Spring Break... Bye Bye!

Over the last few weeks, I have been really busy with my real estate career but have taken the time to write about things here that I think are important to this community. I have received little in the way of thoughtful comments in return, which makes me think people are on vacation, or don't care?

I'm now bored wasting my time and energy with blogging and therefore think I need a vacation myself? So with this in mind, I leave you all with at least two years of my thoughts and opinions to muse on, while I too now go on vacation. Bye Bye!


Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

JUST TWO ROGUES … OR A CULTURE OF DECEIT

Goodale commentary:

I’ve tried to avoid much commentary about the sordid saga of former Conservative Cabinet Minister, Helena Guergis, and her spouse, former Conservative M.P. and Caucus Chair, Rahim Jaffer.

Fed by private detectives, journalists, business associates, and even their own friends and former colleagues – the Guergis/Jaffer scandal is in high gear. Allegations about illicit drugs, wild parties, wrongful business deals, the misuse of government assets and gross ethical violations have never been more rampant. Or unanswered.

The police will get to the bottom of this mess. But all the revelations beg a larger question – what kind of political culture within the Harper regime allows such behaviour, as long as you don’t get caught?

Could it be a Conservative culture of deceit?

Oh no, say the government’s apologists. Jaffer and Guergis are exceptions. The rest of this government is Simon-pure, they claim, as they rush to throw the “Odd Couple” under the bus.

But how do the Conservatives explain their failure to act – for seven months – on their knowledge of cocaine in a Minister’s car, and insider lobbying for government grants. They leapt into action only after the news began leaking out.

This same culture of deceit lies behind the abusive Conservative prorogations of Parliament; their cover-up of credible reports of torture; their rampant violations of Access to Information laws; and their vicious attacks against public “watchdogs”, ranging from the Nuclear Safety Commission and the Parliamentary Budget Officer to the independent agencies overseeing the police, the military and even fair elections.

Deceit also riddles Conservative claims about cutting taxes. The Harper government is actually increasing taxes this year in at least seven different ways – taxes on jobs, savings, air travel, exports, financial services, health products and education.

In their culture of deceit, the Conservatives can’t even recognize the truth anymore.

Ralph Goodale, M.P.


Conservatives do not believe that people can work together and help each other so they do not believe in government and law. Instead they believe in a dog-eat-dog, everyone on-their-own and out-for-themselves society where the strongest survive and it doesn't matter what happens to everyone else. So whenever conservatives gain power they abuse it and use it to get money for themselves and their friends.

Coming soon... Crowsnest Pass Mountain bike trail system

After almost two and a half decades of little to nothing to show for having a Community Futures office in our community I see they have finally dusted themselves off, removed the cobwebs, and actually done something 'progressive' for the community they are meant to serve. Kudo's to them!

The recent announcement of a Mountain bike trail system for our community is welcome news and will go far in opening up our community to business expansion and development opportunities, while at the same time making us an Adventure and Mountain Bike destination. Great!!!

With biking in mind, check out this fearless, stunt riding daredevil...

"To be, or not to be"... but you got to ask me nicely

I hear the Mayor is having a Prayer Breakfast meeting tomorrow morning, hoping to garner enough support from establishment types, bible thumpers and retrogrades to have another kick at the can come this fall election, I'm thinking. But this time around it ain't going to be enough, no matter how many fossils from the past they dig up to run as a team, as Buddy from the Herald has alluded to. The Syguteks, Gary, former teachers and others who have held this community back for years will not be able to stem the tide of change that is desperately wanted and needed here.

On the other side, Dean and his boys have done some good work and continue to try to do so, having started the process of turning this community around and heading us in the right direction, while Irwin and his gang of self-serving, hypocritical, misguided do-gooders want to take us backwards.

The decision for the voters in this community in the upcoming municipal election will be simple: do you want to go backwards or forwards?

I think the people will vote overwhelmingly to go forwards, but not necessarily with Dean for Mayor at the helm. He has proven he is a good Lieutenant, and would make a strong right hand man for any Mayor he believed in. But he has also demonstrated time and time again that he is too slippery and evasive for my liking, and lacks the intestinal fortitude to tackle the real problems facing our community. Ask him a direct question and you never get an answer, just excuses. Never mind that he does not return favours and distances himself from people he feels are his superiors, or a potential threat to his future political aspirations. A good Mayor will surround himself with people who are smarter than himself and not feel intimidated or threatened for having done so. He will welcome the counsel of those who know more than himself, while always seeking out advice from any quarter, if it will result in answers to questions he needs in order to move his community forward on any given issue.

My experience with Dean is that he lacks maturity, vision, imagination and the drive and determination necessary to take this community forward as our Mayor. On the other hand, he has demonstrated countless times that he is a very effective councillor. Knowing as he does that as a sitting councillor, who in all likelihood would be returned as such, to run for Mayor is an all or nothing scenario, he is faced with a difficult decision (as is Gary). In life, one must come to grips (if one is honest with oneself) on one’s limitations, while at the same time being cognizant of the Peter Principle (will Dean’s pride and sense of entitlement get in the way of him doing the right thing for himself, and his community? Only time will tell? To-date he has not made any overtures of friendship, or support, which suggests, to use his own words, he has his 'own interests at heart' more than those of his community).

With the above in mind, it should be obvious to all concerned that there can only be one alternative to Irwin and company, and that is... Me! Mainly because I am beholding to no man and bow down to none either, which makes me a no shit kind of guy who could take it or leave it... but you got to ask me nicely...

You have to ask me nicely. You see, Danny, I can deal with the bullets and the bombs and the blood. I don't want money and I don't want medals. What I do want is for you to stand there in that faggoty white uniform and with your Harvard mouth extend me some fucking courtesy! You gotta ask me nicely.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

Whitney Houston... with no bad habits

Story

Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let loose my Dogs of War

In six months time, on October 18th of this year, residents of the Crowsnest Pass will be going to the polls to vote in, in all likelihood, a new Mayor and council. Resulting in what I suspect will be a 'crushing blow' to the professional ruling class here who have come to enjoy getting 'something for nothing', while leaving the rest of us the bill... and a hell of a mess to clean up.

Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let loose my Dogs of War should be the rallying cry of the people in this community. Warriors must step forward to not only lead but to be lead. But alas, where does one find warriors in a land of 'anonymous es'? Where does one find 'dogs of war' in a land of cowards?

At least some would call the people in our blogging world that. As we all know, most use 'anonymous' to identify themselves, rather than their real name (or at least a pseudonym that one can come to recognize and identify with). Therefore we lack heroes. Are we to settle for mediocrity at the last moment, or for flash in the pan personality's espousing 'pie in the sky' promises, when the populace is tired of manipulative people in sheep's clothing? Are there no wise men left? Must we, like in Zarathustra, send out a man with a lamp during daylight to seek out an honest man to lead us? To save us from drowning in a sea of neglect and want?

No, let us not despair, maybe some people are just saving themselves for closer to election time? Maybe others, like me, haven't decided yet? Who knows? One thing is for certain though - CHANGE is in the air - and that in itself is 'refreshing'.

In these modern times, God help the man or the community that stands still... like we have been doing for far too long.


Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.