16 May 2012
Yesterday Michael Rafferty was sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal rape and murder of Tori Stafford. At his sentence
hearing Rafferty essentially taunted Tori's family in his statement when he offered to speak to Tori's mother in private to fill 
in the true details of Tori's ordeal. I think that if Rafferty is going to be taunting Tori's family from prison such as Clifford
Olson did for years then this is another reason why capital punishment might be warranted in cases where there is no doubt that a murder 
was committed. Rafferty committed a heinous crime against Tori but the crime against the eight people who gave victim impact statements
at the hearing may be the most debilitating of all. They are truly serving a life sentence of sorrow and heartbreak.



10 May 2012
The recently appointed leader of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair, said the Alberta oilsands is like a disease to the Canadian economy. He thinks 
the strong Alberta economy is responsible for raising the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar. Mulcair feels that this parity with the
US dollar is harming the Canadian manufacturing industry's ability to compet with other countrys' manufactured products.  
The Canadian dollar is within a cent of the US dollar. How much lower than the US dollar does Mulcair think the Canadian dollar
should be so that the Canadian manufacturing industry can be competitive with other countries' products? Maybe Mulcair thinks that Canada 
should be driven into a deep recession so that our Canadian dollar will fall relative to the US dollar? Maybe the Canadian manufacturing
industry has to become more efficient to be competitive with it's US counterpart. I can see the provincial governments making
statements like this but the NDP is a national party that is making regional statements. How can they hope to be anything other
than a regional party? They are the official opposition but for how long?
I think the surge of the NDP as a national power and the official opposition may have died with Jack Layton. 




03 May 2012
What qualifies former Supreme Court justice John Major to head a review of Alberta MLAs and Premier's salaries?
I wonder how much John Major gets for finding out that top level Alberta civil servants are overpaid and then 
recommending that the premier get a large raise to more than the Prime Minister of Canada so that she makes more
than these overpaid civil servants. It is going to be interesting to see the size of the cabinet when Alison
Redford announces it next week. Will she increase or decrease the size of it?  



27 April 2012
Many people post Alberta election are saying that the same old party was voted back in but with 35 MLAs not returning 
to Edmonton either because they were defeated or retired that means there is 35 new MLAs and with about 20 of them being 
new PCs then over 1/3 of the PC caucus is new MLAs. Many of the old guard did not return including old MLAs such as Ed Stelmach, 
Iris Evans, Ron Leipert, and Ken Kowalski. With so many new MLAs and the old guard who are gone Alison Redford should have a 
fresh new cabinet. Maybe the old Tory  party and supporters are now Wildrose supporters so a Wildrose led Government would have 
actually been the old party. Many of the Wildrose supporters have the same arrogant attitude as the pre-election Tory government. 
ie they know best and everyone else is stupid.




25 April 2012
Alison Redford will face 4 years of heavy opposition not from the Wildrose but from the media such as the Sun papers and news network. In today's
paper she was called "the underdog, scandal-beleaguered Tory Premier" Maybe Redford wasn't an underdog, maybe the polls were wrong from
the beginning. How can the polls be random and accurate? If they phone 800-1000 people there may be less than half of those who are eligible 
to vote and of those only 51% actually vote. How accurate is a poll like that?
One of the comments in the Sun was "I'm ashamed to be an Albertan. Nobody said the Conservatives were stupid, but people who
vote for them are." Is this the thinking of the people who support the Wildrose? If this is true then there is alot of stupid people in Alberta
who voted for the PC's. If someone supports the Wildrose's promises such as looking at an Alberta pension plan and a provincial police force
then are they smart? Pensions plans are one of the biggest liabilities faced by countries and companies. Ask Greece and GM what they think about
pensions plans. I like the history and traditions of the RCMP and don't think a provincial police force would do a better job of policing in 
rural Alberta. And as for the Wildroses' promise to use citizen-initiated referendums to decide important public policy issues we know 
what a success this is in California. If I vote for a person I expect them to be capable of making decisions that are in line with my
philosophy without having an expensive referendum for everything.


24 April 2012
Today everyone has their theory on why the PC's won a majority in the Alberta election and the Wildrose didn't. 
All the polls seemed to indicate at least a Wildrose minority government and possibly a majority but maybe these polls are flawed.
Alot of people don't answer these polling phone calls. I know that when there is a phone call from someone I don't know that I tend to
ignor the phone call and when I do answer if it is a polling phone call I usually don't answer truthfully thinking it's none of their
business who I'm voting for. I also wonder where these polling companies get their telephone lists since I was phoned several times on my 
cell phone. The only place that that number is available is on the Tory party list. 
I wonder how many people where turned away from the Wildrose because of the obvious bias displayed by the press especially Sun News
both print and TV for this party. 




19 April 2012
Wildrose candidate, Ron Leech, says as a caucasian he has an advantage over the other candidates who are not caucasian because 
"when different community leaders, such as a Sikh leader or a Muslim leader speaks, they really speak to their own people in many ways. 
But as a Caucasian I believe I can speak to all the community." I think what he meant when he said this was that when these 
non-Causaian candidates speak only similar ethnic people listen but when a Caucasian speaks all nationalities listen. 
He now says "What I was trying to say is that's it's not a disadvantage for me to be Caucasian to represent 
the diverse cultures of my riding."
I wonder if this is what Danielle Smith said he was trying to say?


18 April 2012
One of the most interesting facts to come out of the election is by Raj Sherman when he said that the revenue from corporate and personal
income tax doesn't even cover the health care portion of our provincial budget. The health care portion of the provincial budget is $16 Billion
of the $44 Billion budget. The personal and corporate income tax only amounts to $12 Billion. Raj Sherman is proposing that high income 
individuals and corporations have a higher rate for taxes. Maybe it is time for a sales tax in Alberta so that we don't have to rely
on the price of oil to balance our budget. Can we continue to hire more teachers when the price of oil is up and cut back on teachers when the price is down? 
Most of the promises being made by the leaders during the election are based on a surplus
from the increased price of oil.
Comments can be sent to 
reply@thecalgaryblog.com
 

08 April 2012
On March 31 two young men were pushing their disabled car SW of Red Deer when they were struck by a car driven by an impaired driver. 
One of the young men died at the scene of the accident and the other one died three days later in the hospital. The driver of the 
car has been charged with impaired driving causing death along with several other charges.
The provincial Tory party is proposing a new tougher stance on drinking and driving by introducing a new level of enforcement of .05-.08.
For the last 12 years Alberta drivers with a blood-alcohol level of .05-.08 had their license suspended for 24 hours. The new penalty 
for first time offenders for this level will be a three day driver's license suspension and their vehicle impounded. 
The vehicle impoundment seems excessive especially for one car families. 
The driver of the car that killed these two young men will probably get two years in prison. If they want to make a statement about drinking
and driving why don't they clamp down on the over .08 drivers especially the ones that kill someone. No one has gotten more than six years
for vehicular homicide when the maximum for manslaughter is life with no minimum. Maybe there should be a minimum for vehicular manslaughter
such as ten years.  


02 April 2012
Now that the government is doing away with the penny have we seen the last of the item for $19.99 and will the merchant just price
the item at $20 or will they still price it at $19.99 knowing that they will actually get $20.00. Is this false advertising. There is
very seldom if ever something that is advertised at $20 because $19.99 sounds more attractive. Checking today's paper the majority of
items are advertised with numerals ending in 8 or 9 whether it is only dollars such as $999 or dollars and cents such as $9.99.
Are the majority of people in favor of getting rid of the penny or is it the merchants who don't like handling the change? 
It will change alot of traditions such as the "Take a penny, leave a penny" containers at check-out counters, and the nightly 
act of throwing change in a container might change if people have less in their pockets or purses.
Comments can be sent to 
reply@thecalgaryblog.com


28 Mar 2012
With the Alberta provincial election coming, I am wondering why people vote for who they do. 
Will people be more inclined to vote for the party based on past performance or future promises. People have a short memory
based on the last Calgary municipal election where all but one of the aldermen who voted for the Peace Bridge and ran for 
re-election were returned to office. I wonder if political parties count on this? Is the PC party hoping that voters
forget about the poor state of the health care, the pay for nothing committee, the Gary Mar raffle. and Alison Redford's
absence from question period. Danielle Smith is promising a balanced budget based on a Budget and Savings Act. Do we want
a provincial government with a mandated balanced budget or do we want a government that is fiscally responsible and cuts out 
waste and becomes more efficient to reduce the budget? I don't want services that we require cut just so the budget can be balanced.

In the 1993 Alberta provincial election 60.2% of eligible voters cast a vote compared to a low of 40.2% in the 2008 election. 
Fifty-one out of eighty-three seats went to the PCs in the the 1993 election and seventy-two out of eighty-three in the 2008 election. 
Does this mean that when the outcome of the election seems more certain people are less inclined to vote maybe thinking their vote means 
less than in a close election? This means that there will be a higher turn-out in in the 2012 election.
Comments can be sent to 
reply@thecalgaryblog.com

21 Mar 2012
What kind of a message does the sentence given to Graham James send to other predators of young children. Graham James is
possibly the worst example of child abuse. We know of at least five young kids that were entrusted to him because of his position
in junior hockey and he abused this trust. These young men have stated how these attacks have affected their lives. In the case of
Theo Fleury and Todd Holt it took years for them to be able to lay charges against Graham James. 
Sadly Graham James isn't the worst example of adult cruelty towards children. Right now before the courts is the trial of Michael
Rafferty for the sexual abuse and murder of Tori Stafford. It is impossible to read about the calculated ordeal that Rafferty 
and his girlfriend put this poor little eight old girl through without getting sick. I think it is time for these predators
to receive an appropriate penalty not the slap on the wrist Graham James has received so far. He served about 18 months
for his assault of Sheldon Kennedy and could serve as little as 8 months of his current 2 year sentence for his abuse of 
Holt and Fleury. That means that in total he will have served about 26 months for his abuse of these five young men. I wonder who
thinks this is enough for the lifetime of memories these men are going through. Not me. What is an appropriate sentence for
Michael Rafferty and his girlfriend? Does the judge ever listen to the victim impact statements? I'm sure the parents and acquaintances
of Tori Stafford have been sentenced to a lifetime of memories and heartache. Should the penalty be worse for the victims or the
perpetrator of the crime. Maybe it's time to bring back the death penalty for these people who commit these hideous crimes.
What should James', who has ruined at least five lives, sentence be? Would life in prison be too much? I know of at least five people
who might not think so. 



20 Mar 2012
In the last week or so there have been several instances that have been prominent in provincial politics.
The items were the questionable Gary Mar fund raiser, the pay for nothing committee, and Alison Redford's absence 
from question period 5 out of 7 times. There has been alot of comment in the papers about the do-nothing committee
and who is giving the money back and that Alison Redford has left it up to individual Tory caucus members whether
they give back the money or not. My question would be "did the party leaders know about this committee prior to it
being brought to the public's attention and if they didn't why not?" As party leaders they should know what 
committees there are and what they do. Raj Sherman obviously knew about the committee because he was on it and received
payments. Alison Redford was on the committee but says she didn't receive any payments because she is on cabinet.
As party leaders they should know what's going on in the provincial legislature and not wait for stuff to come out in the
media. Alison Redford is right that these MLAs haven't done anything legally wrong but what about morally. To return 
the money now only means that they are bowing to public pressure.
It will be interesting to see how the Gary Mar incident will turn out. If the leadership battle is any indication Gary Mar
probably has more support in the Tory caucus than Alison Redford. Only one MLA backed Alison Redford in the leadership race.
Alison Redford's absence from question period brings back memories of the last provincial election where the Torys didn't 
attend any of the candidate forums and just counted on their popularity to get them re-elected. If the polls are correct the
Torys may get re-elected using the same tactics.      



13 Mar 2012
Hand in the Cookie Jar
21 Alberta MLAs were eligible to be paid $1,000 per month to sit on the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing 
Orders and Printing that didn't meet for 39 months.
Alison Redford announced that it's a personal decision if members of her caucus return the money or not.
Raj Sherman decided to return the money he received for this committee and challenged other MLAs to return the money they received to 
to the legislative assembly. If they return the money now it really doesn't show character it only means they were caught with their 
hands in the cookie jar.
It's not what you do when people are watching it's what you do when they aren't watching.



07 Mar 2012
Personal and Political Values
In Alison Redford's leadership campaign news release on June 7, 2011 she called for a judicial inguiry in light of growing
accusations of political interference in the health-care system. She stated that Dr. Duckett's statement that people of
the political class were accustomed to being granted higher access in the system than those who were not as connected and
earlier allegations of a culture of intimidation has provided an impetus to call for an independent inquiry.
Alison said "My call for an inquiry is about finding out the truth and putting a stop to practises that go 
against my personal and political values..."
Because Alison Redford has now limited an inquiry to queue jumping maybe she should tell us how her personal and 
political values may have changed. Are her new personal and political values based on getting re-elected? 



02 Mar 2012
How Important Is A Human Life? Are people willing to gamble another kid's life to save a dog's life?

On Feb 15 of this year a two day old baby boy was attacked by his family's 9 year old famale Husky dog. Unfortunately this young
boy passed away 15 hours later. Now people are trying to justify why the dog did this and are suggesting why this dog shouldn't 
be euthanized. People are actually applying to adopt this dog. Apparently the dog had been locked in a kennel in the owner's basement 
but escaped and went upstairs where the baby was unattended. For whatever reason the dog bit the baby's head which proved to be fatal.
The fact that the parents had locked the dog in a kennel doesn't absolve the parents from all blame. It is obvious that the kennel
wasn't adequate to hold the dog. The dog was one of four that the parents own that are used as sled dogs and are also treated as pets.
In the North, sled dogs are kept as working dogs only. In many cases they are kept on chains separated from the other dogs 
when they are not working. They are not kept in their owner's home as pets. There is some question as to whether Huskys should 
be maintained in the dual role of pet and sled dog.
Why would anyone want to adopt this dog? They don't have any attachment to it. If they really want to adopt a dog there are
lots of other dogs with a lot less baggage. You wouldn't be able to trust this dog. You wouldn't be able to put it out in your
backyard unattended. What if the kids next door were rough housing? Would the dog think there was something wrong and go after
one of them? If this dog is adopted it should only go to someone who has sled dogs and wouldn't have it as a pet.
Rumors are that some people want to adopt it so they can put it down.



25 Feb 2012
The premier has said that there will be a full judicial inquiry into Alberta health care. How many more inquiries and commissions 
do we have to have. How many times have we had a re-organization of the Alberta Health System? Each time these re-organizations 
cost Albertans several millions in packages for vice presidents of health units that were let go. Why do we have to give packages to people 
that are not doing their jobs. If there is queue jumping and executives and CEOs know that it is happening then why is there not
some consequences? Why was there an inquiry by the Health Quality Council of Alberta if there wasn't going to be any action taken
on their findings and recommendations? I think it is time that governments both city and provincial stop using inquiries to
essentially delay public opinion. The results of this latest inquiry won't be known until after the next provincial election.
This delay would be most beneficial to the Alberta Conservative Party.    



17 Feb 2012 
Where are all the people that complain about things such as the Peace Bridge at election time? Election time is when we 
have the opportunity to have our say and vote people in or out of office based on our satisfaction with their record
in office. If this is true why did only one alderman who voted for the Peace Bridge lose their seat in the last election?
Whiners must not be voters. 
	



13 Feb 2012
I often wonder how much water is used to clean up cans and plastic containers prior to re-cycling. Sometimes it's hard 
not to get caught up in some cause. Before we start re-cycling some item there should be some research into how
much resources will be used compared to using new raw material to make new items. Does it really matter how long it takes some 
plastic item such as a plastic bag to decompose as long as it is properly disposed of in some landfill site. Someday we may be 
short of some resources such as water or energy and may not be able to re-cycle certain items that require a lot. 


 
05 Feb 2012
Calgary city council is questioning whether they should proceed with downtown shared bike plan or not.
They estimate the plan would cost $2.1 million to create and another $400,00 to launch which means they would be able to keep
it less than $5 Million in actual dollars. I think the shared bike project could be an excellent brother project
to the bridge we don't need. 



05 Feb 2012
Calgary city council is considering passing a by-law that would require private home owners to get a permit to cut down a tree on their 
property. Everyone knows or suspects how long this would take. If you have a tree that is causing a problem and wish to
cut it down would you want it to take 30-60 days to get a permit. I had a friend who had two trees planted too close
to the front of her house. When the wind was blowing these trees would sway and hit the house. This problem was not going to get
solved unless the trees were removed. They were removed and replaced with a more suitable tree placed in a better location. People will
plant trees on their property but would they plant spruce and aspens if they knew that they couldn't be removed if they became too big and
unmamageable. I'm sorry but I don't have enough confidence in City Hall to have them deciding how I can landscape or change my
property. 




04 Feb 2012
Since July 2011 there has been seven deaths in Calgary and ten province wide from ecstasy use and now Calgary city council wants 150 thousand 
dollars allocated for the education against drug use. Surely the people using these drugs have heard and know the dangers of drug use. 
That's what parents and schools are for. If any money is allocated it should go to finding the sellers and manufacturers of these drugs 
and then they should get the maximum penalty possible. 



12 Jan 2012
There has been five overdose deaths due to people thinking they were taking ecstasy but in fact they were taking an methamphetamine
which is five times more potent than ecstasy. Should the people who sold these drugs be charged with manslaughter? Maybe the penalties
for trafficking should be more severe. Should the penalty fit the crime? What should the penalty be for five deaths? We don't have the
death penalty in Canada and probably the death penalty wouldn't be given for manslaughter but I think a sentence of at least ten years 
would be in order. 



11 Jan 2012
I am posting this list for anyone that would like to be a sport columnist or TV commentator

"Someday he'll tell his grandkids it was a top shelfer over the glove.” 
"Play a full 60 minutes" 
"Throw the puck on the net" 
"Backs against the wall" 
"Net presence" 
"Good road period" 
"Get the puck on the net" 
"Score that ugly goal" 
"Dog the puck" 
"Already plays with men" 
"Unbelievable" 
"You know" 
"Better and better" 
"Giving 110%" 
"Taking it one game (or one period, or one shift) at a time" 
"Whoever scores the next goal will have all of the momentum" 
"Squeezing the stick" 
"We got some lucky bounces" 
"The guys are hungry" 
"Shaking off the rust" 
"Keep it simple" 
"Need to shoot more" 
"Can’t look at the standings" 
"Play both ends of the rink" 
"Remember that save" 
"He’s a high energy guy" 
"In the best shape of my life" 
"The next goal is huge" 
"Doing what he does best" 
"He’s good in the room" 
"The big save" 
"Standing on his head" 
"He does all the little things right" 
"He knows how to win" 
"Big body presence" 
"The goalie is the team’s best penalty killer" 
"He’s willing to pay the price" 
"Compete level" 
"A scoring chance on one end turns into a goal on the other" 
"Time is their biggest enemy right now"
"That’s a goal scorer’s goal"
"That hit was a game changer/momentum shifter" 

09 Jan 2012
Everyone wants the Flames to trade Iginla and Kiprusoff and start to rebuild. What would they get for Iginla or Kipper? Even if they
got a first round pick for either one of them would the Flames be any better? Look at the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers
have had two first overall draft picks in the last two years and look where they are at in the standings. The Toronto Maple Leafs
have been rebuilding for forty years. The only time a team should trade a player is if it improves their team. 
 


06 Jan 2012
Last night the Flames were beaten 9-0 by the Boston Bruins. People are calling for the firing of the coach. Maybe what is wrong with
the Flames is the owners and Ken King. Think about it. How long did they put up with Darryl's mismanagement? Now how long will they put 
up with the country club atmosphere of the Flames organization. They play when they want which doesn't seem to be very often. I think they 
should get rid of Ken King. He's the one who has allowed the Flames to get where they are today. What has he ever done? 
Ken King worked for Cana when they were the project manager for the construction of the Saddledome. The construction of the Saddledome 
was mismanaged and came in at a 25% cost overrun.  
 



11 Nov 2011
Is two minutes once a year enough? I think the government needs to do more for the returning veterans.  Do we know how many have post traumatic stress
syndrome? Should something be done to save the legions from having to close down. These are places that they can go to and feel relaxed.


06 Nov 2011
What's this the Occupy Calgary protesters want the Keystone Pipeline shut down along with their other demands. They want no new trade agreements with Europe. 
Who do they want these agreements with? China? We already have a trade deficit with the Asian countries. The Keystone Pipeline will deliver 700,000 barrels 
of oil a day to the refineries on the Eastern Seaboard of the US. Where will the US get the oil to replace these 700,000 barrels. They don,t want to increase 
the drilling off the California coast.

Is it time to increase the penalties for crime. If the penalty was more severe would people be less inclined to commit these crimes? I don't care if 
they are minors the penalty should be more severe. The person or persons responsible for the vandalism to the war memorials aren't going to learn 
anything by a minimal penalty. Maybe the people directly affected by the crime should get to determine the penalty within the limits set by law. 
There would be more maximum penalties with no early parole.

14 Sept 2011
How long are Calgarians going to take the nonsense that goes on at Calgary City Hall? They have a massive cost over-run on the 16th Ave expansion then 
ask the Fire Department to take a 7 million dollar budget reduction. This reduction may lead to closure of fire halls and job reductions. Who authorizes
 these cost over-runs? Maybe Tracy McTaggart did uncover mismanagement of money at city hall and the audit by Deloitte was just a cover-up. 



02 Sept 2011
How can the people who are questioning the ad by a salon depicting a bruised and battered woman who is made up fashionablely 
as violence against women use violence against the salon? I think it would be good for a battered person to feel good about themselves by presenting themselves in a positive way.



18 Aug 2011
There are several controversial questions that may not have a definititive answer. These questions include legalized abortion, legialized marijuana,
and same sex marriage. One question that is not controversial but is more of a personal choice is whether soon to be new parents should find out the
sex of their unborn child. My personal feeling is that with all the medical expertise that we have today we have given the unborn child a personality.
We test these unborn children for genetic defects, do in utero surgeries, and follow their developement with multiple ultrasounds.
Why then should they not have a name?


 
13 June 2011
I think rooting for Vancouver Canucks is like going into a Canadian Store to support Canaian manufacturing and then buying something
made in China. When the players are allowed to take the Stanley Cup to their hometown this summer would you rather it go to some 
small town in Saskchewan or to Sweden?



01 June 2011
Today I went to the CIBC to deposit a cheque to my line of credit. The cheque was issued by the government of Canada. The teller
informed me that there would be a three day hold on the cheque. Now I'm sure that there is people out there that could figure out 
how to swindle the bank out of some money in this scenario but I've been banking at the CIBC for over 45 years. I had my business accounts
there, I had my mortage there, and I continue to have my personal accounts there. Can someone not figure out how to identify the very low risk
clients of the bank? I wonder if anyone has ever figured out what crime and terrorism costs the average citizen? How much extra do things cost
us because of crime? Things such as shoplifting, bank fraud, stolen cars, vandalism, and terrorism add large amounts to our daily lives?
Is it time to start making criminals pay more and make the penalities more severe for their offenses? How much more do airline tickets cost
because of the security that is necessary at airports?



26 May 2011
Is the Calgary Airport Authority a good corporate citizen? They seem to be holding the Calgary city council at ransom. They'll allow the tunnel to
be built under the new runway but with conditions. One of the weirdest conditions would be that the ends of the tunnel would be sealed
unti interchanges are constructed at each end. I think it would be best to wait on the construction of these interchanges until they are needed.
I don't understand why the Airport Authority isn't pushing for the tunnel to improve access to the airport from the east.   



24 May 2011
Today in the Calgary Sun there was a poll by Abacus Data. The questions asked were
DID BIN LADEN GET WHAT HE DESERVED?
TREAT TERRORISTS LIKE OTHER CRIMINALS?
STATEMENTS ABOUT BIN LADEN MISSION 
RIGHT THING TO DO?


Why would the Calgary Sun commission such a poll? Does anyone care if 82% of respondents said yes he got what he deserved or
that most of those that said no were more likely to be under 30 years old? NDP supporters and younger Canadian were more likely to
feel he should have been taken alive. Thirty-four percent believed that he should have been taken alive so that he could have appeared
before a judge. Maybe he'll appear before the same judge as the people killed in the twin towers  and flight 93 on 9-11?

9 May 2011
Today in the Calgary Sun it was reported that Steven Hirsch of Vivid Entertainment has sent a letter to Pippa Middleton offering her
$5 million to appear in one scene of a porn movie. The Sun said he became interested after seeing her dance with a man in her bra at
a party during Kate and Williams' wedding. I think if she can get a man in her bra and still dance that I'd like to see that movie.
Or maybe they meant that she was dancing with a man while only wearing a bra on top. It could change the movie quite abit. 


04 May 2011
The US for fear of retaliation against them by Muslim extremists is reluctant to release pictures confirming bin Laden's death. Is the US still
being terrorized by bin Laden even in death? The people who had relatives and friends killed on 9/11 may want to see pictures to help them with
closure. How much respect does the US owe bin Laden?



03 May 2011
I wonder how much the federal election in Canada is influenced by the media and how much is actually based on voters' own knowledge of the parties' 
platforms. I think anyone reporting on anything political during an election campaign should have to announce what party they are supporting.
Any company that does polls should have to announce their party preference. The collapse of the bloc in Quebec could have been aided by the media
reporting that the NDP was gaining support in Quebec even before it happened. People sometimes just jump on the bandwagon. 
Is the general public knowledgable on what the key issues are and which party most closely matches there own needs. How many people vote 
consistently for a party without knowing what the agenda is for that party. How many people in Canada believe that the corporate tax rate should be less
than 20% and how many people even know what their personal rate is?


29 Apr 2011 
Wow we have an election on 02 may and who to vote for. Stephen Harper is bent on lowering the corporate tax in increments to around 16% while the US 
rate is over 30%. An article in the Globe and Mail says there is only a 20% return on corporate tax reductions while if you take that about of money and
invest it in infrastructure there is a 150% return. A corporate tax reduction just gives large companies more money to pay their CEOs bigger bonuses.
Jack Layton wants to tax the oil companies in some way such as a cap and trade which will drive gas prices even higher. This doesn't leave much to vote
for ...the Liberals or the Green party. Once again I say .....WOW!  


24 Feb 2011
30 days ago people were indignant that the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council had deemed the Dire Strait song "Money for Nothing" not suitable
for play on the radio. What happened to this indignation?


30 Jan 2011
Does Ted Morton not realize that during the last Tory leadership convention in Alberta many people in Alberta
voted not for Ed Stelmach but against him and Jim Dinning. What does he think has changed? Many people at that time thought that with Ted Morton 
or Jim Dinning we would have more of Ralph Klein's slash and burn (blow up) type of economics. 


24 Jan 2011
UPDATE
I heard that the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council was reviewing their decision on "Money For Nothing".


24 Jan 2011 
I thought what's wrong with people when I heard that someone in New Foundland issued a complaint because they were offended by the 
Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing". The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council deemed the song unacceptable for play on Canadian 
radio based on this complaint. I wonder why this person didn't just do what I did when I heard someone on a sports talk show talking 
like they had a hair lip. I changed the station. 
 


01 Dec 2010
Alberta Tory Party wants to do a five year plan to reduce wait times.
.....you can't legislate wait times......you have to create them.
If you constantly have 300 sick people who require hospitialization and you only have 250 beds then you have to build 
(or open) 50 more beds. If you build ten new operating rooms in Calgary why would you create a five year plan to reduce waiting
times for hip surgeries? Just open the operating rooms! 
If you postpone required and needed things then they will likely cost more later. 

30 Nov 2010
The Schnick Principle
"One incompetent manager can be like a virus that eventually infects a whole department or company."

Are we becoming a culture where incompetency controls companies and organizations? If you are an incompetent manager are you going to hire and 
surround yourself with competent people or are you going to surround yourself with incompetent people who won't expose you for
what you are. Incompetent people aren't going to expose the incompetent manager because that person is their protector. Experience means 
nothing in the environment of an incompetent manager. If you can keep the experienced competent people far enough away from you then an 
incompetent manager can still get the work done effectively and actually have a high performing department.  Gradually however such a 
department will develop an atmosphere of suspicion and low moral and the competent people will eventually move on to other departments  or 
companies and be replaced by people with similar characteristics as the manager. Government departments are a good place for this to happen 
because profit isn't their bottom line only the perception that everything is running smoothly.  This scenario isn't hard to achieve when the 
manager and everyone around that person is incompetent and they may actually think they are doing a good job. Eventually the whole department 
will become incompetent and poor performing with no way of improving as there isn't any proper quality training for new employees.
Remember there is no reward for doing a good job in this scenario but the reward for doing a bad job is the Dilbert principle 
i.e."incompetent employees are intentionally promoted to prevent them from doing harm" or as Dogbert says in the Dilbert strip of 
February 5, 1995 "leadership is nature's way of removing morons from the productive flow.”

Is the Alberta Tory Party operating under the Schnick Principle? Since the days of Ralph Klein's leadership the province has been
run using economics as the bottom line not physical requirements. We are building a $1.4B hospital in SE Calgary when the 
original cost when it was first proposed in the 1990's was $400M but because of Ralph Klein's desire to have the province debt free
the hospital was postponed. By doing this the government essentially created a $1B infrastructal debt. Is the provincial government
surrounding itself with people that think the province has to be run based on economic decisions? Is that why the Alberta Health Board
has been cutting hospital beds and not opening new operating rooms that have been built? How can it be prudent to invest millions 
on new facilities then leave them empty?


26 Nov 2010
At one time people came up through the ranks to management. This system wasn't perfect but at least the managers knew
what was required to get the job done. The Alberta government operates on the same principle as many large corporations and agencies. 
They need a CEO for the health care system so instead of getting someone who is familiar  with the system they go to Australia to hire someone.
What would you rather have for the Alberta Health Board a manager with a degree in management or a medical doctor or other working health
professional that can also manage?  
Who would make a better manager for the Health Care system Stephen Duckett or Raj Sherman.  Dr. Sherman says the system is broken and 
needs fixing. Duckett eats a cookie. Do all the MLAs that voted Dr Sherman off caucus believe that they are doing the right thing or 
were they told to? Should MLAs be afraid to speak against the government for fear of reprisal? Is Dr Sherman the only MLA that thinks
the system is broken? Are the others afraid to speak up?



23 Nov 2010
Are Canadians too polite or do we just not get involved? Why are we not indignant when someone like Stephen Duckett
pulls his cookie caper? Who hired this guy and what criteria did they use? When are people going to realize that if 
you are going to manage something you should know how it works? Can you fix something if you don't know what's wrong 
with it and if you know what's wrong why don't you fix it?



22 Nov 2010

What in the heck is going on? The Alberta health care system is in dire straits and Stephen Duckett takes time
out to eat a cookie. I don't know what his mandate exactly is but I don't think there has been any improvement
in the health care since he was hired and there are reports that wait times at the emergency wards have increased
since he took over. I think he should be relieved of his duties and because there hasn't been any improvement he 
shouldn't be given any severance payment.



18 Nov 2010

Why is it such a big deal for Calgary City Counccil to trim $60 M off their budget. The total budget for Calgary is $2.7B so
$60M is only about 2.2% of the total budget. Why doesn't the city council just cut 5% off everyones' budget and then give them
more later if they show that they need it?




13 Nov 2010

There has been several articles recently about the Devines' well known anti-racist activities. They usually have an 
anti-racist rally in opposition to a neo-Nazis rally. There has been speculation that because of the Devines' 
anti-racist rallies there has been violence directed against them by these neo-Nazi groups. As a result of a recent 
attack on the Devinesat their home, Alberta Children and Youth Services ordered that their boys, aged five to nine, 
must remain at their grandmother's home.
Michael Platt wrote in his column "In other words, if an outspoken opinion about religion, politics, or anything else makes you a 
target of hate and violence, is it right for the government to scrutinize your ability as a parent? 
Apparently, the answer in Alberta is yes."
No I think the Alberta government is questioning the Devines' judgment and whether they are placing their sons in an unsafe environment.   
Too often recently, young children have died while in the guardianship of Alberta social services because of decisions the agencies 
have made and it is nice to see them erroring on the side of the kids safety for a change. Let's hope they haven't made 
a mistake by letting the kids return home. 



10 Nov 2010

Reply from Regan B
I am not so sure jumping on the bandwagon is a bad thing....you lend your support to the Team when they work hard and play hard 
and show up. When they don't, it is reflected in their fans.I went to talk last year and the speaker was talking about people 
bitching about the level of customer service nowadays.  His reply was "we are absolutely gutted by being given terrible service, 
but then the bill comes and we give someone a tip."  His argument was that if you don't think the service was good, don't tip. 
Same thing....if the team stinks, don't give them your money or support.  
Has anyone else noticed that when you have a large group and they add the tip right to the bill then the service is usually very poor?

Nenshi's whole platform was driven on social networking and media...word of mouth, getting back to individuals that wanted more 
information from him, being accessible, etc.  This was what won him the race...He now knows he is going to have to back it all up 
because if he doesn't Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc will come back to haunt him.


2 Nov 2010

WE STILL HAVEN'T CAUGHT UP TO kLEIN'S SLASHING OF HOSPITALS IN THE 1990's
Should the Calgary city council be worried about holding the city budget to a certain percentage increase or should 
they be concentrating on making sure there is minimum waste in city finances? If we delay something now that we need 
until another year then when we do purchase it we will be paying a higher price. If we don't go ahead with the airport 
tunnel now before the airport authority constructs their new runway over Barlow Trail then later the cost of a tunnel will 
be many times higher. A perfect example of this is the hospital being build in south Calgary by the provincial Government. 
The original estimate about a decade ago was for the hospital to cost about 500 million dollars and to be complete by 2010. 
Now the estimate is for the hospital to cost 1.4 billion and to be finished by late 2011. The old General (Bow Valley) 
Hospital had 250 beds, the new South Calgary Hospital will have 260 beds.


01 Nov 2010

DO THEY CARE? 
Do you ever wonder if professional atheletes ever think about what the spectators think about their efforts. Are excuses
such as "We weren't ready to start the game" or "We didn't play the full 60 min" good explanations of why a team just had
a losing effort? Professional hockey players have probably been playing organized sports for more than 30 years in a lot 
of cases. A person would think that in that considerable time they would have discovered how to get ready for a game
and how to bear down and concentrate for the full game. Do the players realize that there may be families sitting in the stands
that had to work all week to be able to purchase tickets to go to that game that they are sleepwalking through?


31 Oct 2010

There's an old experiment that no one knows if was actually staged or not but many people can probably imagine it happening at their company.
It goes like this......
Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, you'll see a banana hanging on a string with a set of stairs 
placed under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, 
all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt to obtain the banana.  As soon as his foot touches the stairs, all of 
the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. It's not long before all of the other monkeys try to prevent any monkey 
from climbing the stairs. 
Now, put away the cold water, remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees 
the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him as he makes 
his way toward the stairs.  After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. 
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. 
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a 
fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating 
in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. 
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. 

Why not?  



17 Aug 2010
I'm wondering if we are losing track of what sports are? Why is it that fans are expected to and do support teams for years
while the players can move on for more money or to get on a winning team. What if fans moved on and only cheered for a winning team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn't have many fans left. 





29 July 2010
It's going to be a little harder for  Calgary City manager Owen Tobert and  Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier to discredit 
Deloitte like they did to city auditor Tracy McTaggart when she said there was a potential for fraud. 
Deloitte in their report state that there is over one billion dollars of high risk transactions needing further review.
In his report, Owen Tobert,said "Of 462 contracts valued at $151 million, all but 29 of them had 
appropriate paperwork. The remainder, worth about $4.8 million, need to be further reviewed. Of 70 contracts for goods and services between 
2006 and 2009, all but nine had sufficient documentation and explanation. City administration looked at about 600 of the 747 contracts that 
went over budget mentioned by the auditor. Of those examined, every penny was accounted for and had been authorized by council."
That is quite a discrepancy $4.8 million reported by Owen Tobert compared to over $1 billion reported by Deloitte. 

As well,auditor Tracy McTaggart said the whistleblower program was investigating allegations of fraud relating to city contracts, but wouldn’t 
give any specifics while Owen Tobert said the city manager’s officer is notified about each whistleblower investigation and says a review of 
its records determined no tip in the past four years related to procurement fraud.





21 July 2010
Letter sent to Calgary Sun

It seems that the Calgary City Council has some funny priorities.
I know it is probably a different budget but why is it that when some contracts need additional funding there is an 
unlimited bank account but not for items such as police budgets or snow removal? In such crucial services such as the 
fire department or Calgary police where the bulk of the budget goes for wages how can they tell the Calgary police service 
they have to trim 15% off their budget? And who says that the city budget increase has to be kept to  a certain limit? Should 
not the primary concern be providing essential services and then worry about such things as street closures and festivals 
i.e. The Bow River Flow?
i.e. The Peace Bridge?
i.e. Redoing Memorial Drive median around 10th Street?
Cut out the gravy until the potatoes are paid for

10 June 2010
The Schnick Principle can be seen in children's recreational sports
Once upon a time a parent who was never very good at sports had a kid who was old enough to start organized sports.
This parent didn't want their child to ever feel bad about not being good so they came up with the idea that they
wouldn't keep score at the games. They would then give every kid a participation trophy.  But the kids knew what the object
of the game was from watching sports on TV and they could see how excited their parents got when they scored and they could count 
so they knew what the score was and who was winning.
who has decided that the score doesn't matter? Someone who has never won? watch the kids' eyes light up when they score
I would want my kids to play in a league that teaches them how to compet and then leave it on the field whether they win
or lose. Why does the sportsmanship trophy always go to the last place team? Good teams can be good sports too.
How do you teach them that hard work brings results.