HOW DARE YOU SPEND MORE THAN ME!

Renters at Risk.

Boy, they really sound like enemies of the Public Good, don't they?

Well, according to Gordon Campbell's Bill 42, which limits spending on political advertising in the days leading up to an election, that''s what this terrifying West End group is.

If they register on time and if they spend more than they are allowed to promoting their frightening cause, they will be fined 10 times the amount over the limit that they spend.

Mr. Campbell with his Taxation Without Representation decisions like the All New All Expensive Port Mann Bridge and the Dig a Tunnel, Destroy Local Business Cambie Line and now this little piece of skulduggery has shown us that his knowledge and understanding of the basic tenets of democracy are somewhat limited.

Perhaps, yes, here's an idea.

When square heads are elected, perhaps they might be required to attend Democracy School, where they are required to study and pass exams (which the BCTF can protest), just to make sure they have some of the simple concepts under their rapidly increasing belts.

Then, just before the sitting of the House, rare as that may be, they could take a little refresher course.

Yes.

PURE DOPE

Want to hear the sound of tax dollars being sucked out of the economy for no good purpose?

Sure you do.

Try this.

The CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation is looking for a couple of high level employees. The Foundation is the fund-raising arm of the similarly named "teaching and research hospital," the largest in Canada, located of course in Toronto. It is the result of the marriage of the former Clarke Institute and the Addiction Research Foundation.

Here's how the career ad in today's papers describes the institution.

"pioneering redevelopment vision to transform the face of addiction and mental health treatment..."

Hahahahahahahahahaha...

Oh, Lord, save us from these people.

Not one addict, renewed, cleaned up, sober, walking tall have we ever witnessed because of the work of this august body.

They are largely pseudo-social scientists who publish arcane papers and long enlightening lists of statistical light bulbs, like how many people in Newfoundland took up cigarette smoking again since the new administration arrived.

This monument to political obfuscation (We have to study the problem before we can set policy.) costs many millions of dollars a year.

If all of that money or even a small portion of it were dedicated to treatment, our addiction problems would be considerably relieved.

But you see that would require that we admit two Inconvenient Truths:

1) We have as a goal for addicts, alcoholics and others a clean and sober life with self-respect at the core.

2) We recognize that the best recovery programs are those like AA, which cost very little money and large investments of time and effort by people who care and people who KNOW THE TERRITORY.

Of course, those Truths are Inconvenient precisely because there are few ribbon cuttings for politicians and few desk jobs for academic cyphers.