I had planned to attend the Abbotsford rally for Mike de Jong’s BC Liberal leadership race, but a commitment to 5 & 2’s Seniors cold wet weather shelter had me heading to MCC’s materials warehouse to open the shelter rather than the rally.
…….BC Liberals…….does it strike anyone else as dark, twisted humour that in pot smoking, left coast, hippie BC the ‘Liberal’ party is solidly right of center? That before the relatively recent incarnation of the BC Conservatives the Liberals were the right wing party?
Reading that line put the Mission Impossible theme song in my head, as well as images of the Secretary [or Liberal leadership candidates] disavowing knowledge for reasons of political convenience and correctness.
Personally I found the throne speech a rather inventive, borderline profound, piece of satire and an astute political commentary on the campaign, election results and the state of government and governance in BC.
Recognition of the financial realities of the BC provincial government and the discipline to manage the province’s finances responsibly – within the constraints posed by the province’s income [revenue] – are key skills needed by any party leader to avoid imploding the provinces finances and economy in the short term and placing severe, negative limits on the province’s future economic health in both intermediate and long terms.
Clearly Mr. de Jong’s experience is an enormous asset in terms of effectively and responsibly managing the province’s finances. A task that will only become more difficult, especially in terms of politically popularity, as the costs of our profligate financial behaviours over the past decades come due.
However, those decades of experience clearly serve to narrow Mr. de Jong’s perspective as evidenced by his own words when he speaks of the need to re-energize [give fresh vitality, enthusiasm, or impetus to] the Liberal Party.
At some point Sunday afternoon person [or persons] unknown slunk onto the property of a local charitable organization and ‘donated’ their rejectamenta, dumping it beside a dumpster.
It was Sunday, the building was clearly closed and the ‘generous’ Abbotsford citizen(s) drove past two signs, one stating donations were only accepted during the hours donation drop-off is open [the hours were specified] and one stating that donation drop-off was closed.
Even if the couch, love seat and chair had not been rubbish when generously bestowed beside the charity’s dumpster, sitting overnight in the rain, wet and cold would ensure it was trashed come Monday morning.
Commenting on the call by scientists, whose review of the brain activity/imaging data collected in all studies of the physical functioning of the brain disclosed the existence of individuals who functioned as ‘dumb nodes’, for governments and individuals to pursue behaviours that promote thinking and provide immunization against the effect of ‘dumb nodes’ the Association of Thought Enforcement Agencies stated that, in light of the stress of living in today’s world, a reduction in brain activity with a commensurate reduction in thought leading to stress reduction from the non-thought of ‘don’t worry, be happy’ is not something to be cavalierly dismissed and avoided as called for by scientists.
Citing the scientists failure to consider the benefits of stress reduction, the Association called for governments and individuals not to be hasty in pursuing thinking with its increase in stress, but to wait until the benefits of the existence of ‘dumb nodes’ and decreased brain activity could be assessed.
