It is the 18th and I last wrote on the 12th. Long time between blah-blah for me. Usually, I have plenty to say but this week, not so much. We had a nice Easter weekend with my son and his wife. And, with his help, we got some really hard stuff done. That was good. We pushed a seven-foot diameter water tank out from under the house where the widest spot was only 6′ 6″ . That was a chore.
We also drilled holes in rocks to support the soon-to-be-built marine ways but that was held up somewhat by the hammer-drill refusing to hammer after the first few holes. It still spun, just wouldn’t hammer. In other words, it did NOT get the final half of the holes drilled. But we’ll get it done.
It rained. That’s my main excuse. It rained.
Greenhouse performing well, tho. Solar-powered fan works a charm – when there is a solar presence. We’re getting happy with that addition to the empire.
Basically, it is all same ol’, same ol’….but slightly different ol’ stuff. Which is nice, really. For me. OK, the boat sinks, guests keep arriving, drills break, water stops flowing (but we got it half-back) and outside demands must be addressed but, honestly, that is just life and you keep on keeping on….right?
And I must admit that such a deep ambivalence is the only thing I am concerned about right now. That status-quo-ness. That same ol’……ho hum….blah, blah….
The provincial election is looming and there is about as much excitement in the air as at a funeral. Gawd almighty! It’s like, ‘After Trump, no act can follow.’ I mean; how do you generate political suspense when some plump, middle-aged, smiling cheerleader runs her cliche-ridden corruption-party against a dim, half-invisible pablum-peddling, boring-as-hell do-nothing NDP while, at the same time, Trump dangles the third world war in your face?
It’s M-O-A-B.
Trump has the Mother of all bombs. We have the mother of all bores.
Admittedly, boring is good in politics but it also portends the status quo. And the status quo is criminal-level corruption and mismanagement by the current gang of sleaze bags, the Liberals. So, in this case, boring is bad. NOT causing a fuss over their entrenched evil is likely gonna result in same ol’, same ol’. More of it.
For evil to be done, good people only have to get bored of it.
Our Off the Grid Home 
All very bucolic. Where is the removed tank going? Are ya getting new tanks?
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Sorry. My reply went to the top. Removal was precautionary.
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Turns out no carrier group sent to North Korea. ‘And she’s gone, gone flopping like catfish on a pole…” Folks we waz cat fished again.”
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Russia does that. Lies. Misdirects. One story, then another. Net result: no one believes anything in the media. Half the stories are lies and the others are half-truths. Fear and confusion reigns. Populace polarized. Hatfield vs McCoy. Divide and conquer. Who benefits? Those at the top. Those in power. The ‘press’ loses its power. No influence. Freedom of the press is made meaningless, neutered as a force keeping government honest.
The beginning of that happened when corporations took over newspapers. Then politics. Now corporations promote corporations. Truth is irrelevant. Infotainment is what sells. People dismiss the news. But it still serves the propaganda agenda. Why? Because propaganda serves the corporations. If there is push-back from honest media, who knows? Who can tell? The only truth you know is: you don’t KNOW the truth. People give up. Get ambivalent, apathetic, bored. Don’t vote. Don’t think. Watch TV instead.
That horrific strategy just played out even more cynically in the ARMADA to N. Korea story. Trump doesn’t even pretend to serve the truth, the people or the country. He serves to confuse, obfuscate and deceive. And he is good at it. Mind you, ‘Mericans have always been easy to fool. Their govts lie all the time. Ours are no better, just much less effective.
All you can do is read everything and think freely and, even then, the only truth you can rely on is that you do NOT know the truth. I tend to believe some sources more than others but, honestly? The key word is believe. I do not know.
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‘Do not tell the kids!” Sometimes justified. But central to this silence in state events is that some one knows but not the common folk. What is the necessity of these equivocations? Does the government want to foster lack of trust in the media? People usually recognize bare faced liars so why the continued attempts at deception? Chomsky suggests in his book, “Necessary Illusions” that many in the media willingly play the role of propagandists and toadys against their own best interests. One paper has the banner, “All the news that is fit to print.” That is chosen to conform with a selective view for the edification of the ‘kids.’
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Good points. But an informed group with truth and the Constitution to guide them would be much harder to handle. Easier for government to misinform, lie and confuse. Give the the people theater, football and cheap food and govt is good to go in any way they choose. They do not want resistance. Stupid people make good herds.
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Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, said, ‘use selective truth’ now know as alternate facts. Inept propaganda resorts to lies. It is more palatable to persuadable to say stuff that seems true but only contains a grain of truth. Who doesn’t want to be great?
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No. It was a precautionary move. We are kinda perched on a slope. The front of the house is on tall posts. I originally put the 1100 gallon cistern, almost six tons when full, under the house near the pumps and pipes. Made sense until I thought about the effects of an earthquake. A good shaker would send six tons skidding through my house supports. The House might survive a big quake but not if there’s a wrecking ball underneath. So, I drained it and waited for help. Son came. Son saw. Son pushed. We all pushed. It came out. It now sits away from us with the second tank, both about 100 safe feet away. An ounce of precaution against six tons of threat. Seemed like the right thing to do.
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Did you need some Dove detergent?
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Liquid soap might have helped, actually. But brute force from the youth is our go-to preference. Always fun to watch.
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Yep.
This election is a snoozer.
Got Clark on one side barely showing up to make the same ridiculous annocements about “billions of jobs” and “families first”
Horgan shows up and promises “Free tolls” “$10 Daycare” ” Free tuition”. free everything! Just who exactly is going to pay for all this?
THAT is a question starving mobs in Venezuela are attempting to figure out…
nah, the Liberals need the boot. I can suffer through 4 years of the NDP just as Im suffering through “a pot plant in every house” Trudeau.
Lets get this election and the worse weather (cold, wet , miserable) I can remember since moving here 35 +years ago …….over.
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The continual debate over priorities and how to dip into the single payer pot. Folks on the South side of the Fraser have a point to make about tolls and many are choosing a longer and harder commute to avoid the tolls. Infrastructure and transportation links all over the province need attention but no consensus on funding. User pay approaches disproportionately affect Joe Lunchbucket. The pull of the metropolis has folks only wanting to live West of Cambie Street and I understand that. Priorities, priorities. Green is making a tiny move and those ‘a pox on both your houses’ types might in a Brexit like catharsis go nuclear. Money issues and quality life issues might decide this election.
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Yep.
I’m renewing my car insurance this weekend.
$1990 for a year.
After my 43% Roadstar “Discount”
I dont consider $1990 a “discounted price” by half.
I talk to people from Quebec, Ontario and the East coast.
ICBC is grossly gouging us and just wait til AFTER the election and the snowiest winter in 35+ years comes back to roost with ICBC’s claims vs revenue.
I’d vote for Donald Trump if he would get rid of ICBC…..thats how much I hate THIS govt insurance.
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In my opinion, it is not the concept nor the execution of ICBC. It’s the policies, the culture and the management. And, to be fair, management MAY be in the hands of the Liberal party. Regardless, ICBC is a good idea ruined by policy wonks. They are illogical, unreasonable and immune to their patrons. I even volunteered to be a free customer consultant but they only used me to answer yeah or nay to THEIR self serving questions. When I offered input on other issues, they didn’t even acknowledge receipt. Plus, I was an arbitrator for them for a bit but the constraints levied on the job made fairness impossible BOTH ways! Totally illogical.
I do not believe for a minute Trump would be better.
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I dont think Trump would be better but …..if he(or someone like him) got rid of ICBC….I’d vote for them…..ie; “I’d vote for the devil”
Govt vehicle insurance….ANOTHER bloated, lethargic, omnipotent, unanswerable, govt monopoly that could be done by the private sector twice as fast for half the money……
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I agree that lean and mean is more efficient but greed looms large when they succeed. Competition is supposed to curb greed but collusion rather than competition usually prevails at the larger markets. Get two small businesses doing say, baked goods or pizza and you get great product, service and price. Get two insurance companies or two banks or two gasoline companies and it shifts to collusion and gouging. Bottom line: small is beautiful. And more fair.
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ICBC started as a monopoly but now private insurance offers collision and other services in direct competition with ICBC. ICBC offers Autoplan but over the years the government has added to ICBC’s responsibilities such as issuing driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and licensing. Toast ICBC and the BC Motor Vehicles Branch would need to be reconstituted.
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Toast ICBC and the motor vehicle branch would have to be reinstated.
yes I realize that. Which begs the question . Why exactly was the motor vehicle branch absorbed by ICBC?
Could it have something to do with thousands of people driving around with Insurance(and plates) but no drivers licenses?
I knew 3 people back when the 2 agencies were seperate and that was typical. They didnt care that their insurance wouldnt cover them in a crash because they owned nothing. Sue me….
BUT they could drive around with a legitmate Plate on their car so that the police would leave them alone.
It was epidemic. Police at a roadblock would ask to see your drivers license first…then ask if you had been drinking
The govt was losing out on unpaid speeding fines, etc. and licensing fees. They were insuring thousands of more cars that there were people licensed to drive them.
I’m sure some slick lawyer realized that if you wrap both govt agencies together you would kill two birds with one stone AND as an added bonus……its harder for a future govt to break up a huge monopoly into smaller pieces.
I dont care.
ICBC was created in the 1970’s to deal with exorbitant private insurance rates…….now THEY are the problem.
Get back to basics.
Affordable car insurance. Stop milking ICBC’s coffers to “balance” the BC budget.
$1990 per year for a car insurance for 4 year old truck AFTER I have recieved a 43% safe driving “discount” is outrageous.
Especially when I can insure the same truck, a car and a motorcycle for less than HALF that amount in the Maritimes……
Something is seriously wrong and when you give the govt a monopoly in one area and let them set the rates…….
Gee they wouldnt THINK about gouging the tax payer would they?
Would they?
Get rid of them or stop their cash flow from being siphoned off to other areas of govt.
That would be the fair and equitable solution but we are talking about the govt and “fair” isnt part of their language when it comes to taxpayers.
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ICBC is a crown corporation and the legislature assigns responsibilities. Every province regulates auto insurance as it sees fit. Consequently it is not possible to compare provinces’ rates in general. On average Ontario has on paper the highest rates but averages tell little about individual plans. The east coast seems higher than the western provinces because of regulations.
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I’d still vote for Satan if he’d get rid of Icky Bicky
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The trouble is, that with Satan, you also get sex, drugs and rock and roll.
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I agree. Not one cent should go government coffers. But good government could keep the lethargy and incompetence of a monopoly to a minimum. The fastest way is to listen to staff and customers.
I pay the highest rates in BC on a per mileage basis. $700 per year for less than 2100 annual miles. It would be twice that under my name rather than Sal’s. I lost all my safe driving discounts even tho I have no tickets or accidents. My daughter and wife had accidents driving my car and they are roadsters. I am a road pariah but with a perfect record. Makes no sense. Especially since their accidents were 15 years ago. Try talking to ICBC. Waste of time.
So, I volunteered for their customer feedback panel but it poses only questions it wants to pose. Waste of time. I, too, hate ICBC but it’s the management, not the concept, at fault.
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Had an accident years ago but do not insure in my name.
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Good news! Nine Blockbuster stores still open in Alaska! From thousands of stores to its final gasp in Alaska, franchise makes its last stand. ‘Be kind please rewind.’
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I remember black and white TVs with ‘rabbit ear’ antennas and only three channels. I remember the ten-cent Saturday matinee with cliff-hanger serial adventures and 5-cent candy bars. Now I have Netflix. Blockbuster is already nearing the midpoint of my movie memories. Alaska, home of Sarah Palin and blockbuster.
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”I can see Russia from my house!”
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Emmanuel Macron Jesuit educated philosopher, financial conservative, and socially liberal appears to be into the second round of the French Presidential election. He married his school teacher who is twenty-four years older than he. Will he beat Le Pen?
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I hope so. It would be a good sign even if he sounds a bit of a ditz. Better a kind hearted ditz than a Nazi. And, who knows? Maybe he is smart and not an intellectual snob who never put in a hard day’s work. Le Pen is just another opportunist playing to fears and prejudices. I’d vote for the ditz.
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Ontario set to roll out basic income for 4,000 impoverished persons In a three year pilot project. The basic income project will pay to start $17,000 per year.
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Well.
I guess thats why Ontario is now a federal equalization “have not” Province…..
I’m just curious.
If a province is willing to give $17,000 a year to “impoverished persons”( who decides THAT?) that may( or may not) have worked all their lives and paid taxes(or not)……..and through no fault of their own are “impoverished” ( or entirely their fault they’re impoverished)…..are now going to recieve $17,000 from the govt.
How do you think people that worked hard all their lives and paid taxes and scrimped and saved for retirement will feel seeing their “almost” impoverished lifestyle ignored?
I’m thinkin they’ll feel a tad annoyed seeing that $17k handout and after looking at their CPP and Old Age Benefits………Who ya gonna vote for in the next election?
I pay enough taxes and I dont need to see even more of my tax dollars urinated against the wall in a “social experiment” doomed to failure.
Gregor tried building “homes for the homeless” to eradicate the homeless situation.
We now have many more homeless….do we keep building? When do we stop? When we’re all homeless? Or when the govt legislates all vacant homes property of the govt..
Kathleen Wynne…..completely out of touch with her voters….and she doesnt seem to care.
Politically correct communism……..
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I agree. NOT because poverty works and $1500 a month is hard on the taxpayer but because you can’t fix everything. Povert, addiction, health issues, war, fighting, greed, anger….It’s all there and it all will still be there. Giving a poor person $1500 a month is a good idea if they are not nuts, addicted, lying, cheating and are responsible people who will feed their kids but we know 90% of them will not use the money well. $17k is not even half the cost the average impoverished person costs the taxpayer. Cops, social workers, health care….It all adds up and its way more than $17k. The guaranteed annual income is stupid. So, I agree.
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Anthony Rainey lived and died in poverty.
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Anthony did not live long. 17 months. If his father and girlfriend had $1500 a month free, they still would have neglected him. Money would not have fixed it.
We all have problems that money will fix and we all have more that money just makes worse. Wynn is wrong again.
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“Anthony Rainey lived and died in poverty”
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And thats “society’s” fault?
The parents get off blame free? Because “society” didnt do “more”?
People that shouldnt be allowed to own a dog are capable of having a child and then , when he dies… WE as a society are to blame?
What about the other relatives that recognized the parents photos or the clothes? Are they to blame too? Neighbors? The mailman that delivered the welfare check? The drug dealer?
A society that is tries to seize kids from abusive parents and is thwarted at every turn by free lawyers paid for by taxpayers?
No.
Spare me your simplified justification for why a province as large as Ontario( running a huge deficit by the way. and taxpayers will be asked to pay more) should hand over $17k to the “impoverished” .
Which AGAIN begs the question ,’ Who exactly qualifies as “impoverished”?
The street beggar? The drug addict? The homeless? The parents of abused kids? Single parents? The blind? The bullied? The weak? The transgendered? The depressed? The misunderstood? Renters? Anyone that doesnt work for the govt? Pensioners?
On and on and on……There’s way more than 4000 “impoverished” out there if you look hard enough…..
This unaffordable,”feel good”, politically correct attempt at wooing voters will fail miserably and Wynne will deservedly be punted from office.
What a joke.
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Anthony’s death is deeply saddening. He was totally dependent on supports. He had a family and people who knew him to see him. His death is symptomatic of a general malaise.
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Agreed. General malaise. And it is society’s fault but not one society can fix. Our system/society is designed to produce human tragedy. It’s an inherent aspect of a capitalist system. Capitalism creates winners and losers. Key word: losers. Society deluded itself into thinking we can have minimized losers and a majority of winners but that is proven false all the time. And it won’t change ever because even the losers believe the dream, the myth, the hope that they, too, can maybe become a winner. The only way to win when you are a certified loser is to quit and play a new game. Capitalism is like musical chairs but with 100 people circling one or two chairs. 98 are gonna lose. Why don’t they see that?
Because they are losers, that’s why.
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