Oh, Here And There

I love the responses. I guess this is the good part about Twitter: People get to directly respond to politicians and politicians get to read exactly what people think of them.

Harry Reid and the entire Democrat party are wallowing in shit and they're the authors of their own ineptitude and irrational mindset.

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Food waste recycling coming to New York. 

One comment bucking the 'yay' trend:

What has happened to individuals *choosing* the actions we will take in life -- from drinking super-sized sodas, to smoking cigarettes, to going for a bike ride instead of a drive, to now separating our trash?

The debate about ideas like Bloomberg's should take place among *private citizens* trying to influence one another's opinions and actions, not among government officials who speak of "voluntary" programs that of course become mandatory after a short period (as the article correctly states).

Regardless of each of our takes on nutrition, or smoking, or fitness, or recycling/environment -- regardless of my or your political leaning -- if we don't start questioning at root the ever-broadening powers of our leaders to make decisions *for us*, we will one day live in a city (maybe a nation) where we no longer have independent choices. Our new protector, Mayor Bloomberg or his political descendant will ensure we are safe without our ever having to think for ourselves.

Might sound far-fetched, but as of now Mr. Bloomberg would have it that *he* chooses whether we go for the big drink, smoke a cigarette, ride a bike, and now sort our trash! I love our government -- especially the police officers who keep me safe every time I visit the great New York City -- but please, Mayor Bloomberg, stay out of New Yorkers' private decisions about what they can and cannot do with their own bodies and garbage.

Most cities have this. Montreal doesn't. Pretty soon we'll have 14 bins in front of our houses. Anyway, didn't an investigative journalist at NYT or the New Yorker basically exposed recycling for the bull it was?

Recycling by the numbers and how much it saves energy over at Popular Mechanics.

And The Economist.

Damn, I wish I had Bloomberg's authoritarian streak.

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Ok. Now I regret coming to Trudeau's defense. He's really showing it's amateur hour in the Liberal party at the moment. He should take the mic at the Comedy Cellar or something. First, it was explained he fully disclosed all his earnings guest speaking. Now, he's willing to reimburse them? Doesn't that mean, then, he knew all along it was wrong to do it in the first place? How stupid does he think people are?

Granted, all politicians tend to pull flip-flop crap but if he does it on this imagine on important matters!

Here's a list of where he spoke and for how much. Personally, a waste of cash.

God.

If you vote for this guy and you're 40 and older. Don't ever look or speak to me. You can't be taken seriously.

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Surveillance in the USA:

"The principle animating democratic and republican government is accountability to the governed. Yet more and more government action lies beyond the citizens’ reach. As law professor Jonthan Turley explained in a Washington Post piece that appeared before the surveillance leaks, “our carefully constructed system of checks and balances is being negated by the rise of a fourth branch of government, an administrative state of sprawling departments and agencies that govern with increasing autonomy and decreasing transparency.” (Viz., the NSA.)

The “vast majority of laws,” he continues, “are not passed by Congress but issued as regulations, crafted largely by thousands of unnamed, unreachable bureaucrats.” In 2007, he writes, “Congress enacted 138 public laws, while federal agencies” – there are now 69 of them – “finalized 2,926 rules.”

Damn, I go through this all the time with bureaucrats. It's a wall. An irrational one at that sometimes.

There are 429 federal agencies in the USA.

That's like, um, a lot.

The fourth branch of government indeed.

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In the aftermath of Applebaum's arrest, politicians expressed 'shocked' and 'had no idea.'

Please.

Are these people shitting me? Either their fucking liars or are clueless hacks.

For the love of God. Are they not paying attention? How many mayors have now been arrested? Five?

Imagine the garbage that goes on in Quebec City!

Ooooo, nelly!