THE GNUS
I read the Vancouver Sun and the Globe & Mail this morning.
Blah, blah, blah.
The single most important story stands alone - the US debt crisis.
I am not smart enough to know what has brought us to this brink.
Greed? The credit card life? Laziness? Entitlement? Poor productivity? Cheap Asian labour?
I don't know.
But I know this.
If the US falters, so do the rest of us. The European Union is in a almost mirror image of near panic.
What makes this all so scary, truly frightening, is that so much of the possible short term solution lies in the Bible-thumping, slogan-bearing, gun-toting, simple-minded, clever, always politically motivated hands of Republicans, in and out of office.
Mercy.
* * *
One the local scene, where we are insulated from real problems by bike lanes and the profusion of good Italian coffee shops, only a small letter to the editor in the Sun caught my eye.
Here it is in its entirety:
A plea to delay funding cuts to mental health group
Survivors of mental illness are often stigmatized and ostracized by society. They often must struggle to recover on their own with little help from the community.
But Burnaby Mental Wealth Society has provided psycho-social rehabilitation services to 300 members for 17 years. Our supportive social community has been a second family to our members. We encourage members to stay healthy, out of hospital and involved in society.
But due to a recent draconian decision by Fraser Health, our funding has been terminated as of Aug. 31.
We are asking Fraser Health to sustain our funding until March 31, 2012 to give us time to find another source. We ask the public to support us by writing to their members of the legislature to ask that Fraser Health sustain our funding. Please help us help the poor and mentally ill.
John Johnston President, Burnaby Mental Wealth Society
As we used to say in Motown, "I second that emotion."
If people only had the faintest idea had badly Fraser Health and the other regional Heath boards execute their mandates, how much money they waste and how many people they harm while pretending to help...
