Like most of my recent addictions, I think it’s safe to blame mr. face for this one.
For those of you who haven’t seen these clips from the MTV2 show Wonder Showzen, they’re awesome.
The clips are called “Beat Kids” and they make me laugh…
Beat Kids on Wall Street
Beat Kids and Little Hitler
Beat Kids at the Vet
Beat Kids at a Beauty Pagent
Beat Kids at Horse Apple
HIGH FIVE!
Enjoy.
Well, I AM back in Edmonton and slightly busier I usually (so the blog posting action may be a frugal over the next while). I started my new job this week and am enjoying every moment of it. Plus, it’s a really nice day outside.
It was interesting to see what the first Budget of the new Conservative Government had in it for Post-Secondary Education.
Though it’s nice to see this government at least talking a bit about PSE issues, I really hope it doesn’t turn in to the same situation which came about with the previous Liberal government (a main course of talk with a side-order of piece-meal change – with the exception being the creation of the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation in 1998, who’s mandate comes up for renewal in 2008 and should cause an interesting amount of debate on student finance issues).
Last week’s budget did have some PSE related changes in it, but I can’t see these changes having a large effect on the majority of Canadian students.
– Tax credits for textbooks. Canadians attending university or college can claim an annual $500 tax credit on textbook costs, which translates into a benefit of about $80 a year for a typical full-time student. Though it sounds nice, this doesn’t address the reality that because most students already have enough education credits to cover their limited incomes, these new credits won’t make buying textbooks or any other educational expense easier. Not to mention that if it did, students still have to wait until the following year to receive their miniscule $80 rebate.
– Increasing access to student debt. More people will be eligible for Canada Student Loans because of a reduction in the amount parents are expected to contribute toward the cost of post-secondary education, effective August 2007. This is a shortsighted move which doesn’t address the long-term problems caused by students graduating with large amounts of debt. Increasing students’ access to loans, and henceforth, debt, doesn’t even begin to address the problems facing the student finance system.
–100% Scholarship and Bursary exemption. All scholarship, fellowship and bursary money will now be income-tax exempt, compared to the current exemption limit of $3,000 a year. This tax exemption for all scholarship and bursary money from taxation is negated by that fact that the first $3,000 in scholarship and bursary money is already tax-free, and few students will receive even that much. Even if they did, their other tax credits would likely cover it. This measure will only make a difference for a few super-elite scholarship recipients, and thus cannot be said to be of any benefit to the average student.
Here are some suggestions on what the Tories could add to the budget to make it more effective and positive for Canadian students:
– Create more scholarships and bursaries, which would reduce students reliance on loans, and hence, the creation of large amounts of student debt, instead of raising the amount students borrow for their education.
– Implement the Council of the Federation’s request for an immediate $2.2-4.9 billion injection for post-secondary education.
So, overall, the PSE portion of the budget seems to be a victim of the band-aid reaction of trying to fix things by using the tax system instead of actually facing and dealing with the issue head-on.
Props to Jason from Gauntlet who did a little digging in response to my post “propaganda peice” about the new Conservative Government’s “make-over” of the Government of Canada website into a press release generator for Conservative Party of Canada.
For those of you who may have had doubts about this allegation, check out the links Jason has provided in the comment section of that post:
Compare these archives of the Government of Canada site with these archives of the Liberal Party of Canada site.
There’s no question that the current situation is vastly different. Vastly.
When Harper said he had a problem with Liberals covertly using government resources to support their party’s political objectives, I thought the operative word was “government.” Evidently, it was “covertly.”
As long as you’re brazen about it, it’s OK.
I started the movie script for a Michael Ritter scandal made-for-TV-movie last night. I’m thinking of casting Christopher Walken in the lead role.
‘Everything I had known for five or six years wasn’t true’
Charles Rusnell, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Wednesday, April 26, 2006EDMONTON – Prominent Edmonton businessman Michael Ritter told the young staff of his trust company he was the victim of a conspiracy by police and the government — and some of them believed it.
“I honestly believed the RCMP were out to get him because he had been very public with his criticism of the government in Alberta,” Patrick Mitchell testified in provincial court Tuesday.
But Mitchell, a former employee at Newport Pacific and a close friend of Ritter, said he began to have serious doubts after he attended Ritter’s bail hearing Sept. 9, 2005, and heard the case laid out by Crown prosecutor Greg Lepp.
Mitchell turned to the RCMP for answers.
“I just wanted to know what was true,” Mitchell told the court. “I felt like I didn’t know anything. Everything I had known for five or six years wasn’t true.”
Mitchell would eventually provide Sgt. Marjorie Maier of the RCMP commercial crime unit with a printout of a passport from Belize in the name of Adam d’Orleans, which contained Ritter’s photo. The printout became instrumental in helping the RCMP secure a search warrant to seize Ritter’s computer and charge the former chief parliamentary counsel of the Alberta legislature with breach of recognizance. A judge had earlier ordered Ritter to turn in all his passports and to not obtain any more.
Mitchell is one of the main witnesses in Ritter’s trial on that charge, which carries a penalty upon conviction of up to two years in jail.
It’s one of a string of sensational charges Ritter faces. In Canada, he faces several charges related to his alleged role in laundering $43 million US stolen from a brokerage firm by a Wall Street energy trader. The United States is seeking Ritter’s extradition for his role in a $250-million US Ponzi scheme, in which money from later investors is used to pay earlier ones. Read the rest here.
Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology…
SERIOUSLY FOLKS! THIS STORY JUST GETS JUICIER AND JUICIER!!!
Ex-Alta. official faked law degree
Legislature lawyer did not graduate, court told
Charles Rusnell, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006EDMONTON – Michael Ritter, Alberta’s former chief parliamentary counsel, fabricated aspects of his academic credentials and never graduated from the law program at a London, England, university as he claimed.
The stunning revelation came during testimony Monday by an RCMP officer in Ritter’s trial for breach of recognizance.
Ritter is accused of failing to turn in all his passports, as ordered by the court, and of securing a Belizean passport using an alias. Police and prosecutors say Ritter, a prominent Edmonton businessman and arts philanthropist, wanted the passport and the new identity so he could flee charges in Canada and the U.S.The charges include laundering $43 million US for a Wall Street energy trader and helping perpetuate a $250-million US Ponzi scheme, in which the money from later investors was used to pay earlier investors. Ritter has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is fighting extradition.
Dressed in a dark grey suit and white shirt with no tie, and shackled in leg irons, Ritter showed no emotion Monday as Sgt. Marjorie Maier of RCMP Commercial Crime testified that Scotland Yard, at the Mounties’ request, checked out Ritter’s academic credentials in England.
Maier said Scotland Yard reported that Ritter did not graduate from the London School of Economics, did not intern at the House of Lords, and was not accepted as a member of Gray’s Inn, one of four institutions in London whose members comprise the bar of England and Wales.
Despite this, Ritter served as Alberta’s chief parliamentary counsel from 1987 to 1992 and was by several accounts extremely capable, even drafting legislation that was adopted by other provinces. Read the rest here…
See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.
Looks like our favorite former-Chief Parliamentary Counsel of the Alberta Legislature is still having fun…
Bail breach trial hears false passport charge
Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, April 24, 2006Former Alberta chief parliamentary counsel Michael Ritter went on trial today for breaching his bail conditions by applying for a passport under a false name.
He is accused of applying for a passport in March of 2005 under the name Michael Philippe d’Orleans after being required to surrender his passport as a condition of his bail.
Ritter faces trial in the largest money-laundering cases in the province’s history.
He is accused of conspiring with Wall Street energy trader Dan Gordon to launder $43 million US, which Gordon had stolen from the Merrill Lynch brokerage firm. Gordon was sentenced to 42 months in prison and he repaid the money.
Ritter, 48, is also charged with fraud in a $290 million US “Ponzi scheme,” where money from later investors is used to pay
earlier ones, giving future investors the mistaken appearance the investments are sound.At a bail hearing in 2003, he was ordered to surrender all his passports, including one from Belize, which does not have an extradition treaty with Canada.
RCMP say they later learned Ritter, allegedly with the assistance of his lawyer Casey O’Byrne, had obtained a Belizean passport under an alias.
Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology…
Seriously folks, at what point did the Government of Canada main website become a propaganda page for the Conservative Party of Canada?
If I wanted PMO press releases shoved down my throat, I’d go to his site, not the main Government site.
I saw Inside Man on Friday night.
It was a good movie. Somewhat intelligent.
The fast paced story was complemented by the great cast (Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer). Jodie Foster’s character was the most interesting, I’m not even sure how to describe it.
I wasn’t sure if I liked the movie until about after half-an-hour into it. I would recommend that you see it.
Tuesday, I went to the City of Edmonton‘s Transportation and Public Works committee meeting. It was actually not as boring as it sounds as a tonne of Councillors showed up to hear the presentation that morning (those there included Councillors Michael Phair, Jane Batty, Kim Krushell, Terry Cavanagh, Janice Melnychuk, Ed Gibbons, Karen Leibovici, Linda Sloan, Bryan Anderson, and Mayor Stephen Mandel).
On another note (unrelated to the presentation I went to), Edmonton City Council operates under the Ward system, with two Councillors for each of the six wards. The City of Edmonton is currently reviewing this system and are accepting public input in the process. Here are the options they are considering:
Essentially there are two questions on the table.
- Should the number of Councillors be increased from 12 to 14?
- Should each ward have single or dual representation?
Out of these questions come four possible choices:
- The current six wards with two Councillors per ward
- Average 118,732 people per ward
- 12 wards with one Councillor per ward
- Average 59,366 people per ward
- Seven wards with two Councillors per ward
- Average 101,770 people per ward
- 14 wards with one Councillor per ward
- Average 50,855 people per ward
Based on 2005 census data
Thirty-Eight years ago today, Pierre Elliot Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada after suceeding Lester Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Thank goodness someone agrees with me on this one.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper shocked millions today as he single-handedly challenged the popular culture of our verbal lexicon in using the vintage 1890’s term “old hat” in describing the issue of International Trade Minister David Emerson’s crossing-the-floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives two weeks after the last election….
Emerson protests ‘old hat,’ Harper says
TERRY WEBER
Globe and Mail UpdatePrime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday continuing protests over the defection of former Liberal David Emerson to his Tory cabinet are getting “old hat” and suggested Vancouver voters are now becoming more comfortable with the move.
Mr. Harper made the comments to reporters after delivering a speech in Burnaby, B.C., touting the Conservative government’s child-care program.
“The same ten people every time,” Mr. Harper said. “You know, it’s kind of getting old hat, isn’t it?”
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, reportedly last used by William Ewart Gladstone, here are the definitions from wordreference.com:
1. out of fashion; “a suit of rather antique appearance”; “demode (or outmoded) attire”; “outmoded ideas”
2. repeated too often; over familiar through overuse; “bromidic sermons”; “his remarks were trite and commonplace”; “hackneyed phrases”; “a stock answer”; “repeating threadbare jokes”; “parroting some timeworn axiom”; “the trite metaphor `hard as nails'”
So, I guess this means that the Triple-E Senate and Parliamentary Committee Reform are old hat as well…
It is widely suspected that the Prime Minister’s Office has hired The Slingshot: the Great British Magazine for Young Chaps, as Mr. Harper’s in-house media consultants.
On a completely unrelated note, check out this Llama clip (props to s.b. for the Llama linkage)
(Are Llamas becoming old hat at daveberta?)
Oh loyal readers of everything daveberta, by the end of the summer, I pledge to have this song memorized from United States to Sudan!
“United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru
Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too
Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Guyana and still
Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina, and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil
Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan
Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname, and French Guiana, Barbados and GuamNorway and Sweden and Iceland and Finland and Germany, now one piece
Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Turkey and Greece
Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania, Ireland, Russia, Oman
Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq and Iran
There’s Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, both Yemens, Kuwait and Bahrain
the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal, France, England, Denmark and SpainIndia, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan;
Kampuchea, Malaysia, then Bangladesh, Asia, and China, Korea, Japan
Mongolia, Laos, and Tibet, Indonesia, the Philippine Islands, Taiwan
Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand, then Borneo and Vietnam
Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana
Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia, Guinea, Algeria, GhanaBurundi, Lesotho and Malawi, Togo, the Spanish Sahara is gone
Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Liberia, Egypt, Benin and Gabon
Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Mali, Sierra Leone and Algiers
Dahomey, Namibia, Senegal, Libya, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire
Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Rwanda, Mahore and Cayman
Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia,
Crete, Mauritania, then Transylvania, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Malta and Palestine, Fiji, Australia, Sudan!”
(According to the Wikipedia post on the song, by Yakko from the Anamainiacs, some of the irregularities include missingn counties and regions named (instead of countries).)
