Oh Silly Harpercon MP, You Really Wanna Go There??

I read a piece earlier today from CBC’s Janyce McGregor.  The first fed finally uttered comments today about the Quebec student protests.  Yes, Edmonton’s very own Brent Rathgeber was using typical talking points I hear from the righties of Montreal’s west end and of course, the Konservative Kool-aid servers of CJAD.  Mr. Ratheberger is a bloody hypocrite to say the least. Take it away Brent!

The Quebec Student strike and protests, like the popular Greek austerity protests, reveal some odd entitlements-mentality of consumers of the modern welfare state.  Since the Quebec students pay the least, they feel they have the most to lose by increased fees for their education.  Expressed alternatively, one becomes dependent on free or nearly free service.  Accordingly, when that free service is terminated, like any dependence, there is an adverse reaction caused by withdrawal.

I hope that eventually the striking students receive some valuable lessons that have somehow escaped them in the classroom:  Governments must live within their means.  There is no such thing as a free lunch; everything costs somebody something.  And disrespect for the rule of law will not lead to a cheaper education, but it will lead to a criminal record that will haunt them much longer than their student loans.

Entitlements mentality? Ahem! Mr. Ratheberger, why don’t we discuss you and your boss’s ‘entitlements’ before you start throwing stones at the students or anyone else who gets uppity and dares challenge a new world order?

Why does the idea of free tuition sound so outrageous anyway? And why must we compare ourselves to the likes of  say, the US? Is this really a race to the bottom? Most Europe offers free post-secondary education, or at the very least, it’s heavily subsidized.  Before any of my trolls decided to take a crap on my comments section with ‘but..but…Europe is nearly bankrupt!’ or some other silliness. I’m not going to get into how the Eurozone countries are not in terrible shape due to more generous social safety nets.  I will say what happens to be a Righty’s nightmare come true; the Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland, Norway  all offer free education.  Guess what? Those countries have been weathering the economic crisis quite well.  Believe me, the moment something looks to go awry with that, we’d hear it from corporate media ad-nauseum.

Also, Ratheberger seems to compare the tuition hikes from Premier Johnny-Boy to a junkie on heroine withdrawal. Real Classy!  Ready to give up your addiction to all of your perks as an MP as well as take a freeze on your already exorbitant MP pay?  I thought not.

Valuable lessons? What? From you and your boss and the rest of the ilk? That is to laugh. Governments living within their means. Ha! Like you, Boss Stevie, Tony “Gazebo” Clement. Also, I believe it is your government that created the biggest deficit in CAnadian history. Spare me that whole ‘stimulus’ spending crap. Your  party squandered a surplus and sent us to deficit long before ‘stimulus’ spending came in, such as it was.

If that weren’t enough, you’re all planning to send big bucks every year to Afghanistan?? For what? To prop up a corrupt government who really ain’t better than the Taliban.

Tell me, Mr. Ratheberger, why should big businesses be ‘entitled’ to the lowest tax rates? Why should every Canadian tax payer subsidize bank bail outs without strings and the tar sands with no regulations? Why are they ‘entitled’ to this?  Why are we ‘entitled’ to problematic F-35s sold without engines with costs that keep skyrocketing? Why is your boss and the rest of the merry band of thieves be ‘entitled’ to pass monster sized budget omnibus bills with no debate?  Why are you ‘entitled’ keep our EI contributions in some black hole, given that pretty much no one will be able to access it under Jimbo and Diane’s new plan?  Why are you all ‘entitled’ to gold plated pensions while the regular elderly folk have to work til 67 or til they die before they can hope to access OAS?  I could go on…

I would like an answer to all those questions and more. Oh, and please try to come up with an original thought. I know that might give you a nose bleed, but please try.

Bloody hypocrite!

As for you, Ms McGregor, really!  Couldn’t you find someone with original thought?