Morning Brew: August 20th, 2007

Its about friggin time a law like this was passed. However, Im sure now we can expect another debate on how this violates the freedoms given to us under the constitution instead of looking at the law for what it truly is -- a deterrent for idiots who cant stop drinking and driving.

Hey, so long as it's a judge who determines that the punishment fits the crime, then I'm ok with it.

Yeah, if the person is convicted after being given a fair trial, then go for it: sell the car, revoke the license permanently, throw them in jail etc. Do you see how that's different from the street-racing law, where no trial takes place before punishment is dealt?

I don't understand why everyone is so quick to dismiss the constitution. It governs all other law, it defines our relationship with the government...don't be so quick to assume its irrelevance.

It's about frigging time that 680 news got a makeover. My old user style doesn't work anymore though. Bastards.

What a ridiculous law, it's one thing to punish someone for their deeds but when they start making a profit from it it quickly becomes abused. War on Drugs/Terror anyone?

Just bought my pass for the film festival. so freaking expensive.

@Andrew: While, I can see your point, this punishment could be seen as something like a hefty fine. Monetary punishment shouldn't necessarily been seen as a profit for the government, however it's the price one must pay for breaking the law.

Here we go again!

I don't have time today to argue about the charter of rights and constitution, so instead I'll opt to talk about the new Monopoly game.

It's nice to see 3 Canadian cities on the board, but does this really represent the 'here and now'? Montreal as Boardwalk? Really? They've obviously decided that the voting was a good opportunity to figure out who to cater to, but I don't know if Montreal as Boardwalk is such a good idea.

It'll be popular with the people from Quebec for certain, but what about the rest of Canada? Will Torontonians want to pick up the game knowing that Montreal is the most valued property in the game? What about New Yorkers, population of close to 10 million? I think it'd be borderline offensive if I were a New Yorker. To make matters worse, 8 other people beat out New York, including the capital of Latvia as Park Place.

I can't imagine Latvia being a huge market, so it makes me wonder how this will affect sales.

...I kinda wish some lazy RCMP cop would keep looking for that STILL UN-ACCOUNTED FOR $40-plus millions of the ADSCAM SCANDAL...

I wonder if the US housing market is starting to spill into Canada now?

Ryan L. - ya gotta remember that we come from all over. I was looking down on the game but I'm 1/4 Latvian so you know, it's kinda cool that other people will learn a little about new places. Just like watching Latvians playing beach volleyball.

If they wanted to just go for size then it wouldn't have been an online vote and the top cities would have been:

1. Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan - 33,200,000
2. New York, United States - 17,800,000
3. Sao Paulo, Brazil - 17,700,000
4. Seoul-Incheon, South Korea - 17,500,000
5. Mexico City, Mexico - 17,400,000
6. Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Japan - 16,425,000
7. Manila, Philippines - 14,750,000
8. Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay) - 14,350,000
9. Jakarta, Indonesia - 14,250,000
10. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,400,000

@Dave: I disagree, at least if the individual was paying a fine, he/she could sell their car to pay for it. Having the police take possession and then selling it for profit clearly is a conflict of interest and opens up a can of worms.

http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/default.cfm?page=Worldvote/presscenter

Full list of the Monopoly spaces.

So that means Toronto is Virginia Avenue and Vancouver is New York Avenue.

I don't mind the configuration that much because when I play, those are the two groups of properties I aim to own anyways. In my opinion, despite their price tag, Toronto and Vancouver will be some of the best properties to own in the game. Gaining control of the orange and light purple properties is one of the easiest ways to take money from the other players.

When Police departments issue fines, auction off items, they are hardly making profit on them. Nobody is making money. It goes into paying for the services that our taxes don't quite cover entirely. I'd rather the people who are breaking the law cover the cost of our police service than the people who abide by it in the form of taxes. This is especially true if you consider the cost of continuing to store seized materials.

If more of our taxes had to go into police services because fines didn't exist, I assure you a hell of a lot more people will take issue with it than the people who don't like the idea of police auctions. I imagine many people would also be angry if the department destroyed perfectly good seized items.

To be clear, this isn't me debating the issue of the seizure of cars. I don't have time to engage in endless arguments about that topic today. What the police do with fines/seized items is a separate issue.

Montreal FTW bitches.

Also, selling off drunken fucktards' cars for the HUGE win ya drunken bitches.

I see what you did there.

@Ryan Police bureaucracy and inefficiency are to blame, not some image of poor and tattered officers trying to serve and protect. These blatant cash grabs (like planes to catch 'street racers' and enforcing illegal ticket quotas) are here to keep hiring the best lawyers to defend themselves from increasing lawsuits because of their baffling negligence for the people they're sworn to protect.

As a Monopoly player, Montreal can have that spot for all I care, it's not a lucrative set to have. Sure it's a crusher but odds are against it. I go for the Rome-Vancouver and Beijing-Jerusalem sets ftw!