The Wrath Of Khanper

 216   INT. RELIANT BRIDGE
ON SCREEN, Enterprise, intermittent image, backs away.
Khan smiles triumphantly through his pain. An elec-
tronic power SOUND has been building.

KHAN
No... You can't get away... From
hell's heart I stab at thee...
(amid the pain)
For hate's sake... I spit my last
breath at thee!

Khan topples forward, dead. The WHINE continues to
build chillingly.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN
Written By: Harve Bennett
Participating Writers
Jack B. Sowards
Samuel A. Peeples

Why would I begin a post by quoting from the scene in a cheesy 27 year old movie where a
megalomaniac with a really bad hair-do reaches out to destroy everything around him upon the realization that his plans for universal domination have been foiled?

If you can't guess who I am referring to you are trying hard enough.

What's that? You still don't get it?

OK, here it is. Even though PM Genghis is on probation and the survival of his government hinges on the presentation of a realistic stimulus package, he is still going to go to the mat with his hardwired priorities. Several articles over the last couple of days point out that Deficit Jim has been hinting that permanent tax cuts will be a significant part of the "Stimulus" in the budget. Notwithstanding* the fact that this is what caused the deficits in the first place.

To quote from the Star** (my emphasis in bold);

As the Jan. 27 federal budget draws nearer, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty appears to be reverting to his neo-conservative roots. In recent days, he has been making noises about putting tax cuts in the budget in order to leave "more money in peoples' pockets so that they spend it, so that they help strengthen the economy."

There are two problems with this approach to the economic crisis.

First, experience shows that most of the money from tax cuts – especially for middle- and upper-income Canadians – is not spent, as Flaherty suggests. Rather, it is put into savings or used to pay down debt. Therefore, the economy gets little of the stimulus it needs.

Second, tax cuts that remain in place long after the recession is over would erode the federal government's revenue base. That would either cause the sort of structural deficits that Flaherty says he wants to avoid or force the government to cut spending on social programs to balance the budget (as did the Mike Harris government in Ontario, in which Flaherty served).

Along with the decision to switch tactics and try and stack the Senate Harprorogue is giving the impression of someone who believes that his days are numbered and his best option is to try and create such a mess that it will swallow the rest of us up in it. So as Spaceship Crazy is about to go super nova, all Captain Steve can think of is ways to try push through the Reform agenda. The first month of 2009 has a strong chance of looking like the last month of 2008.

I recommend you start stocking up on pro-coalition placards.

* Since the early 1980's I have always felt that word is a part of the distinct society that is Canada (sorry - 2 bad jokes in one footnote).

**Mostly because I can't bring myself to quote from the Sun.

P.S.: even though this is the second Star Trek reference in the first 4 posts of 2009, I'm not a Trekkie. Honest! Not that there's anything wrong with that.
P.P.S.: I love the bit about the whine building chillingly as the ship gets set to explode. The Conservatives do tend to whine when they don't get their way, don't they?

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