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Pony: Latte tax and making history
9.17.2003
This quote cracks me up: "Is it right to send people to jail for years for smoking marijuana? No. Is it right to tax lattes? No," quips a coffee shop owner in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
What is an intelligencer? What a funny word!
But coffee will stunt their growth!
This article and another in the Seattle Times talk about the failure of the proposed 10cent tax on coffee to gain widespread support in the coffee capital of the US.
"Initiative 77 proponents acknowledged that a tax on espresso drinks might be quirky, but they said it would make day care and preschool more available, improve the quality of teachers and staff and replace some programs' lost state funding.
They predicted the tax could raise as much as $7 million annually and serve 5,000 children."
I must have subliminally osmosed the story when I went on last week about corporate coffee.
I still think it is a great idea to give chronically-underfunded child care a boost through some sort of sin or service tax. It's not like that money is going to come from their record-breaking deficit government.
Sorry to always be picking on Americans. I should be fair and pick on my own country, too.
Here is a little tidbit about gay rights in Canada today. Apparently, our criminal code makes it illegal to incite hatred against an identifiable group based on colour, race, religion or ethnicity. Now they want to include sexual orientation in that equation. Makes sense, right?
What, I can't say faggot anymore?
This morning, on the news, I heard one right wing MP refer to the proposed change to legislation as "The jackboot of fascim stepping on our country's collective throat."
While this guy was talking out of his virginal butthole, I could not help but laugh. I think it was the use of the word "jackboot". Say it outloud. Jackboot. It's funny!
Another gem:
"We've seen through the courts that when religious freedom comes up against gay rights, that in fact religious freedom intends to be more often than not the loser in those particular cases," said Derek Rogusky, of the group Focus on the Family.
Now I am making fun of religious people. I am mean and I should be more tolerant.
Perhaps I should show more than tell, so here is a bit about the history of gay rights in Canada from the CBC.
Making history is never painless, right?
