Second cup of Coffee Talk

[dash]

The Palestinian terror orgs spent 10 years bombing the hell out of Israeli civilians while Arafat shit on every peace proposal that was put in front of him. Gazans then went ahead and voted in Hamas. The Israelis got sick of it and went to full-blown zero tolerance on any even remotely potential threat, which to them does even include stones and bottles.

What happened yesterday disturbs me but buses in Tel Aviv being blown to shit and rockets being fired from Gaza City schools targeting Israeli settlements disturbed me too.

The Palestinians created this mess. Nobody with a memory longer than a few weeks can be surprised that the Israelis turned hard to the right on this stuff.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Personally I've made a sacrifice to live in place where I can walk or bike to work. It means a smaller place and less space but my family doesn't need 3000 square feet. It was a choice and most North Americans don't go that route. Good for them but for me and for them it was always buyer beware. There are a variety of reasons why people live way out in the burbs. Plenty that are just selfish and plenty result from poor planning at the municipal and provincial levels. Transit sucks in most Canadian cities but in many places where it doesn't people still use their car. People just love their car.

In the past this may have been true but today people are trying to flock into the cities and there's just nowhere for them to go, especially young people. They're trying to build as much high-density as possible, but real estate factors + Trudeau's mortgage stress test + higher interest rates makes even that seem impossible (and higher fuel costs = higher construction costs, as mentioned earlier, won't help that). Average rents in Toronto/Vancouver/NYC/SF/Boston/Chicago/Seattle etc. are $2000+ for 1 bedroom at this point. That's a tough ask of people.

Europeans generally work closer to where they work, drive less and pay WAY more for gas. Some of that is down to better infrastructure, more transit options, etc.. But some of it is because gas isn't dirt cheap and they have to find other options. In major cities in western Europe you either live close to work in a small place or you commute a long way on transit. Unless you make a ton of money. In NA we're spoiled to believe that we need a brand new house with a huge yard and 3 floors.

Europe didn't suburbanize as much and I give more credence to that for their higher usage of transit for commuting than the cost of gas. Europe just got around the gas price issue by buying diesel-engine vehicles, anyway.

As for a carbon tax I'm OK with giving it a try as long as the funds end up being used for things that will alleviate the need for carbon reliance, thereby reducing costs to every day people down the road. Or they're used for innovation and research; an area where Canada has fallen off recently. I'm not overly confident that these criteria will be met. But I think we have to see for ourselves.

I think carbon taxes should be shot into Mars' crust. Norway's had a version of a carbon tax for 25 years and their emissions per capita have gone up 15%. By comparison, Canada's carbon emissions has gone down by 11% over the same time frame. Taxing individuals and corporations will just throw more undue burden on an already overtaxed population and won't do much toward actually getting those corporations to "go green".

I just wish companies would embrace tele-commuting more than they do. I'm lucky enough to have a 60/40 split with my work (three out of five days on-site, two remote), but I could be easily be five out of five. We have the technology to enable people to work from home and ease traffic congestion as well as the individual carbon footprint, but I guess the trust factor between companies and employees forces employees to be on-site.

/If anything, I'm more productive when I'm remote than on-site, less people bugging/distracting me for one.

THIS.

 

[dash]

London, Ont., physician Tarek Loubani shot in leg near Gaza border | CBC News

 

[elocomotive]

It would have been better if you had extolled the evils of cats in there somewhere.

I didn't say there is no devil. Just no God. There obviously is a devil. And he has a cat.

 

[dash]

Somebody's in trouble...

 

[elocomotive]

In the past this may have been true but today people are trying to flock into the cities and there's just nowhere for them to go, especially young people. They're trying to build as much high-density as possible, but real estate factors + Trudeau's mortgage stress test + higher interest rates makes even that seem impossible (and higher fuel costs = higher construction costs, as mentioned earlier, won't help that). Average rents in Toronto/Vancouver/NYC/SF/Boston/Chicago/Seattle etc. are $2000+ for 1 bedroom at this point. That's a tough ask of people.

Yeah, but people don't think long term either. I liked @KennyBanyeah 's post b/c I did something similar the past couple years. Sold my car and honestly life was just easier. I flew to other cities to visit friends more often. I walked to the grocery store. These days Uber and carshare options make it easier than ever to not buy a car and still have options to be on the move.

$2000 rent downtown and walk, bike or subway to work costs = $2100/month
Suburbs rent $1500 + car payments/insurance/gas/maintenance = $2200/month

The higher rent actually leads to the cheaper lifestyle, and that person is home earlier from work and has less stress.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

When I started driving in 2003, gas was 65 cents a litre.

Now that I think about it, I'm kinda surprised it's only doubled in the 15 years since.

It was $1.61 a litre here in Burnaby this morning as I hoofed it past the Chevron station. Inching closer to $2 dollars as we get closer to the summer driving months.

In 1998, Arco came into the lower mainland market and opened a bunch of gas stations and there was a resulting price war that saw prices at $0.39 per litre. At that time, I started going out with a girl who lived around 45 km away from me (me: East Van her: South Langley). I was driving out there to see her almost every second evening lol (married her)

I tell my wife all them time, if gas was $1.61 a litre back then I would have had to make some tough choices lol

 

[elocomotive]

Somebody's in trouble...

He clarified. Still not good if you read all the redflake comments.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Signs things are bad for the Liberals in Ontario: do you know what party this person is running for?

The saddest part? The Libs are 3x incumbents in this district.

 

[forty_three]

N Korea cancels talks with South Korea and warns US

Nobel! Nobel! Nobel!

Realistically, if you didn't see this happening you're not paying attention. N. Korean playbook, page 11.

It would be as silly as thinking picking a side in the Israel/Palestine conflict WOULDN'T lead to a lot of dead people.

But I bet Trump takes it personally, anyway. But at least we can count on him to react in a measured manner and with decorum.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Wut?

 

[dash]

It would be as silly as thinking picking a side in the Israel/Palestine conflict WOULDN'T lead to a lot of dead people.

Who knew Israel/Palestine would be so complicated?

 

[dash]

Signs things are bad for the Liberals in Ontario: do you know what party this person is running for?

The saddest part? The Libs are 3x incumbents in this district.

Those are NDP colo(u)rs aren't they?

 

[Comeds]

Who knew Israel/Palestine would be so complicated?

Jared is on it.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Those are NDP colo(u)rs aren't they?

From the article it was in:

“I don’t think I need the Liberal logo or the Liberal word to tell people I’m a Liberal,” Collucci said in an interview on Tuesday.

“The colour red says it all,” she added.

FWIW I'm with you Dash, it looks NDP orange.

 

[dash]

So, are we Canadians all going to own a small portion of the pipeline?

Liberals willing to compensate Kinder Morgan for hits due to B.C.'s obstruction | CBC News

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

So, are we Canadians all going to own a small portion of the pipeline?

Liberals willing to compensate Kinder Morgan for hits due to B.C.'s obstruction | CBC News

The lefties' heads are exploding.

Oil pipeline - bad!

But natives like it - good!

But environmental disaster concerns - bad!

But publicly owned - good!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The NDP guy is taking the Donald Trump road regarding the issue:



Alberta's NDP premier, on the other hand, just launched a scud missile at him:

 

[dash]

The only takeaway from this is when you put the NDP in power, nothing gets done except that your taxes go way higher.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The only takeaway from this is when you put the NDP in power, nothing gets done except that your taxes go way higher.

Which is why they’ve been so far behind all the other parties in Ontario for so long. Voters in Canada have some pretty remarkable memories and “Rae Days” are still remembered horrifically here. I think a big reason why the Conservatives haven’t gotten elected here in 15 years is because they privatized Highway 407 which led to fucking ludicrous toll pricing which led to them losing a massive chunk of their Toronto suburb (905) base. Combine the two and the result is nonstop Liberal rule for 15 years that took so much bullshit to shake that only now does it look like they’re totally screwed.

If it weren't for the early 90s NDP, I really think Ontario might've given the federal party a majority in 2011 instead of Harper, which would've totally changed Trudeau's game plan in 2015 and the country today would be a very, very different place than it is.