Category Archives: Caveat emptor

Caveat emptor, Municipal

Abbotsford City Council’s Addiction

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Derek and Katie Lambird and their neighbours are not alone in having run afoul of the bylaw Nazis and facing costly fines.

Over the past week and more citizens have been telling me that “… something needs to be done about …” or that “…someone needs to write and warn citizens about …” either the unprecedented enthusiasm of bylaw enforcement levying fines or the inventive new ways Abbotsford police have been finding to ambush and issue tickets to drivers in the city.

This state of affairs should come as no surprise to residents. I certainly was not surprised to find a ticket on my windshield when the two hour free parking by Community Services became exactly two hours of free parking instead of the previous 2 hours plus 5 – 10 minutes.

I was annoyed and disgusted, but I definitely was not surprised thinking “…their spending addiction is way out of hand if they NEED the money this badly ….”

When you have a city council that is addicted to evermore spending; a city council that has no understanding of the concepts of fiscal discipline, sound fiscal policy and planning, due diligence, duty of care or fiscal responsibility; it should come as no surprise to any citizen that such a city council will find itself in desperate need of funds to feed their spending addiction.

Faced with a city council that comes up with a Fudget as opposed to a budget, which sought to impose a parking fee at Mill Lake and dreams of imposing a gas tax – is anyone surprised at their decision to exploit the untapped potential of bylaw and traffic fines to bleed funds out of taxpayer’s pockets and into city coffers?

While Derek and Katie Lambird and other citizens should indeed dispute these tickets, it is far more important that the Lambirds and all Abbotsford citizens email, phone or communicate in any manner possible to the Mayor and all city councillors that this behaviour, this extortion, is unacceptable and that Council must get its financial house in order and learn to live within its means.

Until such time as city council learns to budget not Fudget: Caveat Civitas – let citizens beware.

Addiction, Caveat emptor, Consider, Issues

Bacons and the drug war.

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Listening to the news coverage of the arrest and murder charges against a Bacon brother I was left shaking my head.

What had me shaking my head was the implication and statements in the report that this was somehow a major success in the drug war in the lower mainland – it wasn’t.

It was a success the legal system and the family of the innocent people killed in that Surrey condo. An extremely expensive “success” that requires millions of dollars more to carry through and attain convictions.

Leaving one to ponder just how many more of these multi-millions of dollars “successes” we can afford and how are we going to pay for them?

But in terms of the drug war in the lower mainland the only real effect it will have is to change some of the players. Reality: even if the police went out and arrested and jailed everyone in the illegal drug business in the lower mainland right now, in a matter of hours people would be stepping in to take advantage of the lucrative employment opportunities in the drug business, in days the business would be flourishing again with a new cast of characters and be back to “fully staffed” in short order thereafter.

The drug trade sings its siren song of impossible promises of pleasure in the same manner as politicians and governments make impossible promises and when reality turns out to be something quite different it is the victims of the promises who suffer the consequences. When circumstances intervene to remove players through arrests or election losses the players are simply replaced by others.

As is the case in government we will have no effect on changing behaviours in the drug business until such time as citizens accept the reality of these businesses and choose to change our behaviours in order to bring about changes that will produce the positive outcomes we want – good government and taking the billion dollar profits and violence out of the drug trade.

Until such time we as citizens are willing to change our behaviours, rather than continuing to make the same choices and employ the same behaviours hoping that this time things will turn out differently (which is insane), we are going to keep on getting the same pointless and unacceptable results.

The difference at this point in history, as opposed to our past, is that Canada can no longer afford this type of behaviour. Economic, environmental and social systems no longer have any slack or fat in the systems. Every dollar wasted in programs and policies that do not achieve positive outcomes inflicts damage, pain, suffering and negative consequences on a wide range of Canadians and Canadian society.

Government or the illegal drug business: Canada cannot any longer afford to merely change the cast of characters. We have to think, think, and think. Then make the difficult choices that, while we may wish we did not have to make them, reflect the real world we live in and will affect positive results and a bright future for all Canadians – not just the privileged few.

We have squandered our easy choices on ineffective behaviour and as a result have left ourselves having to make hard choices if we want to remain Canadians and a Canada that makes us proud to declare “I AM Canadian.”

Caveat emptor, Federal

Never … until politically convenient.

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Once again Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have demonstrated that their espoused principles are subject to change when ever the principles become inconvenient to adhere to; that promises made by Harper and the Conservatives are worthless in the face of political expediency or advantage.

$2,347.200.00 per year is the minimum cost of Mr. Harper’s patronage senate appointments to party faithful. $2,347.200.00 is merely the direct salary costs and does not reflect any of additional costs or the cost of perks for the 18 new senators.

Watching Mr. Harper and the Conservatives tap dance and try to spin this policy reversal of convenience serves to make it ever clearer that Mr. Harper and the Conservatives are business-as-usual politicians worried only about their own power and re-election.

Watching the bizarrely grotesque behaviours of all the politicians sent to Ottawa in the recent election makes one thing obvious.

That if we want real change in the way parliament behaves it is up to Canadian citizens to find and elect MPs who are not representatives of any political party; MPs who answer to the people they represent and not to an autocrat or political party; MPs who will have to answer or explain their decisions directly to the people they represent.

This may well make for “messier” governance in parliament and take more effort on the part of voters, but our current politicians have made it clear that this is the only way we will get rid of business-as-usual politics and get MPs focused on doing a good job and addressing the real issues facing Canada instead of worrying about their personal ideological agendas, power and re-election.

Caveat emptor

Telus special promotion not so special.

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Hearing the Telus radio ad promoting getting Telus high speed internet and a laptop computer reminded me of a friend who had taken advantage of (or is that had been taken advantage of by) a previous Telus high speed internet plus computer “special” offer.

Signed up for 3 years of high speed internet and received a free computer, but downloading took forever. Enquiry revealed that the computer lacked the RAM to take advantage of high speed internet.

Being willing to be a self-advocate and being persistent eventually got Telus to pay for a RAM upgrade which a friend installed. Now the high speed internet being paid for is useable.

Whether corporate greed, a lack of concern about customer care, a Dilbert-esque triumph of marketing over engineering realities or some combination thereof – it is a cautionary tale.

So if you are thinking of signing up for this latest “special” offer, be sure to check out the technical specifications first. You also might want to a little price, model and features research.

And if “took advantage of” the earlier computer offer applies to you and your internet is anything but high speed … you might want to check your RAM.

Caveat emptor

Abbotsford News distainful of low income earners

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I do not know Mr. Grant Granger so I cannot say if his words in “Casino’s will strike you Out” in the Saturday December 15th Abbotsford News are a result of prejudice, ignorance or a parochial mind set.

All I can definitely state is that I and other low income people I have spoken with about his scurrilous aspersions, find his words demeaning, defamatory and highly offensive.

As low income earners we do not have the money to waste on gambling. As responsible citizens we need all our funds to pay our bills.

Despite Mr. Granger’s assertion that we are brain dead to the point we “…mechanically put their money down the drain (i.e. slots)…” we have far too many better things to do and accomplish, than to waste precious time and money in this manner. We also understand mathematics, more than well enough to appreciate the statistical futility of counting on chance to solve our tight financial situations.

Mr. Granger would appear to be the one lacking in a grasp of basic mathematics. A simple application of mathematics makes clear that there is not enough cash in the hands of low income earners to generate the cash flow and profits casinos and gambling in general enjoy. A look in the mirror would reveal to Mr. Granger the economic class who are the bread and butter of the gambling industry.

Most condescending is the implicit assumption that the richness, enjoyment and value of a life are a function of income. While it is true a more substantial cash flow would make life easier, it would not, in and of itself, increase my joie de vie. His words would suggest that Mr. Granger is in serious need of re-evaluating his values and seeking a better spiritual understanding of what is of value in life.

Mr. Granger needs to stop displaying his contemptuousness for those with low incomes, insulting our intelligence and the value of our lives. He and his like especially need to stop the disrespectful behaviour of deceptively trotting out low income earners, crying counterfeit tears over us, in order to further their anti-gambling agenda.

If you are truly concerned for and about low income earners stop, worrying about YOUR agenda and start worrying about and addressing THEIR NEEDS.

Postscript: the newspapers that printed this piece of slanderous injustice owe an apology to all low income earners for disseminating this insulting claptrap.