appointment as well-deserved and overdue, it has outraged pro-life activists.

—————–

The Governor General is reportedly preparing to name a leading abortion rights crusader to the Order of Canada, news that has outraged anti-abortion groups.

Dr. Henry Morgentaler, who led the fight to legalize abortion in Canada, was supposed to be honoured Monday, but the ceremony has been delayed for unknown reasons, a government source told the Globe and Mail.

The honour, considered the highest in the country, is announced by the Governor General on the advice of an advisory panel.

Conservative MPs on Monday did not directly confirm the news, but stressed that appointments to the order are not made by cabinet. Nine people, including two government appointees, sit on the Order of Canada panel.

I’m a fan of Henry Morgentaler. I am. But keep reading, that’s not all I have to say about it.

I was aware of his right for women’s rights in the 80’s, I saw him in a documentary where I saw him visit the concentration camp where he was held during WWII.

Morgentaler found a cause. As an emergency doctor, he saw young girls come in on Friday nights, victims of botched abortions during a time where it was illegal and not available.

Now on the flip side, my friend Tommy (videos below) is against abortion. He is the second person to influence my opinion on abortion in the sense that PERSONAL RESPONSABILITY comes at the very top of the abortion issue.

I am against abortion because there are many things you can do to prevent pregnancy. But if you are pregnant and you can’t offer that child a good life (ie: want to prevent child abuse) then an abortion should be available. Forever. We shouldn’t question the legality of abortions ever again.

On the other hand, I would suggest looking into neutering morons who have four or five abortions in their lifetime. Abortions are NOT a methode of contracption. You shouldn’t “fall back” on abortion like it was casual. It’s not. You are taking a life, you will remember it always.

^{You can watch PART II here.}

That being said, I highly support the Order of Canada to recognise Henry Morgentaler.

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