Americans are living beyond their means and Asia is currently financing that. But eventually the Asians/Europeans will stop financing the USA and then the bubble will burst. Also check out the 1-minute video which I’m responding to for a quick explanation.

Here is a snippet of a speech made by Ron Paul before the House of Representative on February 25 2006.

“A hundred years ago it was called “dollar diplomacy.” After World War II, and especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, that policy evolved into “dollar hegemony.” But after all these many years of great success, our dollar dominance is coming to an end.

It has been said, rightly, that he who holds the gold makes the rules. In earlier times it was readily accepted that fair and honest trade required an exchange for something of real value.

First it was simply barter of goods. Then it was discovered that gold held a universal attraction, and was a convenient substitute for more cumbersome barter transactions. Not only did gold facilitate exchange of goods and services, it served as a store of value for those who wanted to save for a rainy day.” [Ron Paul]

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Lobbyist Ken Dobell was Premier Gordon Campbell’s senior deputy minister for years. On March 13, 2008, Dobell pleaded guilty to breaking the Lobbyists Registration Act and repaid the $7,000 he received for lobbying while in violation. Dobell decided to plead guilty after a special prosecutor determined he failed to register as a lobbyist within 10 days as required by the provincial Lobbyists Act.

When I heard about what happened to Dobell. I wanted to know more about Lobbyism in general. So I met with an Anonymous Lobbyist who accepted to anonymously answer your questions about how laws get made and why they probably shouldn’t and how organisations get governments funding and so on. If you have a question about the dirty business of doing business in Victoria, ask her using the comment form below.

What is lobbying?

Lobbying includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents or organized groups. Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying.

Who lobbies the lobbyists?

Do you lobbyists ever get lobbied? You know, “Ask not what a lobbyist can do for you, but rather what can you do for a lobbyist.” What would be the things interested parties would lobby you for?

Yes, lobbyists like Mr. Dobell definitely get lobbied by other lobbyists on the big issues of the day/month/year, to try to minimize opposition or maximize support on an issue. It tends to be fairly low-key, unless your company/organization has fallen off a really big wagon and has enough clout to kill or slow down something everyone else wants passed or to pass something everyone else wants killed- in which case, you may want to have the intern start your car for a while. But, yeah, lobbyists get asked to sign on to the lobbying world equivalent of Dear Colleague letters, to join coalitions, to make visits with other lobbyists to show how important the issues are. And, some of that kind of lobbying could come from staff (like, asking you to pressure other offices to sign onto Dear Colleagues or join caucuses or whatever) or from their bosses (and even more so if you can call hinting/asking for campaign contributions “lobbying”). This is really a world in which everyone is scratching everyone else’s back (I’d call it a circle jerk, but I lack the requisite equipment to participate in one), so I scratch and get scratched like everyone else.

Before the press started reporting on it, Mr. Dobell conduct was an “open secret” in B.C’s political circles. Can you give us another open secret of the goings on in Victoria that the average British Columbian would be shocked to hear about?

How about… that the only thing about the “climate” in Victoria that will change if the NPD takes over is who is physically sitting in the chairs, and not how they’re behaving? I mean, for all that Carol James screams about conflict of interests and how they are going to change the way Victoria works if the NDP ever get the majority. They will do exactly the same thing as the Liberals do, only the names will change. Which, whatever, if the average British Columbian don’t expect that, then they don’t know anything about politics and politicians.

Oh, and the NDP has its very own Dobell in storage, who’s on hold and ready to act if they ever get a majority in the Legislature. Big surprise.

Bill Tieleman columnist in the very deep and intellectual 24 Hours newspaper reported that Terence Robertson said that Dobell could have violated the Criminal Code Section 21? Is this possible?

I am not a Lawyer, but from my perspective a good lobbyist daily routine is to circumvent Criminal Code Section 21. Because, if you read Section 21 you’ll soon find out that it describes what a Lobbyist does on a regular basis, the only difference lies in that he or she has follows specific rules to circumvent Section 21. Dobell just did what Lobbyists do. He just missed out some rules while doing it and then got caught by the NDP.

If you have more questions about lobbyism in general use the as them in comment form below.

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As a French Canadian I have similarities with my French cousins. I think that private life is something that should be …. private. I think that a politician who requests the services of a prostitute is not a scandal per se. It’s a private matter. What is scandalous is that the man in question, Governor Spitzer, was prosecuting people involved in prostitution circles with no mercy. However, the point of this post is that I found an interesting article authored by George Dvorsky saying that Spitzer is not responsible. We should cut him (Spitzer) some slack. Why? Because biology made him do it.

“Indeed, one of the most surprising discoveries of the past two decades has been the extent of sexual infidelity – what scientists call extra-pair copulations. As Barash has noted, “It’s clear that social monogamy — physical association and child rearing between a male and a female — and sexual monogamy are very different things. The former is common; the latter is rare.”Prior to the onset of the monogamous imposition, men of wealth, status and power typically acquired multiple wives and partners. Well over a century ago, a politician like Spitzer would have likely had a mistress and no one would have questioned it. Today, a successful male is likely to have a wife and a girlfriend on the side (along with the hope of not getting caught).”[Sentient Developments] 

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Thanks to Tax Addicts , Vancouver has recently become the worst place in Canada to do business from a property tax perspective, according to a study released 5 months ago by the Real Property Association of Canada, an advocacy group for owners and managers of investment real estate. City Hall is increasing Vancouver’s home owners property tax to make it proprotionate with business property tax. Sullivan calls it “fair”. Each politicians have their own definition of the word “fair”. In our view what would have been “fair” is to not tax anyone at all.

“But it’s important to do the right thing. We know there is a lack of fairness in the tax system.”
He will support a one-per-cent shift of business taxes, which translates to a two-per-cent increase for homeowners on top of the four-per-cent increase they are already likely to be facing once the budget is finalized.” [The Vancouver Sun]

Technorati Tags: Sam Sullivan, Vancouver

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The canadian unborn victims of violent crime bill passes second reading.

“This is a victory for Canadian women and children, for victims’ families, and indeed for all Canadians,” said MP Ken Epp, reacting to today’s vote in the House of Commons on his Private Members Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act.

Members of Parliament voted 147 to 132 in support of allowing the Bill to proceed to Committee Stage. “Since 72% of Canadians support this legislation, I will continue to work hard to persuade my Parliamentary Colleagues that I have no sinister motives, and that they should support the Bill at further stages,” Mr. Epp said. “Canadian women who choose to give birth when they are pregnant should not have to stand alone to protect the child within that they are eagerly awaiting.” [LifeSiteNews]

Technorati Tags: anti-choice, pro-life

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It seems to be a great time to be an Evangelical, living in the U.S, with an active interest in politics. In the early part of the twentieth century Evangelicals were known to be withdrawn, and then, in the early 1990s we rushed headlong into a single partisan agenda. And Canada is not immune, just remember a few days ago when a loony Canadian evangelical said he pressured cabinet ministers and PMO officials to deny tax credits to productions deemed too controversial or offensive and it works.

Ronald J. Siders wrote a good book about evangelical involvement into politics.

Technorati Tags: politics, religions, evangelicals

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