TRU-CE

Let's take a break.

Let's face it. We're snowed it. It's Christmas. Life, as we generally know it, has slipped and slid to a genial halt.

So will we.

Have a great Holiday!

See you in a few days.

TRUE BUILDERS

Millenium Development Corp., the company in charge of the famous Olympic Village project, is now on very thin ice in it's current Nanaimo hotel venture.

Nanaimo City Council has issued a 30-day default notice on a 170-room hotel that Vancouver-based Millennium Development Corp. was supposed to build as part of the recently opened Port of Nanaimo Centre conference facilities.

Read the Globe & Mail piece and hold onto your 2010 toques.

TRUE VALUE

If you want a small revelation on how fortunate we are here in Canada to have our health care system, read this article in this morning's NY Times.

President-elect Obama has asked thousand of Americans to get together and talk about their health care and insurance experiences.

The early reports are bracing.

True Confessions

O.K. I just have to say this.

You know that James Stewart movie that everyone loves, that is played every year at this time, that is considered a "classic?" The movie is called "It's a Wonderful Life."

Can't watch it.

Hate it.

Saccharine slop. Worst thing Jimmy Stewart ever did.

Am I alone on this?

And while I'm at it.

You know that book and movie considered "An American Classic?" the one that's taught to 11 year-olds continent-wide like it's the Old and New Testaments combined? I speak of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Can't watch it.

Love Gregory Peck. Love so many of his movies.

This one? Boooooring...

And finally, John Wayne. The Duke.

Good-bye. Later. Don't buy it.

I've waited a lot of years to say these things.

Ah...better...

TRUE STORY

Yesterday I was in a medical examination room.

As I was getting dressed, I noticed something really frightening.

There was a box of disposable latex gloves. You know, the kind used for probing and prodding and poking in all those unholy places.

The brand bame of this product? I kid you not.

HEDY

CHICK!

Stuffing

Remember "Triple E?"

No, not the hamburger sauce.

The Alberta push to reform the Canadian Senate.

What was it now? Elected, equal and...equine?

Now that he is Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has forgotten all that campaign nonsense stuff.

And speaking of Christmas stuffing that is exactly what he has done with the Red Chamber.

18 new breast-feeders appointed, the only real surprise being that somehow John Reynolds missed the cut.

Now, I knew that senators - and that includes Larry Campbell - get $130,000 a year. What I didn't know until this morning is that they also get $90,000 in travel and what with copying machines and faxes and secretaries and whatnot, the total cost for each of these layabouts is in fact $860,215 per an...uh, annum.

The photo, by the way, is of Mike Duffy, a broadcaster.

Times must be tough.

Victor in the 'Hood

I got the following from a friend. What a wonderful world we live in. Of course, let's by all means find free shelter, clean drug needles, counsellors and a stuffed Christmas stocking for these two charmers. Also, if they happen to be sitting, drug-addled in front of your favourite store, be sure to make a generous cash donation. After all, as we are being told hourly by the media, Christmas is really about being kind to unfortunates like this.

We had a couple of kids with snow shovels casing our house-and that of our neighbours-today. We caught them peering into the windows and rattling the door etc.

They rang our bell, but when they heard our dog bark they beetled off to our neighbour's house.

By the time I got my boots on they were at my neighbours house, rattling the door and looking into the windows. I confronted them, and they were clearly high as kites, claiming they just wanted to shovel some steps so they could "buy their parents a Christmas gift". Their snow shovels had never been used, and still had the store stickers and price tags on them.

I told them we had a very active Block Watch group, that I found their story unbelievable, and if I saw them in the neighbourhood again I would call 911. At that point they told me to "F" off and ran off down the street.

I then got into my car and followed them. They made their way straight to Broadway and got on bus heading east.

Both were about 20. One very fair with short blond hair and the other darker with dread-locks. Both were wearing hoodies with parkas on top. Both also wore back packs. Their shovels had never been used.

This just a heads-up.

Do-Wop for a Snowy Monday Morning

Sunday, Sweet Sunday

The snow.

End of story.

Today, I am hoping that, amidst the wrapping of prezzies and watching the NFL and cooking and stocking up with more firewood and apple sauce, some of you might take digits to computers and give me your thoughts about yesterdays post, "The Role of Government in Our Lives."

Have a restful and warm Sunday.

If you have a toboggan, all the better....whheeeeeeee........

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN OUR LIVES

I believe that this editorial tackles a central issue of our day. Please read it and then share your thoughts.

Free markets vs. socialism.

These are the old and useless ideas that still dominate too many in a world that is much too complex to survive such simplicities.

The unfettered free market and communism are both abominations.

Certainly there must be some creative fertile middle ground that, piece by piece, better serves us all.

A number of stories in today's news, each compelling enough in itself, bring us back to the same basic and difficult question; What is the role of government in a democratic society?

It is easy enough to say, "Pave the roads, send the fire trucks, flush the sewage and pay the police; otherwise leave us alone." For the Henry David Thoreau in all of us that's a pleasant fantasy based on a long-gone rural, small town ideal. And, as one of today's stories reveal, accomplishing even these simple tasks is more complicated than it may first appear.

It is equally facile to declare, "We are our brother's keeper and we must as a government cover everybody for all possible eventualities - life and death insurance, complete and total medical and health coverage for every imaginable ailment or disease, day-care for the young and the elderly, homes for the indigent, and a Game Boy under every Christmas tree."

Life and government are, of course, more nuanced than either of these didactic world views will permit.

STORY ONE

The cover story in today's ROB in the Globe is a must read. It is titled "How it All Began," and it is a thorough examination and tracing of how home ownership in the United States went in a few decades from the universal dream to a screaming nightmare.

Well into the article - the first of a two-parter, by the way - comes this key moment:

"For instance, why were investment banks allowed to borrow massive amounts of money to make risky bets? How could a shadow banking system, one ten times bigger than the Canadian economy, be allowed to flourish so quickly without any oversight from government regulators? Why were credit rating agencies stamping dubious products with their approval? And how could homeowners with poor credit histories or zero documentation, let alone jobs, qualify for mortgages?

In its haste to hand Americans a villain, Washington had failed to look to itself."

Reagan and Carter, two very different presidents with two very different agendas and legacies, both enabled the current debacle with de-regulation in the financial and banking sectors.

This not to blame either. Rather, it is to ask what role does a government in a modern democracy have in controlling risks and protecting its citizens?

The old saw that the market will take care of itself is lying broken and crushed world-wide today. Don't we as a body politic have some duty to say what we will and will not allow business to do, to at least define some outer limits? We do this with citizens. Why not with corporations and companies, with entire industries?

Of course, massive conglomerates have been split by government decree, lending limits have been set from time to time. But it must now be clear that simply allowing men in suits to do what they want when they want to whomever they want can only have the most disastrous results.

As an investment counsellor friend said to me the other day, "The market is driven by only two things. Always has been and always will. Greed and Fear."

STORY TWO

Canada's emergency 911 telephone system doesn't work.

See the front page story in today's Globe, "Canada's 911 Emergency." Here's the subtitle:

A dispute over who should pay to fix outdated emergency dispatch systems is delaying a solution for slow response times — and costing lives.

The current system doesn't work well enough, often enough because most Canadians have cell phones and the cell phone companies are not yet adequately equipped to respond to phones that wander about, or Internet based phones that don't have a home address.

They could be so equipped, but the CRTC gave Internet and cell companies lesser 911 requirements than traditional phone companies.

Why?

Why not be a real government and demand high standards of citizen protection from all providers?

Cell phones and cell phone shops and kiosks are ubiquitous. You can't escape them. The companies are making a lot of money.

Don't we have the right as a body politic to demand that they provide basic emergency service?

STORY THREE

In spite of the all the good intentions of various civic leaders who cannot wait for a foto op to show us their beating hearts of concern, a homeless woman died last night on our city streets. She burned to death by lighting a single candle to try to keep warm in this most bitter of remembered winter cold spells.

For me, the key moment in the tale of this tragedy was this:

"Police had visited the woman, known on the street as Tracey, three times to offer her shelter. Each time she refused."

Now this very same issue arose in the most recent reports over the past few days about trying to help the homeless. I say issue even though no one discusses what I think is an issue. The police and others who are trying to help routinely report that they ask the homeless person if he or she would like to come to a shelter for the night.

Why do we ask?

Because of the Charter?

Because we firmly believe that it is an individual's right or entitlement to freeze to death or burn to death or starve to death on our public streets?

Is it not conceivable that some people cannot judge at some moments in their lives what is the best course of action and that we as a government occasionally intervene?

Oh, yes, I know this is a gigantic theoretical slippery slope. Soon, the police will be scooping Jews and Blacks and Gays and Commies and the left-handed off the streets because the current administration wants it so. Right.

Give your head a shake.

Even in the toughest of Hebrew Talmudic laws it is permitted to break any number of rules and covenants to save a life.

Because saving a life comes first.

So, you are freezing and starving on the street and you have a dog or a strong will for independence. If it's a lovely starry summer night, no harm, no foul. But if it is -15 and now your life is in imminent danger, I would rather pinch your so-called civic liberties to save your soul just this night.

Many years ago, local police could pick up a 13-year old and ask what he or she was going at Drake and Granville at 2 am. That cop might even drive the kid home. Imagine. How quaint.

Then, social agencies decided that those kids could only be there because the parents were abusive monsters. And they began giving those kids $400 to get a hotel room and some food.

You think the enormous rise in kids on the street happened by accident? It happened largely by changing social norms and changing social policy.

What about mandatory treatment for drug addicts?

It works as often as freely chosen treatment. It has for many many years all over the world.

But as a body politic we have a mental set that prizes Charter rights above life. We must never interfere with a fool's right and entitlement to destroy himself and our community at the same time. That wouldn't be nice.

Last night, if we had a different set of priorities, the police could have taken Tracey, willing or otherwise, to a warm and safe shelter. Who knows, she might even have grudgingly liked it. At least, she'd be alive to get herself a Legal Aid lawyer to sue the cops for assault.

There is no easy or simple answer to the depth and width that we will allow and invite governments into our lives.

But government has a role. Just as we must decide each day the degree to which we will get our shoes dirty stepping into the gutter of modern life, we must decide on a regular basis how, as a community, we balance the freedoms of the marketplace and individual's rights with the sometimes conflicting and larger good of the community as a whole.

If you are still stuck in the useless time warp cycle of pitting open markets against some bogeyman called socialism, you are not even in the discussion.

Market and rights of privacy live next door to my brother's keeper. We must figure out how to get along.

Flying Low

Our friend John Beatty has alerted us to a modern Canadian classic.

Weather, as you know, is playing havoc with travel conditions of every kind, in particular air travel.

Air Canada has two "travel advisories" out today, both of which are special alerts for those who may be planning to fly in or out of "Vanvouver."

One typo we can understand, but two?

Stay home, wear long johns, do crosswords...

Why pack luggage that will end up going round and round on a carousel in Bolivia?

Rewarding Blind Failure

In the light of the plans of the governments governments of two major countries to sepnd billions of dollars to rescue auto makers, it is instructive to study the full page ads GM has been running in papers the last few days.

I was standing in a downtown office yesterday morning engaged in a conversation with three other people.

We were all looking at this ad, which shows and extols the virtues of various GM products.

One of the four of us actually drives a Cadillac.

But aside from him, none us even know anyone who owns a GM product. Haven't for 20 or 30 years.

One of us asked if we've ever rented a GM product.

Yes, we all agreed, we're often given GM products when we rent.

Yes, we all agreed, theses vehicles are uncofortable as hell and almost undriveable. Handles fall off. You need two keys - one for the doors and ignition and one for the trunk.

Apparently, there has never in recent years been a CEO at GM who could hollar down the line,

"ONE EFFING KEY, YOU EEJITS!"

Maybe this bail out program should be called "Saving the Stupid," or "Incompetents, Dont Fear; Help is Near."

The Rights of Drunk Drivers

The province has decided to do one small good thing.

We are going to get tougher with drunk drivers.

Various offences will now result in your having a pricey ignition control installed in your car. The thing just won't start until you pass a breath test.

So far so good.

Cut down the carnage, right?

No.

Not so fast says the BC Civil Liberties Association.

You might have these restrictions placed on you without ever having appeared in court.

Yah?

So all problems have to be solved in court?

Rob Holmes is the BC Civil Liberties president.

Here's his solution, and he emphasizes that it is simple:

"Let's hope nobody gets drunk and gets behind the wheel."

In case you thought you misread that, let's say it again.

Here is the simple solution to the problem according to the president of the BC Civil Liberties Association.

"Let's hope nobody gets drunk and gets behind the wheel."

Question.

When people get these kinds of jobs - presidents of significant agencies in the community - do they have to pass any test to see if they are in touch with reality or suffering from some dissociative mental state?

Maybe this would be a plan.

Death by Decree

She managed to kill only three people and injure only 14 others.

Her reward?

A $2,000 fine and one year driving suspension.

That is the lady who drove the grossly and criminally (or maybe not) overloaded van filled with farm workers sitting on boxes and without seat belts that crashed in March 2007.

A day or two later, Jim Sinclair, President of the BC Federation of Labour, watched the same criminally irresponsible (or maybe not) employers yelling at more workers to get into yet another ill-equipped van at six in the morning.

To date, there has been no investigation of these criminal (or not) practices that only kill people.

This happened and continues to happen why?

Because in its dedication to saving taxpayers' money, the provincial government has cut down on inspectors who might check on these hideous violations that only kill people.

Oh.

But the Monumental Premier has lots and lots of money for the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the Games, the Convention Centre and, of course, more SNC-Lavelin Bombardier gifts known as SkyTrain.

Of course, sometimes they kill people too, but 14 people in a van you could do something about if you wanted to pay inspectors to do their civic duty.

Discovery Update from Susan

Here we are - nearly four years after hearing the shocking news that the
RAV/Canada Line transit project to be built down Cambie Street would in
fact, NOT be a bored tunnel, and would be constructed by ripping open Cambie
from 62nd Ave. to False Creek in a 50 foot deep canyon for years.

How did this happen? Who authorized it?

We intend to find out when we ask Jane Bird, the CEO of RAVCo/Canada Line,
in her Examination for Discovery tomorrow - friday Dec 19.

Nothing about the process involved in bringing this project forward has been
open or transparent. Or democratic. There was no meaningful consultation on
the ACTUAL project that was rubber stamped to proceed.
The full Contract and Concession Agreement have been withheld.
The project is a Billion dollars over the projected budget.
Hundreds of small businesses have been treated with contempt, and many have
needlessly lost their life's work. Our whole city has endured three years of
traffic gridlock.

Those of us who have somehow survived this expropriation of our livelihoods,
are doing so with absolutely no financial help from all the government and
corporate partners who are profiting from this development deal - even
though the mantra from the project was that they would "mitigate the
impacts", and that the construction disruption would be " 2-3 months in
front of any given business". In fact it has been 2-3 YEARS of steady loss.

Compensation is factored into every project of this kind, even in the third
world - but not this one. It is outrageous, negligent and shameful.

This devastation had an Olympic schedule to meet, regardless of the
consequences.
Welcome to Vancouver, 2010 Media.
Come and see how a wealthy democracy treats their citizens who provide
billions in tax revenue - the independant small business.
The picture the foreign press gets will depend on our government's next
move.
Do we proceed with this David and Goliath battle in court next March?
Or will our government do the right thing, and provide the immediate
financial relief that we deserve?

We seek - justice - fairness - and full compensation for this obvious and
unprecedented wrong.

Susan

Robert Playing in the Snow

HAPPY HANNUKAH!

Shlomo, Rudolph's first cousin his mother's side.

Wonderful Song Sung Around the World

The Iceman Cometh

The snow will not melt. The Bank of Canada has taken to lecturing the big five banks to stop freezing their lendings and gondolas are falling from the sky like gas prices at the pump.

How do you like it so far?

This may be one of the most challenging periods many of us have faced in our lifetimes.

Bundle up, don't be shy about wearing long johns, spend where you can and do whatever it takes to continue enjoying what bounties we can.