In the last five years or so, we have seen almost half of schools close. Yet the owelypics went forward. I am still waiting for those benefits to appear.

In the last twenty years, we have seen the deteriation of health care to the point where they recently had to deal with patients in the Tim Hortons, patients are routinely made to wpend days in the hallway. Yet our elected representaitves are still planning on pissing away more money on frivilous projects that do nothing but feed the pockets of their friends and they will borrow more to do so.

First off, if they want the owlympics or Canada Games or other non essential waste of tax payer funds, hold a charity benefit.

I mean they do this for the Children's Hospital and other public services that I personally consider more critical than sports events.

This whole thing should be flipped. I would willingly pay mor taxes to ensure adequate health care for all Candians for the duration of their life. They should raise the games funding through donations only. Same with the PAC, get donations, no public monies!

Maybe a day of rage here is in order. Maybe our elected representatives need a reminder of who they work for. I know we don't have near the troubles those folks do. If we allow this corrupt behavior to continue, we may end up in a very similar situation.

Baaaahh!

I totally agree that it looks, on the face of it, that we have the whole thing back asswards.

Maybe the whole modern notion of charitable donations and especially gambling supporting essential services such as health care started with the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes in the 1930s. Those were set up to supposedly help modernize hospitals in Ireland.

So what would that look like in practice?

When we eventually got back to a state of equilibrium the money for athletic and arts and other social events and the associated infrastructure which the government partially funds now would move to health and other essential services that are now partially funded through gambling and charity.

Technically speaking, the government would not have to collect more taxes if such a shift provides adequte funding for health and similar services.

What would have to happen to keep the other "non-essential" services going at the same or better level would be for the shift of gambling and charitable monies to go to those other "non-essential" social benefits.

Result - likley a similar amount of money, same sources of money, just different distribution.

For those who like to gamble it would not make too much of a difference I think. It might make some difference for those who give to charitable causes. Right now they have a wider choice of where the money goes to. Their sister has cancer. Donate to a Cancer ward. Their brother is a dancer. Donate to a dance event or attend a dance event.

This is not only a North American phenomenon. The other day I read an article about a donation from a service club in a German city of $300+ thousand Euros to an oncology clinic. So they work on similar principles to us.

So, when I look at it that way, there may not be much change other than loss of choice for those who like to give.

This may just be a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

You hit it right on the head, Loki. Our governments at all levels have their priorities screwed up. No longer do they seem to care about the welfare of those who vote for them. All they look at is profit for those who donate to their campaigns and how they can belittle their opponents.
Liberation Square, anyone?

How the Internet started (and, no, it wasn't Al Gore):

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started,
but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of
Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.
Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far
from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever
leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags
short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in
between to send messages saying what you have for sale,
and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's
Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with
the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success.
Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having
to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developeda language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy.. A man named Maccabia did secrete
himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of
Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted -
for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy
horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the
deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were
going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with
Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken
over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to
be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham.
And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated
Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)

And that is how it all began.

Yea verily I say unto

conservatives will laugh and pass it on.
Liberals will find something wrong.

70% of the province's eductation budget is always spoken for: It goes to wages, salaries and benefits. A whole glorious meagre 30% goes to do all the rest, maintain and build schools and so forth.

Who knows how much of the healthcare budget is soaked up by wages and salaries?

It might be similar to the education budget.

We are already paying plenty of taxes, often taxes plus taxes which are called extra fees.

Perhaps our priorities need to be re-adjusted.

good so far today, not one rant about pot holes. Did you know that when it snows the the snow fills the pot holes.. the cars compress that snow into the pot holes thus filling the pot holes so they are no more. Then you guys stop ranting about the pot holes and complaion about the snow.

when life gives you lemmons ... make lemmon aide.

Since you brought it up rattyboy, whether it be snow or potholes, the roads are the s#$%s in this city no matter where you go.

BC Liberals are still #1. For 7 years in a row we have the highest child poverty rate in Canada!
Conservatives will like this post - the NDP will find something wrong with it.

RIP commonsense good chuckle.

So Prince George lets start by rolling back the obscene pay and benefits corporate ceo's. How come you only pick on the small guy?

I wasn't gonna be the one to start it...but I read a story in a trade journal this week about potholes in Edmonton. Granted, Edmonton is a wee bit larger than PG ... but ...for your reading pleasure...


This January, the city of Edmonton filled 4000 potholes. They anticipate filling 400,000 potholes per year! In 2006, they filled over 600,000 potholes. Average cost per month for pothole repairs is $250,000.....in 2010 the city spent $3.6 million in pothole repairs only.

Do I have a point to make - not really. Just wanted to share that we are not the only city with issues!

So anybody here got a Prius and how is your mileage this winter?

1) Pick a lane. 2) Bicycles are not appropriate winter transportation.

No kidding hey weaksauce! I was behind a line up of about 25 cars the other day doing about 0.1 Kms per hr trying to get to my turn off. When I finally got there I saw what the hold up really was.

A frikken dough head on a bycycle riding down the center of the right lane on Ospika.

They used to lock these type of people up!

I hear you Dragonmaster, I was driving up Tabor the other morning early and some guy is riding against traffic at 7am on his bicycle. I know its fun to cycle and its important to stay in shape, but the aquacentre is very close to there and its got a whole bunch of exercise bikes that have cool digital programs so you can ride whatever terrain you want.

Why an issue? Cause if you wipe out on the solid ice and I run over you, its my fault for driving with undo care and attention. I don't need the fine, you don't need tire tracks on your back, do us both a favour, leave the winter driving to the cars on the road, and hang in there spring will be here in a couple months.

Until then go to the pool.

That "dough head" has every right to ride in the center of the right hand lane on Ospika. It's a two lane road so I'm not sure why all 25 of you had to be in that lane. Surely you weren't all making right hand turns.

Come on -biking in winter!!! Grow a brain!!!

"That "dough head" has every right"

Sure enough, someone chimes in with sympathy for the rights of egocentric idiots who choose to put themselves in danger. In this case, riding a bicycle on the streets in winter. Just because the rider may have studded tires on his bike, and overwhelming confidence, hell, probably even wears a brain bucket, does not make the practice safe. Having ridden a mountain bike to and from work throughout an entire winter in P.G. many years ago,I feel I am somewhat of an authority on the lunacy of it all.
metalman.

There is nothing wrong with biking in winter. You can purchase studded tires for your bike or you can make your own winter tires with drywall (or similar) screws.

3) If you have to drive a diesel truck could please do us all a favor & get a damn tune-up once in a while. The stench/fumes actually seem to suck all the air outta my lungs.

The problem with biking in the winter is that most cyclists are completely oblivious to the increased dangers that they incur while doing it. With the roads in generally poor driving condition, do you really think it is wise to be out there on a bike?

If a motor vehicle is impeding traffic, the police can pull it over and ticket the driver. The same rule applies to cyclists.

I have no problems with people who want to ride during the winter but try to use some common sense. Having the right to be there won't do you much good if you are severely injured or killed because of your sense of entitlement.

opine: that's fine but are they getting the job done there? That is the question. Here they say how much they spend on it but the job DOESN'T get done.

4) Don't just walk out into traffic because "you have the right of way". Especially when it's icy.

Riding a bike is not a "sense of entitlement", it's a right under the laws of this province. Some people have no other choice but to ride a bike in all sorts of weather.

"4) Don't just walk out into traffic because "you have the right of way". Especially when it's icy."

How about:

5) Slow down and prepare to stop when approaching an intersection; especially if there is a pedestrian standing there.

Contrarian much, faxman? Obviously you don't drive.

Gonna have free classifieds, eh? Should be interesting even if you have an uber, mega politically correct person to screen these ads. Where to draw what line, eh? It's all based on interpretation. What is offensive to some is not at all offensive to others. Kinda like political parties for example. Heh, heh heh. I await.

I noticed in today's Citizen that BC hydro is giving away $30 for your old fridge,so they can get rid of these old power guzzlers,but if you read the small print at the bottom of the page it says that your old fridge must be clean and in "working" condition,

Do they plan on using these fridges again!

What gives!

I agree with your points 1, 3 and 4 weaksauce. So I'm only 25% contrarian. :)

And I do drive; it's a necessity some days.

Give More -

There is no such things as 'getting the job cone' when you are dealing with potholes. YOu can't 'fix' a pot hole unless you sawcut a nice edge all around it - replace the base material and then 'pave it' with hot asphalt (not just fill it with hot asphalt).

Edmonton (Queenel, Terrace, Winnepeg - Toronto - take your pick) is not doing any better job than PG when it comes to pot hole repairs unless they are physically cutting them out....and I have yet to see a city do it that way as the cost is 4-5 times that of existing pot holes budgets. We, the citizens, would never say yes to a tax increase of that magnitude.

It would pay off in the long term but the short term cost is just too great.

I have friends coming back from holidays in the south pacific. They come back every year about this time to a generally warmer and melting climate than when they departed. Boy, will they be surprised this year.

Talking about fridge rebates, I was looking at the exact same thing under hydro's site today except for freezers. They have a list of freezers they are giving rebates on, but when I looked around at appliance places I had a hell of a time finding any that were on thier list.
They also go on to say that you can double your rebate if you buy it at homedepot. Problem was, homedepot didn't have any of the freezers that qualified, also in the fine print on homedepots site, it said thier rebate replaced the byhydro rebate, not that it was "on top of" the other one. Nothing is ever what it seems. Hydro is now just shilling for homedepot.

Wow, everyone on the road is so cranky! How about everyobody on the road, drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists use some common sense? For example, the bicyclist on Ospika, as faxman pointed out, had every right to be in that lane. Why get angry? Go around him. I have been a pedestrian many times standing at a marked crosswalk and the time it takes for a driver to actually realize it is a marked crosswalk and stop is ridiculous. Car after car after car zooms past. Everyone is in such a hurry and deems themselves more important than everyone else. Sit back, take a deep breath, and relax. You are having a much easier time getting around in your car than those people riding or walking! Have some patience!

Ok, everyone, time to start your vehicles and let it idle all day long, we need to support global warming. I can't wait to see the snow melt.

Pot holes, you try to get rid of it buy cutting it out and doing a proper patch. next spring you get two potholes, because now you have two edges for it to fail on.

" Posted by: faxman on March 4 2011 12:58 PM
Riding a bike is not a "sense of entitlement", it's a right under the laws of this province. Some people have no other choice but to ride a bike in all sorts of weather."

How about, you're braindead if you think it's ok to ride a bike in traffic with these type of road conditions?

"For example, the bicyclist on Ospika, as faxman pointed out, had every right to be in that lane."

Not if he can't maintain the speed limit and is impeding traffic he doesn't.

"Not if he can't maintain the speed limit and is impeding traffic he doesn't."

He's not required to maintain the speed limit. As well, Ospika is a four lane street, he's not impeding anyone by occupying his rightful lane. Feel free to pass him on the left.

If you want to talk "sense of entitlement" take a look at all the drivers out there who seem to think that the roads are there solely for their use.

I will always pick common sense over "rights". Sure it might be your "right" to walk out in to traffic but that point will quickly become moot when you get smoked by 2 tons of metal operated by one of PG's many clueless dipshits.

faxman, I think it's obvious that there was some reasom 25 people didn't/couldn't get around this guy. If you are holding up 25 other people then I would say that you definitely consider yourself more important than everyone else.

It seems there are those that think they are being picked on in the Valemount area.
They feel that when they get fined for unsafe equipment they are being picked on.

Get a load of this.

http://www.snowandmud.com/forum/f14/valemount-cops-bored-again-so-lets-45282.html

He Spoke.

You're wrong about the start of two pot holes.

Because you have nice clean edge butt joints there is nowhere for the asphalt to break off. Take a look at the entrance of 50% of the driveways in PG and you will see where Shaw Cable or Hydro has cut out a section of the asphalt to do their work. The end result is a nice clean pave job where there is no place for a pot hole to form. It's not 100% but these kind of repairs last for years.

When I was a young Guy I rode my Bike every Day in Europe, but I never rode on Snow or Ice even in Bike Lanes only, I wanted to live not to break my Bones or die, it looks like some are invincible in this City, give your Head a shake and wait till Spring once the Snow is gone.

I suspect that the statement that, "...25 cars the other day doing about 0.1 Kms per hr... " is an exaggeration. There were probably two cars that had to wait 30 extra seconds to make their turn.

6) It is NOT your patriotic duty to drink Tim Horton's mediocre coffee. You are allowing yourselves to be manipulated by a fast food corporation.

Or you simply like thier coffee. At least it isn't starbucks. Now that stuff is shit.

As for the pothole patching lasting years if done the right way....hmmmm...when they pave a complete road here it doesnt' last 2 years before its destroyed again.

The dork riding his bike in the winter should be fined and told to leave his bike at home until the snow and ice is gone. What he is doing is dangerous.

Now that Big Brothers is going to be shorted on their funding....are they still going to support Lieberal Candidates???

There are a lot more dangerous people out on the roads then that "dork" on his bike.

Anyhow...enough of this, I gotta grab my kid and get ready for the Cougars game.

The last big snowfall was Monday.Where are the plows?I live in the pinewood subdivision, 1 road has been done and it was'nt the 1 in front of the school.Could readers please comment to the area they live in and if it has been plowed or not?Come on its been 5 days already!Driving down my road is like being on a 4x4 circuit except I have a car.This is killing my shocks.Just like to know if somehow we were overlooked.

Are you riding your bike to the game?

"I suspect that the statement that, "...25 cars the other day doing about 0.1 Kms per hr... " is an exaggeration. There were probably two cars that had to wait 30 extra seconds to make their turn"

Don't really care what you "suspect" as you were not there. Or were you. Are you the "dork" in question? You couldn't be, because then you'd have heard what I said to you after all 15 of us were eventually able to turn off Ospika onto 22nd. Or maybe you are the other "dork" that rides his bike down Ospika during the summer time right on the white line instead of close to the curb where it's safe? Them's some sexy tights you're wearin!

To all of you crying about bikes on the roads and people driving in the wrong lanes, you have to get out more often. Try driving in Central or South America and you will see driving from a whole new angle.

All 15 of you had to wait for one cyclist before you could turn? I call BS on that one.

Close to the curb is not safe. The cyclist has just as much right to the road as you do.

PS. I'm glad you like the shorts. Give us a whistle next time big boy ;)

It snows in Central America?

The production crew of *Canada's Worst Drivers* is coming to Prince George to search for suitable candidates for new episodes!

Boy, are they ever going to get a surprise! They will think that they have found a motherlode of absolutely gigantic proportions!

They will find that they can fill their list of excellent candidates for the next decade or two RIGHT HERE!

It's no joke!



Sometime this year, most taxpayers will receive an ' HST Compensation'' payment.

This is indeed a very exciting program, and I'll explain it by using a Q & A format:

Q. What is an 'HST Compensation' payment ?

A. It is money that the provincial government will send to taxpayers.

Q.. Where will the government get this money?

A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?

A. Only a smidgen of it.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?

A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?

A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the economy byspending your compensation cheque wisely:

* If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China or Sri Lanka ...

* If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.

* If you purchase a computer, it will go to India , Taiwan or China .

* If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala ..

* If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea .

* If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .

* If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go
to management bonuses and they will hide it offshore.

Instead, keep the money in Canada by:

1) Spending it at yard sales, or

2) Going to hockey games, or

3) Spending it on a hooker, or

4) Beer or

5) Tattoos.

(These are the only Canadian businesses still operating in Canada . )

Conclusion:

Go to a hockey game with a tattooed hooker you met at a yard
sale and drink beer all day !

No need to thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.

What a gong show getting out of the concert last night. Who designs a parking lot that funnels everyone into a massive bottleneck? Ironicaly, its a "no ideling zone"

Everyone like the gas prices, hey more BS carbon tax July 1 I believe. Right on fiberals.