Category Archives: The Issues

Consider, Issues, Municipal, Politics

Words of Apology…

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… are for those who speak them, not for those to whom the words are spoken.

The City of Abbotsford has issued an apology, assigned blame and exonerated the mayor, council and city manager in connection with the city’s use of chicken fecal matter against the homeless.

Is the City of Abbotsford apologizing for the policy that led, inevitably to this or some other scurrilous action against the homeless? Or is the City of Abbotsford apologizing for getting caught?

What reason is there for the homeless to think this apology and any promises attached to this apology are, or will be, any more meaningful that the apologies and broken promises made by mayors and councils to the homeless in the past?

The wolf was sick, he vowed a monk to be:

But when he got well, a wolf once more was he.

Walter Brower

The question is what will the behaviour of the City of Abbotsford towards the homeless be once the media is not watching and phoning the mayor about the City’s behaviour?

It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed,

than to repent of those that we intend to commit.

Josh Billings

 The true crux of the matter of the City’s use of chicken fecal matter as a weapon against the homeless is not the deployment of chicken fecal matter but the City policies – the policies of the mayor, council and city manager vis–à–vis the homeless and homelessness – that culminated in the use of chicken fecal matter as a chemical weapon against the homeless.

Otherwise, while the City may not ever deploy chicken fecal matter against the homeless again, the policy that led to the use of chicken fecal matter now, will inevitably lead to future actions by or on behalf of mayor and council that are as or more reprehensible that the City’s current abuse of the homeless with chicken fecal matter.

Mayor and council have totally ignored the apology they owe the citizens of Abbotsford for the scurrilous actions against the homeless mayor and council have made them party too. There is also the matter of the total disregard for the health and welfare of all the citizens of Abbotsford that the city’s action in spreading this toxic material where it would be tracked throughout the City of Abbotsford.

Bad men are full of repentance. Aristotle

If you speak to the homeless themselves their concern is not with the chicken sh*t current behaviour that the mayor and council’s homeless policies have resulted in, but with the future policies of the mayor and council with regard to the homeless and the future actions by city staff towards – or against – the homeless that mayor and council’s policies bring about.

In regard to the City’s current media driven apology, the homeless will tell you that they are in agreement with Tryon Edwards:

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

Consider, Issues, Municipal, This is so Stupid

This Stinks.

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The most recent steps on the path to this wickedness began about six days ago when City employees, as part of the city’s ongoing war on the homeless, stopped by a local homeless camp. The city truck brought along to cart off any belongings the homeless failed to rescue, contained plunder from prior stops at other homeless camps.

I was working on the words to speak, once again, about the utter pointlessness of trying to cleanse the city of the homeless when the city has failed [or been successful in denying] to provide a viable housing alternative to camping for the homeless, when the city employees and truck returned the next day.

And the next day, and the next day, and the next day………….

After being driven from spot to spot around Abbotsford like nuisance animals [think the rabbits at the University of Victoria] several Canadian citizens who unfortunately have found themselves members of Abbotsford’s homeless community, had come together at a common location.. Being together provided the ability to have someone to guard their belongings and prevent the city hitting the camp when no one was there to rescue belongings.

The location also provided access to people who would help maximize the belongings rescued from the city and has a sanctuary nearby to which any belongings rescued could be taken.

Hence the need for the city to return day after day after day after day………….

I decided not to write anything until revelation of the city’s next tactic, once frustration with the failure of the homeless to disappear drove the city to escalate to a new level.

Today [Tuesday June 4, 2013] the city’s frustration reached the exploding point .

 

I have, and have had, differences with the decisions of Abbotsford’s mayor and council and the consequences the decisions have had, the burdens they  imposed, on Abbotsford’s taxpayers.

Even so I would never have expected, would never have anticipated, Abbotsford’s mayor and council sinking so low.

The City did not sow the earth with salt. Instead the city sowed this patch of earth with a covering of chicken waste – AKA chicken shit.

What is the next step? Capturing the homeless and having the Abbotsford Police Department transport and release them in some non-Abbotsford locality?

And when the homeless find their way home, and Abbotsford is their home, will council decide to follow the University of Victoria’s example and cull them?

I am not sure that either option would necessarily be worse than the contempt, the depraved indifference, of using chicken shit as a weapon, a chemical weapon I suppose, against the homeless?

I know the spring of 2004 was nearly a decade ago but did nobody remember the need for a cull of 1.3 million birds on 42 infected properties.

Speaking of culls, why did nobody reconsider the use of chicken shit as a weapon in light of the 27.5% death rate in China’s current outbreak of bird flu? A flu transmitted to China’s citizens from China’s chickens?

I wonder how Fraser Health’s local Health Protection Office and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will view Abbotsford’s  deployment of their chicken shit weapon?

Of more concern is the consequences of the city ignoring the fact that this noxious material was spread across [on] a major thoroughfare used by the homeless. As a consequence this material has been being tracked throughout Abbotsford since it was spread.

Given the ethical bankruptcy of this action and the callous disregard of negative health consequences the bylaw officers, bylaw manager and city manager have achieved a level of incompetence that demands their replacement.

With the need for a by-election to fill Simon Gibson’s council spot, it will not cost any more to replace the members of council responsible for this twisted action.

You ignore reality and keep acting without though for a long enough period of time and simple mathematical probabilities mean it is only a matter of time until you do something truly asinine.

Finances, Hmmm, Life

When the Door drops.

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A 1988 Mercury Cougar is a boat of a car; which results in doors that are large and heavy. Over time the hinge pins of the driver’s door wear to the point the door sags just enough so that the latch on the door and the latch on the car are out of alignment.

When this happens it leaves you with a door that gives out a loud ‘KlunK’ and bounces open when you try to close it.

Closing the door from the outside is relatively straight forward since you are standing which grants you the power and leverage to raise the door to align door and car latches.

The important point to know [and remember] is to engage the door lock before closing the door. The only lift point is the door handle and applying enough lift to align the latches often results in the door handle being pulled up into the open position.

Locking the door before you close it ensures that should you pull the door handle into the open position, the door opening/unlatching system is not engaged. Just as if you walked up to your locked vehicle and tried to open the door – nothing happens until you unlock the door.

Closing and locking the door from inside when seated is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Because the coupe has bucket seats and a high, wide centre console, using the passenger door for getting in and out of the driver’s seat is not a viable option.

This forces one to deal with the facts that: a) you lose the leverage advantage that standing bestows,; b) being seated limits the muscle groups you can use in closing the door; c) the outside of the car door is metal, fairly solid metal in a 1988 Cougar, while the inside is plastic and while you may find a leverage point to raise the door, after 2 or 3 times the strain will cause the plastic interior of the door to detach from the metal of the door.

Leaving you sitting there thinking “Well, Damn!”

So what do you do?

You employ the Breckenridge Emergency Ingress/Egress Method.

Employing the Breckenridge Emergency Ingress/Egress Method requires only a single piece of additional equipment – a short (approximately 10 feet) piece of rope. I use the yellow nylon rope available at any Dollar Store.

It has good crushability, important when the door closes and compresses the rope. Dollar Store rope also is cheap so that wearing it out is not an issue – you simply cut another 10 foot length of rope.

To close the door one sits in the driver’s seat and pulls the door almost closed, leaving it open about 15 cm (6 in.).

Taking the rope you fold it in half and taking the loop formed at the mid-point you reach down and hook the loop over the bottom corner of the driver’s door; making sure the two sides of the loop are 4 – 6 inches from the corner. It is important to ensure the two sides of the loop are well spaced away from the corner of the door.

If the loop is tightly hooked just on the corner it will most often slip off the corner. Should it not slip off, with the loop in that position there is insufficient leverage to raise the door enough to align the door and car latches to permit the latches to engage and fasten the door closed.

Once the loop is properly positioned on the corner of the door, you wrap the ropes running into the car around your right hand. The right hand because this positioning results in the leverage that will lift and align the door and car latches and securely latch the door closed.

You use your left hand to support the right hand.

Wrapping the rope around your left hand moves the leverage point into a position more directly above the corner of the door. This results in a reduction of leverage that results in a jarring ‘KlunK’ and the door bouncing open. On the rare occasions it does not go ‘KlunK’ the door fails to engage solidly.

When you make your first right turn the driver’s door forcefully swings open.

Newton – an object in motion wants to stay in motion. If the door is not solidly enough latched inertia brings enough force to bear on the point at which the door and car latches have partially engaged to pull the car and door latches apart.

It is only the hinge pins, those same dastardly pins that allowed the door to sag, that absorb the shock/energy generated that keeps the door attached to the car.

As opposed to the door continuing to move along t\he same line of travel dictated by the laws of motion.

When the door latches engage the rope is pinned over the corner of the door. As a result you drive down the road with a telltale line of yellow rope running across the outside corner of the door.

You need to be careful with the lengths of rope inside the car to prevent the rope becoming tangled in you legs and impairing your ability to drive. Either coil the rope ends up and tuck them down and behind the driver’s seat or run the ropes across your lap to the passenger seat.

The Breckenridge Emergency Ingress/Egress Method will minimize the problems and hassle caused by the door sagging out of alignment until one can buy some pins and find someone to install them for you or until you can save the $$$$ needed to shave a mechanic do the installation.

The door dropping does focus one on the Question of whether to Keep or Replace the vehicle?

The windows on the Cougar work at random, infrequent intervals – an inconvenienced when they don’t go down, a problem when they won’t close; only the fact the air conditioner works so well makes the Cougar usable in the summer. As you drive the Cougar around you can feel that the shock absorbers should be replaced and that the transmission needs to be treated with care to squeeze as many miles out of it before it has to be repaired/replaced. Brakes, replacement tire for the front tire that delaminated (how long will the other tires last)…………

Slowly pour $$$$$ into the Cougar or….or bite the bullet and get a new to you used car?

So I find myself letting my friends and acquaintances know I need to find a replacement for the Cougar before it dies and to keep their eyes and ears open for a ‘steal of a deal’ on a replacement automobile. A ‘steal of a deal’ because I need a dependable vehicle and I need to be able to afford to purchase it within my extremely limited budget.

I am hoping to find a dependable vehicle at an ‘extremely affordable’ price – before my……gentle reminders drive friends, acquaintances and anyone who crosses my path crazy.

A dependable, affordable vehicle so this car replacement I can replace at a time of my choosing rather than being forced to scramble and replace in haste when the Cougar dies.

Not to sound paranoid but……..what is going on with me, my car(s) and the Universe?  Arrrggh.

P.S. Should you know of a vehicle, or become aware of a suitable vehicle that will grant me a respite from car woes……….please, pleASE, PLEASE do me the immense favour of bringing this automotive gem to my attention.

Please. And Thank You.