Spin

HST = Health Care?

Huh?

It's the Health Saving tax?

This is news.

Yet this is what Colin Hansen and Gordon Campbell would have us believe.

In delivering the Provincial Budget, Mr. Hansen was determined that we come away pillowed by the comforting thought that the new tax would really be all for Health.

In the words of that famous parliamentarian, John McEnroe, "You can't be serious!""

But listen to the Good Minister's language:

“We need to find ways that can help demonstrate to average British Columbians the connection between the tax dollars they pay and the services they get.”

Translation?

"You are stupid and we have to 'splain stuff to you, You Average Donkey You.

Yup.

Thanks, Boss.

Look, revenues are down, expenditures are up and the whole world is struggling through the same identical mire. Ontario, Greece, London and no doubt the Maldives are all in the same sweaty tank.

We get it, thanks. We got it.

But you don't have to keep pulling these tired cheesy old circus tricks, guys.

Let Us Not Forget

The notorious Air India case – the bloodiest unsolved crime in Canadian history – will be back in the spotlight Wednesday with the start of jury selection for a trial on the rare charge of perjury against former Vancouver Island mechanic Inderjit Singh Reyat.

It is charged that he lied under oath 27 times.

The killers of 331 people walk free, in large measure thanks to this man's testimony.

May some measure of justice be found in this matter.

It's only been 25 years since this obscenity occurred.

Values and Opinions Department

New immigrants to Canada are being told many helpful things - thanks to our new official study guide.

Of course, they are not being told that spitting in public is a) disgusting and b) a criminal offense. Or if they are, who's listening?

In addition, the Globe has learned that a number of references to certain Canadian Rights enshrined by law have been deliberately omitted from the guide.

For example:

"Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969 and more recently, civil marriage rights to same-sex couples was legalized nationwide in 2005," the earliest draft of the guide says under the section Towards a Modern Canada.

And in the section on citizenship rights, the early draft said: "Equality Rights - Canadians are protected against discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or age."

Neither sentence survived the minister's red marker.

The minister is Citizenship & Immigration Minister Jason Kenney who was advised by staff to include such statements.

But Kenny has his own agenda.

For which, no doubt, many will applaud him.

Not I.

May the Beeb be Heard

The BBC is much like the CBC, only bigger, nastier and more ingrained, if such a thing can be imagined.

What a pleasure then to read in a "Telegraph" at a restaurant in Heathrow yesterday that the Beeb wants to change its tune.

More British, less Yanqui, programming.

Of course, these announcements for all we know may be annual affairs, the Home Office equivalent to the sighting of the groundhog.

Let's hope someone at CBC Control is listening.

You are publicly funded.

Stop showing The Price is Right, Jeopardy, and all other American mind rot.

Pay for News, Comedy, Drama, Children's, docs, and education.

Decide who you really are and go for it.