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.

True Words

Pasquale Cusano, the owner of Montecristo Jewelers and the publisher of NUVO magazine, has a new mag out. It's called Montecristo, and it arrived in my Globe and Mail this morning.

Like NUVO, the new mag is big and colorful and beautifully presented.

I'm just not sure what this item is supposed to be about.

The inaugural issue features stories on what I guess are supposed to be much admired local heroes.

One such is Wally Oppal.

Here is the closing on that piece written by the editor, Jim Tobler:

"He takes the issues of community safety, multicultural awareness and justice very seriously. He is doing his part to make it work for everyone."

With this kind of in-depth analysis and accurate reflections of the world in which we live, the new magazine clearly has a great place in our hearts and minds.

Gavin Loves Trevor...sort of...

What is with the papers? Trevor Linden. 16 pages in The Province and 32 in The Sun. He's a nice guy, an average hockey player, an inspiration in the dressing room, a team player and also did some good things for social agencies and did some volunteer work...........ok. Did he ever even come close to Richard or Beliveau or even Howe or Gretsky (neither of whom I could ever warm to despite their talents)...obviously not. But he's being treated as if he is some kind of combination of Gandhi, Churchill, Lincoln, Einstein, Dr. King, Mandela and Lord God Jehovah....yikes! Even Britney and Madonna don't get this........what's hap'nin' man? Holy smoke a-doodle!

LEADERS - Thanks to Gavin

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?'.

Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.

We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.

We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.

We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble.

Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America. In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America'. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks, and it's our future. Our future is at stake!!

---

A LITTLE BACH IN THE MORNING

The Cure's worse than the Disease

I really wish doctors would stick to treating the sick and encouraging health.

I wish they would walk away from alcoholism and addictions where they often cause more harm than good.

Dr. Perry Kendall is the provincial health officer. In his latest dictum, he urges the government to tax booze more so that the millions raised could be put to work treating alcoholics.

Someone aught to tell this expert that the single greatest treatment program in the world for alcoholics is AA and it is free.

Millions of dollars raised in more booze taxes will be spent on bureaucrats and their desks and ipods and cells and memos and committees and on medically run programs that are statistically no where near as successful as AA.

Does the government want to help?

Fine.

Buy lots of TV ads that say, "HEY, STUPID. GET YOUR SORRY ASS TO AA TONIGHT. IT WORKS!"

VIctor on Gimme Shelters

Last night I had the misfortune to catch a moment of Gordon Campbell and Gregor Robertson on the evening news making their joint announcement about homelessness. This excellent piece by my friend Victor arrived several hours before that TV soap opera. I don't know why, but I just felt a little sick watcing these two honorable gentlemen talking about homelessness and showing us their deep concern. I fear I have become dreadfully cynical now about politicians in general and these two in particular. Anyway...read Victor...it's good for you.

Is it not amusing how quickly and unabashedly "Global Warming Gord"
has jumped into the homeless rescue plan with dire mutterings about
record cold temperatures. Seems like only weeks ago he was warning us
that the world was warming at disastrous rates.

This kind of cynical exploitation by politicians explains a lot of the
reason why charities are telling us that donations are down. It isn't
because of the recession. Restaurants are full and you can't budge in
the afternoon traffic. I suggest there are three reasons.

1. Political Posturing

The last 4 Mayors, including Robertson, have portrayed themselves as
champions of the downtrodden. Council has functioned with an obsession
for the Downtown East Side for 10 years. If all of that government
preoccupation and money has only resulted in the situation becoming
worse, why would people be inclined to add their own cash? Compassion
in the absence of common sense is neither laudable nor practical.

2. Phony Data.

The "homeless industry" has virtually lost credibility with
progressively alarmist releases. The one that stands out for me is
Covenant House. (ConJob House). They have an ad claiming they
supported 1900 homeless youth last year. That's 5 a day, or a lot less
if some of those "homeless youth" stayed more than a day. Hardly an
epidemic. And what counts as a homeless youth/? If a snotty 17 year
old has a tiff with his parents and stays out for two nights, is he
homeless?

3. Misreading Polls

The media routinely tell us that homelessness is a major concern in
all polls. Municipal Politicians have interpreted that concern as the
public telling them that they want government housing provided
indefinitely to anybody from anywhere who is on the street for any
reason. Why isn't that question asked? I suspect that much of the
"concern" registered with pollsters is a concern about being unable to
park a car without having it robbed. Irritation is being misconstrued
as compassion.

I expect there are some, who upon reading this, will conclude I'm a a
hard-nosed neocon. To them I would say that I make a living helping
First Nations struggle out of poverty. To them I would ask " What has
your fat ass done for the oppressed lately besides chat to pollsters
and drop change in the hat of a meth-head?"

Victor Godin

Life Style...such an easy phrase

If the tab for the auto bailout runs somewhere around $100 Billion, we can expect the Canadian version to cost about $20 Billion +.

Nice.

Further, it is not just the taxpayers who are exposed. Turns out BMO and Scotia Bank are also seriously leveraged in this case. All of which makes for more bad news.

It has now become a daily exercise in opening the paper - How bad can it get? How low is low?

Meanwhile...

One has to live.

More, one has to enjoy life a little each day.

Yesterday we saw two coyotes roaming the Langara Golf Course. Not necessarily a happy moment for these hungry critters but fun for those of us who don't live in Lac La Hache.

Children in Safeway check-out lines are still funny and inquisitive and excited about practically everything.

Hold onto your cash, your gold and your sense of humour, Kids. These are rocky times and we will need all the fortitude and laughter we can preserve.

Hum Along with Paginini - Thanks to Gavin

The Night Before Christmas

As the temperatures crash like icicles falling from your eaves, the Saviours of the Homeless are much on the march.

Or, at least, their PR people are.

Let me take you back about 12 years to a little pre-Christmas Story for the Ages.

A man who had previously been a Vancouver City Councillor and I went to visit Dr. Hedy Fry. Yes, she's been in office just about since confederation.

We had a modest proposal.

We would get the City behind it, if she would kindly drop a word of encouragement in the ear of the current Minister of Defense.

The idea?

Let's open the Seaforth Armouries at the corner of Burrard and First Avenue for the 12 days of Christmas to the homeless.

The temperatures were plummeting and the Armouries had (has) the following amenities: a roof, heat, hot water, a kitchen, showers, cots, blankets and hundreds of cadets marching back and forth about nothing in particular.

Here's what Dr.Fry had to say to us.

1. Our research tells us that the homeless don't want to be anywhere except where they are.

I told her that at the time I lived in a pretty fancy apartment building right on the water beside the Burrard St. Bridge, and that only the day before, I had spoken with three homeless men who were living under the bridge. I has asked them if they would go the Armouries for a few days to get in out of the cold if it were available. Of course, they said, "Yes!"

But that didn't fit Hedy's "research" or her world view.

2. Dr. Fry told us, "This is only a band-aid. It won't solve poverty."

I confess.

Normally swift of tongue, I had to retrieve my jaw from the floor of her well-appointed office.

This was my slightly delayed reply.

"Dr. Fry, I a not a Christian. I am a Jew. But was it not Jesus who said, 'the poor shall always be amongst ye?' No one will ever solve poverty. People who want us to believe that they have a silver bullet should shoot themselves with it. Yes, this is a band-aid. That's how good deeds usually happen. One little reaching out, which may or may not lead to other reachings out."

Out being the operative word.

We were quickly back on Denman Street shaking our heads in disbelief.

As you know, I have been an enormous fan of the good Doctor Fry ever since.

Now, please be advised that several days ago I phoned one of the current city councillors and left a voice mail.

I suggested that while the new mayor's new homelessness gang, HEAT, is casting about for places and spaces, they might have a look at the Seaforth Armouries.

Let us see what happens, shall we?

THE FINANCIAL FUN TIMES

1. In a Canadian first, Fozani Group Ltd. (SportChek) CEO, Bob Sartor, has told that he's changing their approach to retailing. "cleaner, better-merchandised stores and helping the customer."

Apparently he had to tell his conference friends twice because they didn't understand what he said.

Let's see now. The last tme I had someone in a department store or chain store in Canada try to help me, I was so startled I thought she was a crook and I called security. I think that was 1959, I think. Or maybe 1961.

2. Daniel Laikin, the CEO of National Lampoon, Inc. has been charged with conspiracy and securities fraud.

You cannot write comedy material like this. Can't wait to see Chevy Chase in the movie.

3. The quote of the week belongs hands-down to that great stand-up comedian, Stephen Harper, who doubles on occasion as Prime Minister of the country. He said,

"I'm very worried about the Canadian economy."