June 2011 Archives
But I am not. And I hope you aren't either.
When you do get that ballot in the mail and open it, think of how you want your province to be. Then vote No.
Yes, the question is the most obscure and confusing wording ever (I'd love to read how this was translated into Chinese).
Yes, the government sucks and all that other whiny crap I hear all day, PLUS they "illegally" forced HST upon us (or some such other ignorant view).
Yes, the government misspends a lot of our hard earned money.
And yes, you want to vote No.
You want to vote No for many reasons:
If the GST and PST are reinstated, small businesses will have to change their systems again, the costs of which will be as much as a month's profit or more.
The jobs of the GST and redundant PST workers will be restored, and the taxes somewhere else will have to increase in order to pay for
that bureaucracy.
The government will get enough money to operate in
the comfortable way they like to, with the amount of money they feel they need
(to pay B.C. Parks officers an 85$ per day stipend for food while traveling, or entry
level clerks Helijet tickets to sit in on meetings in Vancouver)... So just deal
with it.
And if you don't like it, run for office.
The HST was an attempt at streamlining our
government - something we never see.
Don't punish this behavior just because you didn't like the way it was implemented.
Can you tell the difference between stupid and
brave behavior? Most of the time, no... (I know this because of the amount of times people tell me I am brave, when I really know I am not). On the outside, acting in a way to "punish" the government (quotations
because you are just punishing yourself) looks the same as when someone is
behaving with stupidity and not bravery. Acting out of stubbornness can seem
like an act of principle. It's not (I am an expert - you'd know why if you met
my father).
Just because the government forced HST upon us, doesn't mean we need to vote it away.
And since that is the only argument I have heard so far for reinstating the PST and GST, then by now you all must have come to the only logical conclusion too... vote NO.
And just in case you are left with any doubt, take a moment to step back and try looking at a bigger picture.
Instating a Harmonized Sales Tax was a move towards
a more sustainable system of taxation: decreasing income tax and increasing
consumer tax. I should not be getting taxed more the more educated I am, the
harder I work, and the more money I make and neither should you. But we all
should be getting taxed more the more we spend, the more we buy, the more we
consume and the more we tax the environment through that consumption.
An
additional "health" tax on fast food, alcohol and tobacco; a "green" tax on
petroleum based products and anything that contains PCBs, fire retardants, and
other such bio-accumulating chemicals that are slowly killing all living things;
and a luxury tax on anything that costs more than 50% above the average price
for a good would be a dream come true in a province that has the potential to be a leader in the world, but instead sits sniveling about how expensive things are and how it sucks to be in debt while you sit there drinking the second 3$ coffee of the day.
I used a facebook app to find out I fit in the middle right. Pro HST, moderately care. It's true.
Lastly, if you don't like it, move to China, where there is no sales tax and also no option to vote; move to the US where it is more like 3%, state-dependent and a government that lies and steals. Or here's a novel idea: stop consuming. Show me an average Canadian who actually needs to buy more than 50% of the things he spends his money on, and I will show you one who could care less whether there is consumer tax or not.
"I'm not crazy, I've just died.
I'm not Jesus, I'm not God, but I'm here to save people.
I've been given a second chance for a reason.
"The kids in Victoria call me the Salmon King. When that happened the price of the stock went up trillions. Then people started hating me. People don't like a good guy.
"One day I found out my girlfriend cheated on me because she gave me something I ain't never had before, if you know what I mean. On the way to the doctors two guys came at me trying to kill me. While I was running away from them I got hit by a car. That's why I'm handicapped now. Got this cane, see?
"I embarrassed a guy so badly he went purple yesterday. He was making fun of my charity down at the auction. He didn't believe my money all went to the children. I yelled at him. They don't let people talk like that at the auction but they let me. I yelled at him and embarrassed him so badly his face turned purple and he marched right out. We won't see him around any more.
"You know how much money I made for the children at the auction last week? Three hundred thousand. Yeah. I make money and give it to the children's hospital. I'm Santa Claus. Even the Victoria police call me Santa Claus because of all the good I do for children. I had a house once with ten boys - all orphans. All under the age of ten. I never touched them; I was just helping them out. But some guy ratted on me and I went to jail.
"I went to jail cause I needed a break from it all. Even the judge he said he knew I was innocent but he thought I just needed a break. I was in jail for six weeks and when I got out the guy who put me in, his dad had died and left him 10 million dollars. So he knew I would be after him and he paid a bunch of guys to try to kill me. Watch when I walk outside later. There'll be guys following me trying to kill me. But they can't.
"I'm a good guy.
I wanna be a bad guy but I can't.
Every body hates a good guy.
"You're my friend. You're safe.
Just wait it out, the storm will die down.
And you'll be OK cause you're my friend.
"I won the lottery one hundred times in a row. Then they banned me. Then I won one hundred scratch-n-wins in a row before they banned me from that too. I was in a casino one day and they banned me because every machine I touched won. Wanna watch me go make some money? One second I can make a million. Wanna come with me now? Come on.
"I am a millionaire. I make about fifteen hundred dollars a second. And the IRA owes me thirty thou. They're taking their time getting it to me. I'm owed about four hundred thousand dollars. But no one's paying right now cause of the way the economy's going.
"Wanna see cane twirls? Come out side and watch this. Come on! Look. Whew! Oh that wasn't a good one. Not high enough. Whoo, hoo! Good one. Betcha I can stick it into my pocket. And there ain't even a hole in it. Do you believe me?
Sloop! Heh heh.
"I see you've probably heard a lot of bullshit in your life -
'scuse my language, but this ain't bull.
I just wanna make conversation.
"The auction is just down the street. I bought an old French vase yesterday for 10 bucks and I'm gonna sell it for 1800 dollars. All the money I make goes to the children.
"I've died and come back to life three times, once when I was 8, once when I was 17, and again only 5 years ago. A guy came up to me and put his finger on my chest last week and said, 'you're one of them too.' He had died too once. We can see each other. We know one another - those of us who have died and come back to life. We see things differently. I'm not crazy. You know that, don't you?
"I'm not crazy, I've just died.
I'm not Jesus, I'm not God, but I'm here to save people.
I've been given a second chance for a reason.
"The ambulance attendant saw me on the street the other day and nearly passed out. 'Rob? Is that you? You should have died!' he said.
"'You have the longest life line I've ever seen in my life,' a woman said to me once. She's one hundred and thirty. She's seen a lot of life lines. I have the longest life line. That's why I can't die.
"I've been clean for seven months. I needed a break from that too. But I'm not crazy and I'm not on drugs. I just am - like this. Different than other people. Like, I can see through you. Look into my eyes. I can see your soul. ...
"Yep. You're good. That's why I like you.
"What do you do? You're a writer? Then write something useful. Write about all of the greed in the world. And how it will kill us soon. Greed. Those Chinese were the final straw. They will kill us all.
"I had 50 years of friends then in one night I got rid of 'em all.
"My friend died yesterday. Just over there in a room in that building. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. They brought me there to bring her back to life cause I had brought myself back to life so many times but there was nothing I could do.
"One time a seagull had a heart attack and fell from the sky and hit me on the head. Another time a Canadian goose flew right into me. They don't see me, birds - on account of my dying three times already.
"My brain has grown so big. When I'm on a bus I hear every person speak and think.
"I had to go back cause I lied.
Fibbed.
White lie.
"Three hundred thousand dollars last week for the children's hospital.
"How's your coffee, you want another one? I'll get you one. I'm rich, you know. OK, I see, well I'll go then.
"Check TV, Evening 6 News. What do you think of Rob so far?
He holds his right hand in a fist, first up to his mouth and then
over to mine as though it is a microphone. In a rare moment of utter speachlessness I realize he has been gripping his fist
that way the entire time he has been speaking to me. I sit, dumbfounded, my
mouth opens a few times but I cannot think of an appropriate answer. I look into his eyes again, praying that he can't really hear my thoughts like he said he could.
Finally I muster, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Rob." to which he responds by jumping up from his seat and bolting out the door while yelling.
"It was nice meeting you, too. See ya 'round!"
His yellow eyes with a thousands black specks make an impression on my memory that I may never shake.
