…..is neither an excuse nor permission for citizens to act Stupid.<\/p>\n
A fortunate happenstance for Canada and BC, given the levels of Stupid the Federal and Provincial governments have achieved.<\/p>\n
In point of fact – governments, politicians, corporations, bankers, people etcetera committing a Stupid never provides an excuse or permission for responding with the commission of a Stupid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\/we had to after he\/she\/it\/they did X.\u201d No you didn\u2019t, you could have chosen to act like an adult rather than a sulky two year old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\/we had to after he\/she\/it\/they did X.\u201d So, if there was a line of people jumping off the Lions Gate Bridge you would join the line and jump off the bridge because X, Y and Z jumped off the bridge?<\/p>\n
What had me thinking about the assertion, \u201cI had to commit a Stupid because Mr. X or Ms. Y committed a Stupid\u201d, was listening to someone asserting that because the government was committing Stupid that negatively affected him, it gave him the right to go out and commit a Stupid and that creating a Stupid was the way to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n
Take a look at the world around you. If raising the level of Stupid solved or resolved anything we should be living in paradise given the mind boggling levels of Stupid we have set loose in the world today..<\/p>\n
I am not saying that he did not have a right to be P\u2019d at the government\u2019s behaviour; I am not saying he should not act to resolve the problem; I am saying that adding more Stupid to the world is……..well, Stupid.<\/p>\n
So our victim, let us call him \u2018Larry\u2019………….hmmm – do we need to give him a last name as well?…….Yes? No? Maybe?………argh!……\u2019Nedelkoff\u2019………so Mr. \u2018Nedelkoff\u2019, \u2018Larry\u2019, had found himself in arrears with child support early in the previous decade. Now \u2018Larry\u2019 wasn\u2019t denying or trying to avoid paying what he owed and once he had determined the amount owed he paid it in 2005.<\/p>\n
Over the intervening years, even though \u2018Larry\u2019 had paid the amount owed in 2005, this matter continued to pop up and cause problems for \u2018Larry\u2019. It wasn\u2019t until last year – 2013 \u2013 that someone was able to help \u2018Larry\u2019 find a telephone number for an employee of the federal government who could determine why this ghost continued to haunt \u2018Larry\u2019.<\/p>\n
It turned out that after \u2018Larry\u2019 had been told that he owed X dollars and had paid the X dollars the government told him he owed, some bureaucrat decided there should have been an interest charge and, without ever communicating the assessment of this interest charge to \u2018Larry, added a $9.xx charge to \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 account..<\/p>\n
When \u2018Larry\u2019 finally was able to determine what the problem was, and was fortunate enough to be speaking with someone helpful, as opposed to someone playing \u201cabuse the taxpayer\u201d, the $9.xx had been written off so as to resolve the matter in a straightforward manner and time..<\/p>\n
Leaving \u2018Larry\u2019 believing the matter was finally resolved.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, \u2018Larry\u2019 was dealing the federal Conservative government.<\/p>\n
So of course \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 pension is being garnisheed, leaving him scrambling to manage to pay rent every month and avoid homelessness.<\/p>\n
Let us leave aside for the moment the question of just how tremendously ethically challenged a government, a country and its citizens are when pensions that are the only source of revenue a pensioner has are garnisheed, causing the pensioner to join the growing ranks of the homeless population.<\/p>\n
\u2018Larry\u2019 has the documentation to support his statements that he paid the amount he owed in 2005; that it was not until 2013 that \u2018Larry\u2019 was able to determine that the cause of his continuing problems was a $9.xx charge some bureaucrat imposed without ever notifying \u2018Larry and that the $9.xx was written off to close the matter.<\/p>\n
Meaning the federal government is garnisheeing his pension, making him un-housed \u2013 homeless \u2013 without justification, that is to say: illegally.<\/p>\n
Adding insult to injury there is no information as to where the funds garnisheed from \u2018Larry\u2019 are disappearing to. Well, no information that the federal government is willing to share with \u2018Larry\u2019. Apparently as far as the government is concerned all \u2018Larry\u2019 needs to know is that he isn\u2019t getting the funds not why or where the funds are going.<\/p>\n
Worse, it seems that \u2018Larry\u2019 is not unique. Or so \u2018Larry\u2019 was informed by the Abbotsford News when he took his plight to the News thinking this was a story they would be interested in. Only to be informed that \u2013 Yawn \u2013 it was no big deal, it happened all the time and so was not newsworthy to anyone \u2013 except <\/strong>one supposes: those who it is happening to.<\/strong><\/p>\n The recent acquisition and killing off of the Times leaves no need for the News to publish items of interest or relevance to the citizens of Abbotsford.<\/p>\n Aa well, given the Abbotsford News\u2019s rabid pro Abbotsford Council editorial policy, the News would not want to be publishing any story that might suggest that the homeless on the streets of Abbotsford are not all people who have chosen to be homeless but include those who are homeless because of events beyond their control such as being Victimized by their government.<\/p>\n You would think that with a government where people regularly end up in financial distress as a result of government actions such as the garnishee of pensions for a nonexistent reason or pensions cancelled because the person is declared dead by the government even though clearly they are still among the living, that the government would have built in a……failsafe where people in these situations could easily find and contact someone capable of resolving the matter before the victims end up homeless or dead at the hands of a government that is suppose to protect, not victimize, them.<\/p>\n Failing that you would think that having a member of the federal Conservative government as your MP would be beneficial in getting this matter resolved before one found oneself driven into homelessness \u2013 in winter.<\/p>\n However when \u2018Larry\u2019 went to seek the help of Conservative MP Ed Fast, \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 situation resulting from an action of the federal government, \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 situation was either beyond Mr. Fast\u2019s ability to deal with or to unimportant for Mr. Fast to deal with and \u2018Larry\u2019 was directed to his provincial MLA.<\/p>\n Pointlessly directed since, in order to protect itself from the federal government downloading financial responsibility for \u2018Larry\u2019 from a federal pension to provincial welfare the income assistance system in BC considers \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 income to be the full amount due him from the federal government. Meaning \u2018Larry\u2019 has sufficient income that he does not qualify for income assistance.<\/p>\n Aside:<\/p>\n \u2018Larry\u2019 is not unique in being caught in the \u2018avoid financial responsibility\u2019 war being waged between the federal and provincial governments. A growing number of individuals, who have the misfortune to be dependent on government to survive, have been caught up in and become victims of this war.<\/p>\n The two levels of government are so focused on their financial conflict they either don\u2019t see or don\u2019t care about those who become casualties in their conflict, casualties who sometimes end up homeless senior citizens.<\/p>\n Given the fervour with which both levels of government are pursuing this war, the fervour with which the federal government is pursuing a course of action that seems more about bringing the citizen into a state \u2013 dead \u2013 that matches the governments records, rather than correcting the governments error and return the person to life…………<\/p>\n …..one cannot help but wonder whether these misappropriated funds are being used to fund the gold, diamond encrusted pensions and unconscionably exorbitant salaries of federal MPs and provincial MLAs or the extravagant salaries and pensions of government employees.<\/p>\n Now there is a concept: government that acts with competence and in the best interests of all citizens, not just the privileged few.<\/p>\n Another addition to the list of excellent reasons for citizens to stop accepting the \u2018lesser of evils\u2019 choices the politicians and political parties offer and to replace them with individual citizens with demonstrated trustworthiness, interest and thought about the issues \u2013 and who are willing to lose re-election if that is what is required to do a good job.<\/p>\n Because if the replacements are not willing to risk not being re-elected they are not going to be telling the public unpalatable truths or pushing public discussions and decisions \u2013 uncomfortable decisions \u2013 that are necessary but that citizens want to remain in wilful denial of.<\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n Back to our tale:<\/p>\n When we left \u2018Larry\u2019 he was up the proverbial s**t creek without a paddle, short of the $$$ needed to pay his rent in full.<\/p>\n With no idea of how to get the federal government to acknowledge their error and stop garnisheeing his pension, it is understandable that \u2018Larry\u2019 is worried and incredibly frustrated with the government\u2019s insisting on keeping their Stupid in place.<\/p>\n Which is, as noted at the outset, neither an excuse nor a justification for \u2018Larry\u2019 responding with\u00a0 a Stupid of his own. Such as breaking a window at the Service Canada building and when the police show up, insisting that the police provide him shelter inside.<\/p>\n When I commented that this seemed a rather pyrrhic approach and that just because the government was increasing their level of Stupid, was not an excuse or permission for \u2018Larry\u2019 to add his own Stupid to the ambient level of Stupid,\u2026\u2026\u2018Larry\u2019, unsurprisingly given his mood, pointed out he had not asked for my opinion on his plan to add to the amount of Stupid involved in this matter..<\/p>\n \u201cLarry\u2019 was correct, he hadn\u2019t asked for my opinion, but this it is a mater of concern to \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 fellow Canadians because:<\/p>\n a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If we let the government do this to \u2018Larry\u2019, how long before they are doing some such thing to the rest of us?<\/p>\n b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vandalism comes out of taxpayers pockets.<\/p>\n c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Police are a municipal expense, letting the federal government be successful in downloading the cost of housing \u2018Larry\u2019 to a lower level of government.<\/p>\n Instead of vandalism, \u2018Larry\u2019 needs to gather bedding, clothing, toiletries and entertainment\/work materials together and arrive at MP Ed Fast\u2019s office just before closing. After he has notified the broadcast media of his need to take up residence in Abbotsford\u2019s MP\u2019s constituency office as a consequence of the federal government choosing to make \u2018Larry\u2019 homeless by refusing to correct the government\u2019s error [Adjusting his move in time to accommodate the media\u2019s deadlines should that be necessary].<\/p>\n If the federal Conservative government is responsible for \u2018Larry\u2019 becoming homeless, the federal Conservative government should be providing \u2018Larry\u2019 with housing.<\/p>\n Hopefully this will motivate our federal government representative, Conservative MP Ed Fast, to have the wrongful garnishee of \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 pension corrected.<\/p>\n If not there is Plan B – pitching a tent on Mr. Fast\u2019s front lawn.<\/p>\n Sadly:\u00a0 politicians, political parties and governments have made it clear that citizens need to find ways, often creatively maladjusted ways, to force them to do their job \u2013 looking out for the best interests of citizens.<\/p>\n If Canadians want a government that is concerned about the welfare of all Canadians, not just Corporations, the Well To Do and politicians, then Canada needs a Revolution.<\/p>\n A Revolution not of guns and bullets but of Thought; a Revolution where voters no longer meekly accept the \u2018lesser of evil\u2019 choices offered by the political parties and instead take action and assert their Right to chose and elect someone interested in their welfare and their future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …..is neither an excuse nor permission for citizens to act Stupid. A fortunate happenstance for Canada and BC, given the levels of Stupid the Federal and Provincial governments have achieved. In point of fact – governments, politicians, corporations, bankers, people etcetera committing a Stupid never provides an excuse or permission for responding with the commission of a Stupid. \u201cI\/we had to after he\/she\/it\/they did X.\u201d No you didn\u2019t, you could have chosen to act like an adult rather than a sulky two year old. \u201cI\/we had to after he\/she\/it\/they did X.\u201d So, if there was a line of people jumping off the Lions Gate Bridge you would join the line and jump off the bridge because X, Y and Z jumped off the bridge? What had me thinking about the assertion, \u201cI had to commit a Stupid because Mr. X or Ms. Y committed a Stupid\u201d, was listening to someone asserting that because the government was committing Stupid that negatively affected him, it gave him the right to go out and commit a Stupid and that creating a Stupid was the way to resolve the matter. Take a look at the world around you. If raising the level of Stupid solved or resolved anything we should be living in paradise given the mind boggling levels of Stupid we have set loose in the world today.. I am not saying that he did not have a right to be P\u2019d at the government\u2019s behaviour; I am not saying he should not act to resolve the problem; I am saying that adding more Stupid to the world is……..well, Stupid. So our victim, let us call him \u2018Larry\u2019………….hmmm – do we need to give him a last name as well?…….Yes? No? Maybe?………argh!……\u2019Nedelkoff\u2019………so Mr. \u2018Nedelkoff\u2019, \u2018Larry\u2019, had found himself in arrears with child support early in the previous decade. Now \u2018Larry\u2019 wasn\u2019t denying or trying to avoid paying what he owed and once he had determined the amount owed he paid it in 2005. Over the intervening years, even though \u2018Larry\u2019 had paid the amount owed in 2005, this matter continued to pop up and cause problems for \u2018Larry\u2019. It wasn\u2019t until last year – 2013 \u2013 that someone was able to help \u2018Larry\u2019 find a telephone number for an employee of the federal government who could determine why this ghost continued to haunt \u2018Larry\u2019. It turned out that after \u2018Larry\u2019 had been told that he owed X dollars and had paid the X dollars the government told him he owed, some bureaucrat decided there should have been an interest charge and, without ever communicating the assessment of this interest charge to \u2018Larry, added a $9.xx charge to \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 account.. When \u2018Larry\u2019 finally was able to determine what the problem was, and was fortunate enough to be speaking with someone helpful, as opposed to someone playing \u201cabuse the taxpayer\u201d, the $9.xx had been written off so as to resolve the matter in a straightforward manner and time.. Leaving \u2018Larry\u2019 believing the matter was finally resolved. Unfortunately, \u2018Larry\u2019 was dealing the federal Conservative government. So of course \u2018Larry\u2019s\u2019 pension is being garnisheed, leaving him scrambling to manage to pay rent every month and avoid homelessness. Let us leave aside for the moment the question of just how tremendously ethically challenged a government, a country and its citizens are when pensions that are the only source of revenue a pensioner has are garnisheed, causing the pensioner to join the growing ranks of the homeless population. \u2018Larry\u2019 has the documentation to support his statements that he paid the amount he owed in 2005; that it was not until 2013 that \u2018Larry\u2019 was able to determine that the cause of his continuing problems was a $9.xx charge some bureaucrat imposed without ever notifying \u2018Larry and that the $9.xx was written off to close the matter. Meaning the federal government is garnisheeing his pension, making him un-housed \u2013 homeless \u2013 without justification, that is to say: illegally. Adding insult to injury there is no information as to where the funds garnisheed from \u2018Larry\u2019 are disappearing to. Well, no information that the federal government is willing to share with \u2018Larry\u2019. Apparently as far as the government is concerned all \u2018Larry\u2019 needs to know is that he isn\u2019t getting the funds not why or where the funds are going. Worse, it seems that \u2018Larry\u2019 is not unique. Or so \u2018Larry\u2019 was informed by the Abbotsford News when he took his plight to the News thinking this was a story they would be interested in. Only to be informed that \u2013 Yawn \u2013 it was no big deal, it happened all the time and so was not newsworthy to anyone \u2013 except one supposes: those who it is happening to. The recent acquisition and killing off of the Times leaves no need for the News to publish items of interest or relevance to the citizens of Abbotsford. Aa well, given the Abbotsford News\u2019s rabid pro Abbotsford Council editorial policy, the News would not want to be publishing any story that might suggest that the homeless on the streets of Abbotsford are not all people who have chosen to be homeless but include those who are homeless because of events beyond their control such as being Victimized by their government. You would think that with a government where people regularly end up in financial distress as a result of government actions such as the garnishee of pensions for a nonexistent reason or pensions cancelled because the person is declared dead by the government even though clearly they are still among the living, that the government would have built in a……failsafe where people in these situations could easily find and contact someone capable of resolving the matter before the victims end up homeless or dead at the hands of a government that is suppose to protect, not victimize, them. Failing that you would think that having a member of the federal Conservative government as your MP would be beneficial in getting this matter … Continue reading The Government Acting Stupid……<\/span>