But Wait! There's More!

There usually is...


Didn't I say this?

The budget calls for $130.4 billion in spending on programs and debt repayment in 2014-15, up $3.4 billion from the previous year.

The revenue that the treasury takes in will rise to $118.9 billion, up $3 billion, leaving a shortfall of $12.5 billion including a $1 billion reserve.

The government is predicting significant increases in revenue to bring the deficit down to zero by 2017-18.

Annual interest payments for paying off the province's ballooning debt will grow to $11 billion this year, $12 billion next year and $13.3 billion in 2016-17.

The debt -- the total amount Ontario owes -- will hit $317.2 billion in two years, which is $21,019 for every person in the province.

In 2003-04, when the Ontario Liberals first took over government, the net debt was $10,971 per person.

As previously announced, the government will retire the debt retirement charge bill as of Jan. 1, 2016, but with the end of the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit at the same time, average hydro customers will pay just over $120 more a year.

There are hydro cost breaks for low-income families and for more industrial users.

Ontario government plans to spend more than $130 billion over 10 years on infrastructure such as roads, bridges and public transit paid for with new borrowing, redirected taxes, the elimination of a small business tax deduction for large corporations and proceeds from high occupancy toll lanes.

Where does Wynne think all this money is going to come from? Where does she think industry is going to come from?


One would think that with childhood vaccinations and medical advances, the average person would get a clue. If they did, mandatory vaccinations wouldn't be an issue:

Canada's long, drawn-out series of measles outbreaks continued this week when Alberta health officials declared not one, not two, but three outbreaks in regions across the province.

The trio of declarations are just the latest instances of measles that have hit various parts of the country in recent months. Almost every province has had to address measles on some level. Save perhaps Quebec, where vaccinations are mandatory, and apparently quite effective.

Clayton Lockett raped, kidnapped, shot and buried alive Stephanie Nieman, as well as raped, beat and kidnap two other people as well as a baby.


People also thought Stalin/Khrushchev/Brezhnev/Gorbachev were right, too:

Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era on Thursday, with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine.

Thousands of trade unionists marched with Russian flags and flags of Putin's ruling United Russia party onto the giant square beneath the Kremlin walls, past the red granite mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin.

Many banners displayed traditional slogans for the annual workers' holiday, like: "Peace, Labour, May". But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in neighboring former Soviet republic Ukraine, where Russian troops seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula in March, precipitating the biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War.

"I am proud of my country," read one. "Putin is right," said another.

Unlike Kremlin leaders in Soviet times, Putin did not personally preside at the parade from atop the mausoleum. But he carried out another Soviet-era tradition by awarding "Hero of Labour" medals to five workers at a ceremony in the Kremlin. He revived the Stalin-era award a year ago.

I don't understand (particularly people who call themselves conservative) why people cannot see what an autocrat Putin is and how bad he is for Russia.


Speaking of autocrats, why not read up on Pyongyang's homophobia, manufactured famine and much, much more?


A video captures the last moments of teen-agers trapped on a sinking South Korean ferry:

Soon after the ferry began to tilt, there was nervous laughter, jokes about the Titanic and talk of selfies and Facebook posts from the doomed high school students huddled below deck.

But the lighthearted atmosphere soon turned serious as the listing worsened. Fear began building, and one student asked, "Am I really going to die?"

The shaky video (http://apne.ws/R7iRbX ) — at times poignant and heartbreaking as the teens said last words to their loved ones — was found on the cellphone belonging to 17-year-old Park Su-hyeon when his body was recovered after the disaster on the morning of April 16 off South Korea.

The boy's father, Park Jong-dae, provided it Thursday to The Associated Press, saying he wanted to show the world the conditions aboard the Sewol as it sank. He earlier released it to select South Korean media. Information such as video can be recovered from micro SD cards in cellphones even if the device is submerged.

More than 300 people are dead or missing in the disaster, which has plunged South Korea into mourning and touched off anger and shame. About 220 bodies, mostly from inside the submerged vessel, have been recovered. More than 80 per cent of the victims were students from a high school in Ansan, south of Seoul, on their way to the tourist island of Jeju for a school trip. ...

At the start of the video, a message blared from the ferry's loudspeakers: "Don't move away from your places and brace for any possible accidents."

In subsequent announcements, passengers were again told to stay put, even as some questioned whether they should flee.

The last message from the bridge came at 9:08: "We're again announcing: For passengers who can wear life vests, please wear them now. Never move away from your places."

That warning came eight minutes after a Sewol crew member told a marine traffic official, "The body of the ship has tilted, and it's impossible to move," according to a transcript of communications with the ferry.

After the passengers were ordered to stay in their cabins, Capt. Lee Joon-seok took at least a half-hour to order an evacuation. It is unclear whether that order was ever relayed to passengers. Lee has said he delayed the evacuation because of worries about sending passengers into cold waters and fast currents before rescuers arrived.

Lee could be seen in a separate video released by the coast guard leaping from the ferry in his underwear onto a rescue boat while many passengers were still in the sinking ship.

A Canadian filmmaker has been found dead in Cambodia:

The family of Dave Walker, a Canadian filmmaker who went missing in Cambodia in February, says he was found dead today.

A statement issued on behalf of Walker’s family says his body was reportedly discovered by a child at the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Cambodian law enforcement officials told the family it appeared Walker had died several weeks ago.
The statement says a doctor at the site was unable to determine a cause of death and an autopsy will be held to try to determine how and when Walker died.

Forensic officer Pheng Pich says authorities are waiting on DNA tests before an official confirmation of the body's identity can be made, but he says there are no initial signs of foul play.

Tith Narong, a senior officer with the Siem Reap provincial police, says friends and acquaintances identified Walker on the basis of his clothing.

Walker, who was 58, had been living in Cambodia for the past year and a half. He was staying at a guesthouse on Feb. 14, when he stepped out while a housekeeper tended to his room and was not seen again.

The disappearance baffled family and friends, who said Walker spoke the language, knew the streets and was familiar with the local culture. His phone, laptop computer, passport and other belongings were left behind at the guesthouse.

Walker and a partner had set up a film company in Siem Reap in July 2012 called Animist Farm Films. They had recently been working on a documentary about the Khmer Rouge regime, which left close to two million people dead.