New executive appointed to regional board

Last month I did something I have never done before on this blog and that is to remove a post (the one below) shortly after posting it, because of a phone call I received requesting I do so. Despite the fact the person making the request had proven in the past he was nothing more than an 'establishment flunkie' and a proven 'apologist for Irwin' I decided based on his emotional plea (and still unsubstantiated claims?) and in the Christmas spirit to remove it.

Now that we are in a new year and because of the recent actions of our Mayor with respect to our budgetary process and the bullying and tyrannical nature (eerily similar to our former Mayor, isn't he?) and the economic direction he is taking us, I feel compelled to stick to my guns in reporting things that matter, as I see them, and leaving others to determine the right or wrong of what I do, and say.

The following was briefly posted on my blog on December 26, 2010 and is now reposted here today.

Crowsnest Promoter
By Joni MacFarlane - Editor

Following the recent municipal elections in October, representatives from the Alberta SouthWest Regional Alliance (AlbertaSW) met in Fort Macleod to elect the new executive for the Regional Economic Development Alliance (REDA) for 2011.

Representatives from 15 communities of AlbertaSW had appointed new representatives to the board following municipal elections. This new board met for the first time on Dec. 7 to review the three-year strategic plan and to elect a new executive.

Out-going chair, Dr. John Irwin, expressed his pride in having been a founding member of the organization when it began informally in 1998 as a collaboration between the Mayors of Crowsnest Pass, Pincher Creek, Cardston and Fort Macleod. Today, the organization has grown to its present size of 15 communities, structured as a non-profit corporation and governed by a board of elected representatives from those member communities.

REDA is a key focal point for regional and provincial information sharing as well as responsible for implementation of regional economic and development projects and services.

The new Chair is Mr. Shawn Patience, Mayor of Fort Macleod, Vice Chair is Dr. Brian ÒBarney Reeves of Waterton Lakes and Secretary-Treasurer is Phil Wakelin, M.D. of Willow Creek.

Mayor Bruce Decoux is the board representative for the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass.
_____________________________________

Comment: Isn't the above picture of John and Bruce inspiring?

But wait, first impressions can be deceiving as this one appears to be in creating the false image of two hardworking powerhouses in charge of our economic engine, and that good times are just around the corner due to their collaboration (lets just all forget about Bridgecreek/River Run, ok? Ya, right!). When the reality is the one who ran our municipality into the ground (being a doctor, knowing nothing of business) appears to be giving instructions to a neophyte other (being an educator, also knowing nothing of business) who looks as if he is receiving pearls of wisdom from none other than King Solomon himself. :-) Not very reassuring is it? Especially in lieu of the fact nothing substantive has come from this Regional Economic Board since its inception, over 12 years ago? Or, as a matter of fact, from John in his over 20 year reign (tyranny) here in the Pass.

It has been said that John is in fact our de facto Mayor while Bruce is no more than his puppet... nothing more than a Mayor in title only. The picture above does a good job in confirming this, doesn't it? To dispel this accusation, I think Bruce needs to stop riding on his dad's name, cut ties with the users and abusers who have done us nothing but harm, grow a pair and become his own man. But that is just my opinion. Whether we will soon see this coming from him (or not?) is the $64,000 question?

As far as REDA goes, having had John at the helm as Chair for the past several years (thereby ensuring, in my opinion, the Crowsnest Pass and our region got no economic development to speak of... based on John's proven misguided laissez-faire economic philosophy and resulting dismal track record) the following prior posts are what I had to say about REDA and our former good Mayor, some two years back. For those who don't know, not much has changed since then with respect to our dismal economic situation except for the ongoing charade of 'musical chairs', which has resulted once again, I suggest, in doing little in effect but "replacing one set of bums with another set of bums, having different faces".

The sad reality is REDA (especially under John's tutorage) has provided little in the way of substantive economic relief to our region and to our municipality... much like how our local Community Futures has failed us too, in this regard.

Thank you, John!

Economic Development (or lack of)

I guess what I am trying to say is, until we get real businessmen/women making business decisions, instead of self-serving prima donnas, I'm sorry to say, we cannot get our hopes up that our tomorrows will be very much different from our yesterdays.


The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.

If I were Mayor...

Ran into former Mayor Irwin today who couldn't be bothered to say Hi, this time to me, so I gave him the cold shoulder too. Got me to thinking how my nemesis was so successful in keeping me out of the game, which got me to thinking further, what if?

What if, right now, I was Mayor, what would I be doing? It turns out two out of my top three initiatives are things I was advocating for some ten years ago when I was on council:

1. convert the CLC into a Hotel/Casino Convention Centre
2. work with the River Run investors on a low income/affordable housing initiative that incorporates an assisted living component, and possibly a community centre as well.
3. as we should have done with the Centre we should be doing with the ski hill and swimming pool (which if my memory serves me right costs us approximately $10,000/wk and $5,000/wk respectively, of seasonal operation) and privatize these.

The first option will of course require business to buy into the project and therefore expressions of interest will need to be sent out to those established businesses in this industry, as a start. The second will require a joint partnership between the developer and the municipality, and various branches of both our provincial and federal governments. And finally the third will need to be marketed to enterprising individuals and companies who see the future potential of this area and what their vision and enterprise can bring to them... and our community.

All the above can be achieved with the joint cooperation of council, our Chamber of Commerce and Community Futures, provided a catalyst can be found to bring it all together. That catalyst could and maybe should be our new Mayor? But doesn't have to be. "Where there is a will there is a way", is something I have always believed in. Get good people together with a common vision and anything is possible. We just need to believe in ourselves again, and we can make it happen!


Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.

Budget process: 'old school vs new school'

Reading this week's Council debates budget article by Kimberley Massey in the Herald, I was left with a foul taste in my mouth and a case of déja vu.

Mayor Bruce Decoux's comment: “We have to spend money in order to keep up infrastructure and facilities, in order to attract new families and businesses to our community,” said Decoux. "We have to set foundations for the future, and attempting to lower property taxes is the wrong way to go."

This kind of thinking in my mind is exactly the kind of thinking that got us in the mess we are in today, financially and societally. It is 'Irwin' thinking, plain and simple. Continuing to feed Jeff Drain and Stantec Engineering to the tune of millions of dollars annually building 'questionable' infrastructure projects to anywhere and everywhere in our 18 mile long sparsely populated valley, while at the same time taking on more and more debt that needs to be serviced (interesting that they talk about cutting back on funding community organizations, for example, but no mention is made of this 'huge' ever growing cancerous budget expense item?... which they want to increase even further) with more and more of our tax dollars. I have always questioned the logic in pouring all of our money, at the expense of everything else (including an ever increasing social deficit), on pie in the sky infrastruture projects (or as Bruce refers to it "foundations for the future") when for years now we as a community have been leading the province and country in population 'decline' (due in large part, I suggest, to these types of 'misguided' and 'elitist' type priorities whose only successes to-date have been in chasing more people away from this community, than to it).

In this regard, Bruce would do well to not follow Irwin's lead of laissez faire economics and building for an unknowable future at the expense of the present, and instead to keep the following in mind "live life in the present, because the past is past and the future is not here yet". In other words, take care of today's business and never mind tomorrow's business. Priorities should be concentrated on today's problems, and not so much tomorrow's which may never materialize. As a wise man once said, "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Take care of today's troubles, I say. And stop squandering our money in areas that don't need it, and into areas that do!

Following along in the 'old school' way of thinking, we next had Councillor Jerry Lonsbury's comment: "This municipality has a long history of hold-the-line budgets,” said Lonsbury. “We’ve managed to hold the line, but now we’re not going anywhere. I think that a tax increase is not out of line."

What is Jerry thinking and talking about here? Over the last ten years we have seen nothing but tax increases... year after year. So much so that during this time period taxes have risen by a whopping 57%! (for a good discussion on this, go to Dean's blog) Jerry's ignorance on this subject and/or cavalier attitude to those on limited or fixed incomes who are more and more with each passing year being forced from their homes and community due to ever increasing municipal tax/service burdens placed on them by municpal councils, speaks volumes regarding those who are so financially secure and protected that they have lost touch with reality, as it relates here to the common man/woman.

Now on the other hand, a ray of sunshine, coming from the 'new school' by way first of Brian Gallant's "Increasing taxes deters new businesses and people from moving here, and that is what we need right now." followed by Emile Saindon's common sense advice "We can’t continue to support facilities and programs that maybe 20 per cent of the population use, but 100 per cent of the population have to pay for,” said Saindon. "The people who want to use those facilities should have to pay a fair price.", along with Andrew Sage's many excellent proposed amendments to the budget of which "...all departments reduce operating expenses by 7 per cent." struck me as the most prudent, practical, pragmatic and reasonable approach to be taken considering the mess our financial house is in with its many wastes, redundancies and excesses that have been build into the system here over the years. Including the wisdom in continuing to support and condone having the highest paid municipal workforce in the province, as we have had for the past two decades or so (I suspect this last one won't change any time soon considering Bruce has appointed himself and Councillor Larry Mitchell to the negotiating committee, where continuing to take care of 'old school', I'm guessing, will be their number one priority).

They say in life somethings don't change. That is so true when it comes to 'old school' vs 'new school' mentality, as practised in the Crowsnest to the chagrin of most people living here... except, maybe, to a certain print media who profit from it handsomely and are laughing all the way to the bank. After all, stirring up the pot against those for progressive change and due diligence vs status quo has changed the seats here on council more times than one can count, with the latter always coming out on top. Thanks again to our overly influential certain print media, who by the way are all 'old school'.


Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

Wouldn't it be nice, if...

Like previous councils - are truckers, and excavating companies and other such businesses not the businesses and families our council want living in this community? If so, tell me now so we can join the growing list of people who need to leave this community to survive.

How many times have we heard this before from people living here... or who use to live here?

The above was from a letter to the editor by Annie Orton in this week's Promoter (not available on line) that once again points out our failures here as a community, with the key line or words, in my opinion, from that letter being "... growing list of people who need to leave this community to survive".

Little to nothing over the years has been done to accommodate or help ordinary hardworking people here like Annie, or those less fortunate than herself (at least she is lucky enough to have a job and/or business) like the poor and downtrodden in our community (including many of our seniors) who make up the majority of our population.

Not surprising really! As I have stated in previous posts, we as a community have been run by the elites... for the elites.

What this community needs is a social revolution in which the have nots take from the haves, who have had things their way for far to long.

After all, when a community is left with only the rich being able to afford to live here while everyone else has to leave this community to survive, then something is definitely wrong. What's wrong is that we have been putting the wrong people in charge having priorities different from you and me... that's what's wrong! And it won't change until that changes. We need people with the right set of priorities in combination with the 'gonads' to do what needs doing.

We now have a Mayor who is big on 'policy'... being that is his background. Wouldn't it be nice if he developed a policy that gave us 'action' in addressing the social inequalities in our community that will allow the working poor and less fortunate to be able to continue living here too? As he and his family (and families like his) have been able to enjoy doing for the last 100 years or so? Wouldn't it be nice if we had local jobs, especially those that paid in the neighbourhood of what the privileged few here have been getting and enjoying? Wouldn't it be nice if people could continue to afford to live here, while at the same time seeing their ever increasing municipal tax burden actually going towards things that matter to them, rather than towards things that matter to the elites only... as has been the case here for the past few decades. Wouldn't it be nice if people here didn't need to leave this community in order to survive.

Wouldn't it be nice...


People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.

Technological gadgetry and banditry enslave and exploit us all

Man that's nothing but buzzard luck how we Canadians have allowed our conservative governments to sell us down the river to American corporations whose greed knows no bounds and ingenuity for finding new ways to nickel and dime us to death knows no equal.

Today, I opened my Telus cellphone bill to discover a $2.00 charge for what they call a 'Summary Paper Bill Fee'. I contacted Telus and found out that for the last couple months or so they are now charging people the above amount for the inconvenience and expense of having to send you a paper bill through the mail, as is what has been the customary habit by businesses for the past century or more? This fueled the flame that had already been lit a while back when I discovered that for months I had been paying late fee charges on my overdue account, when in fact they had been paid on time each month through on-line banking on the day they were owed. I soon learned that apparently this method of payment can take 2 or more business days to reach the intended target (earning banks untold interest on your money and an additional revenue stream for corporations like Telus), resulting in the customer who paid their bill on time finding out that in fact they did not, and as such have incurred additional costs on their account.

The above two examples (for this one corporation alone) involve millions of dollars a month in additional revenue for all concerned (except you) and is just the tip of the iceberg in how corporations today, such as this one above, are finding ways of nickel and diming (gouging) people any and every way they can, with American corporations being especially bad in this regard.

We have become prisoners to technology which is dominated by two types of people: "those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand." With you and I, the consumer, caught in the middle between planned obsolescence and corporate greed.

Pyramids of Waste


No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

Danielle Smith Speaks Out On Property Rights!

Dear Editor

The PC government has developed a number of disturbing habits in the last few years - overspending and budget deficits, consolidating and centralizing health care delivery, and an ever increasing contempt for democracy - but nothing quite compares to its ongoing assault on property rights.

Private property, and the rights that protect it, form the bedrock of any free and democratic society. Government authority ends where private property - and the rights of those who own it - begins.

Good governments respect property rights and the role they play in limiting the power of the state. Bad governments trample on them to expand that power. This is what we've seen in Alberta.

Since winning a majority government in 2008, the PCs have passed three bills each aimed at increasing its own power to control land and infrastructure development at the expense of landowners and taxpayers everywhere.

Bill 19, the Land Assembly Project Area Act, gives the government the authority to seize private land from individuals and businesses without due process and full compensation. Bill 50, the Electric Statutes Amendment Act, relieves utility companies of having to demonstrate need for new megaprojects being built on that seized land-megaprojects that taxpayers pay for but utility companies get to own.

But the law that ties them all together is Bill 36 - the Alberta Land Stewardship Act. This is the law that makes the other two so dangerous. Essentially, Bill 36 carves the province into seven land use regions where all private and public land will be under the direct control of the cabinet in Edmonton. The Bill gives the cabinet supreme power and its regional plans will supersede every single piece of legislation, municipal development plan, lease, permit, approval, licence and title in existence. You name it, Bill 36 overrides it.

With Bill 36 in place, not only can this government seize private property and waste billions of dollars building unnecessary infrastructure on it, but on it can do so on a whim of the cabinet devised behind closed doors without regard to current land-use, be it residential, commercial or industrial, with no compensation.

What's worse, the bill strips away the centuries-old ability of the courts to protect citizens and their property from these reckless government acts. The bill bars any court from interfering with cabinet's centrally planned decisions. Make no mistake, this kind of law is unprecedented in a western parliamentary democracy.

The Stelmach government isn't just chipping away at our property rights, it has taken a sledge hammer to them.

That is why one of the first acts of a Wildrose government will be to repeal those three laws and enact a new Alberta Property Rights Preservation Act, a landmark law that will recognize the protection of private property rights for the first time in our province's history.

In the meantime, I encourage everybody to research these three bills to fully understand their farreaching impacts, and then get involved in the upcoming efforts to have them repealed.

Contact your MLA and let them know the government has gone too far.

Danielle Smith, Wildrose Leader
Former Campaign Director, Alberta Property Rights Initiative
Former Managing Director, Canadian Property Rights Research Institute

Article ID# 2921760

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment: Sounds like a corporate (communist) take over to me! Danielle is speaking truth to power but needs to be in power to stop the theft of our freedoms, rights, and property. The way she is going and on this one issue alone, she will soon be there!

At least that is what I think, how about you?


Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.

Residents rally to protect landscape

“This is what you’re here to do. These people put you where you are...You are here to take back what we say and that is your job.”

By Joni MacFarlane - Editor

Emotions ran high as residents in the Livingstone Range-Porcupine Hills area grilled their legislative member at a public forum last weekend. Wary of the province's tactics around property owners' rights and proposed development in the region, a packed hall greeted MLA Evan Berger as he fielded questions on a host of land issues.

At essence were fears that the treasured Eastern Slopes landscape – home to dozens of wildlife species and unique flora - would be irrecoverably destroyed.

Participants are concerned that recent legislation would take away a landowner's power over their property and give it to the province. Also expressed was the view that Alberta was granting approval of projects without adequate public consultation and before an approved Land Use Framework was in place.

Berger began with a short address to the group stating that he understands the importance of protecting the Livingstone area and has been "very diligent in trying to continue that protection".

He explained that Bill 36, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, would not take away ownership of land or a landowner's right of a court appeal, that it doesn't takes away a title and that there is the ability to be compensated.

Berger repeatedly stressed the issue by saying the intention of the legislation was to "leave the person whole and intact through compensation".

Residents questioned if a decision was being made on the controversial Micrex mine development prior to an approved Land Use Framework, and if this approval was intended to circumvent a regional plan.

"It's to industry's advantage to beat regional plans," said John Lawson, mediator of the Livingstone Landowners Group. "Regional plans don't mean a lot if a developer snuck in under the wire."

The strongest criticism of the day was aimed at AltaLink's new 240kV transmission line connecting Pincher Creek and Lethbridge.

Residents questioned the need for the line as well as the process under which it is being considered. They said the map shows incorrect information, the proposed routes are outside the originally approved boundaries, and that people can't effectively participate in the process because they didn't receive adequate notice of the proposal or because an Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) hearing held in Lethbridge intentionally precluded residents' attendance.

AESO maintains that there is an urgent need for increased transmission grids to power a growing provincial economy and population.

In a letter to the Pincher Creek Echo, Greg Retzer, Director, Project Delivery, North Transmission Alberta Electric System Operator, states, "Alberta exports about one per cent of the power produced in Alberta and has been a net importer of electricity since 2002."

Residents responded to Berger's contention that landowners would be compensated with criticism that it's a mute point.

"What are you going to do vis-à-vis compensation when that Livingstone Range is gone?" asked one person. "No amount of compensation is going to help... You can't compensate the national pride and symbolism that's associated with these landscapes."

Berger explained that a plan had to be in place including compensation to protect those who may be "injuriously affected by that protection".

Pressed repeatedly for assurances that AltaLink's proposed transmission project is not intended to move power into the U.S., Berger admitted that he couldn't guarantee this nor could he say for certain that no plan existed to put in wind generation in the future.

Berger continued to emphasize that the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) hasn't made a decision or a ruling yet but also voiced the need for increased power.

"The government has to maintain the ability to keep our residential power as well as our growth expectation availability to continue for the future," he said. "We are using the power, it's not just a case of, they want to have lines. It's a fact of life that we are utilizing it."

He said a regional plan is necessary to clearly state what would and would not be allowed.

"We don't have that regional plan you're taking about, it's all hypothetical right now. What we're talking about right here is trust... What can you do today to stop this from happening?" Berger was asked.

Many others expressed their frustration stating that the government puts industry ahead of residents.

"What are you going to say back to the people in Edmonton about what we are concerned about? Are you going to tell them that we're worried about compensation? Or are you going to tell them that those people love their land with their heart and souls and they are ready to put up a fight about it. What are you going to tell them?"

Berger carefully held his political cards close to his chest, but said he did understand their concerns and would put forward the questions raised on their behalf.

"What I'm hearing…was just say no to some of this and I agree. That would be the best plan possible," said Berger. "There are going to be some costs associated with it… but yes, we can have a plan to deal with it and get on with it. A plan that says it's a no-go zone."


Comment: Evan says the plan could be for a 'no-go zone'. But the bigger plan by our provincial 'conservative' government says we go and do what we please on behalf of our corporate masters.

Wonder how much 'no-go' influence and power he is going to have when they tell him to get lost? It sounds like much bigger players have already decided the final outcome of this 'land grab'. Evan, despite his best intentions, and those people most directly affected will soon find themselves powerless to do anything about it, short of turfing the govermnment for one by Danielle promising to protect them and there way of life by ensuring property rights are protected.

What a campaign issue! This could blow the cork right out of the bottle.


We have far more to fear from an unaccountable government at home than from any foreign terrorist.

Why the World Is Financially Doomed in Four Charts

(January 6, 2011)

The global economy is doomed to implosion, and here are four charts which explain why.

Though the complexities may appear endless, the global economy's coming implosion is really fairly easy to understand: here are four charts which do the heavy lifting. It boils down to these basics:

1. When money is dear and difficult to borrow, then productivity and capital accumulation are encouraged, speculation, malinvestment and debt-based consumption are discouraged.

2. When money is "free" (zero-interest rate policy) and liquidity is unlimited, then the opposite conditions hold: speculation in risk assets, malinvestment and debt-based consumption are all encouraged, and productivity and capital accumulation are heavily discouraged.

3. When debts exceed the value of the underlying assets, the only way out of the Tyranny of Debt is to write off the debt on both the borrower and lender's balance sheets, wiping out their capital via liquidation and bankruptcy.

4. The "extend and pretend" policy pursued by all major nations is simply transferring the impaired debt from private hands to the taxpayers (public debt), crippling the economy with higher taxes and higher debt service.

5. The Central State's "extend and pretend" policy requires heavy borrowing every year to prop up the status quo, pushing the Central State (or equivalent, i.e. the Eurozone) into an inescapable double-bind: either continue increasing public debt and cripple the economy with high taxes and high public-debt servicing costs, or let the financial status quo of "profits are private, losses are public" implode.

The first path leads to default, as the Tyranny of Debt cannot be masked for long, while the second path wipes out the Financial Power Elite which feeds the politicians.

Here are the charts. Note how the speculative economy created the illusion of rising wealth for the bottom 90%, an illusion stripped away by the Default Economy.

In essence, the Financial Power Elites profited immensely from creating this illusory wealth which gave the bottom 90% the false sensation that their declining earnings and purchasing power were being offset by the "magic" of asset bubbles.

Then, when the bubble popped, the Financial Power Elites transferred the impaired assets to the taxpayers, a process which is still underway. The politicos of both parties are complicit; behind the simulacra of toothless "reforms," this process proceeds in myriad ways (Bank of America transferring toxic debt to Fannie/Freddie, etc.) Behind the smokescreen of conjuring a "wealth effect" to foster more consumption, the Fed's purchase of Treasuries (QE2) serves this transfer-of-debt-to-the-public process.




This same process is playing out throughout the global economy: Greece, Ireland, the U.S., and eventually, in China when its monumental property bubble pops.

Update: For more on this go here to the Wealth Triangle article.


Note: Thanks to my good friend and blogging buddy Jose for this.

As many of my readers know, I have repeatedly spoke out on this subject saying how we are all being turned into nothing more than wage and debt slaves to feed the engines of consumerism and the insatiable appetite of corporate GREED. Here in a nutshell is what I have been saying about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer in the land of plenty.

The machine is broken... we need to fix it.


Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.

The American Dream

Tidbits & Stuff

My, my how the world turns when you are away trucking all day? :-)

Dean Ward
I see Dean's blog is going good with a lot of current and pertant goings on at our local municipal level. Doing a great job in keeping us informed while at the same time and most importantly sharing with us his first hand personal experience, opinions, suggestions and concerns. Feels like we all have a man on the inside... our very own Perry Mason, Pierrot and Sherlock rolled into one. :-).

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford
Is this the beginning of the sixties again?

Bridgecreek
Front page story in the Promoter, yet there is no link to it on their website?

Anyways, I guess the jig is up for Becker and Bill? From gay resorts to gay 'prisons'. What a transition this is going to be? :-) Don't mean to laugh but in reality this whole business has been one big joke on everyone... except for the 'in crew'. Wonder what Irwin is thinking? Wonder what this community is thinking? Turn a blind eye to what a few of their own in positions of authority have done, that at the end of the day will cost this community dearly, or will they choose instead to hold those responsible up to account? In other words... "Let's have us a Hang'n"!!! :-)

Don't think we have heard anything from this Mayor and council on this yet? Wonder when and if we will??

Mayor Decoux
Our new Mayor seems to be coming across like a little tyrant... jockeying and bullying his way to run things his way... much like what his predecessor did. Isn't that right? Life's a bitch when you have to return favours... or face their wrath. Makes one want to advertise for help, doesn't it Bruce? :-)

Well, that's it for now. Got to go and read a book on 'Cargo Securement'. I know how to spend my Sunday having fun, being the keener I now am as part of the 'mule team' that keeps the mines going... and our local economies on both sides of the border with its many families.


The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As everyone probably knows I have not been doing much blogging of late since my new job involves long hours of slaving for the man, as one of the wage and debt slaves of our new modern era. There is no time to rebel when one falls into the life of the working class beholding to the system, rather than to oneself as in days gone by.

I guess I will have to leave this work to the likes of Dean who seems to want so badly to still be part of the decision making process in this community, as he rightfully should be in my opinion.

With at least two councillors having blogs plus Dean attending council meetings there should be no shortage of conversation, I'm sure.

Wishing everyone all the best for 2011 and hoping it is not only a very good one for each and everyone of you, but that it is a good one for our hardpressed community as well.


Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.