Author Archives: Cory Morgan

Something is very wrong.

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 Last week while at a local convenience store, I observed a young man demonstrating the telltale signs of being homeless. His hair and beard were overgrown and unkempt and his clothing was filthy. He appeared to be in his 20s and he got in line behind me. The young man was very polite at the counter as he deposited a handful of mixed change in order to purchase a cigar. What was most striking though was that when this man spoke it became quite obvious that this man was suffering from a developmental disability.

 About a month ago I had the opportunity to be taken on a tour of  The Vocational and Rehabilitation Research Institute by a friend. This is a non-profit institute that works in affiliation with the University of Calgary and has been doing so since 1969. This institute works with people with disabilities and helps them in a community support sort of role. The facility boasts a bottle depot and a contract with the Calgary Airport that employs people with disabilities. There are also some great recreational and rehabilitation facilities provided as well as their research facilities.

 I am sure that my description of the facility is doing it terrible justice so I do suggest that people click on the link to it in order to learn more about it. What I was most impressed with was that the people there are dedicated to trying to find rational and successful approaches to helping people with disabilities in our community.

 What I was not impressed with was the condition of the facility itself. While the functional areas were as well maintained as possible by staff with limited resources, entire sections were completely shut down. The building is getting old and they simply can’t afford the maintenance on sections of it. Old dorm rooms are now being used as offices and I saw three desks jammed into what obviously served as an individual dorm rooms for patients. The floors above that level were completely closed as was what used to be a cafeteria.

 Right-of-center people are often referred to as uncaring ogres and individualists to the point of not caring for anybody aside from themselves. In reality, most conservative-minded people live by the principle that we should take care of those who can’t take care of themselves as opposed to those who won’t take care of themselves.

 It should go without question that many people with mental disabilities and disorders fall into that category of not being able to take care of themselves. The degree of need varies from some limited community support to full institutional care.

 So why the hell is this realm of government programming so chronically underfunded?

 Crime and homelessness are constantly issues that people are concerned about. Unfortunately the solution always appears to be blind spending. For a person with a mental disability, affordable housing is not going to be of aid. New expensive downtown public washrooms will not help these people nor will expansion of homeless shelters. What is required are programs suited to helping these people based on the unique challenges that they face.

 Sadly, facilities such as the The Vocational and Rehabilitation Research Institute do not provide for the photo-op ribbon cutting ceremonies that new public toilets and expansions of homeless shelters provide. Such help for people is complicated and not romantic thus gets ignored by politicians.

 Decades ago a misguided initiative of deinstitutionalization took off in general public policy. It was considered inhumane that some people be kept in institutions for life and many people have been tossed in the streets due to this. Many of those people never should have been discharged and many of these people are the ones we see covered in rags under our bridges. The number of beds in mental health facilities in Canada are now a fraction of what they used to be. That statistic is not a victory, it means that thousands of people were put out on the streets that never had the life-skills required in order to make it on their own.

 I am not fond of the NDP. They are far to the other side of the ideological spectrum from myself. Credit must be given to the Alberta NDP today though for their persistence in obtaining and exposing a damning report of the Progressive Conservative’s treatment of mental health needs in Alberta.

 As is all too common with our provincial government, they have acted very strongly to suppress information that they determine to be detrimental to the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. A report entitled “Beyond Beds…to Balanced Care Mental Health” was commissioned and presented to Alberta Health and Wellness and the Alberta Mental Health Board in 2007 and was approved by the Steering Committee on Mental Health.

 The report then disappeared.

 Alberta Health and Wellness refused an access to information request by the NDP to see the report. Albertans paid for this report, why the hell can’t we see it? It took a leak (somebody, somewhere has a conscience) for the NDP to obtain the report.

 It is easy to see why the Progressive Conservatives wanted to hide that report. The report is very damning of the government and their complete inaction on mental health issues. It shows that Alberta has four times fewer mental health beds than the national average. The national average is too damn low as it is.

 Rather than act on shortcomings, our government works to hide them. The Stelmach government does not care about our most vulnerable in society, they simply want to remain in power.

 While on their decade long spending spree, the PC government has more than doubled provincial spending. While pissing away our tax-dollars to who knows where, the PC government was also starving our mental health programs to the point where Alberta is the shame of the country. How do we spend far more per-capita in Alberta than any other province yet have the least amount of mental health beds? What are the priorities of our government?

 It is past time to do more than pay lip-service to crime and homelessness in Alberta. How much improvement would we see in these areas if we invested in helping people with mental challenges instead of working to hide them? We will never know the answer to that as long as Ed Stelmach remains in power.

 Keep these thoughts in mind every time you see some poor soul dressed in rags while pushing a shopping cart and talking to themselves.

The Daily Druh.

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 Yes, another posting on Druh Farrell’s crazy plan to close lanes on a major city artery to service a need that apparently nobody has.

 The blowback from this initiative of idiocy continues and another fine editorial has popped up today.

Druh’s main-artery clogging brain cramp

By MARTIN HUDSON 

You gotta give it to Ald. Druh Farrell. 

And not in a good way.

Calgary’s theatre of the absurd has a zany new farce on its hands courtesy of one of its main players.

In case you missed it, and it’s hard to believe this nugget of nonsense would slip by on a relatively slow news week, Farrell is asking the city to shut down two lanes of Memorial Dr. between 10 St. and 3 St. N.W., on Sundays in August.

Not for more road improvements, mind you.

Nope, we’ve got enough detours and lane closures because of construction already.

Ah, but there are other ways to make you go crazy.

This time it’s so Calgarians can mingle and frolic on a main east-west route through the city.

 

 The article continues here.

 Druh is still bravely marching forward in the face of overwhelming public opposition to this nonsensical notion. Druh says that residents want this (despite residents saying otherwise). Druh says traffic is light on Memorial Drive and on 16th avenue where traffic will be forced to reroute.

 It being a lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to pick up the video camera and head to the area in question. Perhaps there was hidden mass parking that I never knew of. Maybe I would find some hidden beauty in the asphalt that would draw people from the river path and onto the street. It is possible that my memory of Memorial Drive being a rather busy street was mistaken.

Below is what I found:

 Come on Druh, wake up and smell the patchouli. Swallow the rest of your granola and a little of your pride. Back off and try to find the remnants of your sanity for the rest of your term as Alderman.

Still no sign of Druh backing down.

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 I see that the editorialists at the Herald recognize how inane Druh Farrell’s plan is to close a major street in our city when there is utterly no demand from residents for such an idiotic venture.

Farrell’s memorable folly on Memorial

Memorial Drive ain’t broke, so there’s no need to fix it for four Sundays in August.

Yet, Ald. Druh Farrell presses on with a plan–which does not require the rest of council’s approval– to close off to traffic two riverside lanes of Memorial Drive between 10th Street N. W. and the Calgary Curling Club, near the bridge to Prince’s Island Park.

Farrell envisions creating a promenade for joggers, walkers and bikers from 9a.m. to 1 p. m. on those Sundays, even though there is already a spacious path for these folks which runs parallel with Memorial Drive along the riverbank.

Despite Farrell’s claim that the path “is pretty busy on a Sunday,”there is absolutely no need to duplicate it by closing a section of the roadway and snarling traffic which has no better place to which to detour.

continued……

 

 The word folly does apply well to this plan as do madness, stupidity and arrogance.

 The arrogance part fits Druh well. Farrell found a way to get such a plan in place with no discussion in city council and continues to push forward when it has become starkly clear that this plan is a waste of time and money that has no public support. Farrell clearly has absolutely no respect for the people who pay the taxes to support her lavish raises and really does not care what Calgarians want or think.

 I know that I keep on about this and you know what? I am going to continue hammering on this until Druh Farrell listens to the damn electorate and backs off on this thing. She has struck a few nerves with me on this issue. One thing I hate is ill-conceived environmental ideas that actually lead to more pollution. Another thing I despise is the blatant wasting of tax dollars (aside from the money wasted on Druh’ssalary, it will not be cheap to have city employees doing these lane closures). What I truly loathe however is this blatant display of indifference and disrespect towards the will of the electorate.

 I see that my blog rates rather highly when somebody googles Druh Farrell. Good! When the next municipal election comes, I want people who are researching the candidates to see and realize just who the idiot is who is asking them to entrust her with the management of their hard earned tax dollars.

I won’t believe it until I see it.

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 I see in the news today that scumbag gangster Jackie Tran has been ordered deported yet again. I wrote on the Tran saga some months ago here.  

jackie tran

 How complicated is this? Tran was ordered deported back in 2004. Since then he has skipped hearings, broken bail conditions multiple times and been involved with criminal gangs in Calgary. Now I see that while Tran has been ordered deported (again) a date has not yet been set. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS WAITING FOR????

 Tran is a high flight risk as he has already proven when he skipped out on past deportation hearings. Rest assured if Tran is convinced that he really will be put on a plane to Vietnam this time, he will disappear yet again. Canada has already misplaced an estimated 30,000 or so deportees due to our using the honor system with them.

 How complex is this? Tran is not a Canadian citizen and he is a criminal. He has had more hearings than he ever deserved. Buy a damn ticket and put this piece of crap on a plane out of here.

 Calgary has been in the middle of some ethnic gang wars for a couple years now. There was a shooting just the other day that appears to be gang related. Should we really be surprised that these wars are continuing? Hell, we don’t even have the balls in our justice system to detain or deport a piece of garbage like Tran. What do these gangsters have to fear?

 The time and resources that have been dedicated to Tran amount to a slap in the face to the thousands of fine immigrants who call Calgary home and life productively and peacefully here. Many of these people endure prejudice as fearful citizens begin to view every person of Asian decent as a potential gang member.

 It has been said before and it is worthy of saying it again. In Canada we do not have a justice system, it is an injustice system.

A glimmer of common sense in City Hall.

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Just about every glimmer of common sense that we have seen in City Hall has come from Ald. Ric McIver so it is not that surprising that he is the lone voice speaking out against Druh Farrell’s idiotic notion of closing a major roadway in order to expand walking/biking space in an area that already has multiple walking/biking paths in place.

 McIver is pulling no punches and calling this initiative what it is; madness! 

  As predicted, fellow fool on council Brian Pincott has jumped in to support Druh on this tax-funded foray into lunacy. Pincott is the Alderman who proposed the inane notion that called for the city to spend $250,000 per year to retain an official city poet. Supporting idiotic waste of taxdollars is well within Pincott’s realm.

 From radio call-in shows, to commentary in the news to comments online, Calgarians are nearly universally condemning this crazy idea.

 Undaunted by the views of the people who pay her salary, Druh Farrell carries on. This issue has been an excellent display of the respect that Druh Farrell holds for the views of her constituents. She has none. Druh has even proposed that we move on and close downtown streets into Chinatown in the future as well. Wouldn’t the closure of Center street do wonders for traffic in addition to Memorial? Dull Druh has pointed out that traffic can take 16th avenue if they want to avoid the inevitable snarls that will occur on Memorial when we close it for non-existent pedestrian traffic.

 WHAT??? Has Druh ever ventured the 16 blocks North to 16th avenue? That disaster of a roadway has been nearly impassible on weekends since the 1970s.

 Is Druh Farrell truly this bereft of common sense? Are there perhaps a few marbles rattling around loose in her cranium? If that is not the case, we can only assume that Druh’s goal is to end all vehicular traffic in the city. There are all sorts of lunatic environmentalists with similar notions. Most of them have no power to act upon their notions thankfully. Farrell has managed to bypass all public opinion and get this venture in the works.

 Never since the late Darwin Award winner Tooker Gomberg proposed flooding the city streets of Edmonton in winter so that people can skate to work has such idiocy been seen in a city council.

skate

 There have been rumours that Ric McIver is considering a mayoral run. Lets hope that it is true and lets hope that he wins.

 We clearly need to replace twits such as Farrell and Pincott as well and I hope that happens. Having McIver in the mayors chair would do wonders for city hall.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation are “Goofballs”

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 At least according to the President of Alberta’s Treasury Board; Lloyd Snelgrove.

 Today I engaged in one of my more masochistic activities and watched question period in the Alberta Legislature. I was watching in vain hope of seeing some critical discussion of the record deficit budget that Special Ed Stelmach has dumped on Albertans. Sadly I was in for the usual disappointment. All I heard was repeated yelping from both the Liberals and the NDP using the words “Americanized” and howling about the deregistration of some health services.

 None of these fools seem to realize that it is prolonged overspending that has led to seeking ways to cutting services today.

 It is frightening seeing where discussion is in the legislature today. The Liberals swung deeply into left-wing territory with their election of  David Swann as their leader and the NDP has always dwelled in the land of Marxism. Both of those parties are thrilled with the deficit and would eagerly make it larger should they ever get the opportunity.

 Unfortunately the only voices calling for fiscal restraint and responsibility in Alberta are outside of the legislature. The Wildrose Alliance Party has been making great strides and growth but it will be some time before the party has the chance to gain a seat in the legislature. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has been very effective in promoting a common sense approach to spending but our government dismisses them as goofballs.

 Snelgrove, had you listened to the calls for fiscal restraint that those “goofballs” had been making in the last decade you would not be sitting in the legislature looking like an idiot for being part of the government that took Alberta from a projected $9 billion surplus to a record deficit in less than a year.

 It is critical that we get voices in Alberta’s legislature promoting fiscal sanity. As things stand now, we have parties that stand; center-left, left and far left. With a few more years like this, we will be lucky if our great great grandchildren will be able to pay off the accumulated debt. The Wildrose Alliance Party is the only party promoting fiscal common sense and we need to get their members into the legislature ASAP. Lets hope for some by-elections at least as Ed Stelmach will not want to face the electorate any time soon.

 The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has a blog here with some great postings.

Druh Farrell’s latest idiotic notion is backfiring.

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 Considering the generally sleepy nature of Calgary’s electorate when it comes to the near endless stream of stupid and expensive ideas coming from city council, the response we are seeing to Druh Farrell’s notion to close a portion of a major artery for traffic is a virtual groundswell of opposition. Farrell has hit such a new height in stupidity that even the left-leaning crowd are scratching their collective heads over this one.

 Druh did the usual political work of finding some figures to applaud this initiative. The executive director of the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone thinks this is a good idea. The head of the Sunnyside community association has endorsed Druh’s foolish plan as well. What people need to keep in mind is that both of those individuals are compelled to keep their noses buried deep within the recesses of the collective butts of city council in order to get funding for local projects. Should they be critical of crazy Druh’s ideas, they can kiss applications for new public swimming pools or sidewalk resurfacing goodbye.

 What we are seeing now is the response from the real community. Instead of speaking to some “revitalization” person, the Herald actually spoke to some businesspeople in the area in question. The people in this area who actually have to eke out a living are condemning this idiocy. These people have that quality that seems to be totally absent in city hall; common sense. Local businesses have no idea how snarling local traffic will help them in what are already hard times. They realize that all Druh’s initiative will accomplish will be to keep people away from that district in droves in order to avoid the traffic.

 As for the head of the community association, I shudder to think of the questions that will be asked when it is discovered that the already congested residential parking is completely jammed with cars? There is little to no parking down there already. Assuming that some individuals come down there to walk on hot pavement on a summer weekend, they will indeed need somewhere to put their vehicles. How will the residents of Sunnyside like it when they find frustrated drivers speeding down their residential streets in hopes of avoiding the traffic jam on Memorial?

 Druh has pointed out that there will be some entertainment to draw visitors to the area. Translation: Buskers.

busk

 Now, how many people are going to cross the city and fight for parking in order to watch an unemployed bongo-player who does not have an anti-capitalism protest to attend?

 The few hairy legged sandal wearing types who may actually go out of their way to watch this fine artistic display are not exactly what we call a high-spending demographic. Unless a person is running a discount organic granola stand, their business will not exactly see a spike.

 On both the CBC site that I linked to in my prior posting and the Herald site in the current posting, there is a comment section. This is the most telling aspect of how truly obtuse this idea is. These are everyday news readers speaking their minds. On the CBC, they are mostly left leaning. The condemnation of Druh’s stupidity is nearly universal.

 It is unlikely that this clear lack of public support will have any impact on Druh’s plans to make us all a little more cosmopolitan. City hall is notorious for ignoring the wishes of those unwashed constituents. Part of that is our own fault. We barely get above 20% turnout in municipal electios. Should we really be surprised that we have found ourselves with a collection of idiots in city hall?

 In the next election it is up to us. Get out the vote and vote out the fools.

More idiocy from city hall.

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 One has to laugh to keep themselves from crying when we see the stooges coming up with their idiotic notions at city hall. While city spending is out of control and municipal taxes are going through the roof, the priority initiative for Alderman Druh Farrell is to close a portion of Memorial Drive on Sundays for pedestrians and bicyclists.

 druh

 Brilliant Druh.

 For those who may be unfamiliar with the area in question, here are some facts. Paralleling Memorial Drive in the section in question is a beautiful and expensive pedestrian/bike-path as well as a large parkway that follows the river. There is no need for extra pedestrian space in this stretch. Why in the hell would somebody choose to walk down the hot pavement of a main road when there is a path in a treed park right next to them anyway?

 People have long bemoaned the lack of interest in Calgary’s downtown on weekends. The failed experiment of Eau Claire mall was an attempt to bring a Vancouver-like atmosphere into Calgary’s core and draw people there on weekends. Memorial Drive is a main route into downtown Calgary and is already chronically congested. How will weekend closures of portions of that drive effect weekend visits by people to downtown Calgary?

 Druh Farrell was also in support of those stupid $50 million dollar pedestrian bridges that would come right from that pathway that follows Memorial Drive. Now if people were walking down the street instead of on the bike-path, how will they be able to take advantage of those great bridges designed by a supposedly famous Spaniard? Perhaps Druh is trying to reduce access to those bridges in hopes that they do not wear out too soon.

 Druh has always been a sucker for “green” initiatives and is second only to Brian Pincott in the eco-flake department that resides in city council. Now think of this. With part of a main thoroughfare being closed on weekends, how much extra idling will occur as drivers languish in what will inevitably be a traffic jam stretching for miles? How many air conditioners will be on?

 We have about a year and a half to prepare to throw this crop of fools out of city hall in the next municipal election. The time to get some candidates with common-sense in place is now.

Begone foul critics!!

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muzzling

 Special Ed Stelmach seems to be dedicating much more time to trying to shut down critical comment than actually governing. That is rather apparent in his shameless breaking of provincial law and posting a record deficit.

 Stelmach set the precedent when he fired Lorne Gibson (head of elections Alberta) for Gibson’s having dared question the government on electoral procedures and submitting a long list of recommendations. Now Stelmach is setting his sights on Auditor General Fred Dunn.

 While the Progressive Conservatives could afford a 20% increase in funding for the Executive Council and their Ministry of Truth, they could not afford any increase for the Auditor General thus Fred Dunn had to shelve 27 of 80 planned audits for next year.

 The warning through funding did not get through to poor Fred it appears. He still thinks he is supposed to do his job and he has dared to be critical of the provincial government. One would think that is the role of an auditor, but clearly that is not the case in Ed’s world.

 Stelmach’s lapdog on the treasury board (Snelgrove) is outright ordering Fred Dunn to quit poking his nose into government business.

 Yes, even the Auditor General dare not question the actions of government. It is pretty clear that Fred Dunn is on the road to being fired as Gibson was. Doubtless an Auditor General will be found and appointed who will realize what side his bread is buttered on and we will nary hear another critical comment on Stelmach’s government again.

 The lack of respect for democracy and critical comment by our provincial government has moved beyond being simply distasteful and into the realm of the frightening.

Some more on Iris Evans’ “Good news budget”.

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 It has been hard on the stomach watching our irresponsible provincial government officials patting themselves on the back due to their being able to reduce their spending increase to a mere 3.7% this year. Remember, these people have not stopped increasing spending, only the rate at which they will increase it. They have done this masterful feat by running a potential $7 billion dollar deficit and raising taxes (property owners are taking it yet again). The last decade of double digit spending increases has given the government a rather heavy addiction to our money.

 Miring through the budget documents is a painful exercise and the government works as hard as possible to find out exactly what they are spending all of our money on.

 The Executive Council is one department that seems to have been spared the savages of spending restraint. The Executive Council is the premier’s office of course. Bundled in with the Executive Council is the Public Affairs department that many fondly refer to as the premier’s ministry of truth.

 Last year the Executive Council got a funding increase of 27%. In light of our tighter times, they have limited the raise in funding this year to a paltry 20%.

 You see, in the eyes of Ed Stelmach it is much more important to convince Albertans that government is doing a good job as opposed to actually doing a good job. The Ministry of Truth employs 118 full time little monkeys who are tasked with producing pretty flyers, advertisements, press releases and lacklustre blogs that blow sunshine up the collective asses of Albertans.

 It is not hard to see why the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta is always rolling in money. The party needs not spend any of their own money on advertisers. The Public Affairs department spends almost $15 million per year telling Albertans why the Progressive Conservatives are heaven sent.

 With this tax-funded propaganda machine working around the clock, we can see part of why it is difficult to dislodge a government that has been in power for almost 40 years.

 Special Ed clearly sees this importance as well. Why else would he keep pumping these massive spending increases into that department in these times of supposed government restraint?

ministry_of_truth