If only it weren't too late...

  I swear, this almost brings tears to my ol' eyes..
The gov't here , in British Columbia, after 10 years of skyrocketing violent crime, mostly in robberies and crack dealing,  has finally decided to reverse the law that's directly responsible for the increase..
Previously, the rules introduced around 10 years ago, were, if you were able to work, and unable to get unemployment insurance, you could apply for welfare to cover your rent and food, for only 3 years out of every 5.. which, in essence meant, that if you hadn't found a job in 3 years here, you were kicked out onto the street without access to shelter, food, even access to meal tickets, (which aren't used much here in Canada). or medical coverage, if you got sick, which , surprisingly, happens a lot to people with no income of any kind..
  After this law was passed ten years ago, we went from the lowest crime rate province to the highest, with the highest levels of murders, violent crime, crack , heroin, and meth sales, property crimes, plus the highest homelessness levels, also in the last 10 years, prostitution skyrocketed, and basically this went from a safe, very nice place to be, to a dangerous part of Canada,

  Well, our old premier  Campbell, who IMHO should have been booted out of office after being responsible for a drinking driving accident while premier, ( he 'apologized" instead, and his office cut funding to MADD the next year, forcing them to leave their then-current location.. I remember the incident well, but will try to find a source for y'all) he did finally leave the position as Premier ten years later.. and was replaced by a quite pleasant *seeming* woman (Christy Clark) .. you know, the kind of person at the next table, in a coffee shop, you'd feel comfortable talking to .. The government policies, however, did not change, so the "pleasantness" factor sure wore thin soon ;-)

  Well, seems she's realized the horrific damage that this policy did, in the first place, and it's just been reversed.. the "2 years out of 5" ineligibility thing , is history.. finally!
  What a shame that the damage is done though.. it's too late..
We will NEVER get back the province we used to have..
Let's hope it now, doesn't get worse.

  The point here, is that it's too late for us.. but if you live somewhere that's considering cutting welfare like that, with 2 years of no access toi food, shelter, and health care.. Be mindful of the catastrophic damage it will do toy your area..
  A lot of people do not understand why welfare programs were originally introduced by the wealthiest sectors of the then society.. They were not acting out of compassion, in large part, but rather because they realized it was a  prudent course to take to keep society safe, and keep crime at a minimum level..
Remember, most of those that implemented our current social safety net, were alive at the turn of the 20th century, and got to see firsthand the damage inflicted on society, as well as the  ever present threats to personal safety, when the bottom segment were destitute and desperate....

   If where you live, draconian measures like we've just repealed, are being considered, feel free to use any part of what I've just written to help your case..

  When someone says "why should we help those lazy bums out anyways?"
Just tell them.. to keep taxes low, to keep crime from infiltrating your neighborhood, and your children, to keep property values up, to allow you to safely walk the streets downtown.. etc etc
 Ain't that enough reason!?

It's too late for us, but it may not be, for you, if you act in time!~

Doc

We do not live in a Vacuum

... and because of this, we should ALWAYS care what is happening to our brothers and sisters, even across to the other side of the world.. Well, it seems that now that the Iraq1 war is FINALLY winding down, the severely harshest elements in their government are ALREADY clamping down with draconian and repressive legislatiobn that definitely demands life imprisonment, and possibly even the death penalty, for copyright infringement, and, or violation of any proposed law now being considered in their "Information Technology Crimes Act," HERE is their local rebuttal of this, and the implications are CHILLING.. Hey look y'all, i think the Iraqis have suffered ENOUGH over the last 30 years.. Perhaps we should be speaking out against this repressive law, by contacting our MPs (in Canada and the UK) or representatives (in the USA) to twist the arm of those Iraqi legislators into doing better by their citizens!!!

A treasure trove of conversations..

Did you, like me, see the CBS news today ? (or yesterday's broadcast, I don't know for sure as I only watch on the computer, I don't have a TV).. The former president of Capitol records (the "round building" down LA way) took all his conversations with all the big artists Capitol/EMI signed, and other labels also, and donated them, to the library of congress.. Now, I don't know how long it's gonna take them to digitize the entire batch.. clearly at least 1000 hours for every 1000 hours of conversation, unless they dub at "high speed".. (I think for speech, you can get away with 4X (7 1/2 IPS), and then just digitally slow it down by 4X.. But even so, It'll take for EVER.. and I want to hear the Paul McCartney interview NOW.. (stamping my foot here, like a chick, or spoilt fat kid ! ;-)

A comment on the news..

The whole Zimmerman thing.. I was watching the news, and.. wow.. look, I don't know if he pulled the trigger in anger, if he was racially motivated, or whatever.. certainly.. IF justice is properly served, all will out.. especially considering this is all happening during the untimely passing of Mr Rodney King.. But look man.. I don't care how much you might hate the guy (Zimmerman).. look.. broadcasting his jailhouse conversations where he's discussing how to PROTECT his family during this whole affair.. is crossing the frikin' line...
  I can't complain to CBS news, which is the one that aired this story.. or do anything about it at all.. but I have a blog.. and anyone who follows this blog will know how strongly I feel about racial equality.. but sometimes you have to stand up for the other guy, even if he *might* be (or not, frankly i don't know if he is or not) a bigot....

CBS crossed the line in fair play rules by airing this conversation

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1344797n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo

 "Zimmerman urges wife to get bulletproof vest"

Hey y'know what.. if i were him, I'd do the same!.. Especially in america, where every vengeful vigilante could be packing.. i mean hey GZ should know, he was.. and that's what landed him in this predi8cament in the first place (never mind having deprived Mr Martin's family also!)

Take care of your cat!!!

So.. just a thought.. and well, where else am I going to place this, but here?
You might have guessed, seeing as my Avatar is "Puddytat" and hey that's really her name...
but feeding Kitty is not as simple as stuffing food in a bowl every day..

  I warm up every can, so that she gets the same thing as a lion gets, when doing a fresh kill..
So yeah, I know it sux, that in order to feed one animal, another has to die.. I can't for the life of me, understand how God has this worked out, except that maybe animals have the Holy Spirit already in them ( and after all, they don't have reason or self-awareness). so I figure after death, whatessence they have simply returns to God...
There are many other belief systems that concur with this, incidentally, including the Native American ones (which is why they thank the great Spirit for the soul of their hunt).. , and of course, all Eastern religions.. It seems that it's only the western Christian religions that simply have neglected to consider the fate of the animals. which is actually quite surprising, when you consider that some of our greatest saints, such as Saint Francis, were really into our wildlife. I mean. the story goes, that Saint Francis only needed to extend his arms, and ALL the birds in the village would alight on them!!!..
Now is that ever so cool, or what???
Go Figure......

Y'all GOT TO SEE THIS!!

Man i never thought I'd ever see a clip of the great Bill Doggett.. playing live..
Especially, watch his left hand.. who needs a bass guitarist anyways?!

Sad news about Bob Welch..

I was DEVASTATED to find out about Bob Welch's death today.. as yet I know no details, so this is all I can say.. Bob was, actually, one of the few succesful people I ever actually knew, in fact..
My sympathies to all who knew him..

Look like the news is even more tragic than that.. He left a suicide note and blew himself away.

 I cant tell you how bad that makes me feel.