A day of Economics: Four Hours of it!

February 1st, 2009 Thomasso

I just got home from a seminar on crime, economy and community that focuses on Metro Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley. Ninety percent of it did not surprise me at all, but there was that ten percent that I either thought it was right off the wall, or made me think very hard. The general consensus that people seemed to talk about are: the immediate problems that everyone is facing such as possible lay-offs from work, loss of business and services, the real estate crunch and shrinking market demands.

There were plenty of people who stated that for most, the economic crunch will have little impact on our general state of economic health, and we should be all right. For those, and I have always stated this, who have debt, you are the ones who are going to feel it the most. If you have little or no debt, then your means of weathering this economic storm are very good. But this is all common knowledge, and old news; it was the ten percent of the speakers who threw some words of warnings onto the fire and made some smoke.

There were a number of market fallacies that took place way back in September of 2008 that the media literally played to death. The number one fallacy was the environment vrs the vehicle manufacture. This was so big because it was right in front of our faces that we could not see it, and was truly the first major sign that the economy had failed. It went like this, buy new because your old car causes more pollution than the new top-of-the-line SUVs. Next was the dirty oil fallacy of using nuclear energy to aid in the extraction of the Alberta Tar-Sands. This fallacy was that nuclear energy is a clean form of energy that would make the whole process of dirty oil reasonably clean again and more environmentally friendly. Spending credit is going to help the whole economy. In other words, we must spend our way out of the economic slump we are in. The word perpetuation kept being repeated over and over by this speaker. Sadly because of our lifestyle of instant gratification and free spending from having credit, we will “sheepishly” continue to have growing debt. And lastly, but not the least, is the fallacy that government should give corporate welfare and create huge deficits in order to maintain the economy. To prop up failing companies sort of throws mud into the face reasoning that like in the natural world of evolution—only the strong survive and weak shall wither away–so why should we even bother? Even in the lens of right-wing thinking, asking government to bolster unprecedented debt, to keep failing businesses afloat, is a contradiction of ideology. From Bay street to Main street to your street—only the debt will certainly go. The next obvious out come from this is income-tax burden.

It was intriguing to hear the speakers talk about these topics, and even more to hear their opinions on how to fix it. I heard some really good ideas, but I heard more about angry people who lost so  much because of their investments into such things like RRSPs and nest-eggs.  It was the Stock Market to stole centre stage tonight!

I was there to hear what people had to say about my favourite topic which is crime. Like the fallacies I talked about earlier, there are just as many on the topic of crime. The perpetual increase in crime is a constant no matter what era we live in. The new fuel on the topic is that more people are now going to commit more crimes in order to feed themselves because of the increases in unemployment. Sadly, and I fall on statistics, the rate of poor people has always increased, especially in the last five years of economic boom. Crime is going down overall, even in terms of property crime, but that all depends on how big of the macro view you use to measure. If you just focus on East Vancouver, then yes, property crime is increasing at an alarming rate. Do you think the media is going to spell that out for you?

I have a lot of information to digest. It was a good seminar, and I wish more people could have gone out to it because it really put things into perspective. I left with a sense of hope and good karma because this is a personal dilemma that each of us faces as opposed to a social one. It depends on how well each of us deals with our own economic health, and in turn will reflect upon how well the overall economic state will become. I took from it that debt is bad, and smart spending trumps all.

Posted in Criminology, General, Law and Order, Social economics, Social Justice, University classes | Comments Off

A Point for Being Happy

January 22nd, 2009 Thomasso

I have wheels again. Today I pulled out all of my cards and made sure that I was present during the whole process of getting my vehicle back on the road. I called on my friends from the neighbourhood who I had done some computer maintenance work to see if they would help me transport the gas tank over to the shop with their truck. They agreed and so went the journey from Fort Langley to South Langley Township, the Fern Ridge Brookswood area, to pick up the tank, and then from there over to Surrey in the Newton area where the shop is located.

There was the mechanic, Dan, who was expecting me. I got to see first hand how busy he was with the parking lot full of other cars waiting to be fixed. I was very grateful that he took me on today between two large jobs that he had on the go. I had to wait while he took care of another costumer before mine was put onto the hoist. Within an hour once he started working on it the tank was installed. The truck fired up on the first try—I was happy until I got the bill.

So now that I have my life back, I quickly started catching up on all the things I had previously postponed, one of them was going out to doing a good food shop. Normally I would have just bough from the local store here in town but the cost on some items are through the roof, so shopping at some of the big-box outfits is now necessary.

Two things today that I took notice of are the effects on traffic that the Pettullu Bridge is having since the fire underneath it last week, and the president of the USA with his deceleration of closing Guantánamo Bay, Cuba of its detention centre. These two news stories got me thinking about how fast things can change right at home when we are faced with change, from abroad, whether it be a positive or a negative one.

Traffic in the Fraser Valley took a turn for the worst as a fire destroy part of the bridge deck of the Pettullu Bridge last week. The very next day it was said that motorist were backed up for up to four hours trying cross the river at other bridges. I first thing I I did was asked on of the bus drivers, when I was catching the bus, “are people using the transit system more due to the extra strain on the road system going into the Vancouver area”? The bus driver at the time told me that the ridership has stayed the same. This does not surprise me because of the inconvenience of not using a vehicle still outweighs taking mass transit by most people. In other words, even if one bridge was still passable, 1.2 million cars will still use it to go to work.

I applaud the US for doing the right thing regarding  Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. For a country that claims to have one of the best human rights record on the Earth,  Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was sure in contrast to that notion. The very thought of having two rules of law is a black eye in the very concept of justice in a democratic Western society. Sadly this only promotes other governments to follow suit with such illegal detentions centres that house prisoners without a fair trial and just cause. The very thought of using torture on prisoners also is something that the world should not take lightly. I really hope that this does not get swept under the carpet, but rather be put under the microscope at an international level.
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Posted in Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

Whoa! Federal Politics Full of Excitement all of a Sudden?

December 1st, 2008 Thomasso

During my final few hours working on papers and homework I caught the new that said that there might be a coalition government within the next few weeks in Canada. I have only been catching little snippets of news, but hearing the words “Coalition Government” is really a new concept for me, and I think for everyone else. This is definitely new territory for any generation of Canadian voters, and I know that is has been over 91 years since Canada had its last coalition government, so really, who knows what will happen.

I like some of the arguments regarding democracy and just how democratic this process really is. I like to think that this situation can only happen within a minority government. Also, because Canada has so many political parties, the likelihood of forming a coalition government is a huge task, especially with three opposition parties who are so different in their ideology. However, this is a valid democratic process, and even thought the majority of the voters voted for the current ruling party, if the opposition parties untied, then they now hold the majority of the votes for the ruling government.

Would this be in the best interest for Canada? Who knows because I sure don’t. Looking at other countries who have coalition governments, some work, some don’t.

However, this does make politics very exciting. It really makes my last post redundant. I thought that these parties would never become so unified that they could form such a united front. However, I remember when we had the “Unite The Right” coalition when the Conservatives, Reform and some other party all got together and formed what we see today as the Conservative Party. Even though they were not in power at the time, look at what they have accomplished today.

Lastly, if this means not having another election due to a non-confidence vote, then I’m all in. I don’t want to go through another round of mud-slinging negative ad campaigns on the media, and having to spend time worrying about who I should vote for while listening to all of the broken promises spewing out. We the tax payers must really start forcing the government to start taking better care of our money. Either spending responsibly or give it back to us.

So, what do you think: is this excitement or what?

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Having “Go-To” People to Go To?

August 18th, 2008 Thomasso

This morning as I was working, I heard on the radio a segment from CBC Radio One called “White Coat, Black Art.” The program is about the Canadian Medical System and is hosted by a medical practitioner who gives in-depth interviews and takes different perspectives of the many facets of the art of medicine. Today’s topic, a rerun, was the use of a person who would work in the hospital or medical system as “navigator/helper” who would stay with the patient who has been diagnosed with cancer.

I thought to myself that this is such a wonderful idea that why would we not have such a program for the Criminal Justice system? As I thought about this, I could count so many areas that would cut cost, incur time and resource savings and streamline the system by a good portion of what we are spending right now. There are huge parallels between the medical and justice systems that I thought this idea would be revolutionary all around.

I talked about this with a colleague of mine who currently works for the Provincial Courts in Surrey, BC. He laughed at me when I told him about the CBC program and my idea of having go-to people to work with both victims and offenders going through the justice system. His first remark was that these are two totally different systems with two totally different goals: one heals while the other punishes. He also said that with Canada moving to the political Right, that any Conservative government would quickly quash any attempt that promotes help for offenders. “In essence,” he said, “people would bulk at the idea of helping offenders when they have lawyers appointed to them…” We both know, I thought, that lawyers are sometime a liken to doctors when it comes to helping their clients: different language, white/black coat professionalism and heavy case loads, and so on. People expect that the justice system should punish as much as possible, especially if the offender is found guilty, so any added punishment is seen a possible deterrent and could likely avert recidivism.

So I mauled this over in my mind. Two different systems, two different goals. It just didn’t add up for me. I can see this mentality of making sure the offender is punished as much as possible and making his/her stay through the system unpleasant; however, the issue of treating everyone innocent until proven guilty kept leaping up in my thoughts. Lawyers can only do so much. I have seen Crown Lawyers literally pass off their clients like poker chips because of the tight scheduling and case overloads, not to mention the quick decisions that are often made between lawyers while in negotiation, all the while not even explaining to their clients what just happened. I am absolutely certain that if offenders were aware of everything that was going on in the justice system around them their decisions would be very different.

So what do you think? Should the justice system afford “go-to” people to help the offenders and victims who have very little understandings of the lawyers and court procedures that goes on in the Courts today?

Posted in General, Law and Order | 3 Comments »

What I Did this Summer: Summer School.

August 14th, 2008 Thomasso

I decided to show one my presentation here on the blog that I took part in from my fourth year class in Criminology. I wanted to show some of you what we do in these classes, or in particularly, some of the directions we are moving towards in the future of Law and crime.

Just click on top of the presentation to view each slide. There are 52 slides. Sorry, you can only click forward through it…

I spent 14 weeks studying in depth the subject of Sexual offenders and deviancy. What I expected and saw in this course were two totally different perspectives. My initial reaction in judging sexual offenders was born from what I gathered from the media and my general public opinion. What I got was a world different from the reality that I was living in.

The stereotyping that we lump sex offenders into is so far from the actual truth that we really forget that are several levels and classes of sex offences, and that when we compare these offenders to other classes of crime, sex offenders are very distorted in our perception of criminality. The media likes to lump or categorize all sex offenders into one blanket class. For the public, all sex offenders get the same level of labelling. In law, we look at sex offenders in a totally different light. Just look at the Criminal Code of Canada to see how these are broken down.

When I tell people that 90 percent of all people convicted of sex offences will be put back into the public, freed with short sentences, most are a gasp at that thought. Our principle of law says that the punishment must fit the crime, or that there be a proportional congruency of the offence to the criminal act. Also, and we don’t realized it, but we tend to discriminate between the types of offenders. For example, when women are convicted of sexual offences, we tend to treat them differently. Think about that for a moment? A Female sex offender? how could that be? There are several cases of woman who have been charged in Canada and the USA of sexual offence, and yet the media does it job of telling the news, the effects are somewhat not as drastic as they should be. Nonetheless, they are sex offenders, and they get charged as such.

In my presentation we were to do research on juvenile sex offenders. So, the thorny issue of youth criminal sex offenders is a hot topic because a lot of lay people will challenge that notion of acknowledging that there are youth sex offenders. Yet, our courts have several cases over the years. Some cases are very disturbing, while others are not. Many researchers stated that there is so little data that can be found that for criminologists, this is a real black hole, and much more work needs to be done.

Sadly there is not enough research on the subject of sex offenders. We have so many unanswered questions about this class of criminality. What makes someone act out this way? How do we “cure” someone of their sexual criminal acts? …and so on. Let me know what you think of our slide-show?

Posted in Bitching about weather, General, Law and Order, Social Justice, University classes, Video | 9 Comments »

The Changing Syberverse: Law of the Intranet.

August 5th, 2008 Thomasso

I have attended a couple of conferences over the last six months that dealt with the ever changing world of the Intranet, and how it is impacting our daily lives. As governments try to tackle Internet crime issues and all the illicit activity that goes along with it, we seem to jump out and try to argue that our rights are far more important than firewalling this new found freedom. I have heard several good arguments that seem to focus on China, Europe and the United States in their efforts to deal with, what has been touted as a world without boarders, by adding restrictions to it such as shutting it down–turning it off–restricting access.

The Internet is all but one piece to a vast network of globalization, as one CBC reporter said. When good things happen that are in direct response from this powerful tool, we rejoice and pat ourselves on our backs. When crimes such as Identity Theft and Computer Hacking hit the media, we are outraged and angered, and we call for law enforcement to step in and protect us from these criminal elements. It seems that everyone has a vested interest in the Internet, but not all share the same “big picture.”

If necessity is the mother of human invention, then anything that tries to further protect us from the evil criminals in the syberverse, the criminals will surly stay one step ahead of anyone who tries to stop them. In other words, with such freedom comes responsibly–sound familiar? It is up to us, the individual, to be responsible and keep this tool, the web, alive, useful and free.

I believe that the world is a far better place because of the interconnectedness that the wired-world has created. It has not cured famine or brought down corrupt governments, but is sure has brought it to a whole new level that we can identify with. I can talk to someone half way around the planet with ease and build a relationship across the Pacific. I can gain access to libraries that were never available to me a decade ago. I like to think that I am smart about it. I know that the extreme control that is needed for a government to watch over its citizens is to fully cut the wires off from the rest of the world. This is no answer or solution to the problem–it is more about control than anything else.

Perhaps the Intranet is more than just a great tool for gathering information, maybe it is the tool that will unify the whole world under one voice? Perhaps only then will criminal activity be brought to its knees. Is the Intranet important enough to merge regional differences and form one unified voice, whatever that voice may be?

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Geocashing

July 29th, 2008 Thomasso

Reading the CBC news website, I came across a story that caught my eye. The key word was Geocashing: GPS game blamed for Ottawa bomb scare . The Mounties had one of the major bridges shut down in Ottawa, Ontario for four hours while they were inspecting a suspicious package. They blew it up.

The Police seemed to be upset that some players of the popular Geocash treasure-hunting game would make their cashes look like a pipe, with a piece of string attached. That is unfortunately stupid. I do agree that some formal log should be kept so that the authorities could keep track of caches simply to avoid costly police exercises such as this one from happening. This was a waste of tax payer money.

The scare was prompted by the discovery of a suspicious package under the Transitway bridge at Hurdman station last Wednesday that turned out to be part of a geocache. Geocaching is a game that involves searching for hidden packages using GPS co-ordinates.

Some of the comments on the CBC website sort of went too far also. Saying that police knew full well what it was, and that they were playing “extreme” Goecashing, is way over the top. I can’t see the police going whole hearted into this, using several dozen employees and shutting down a major road, spending all that time and money.

You see, I sometimes play the game when I have a good day and a few friends who like to do some hiking. We usually plan ahead of time and check in the area that we are going to and see if there are any geocaches around that we can hunt for. This is a fun game, especially for the children who come along and enjoy a good hunt. Hey, it’s better than game hunting.

I have been doing geocashing in British Columbia for the last two years, and I find it is a lot of fun. I wish that I could spend more time doing it. My record is almost perfect with only one cashe that we could not locate around Fort Langley–the flood sort of had something to do with it. Its a thrill to find your target going through the clues and instructions.

There are rules. Because you are going into public and private places, respect needs to be given at all time. Don’t wreck it for all of us. Hey, people spend a lot time and energy to set of these cashes up–enjoy the hunt and your skills with a GPS–it’s about fun.

Posted in General, Law and Order | 8 Comments »

Property vs Human Value

May 13th, 2008 Thomasso

One of the driving forces for me sticking to my rigorous schedules, my many classes and almost impossible tuition payments is what I call the WOW effect. Simply put, the WOW effect is just that, every time, in almost every class I experience something that is a complete learning experience. Sure, there are lots of names, places and theories, but in almost in every class there is a piece of knowledge given that makes me stop and think then sit back and rethink it and digest its contents in my poor brain.

This summer I’m studying the academic world of the Sexual Offender, and Sexual Deviancy & Violence, perhaps one of the strongest evoked public pinioned subjects in Western society today. The dominate themes are psychology and sociology, the make up of this seminar style class is made to create thought provoking insight into this little known world. Public opinion is abound, and the media uses it to, at any opportunity, to sell its wears with. So understandably so the public perception going into this course is of very mixed and unbalanced preconceptions.

The first step in learning the aspects of these types of crimes is to explore and examine the historical context of sexual crimes, starting with our oldest records of human civilization, then working right up to present day examining our laws and public opinions in our many societies. But it was looking at how women are treated (and valued) throughout time and cultures that created a spark of enlightenment for me, and most of the class. It was the part of the chapter talking about medieval Europe, in particular about Italy during the 12th and 13th century, that the prof asked us to look at the laws then of property crimes vrs rape.

The class paused as the question was presented: “Is rape considered a more serious crime then property crime today, than compared to medieval Europe”?

The class was silent, but then a few hands went up. At first the general consensus was that indeed rape was thought to be a more serious crime compared to property crimes now. We were all bitten by the world of public opinion as we tried to build a case of all the data that supported stronger laws against rape and sexual violence. It was until we actual compared the two sections of the Canadian Criminal Code that the dark surprise leap out at us. The maximum punishment for property crimes is life, while the maximum for Sexual Assault in Canada is ten years. In Canada, as is in most modern (and not so modern societies), not much has changed since the medieval period as crimes against women are less than that of property crimes.

[CORRECTION] May 26, 2008, My prof just informed us today that there is a form of sexual assault that indeed carries a maximum sentence of life in prison called Aggravated Sexual Assualt under Section 273(2) of the Canadain Criminal Code. It should also be pointed out too that so far since this legislation has been created, it is extremly rare to have someone chardged under this offence.

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A Mish-Mash of Things

April 5th, 2008 Thomasso

The stress-o-meter is climbing into the high level again now that the clock is running on the countdown till the end of the semester. One more week to go until the last class–two for my Monday class, then finals. Oh joy–finals! Until then, I have two huge final projects to get handed in before then, and a bunch of small exams, or quizzes, that help profs avoid having no final exams after the last class.

I am so happy that the days are starting to warm up. I felt I was getting ill from the endless days of cool temperatures. I thought I had caught some bug or virus, but I’m hearing a lot other people experiencing the same thing as this gloomy spring season starts off. The couple of sunny days last week really helped with work and other chores, but everything came screeching back to normal when the grey sky reappeared. Back to normal for the weekend, right up until Tuesdays, the weather channel says.

The news has being on my mind for the last four or five days with the release of the video tape exposed by the New Democratic Party from Saskatchewan. The 17 year old Progressive Conservative Party “home movie” style video is a shock to see and hear. Obviously the tape was never intended for public viewing, but the homophobic and racial slurs throughout the tape has set off huge debate about the main actors today who now occupy both the provincial and federal seats of government. Remember that is was the Conservatives who left the tape behind when the NDP moved into the “opposition offices” at the Saskatchewan parliament building.

I had thought about linking the You-Tube video of Tom Lukiwski giving his analysis of homosexual people, but I couldn’t do it. It was so offensive that I just couldn’t link it here after watching it–it was that bad. However I do encourage people to see for themselves, and be their own judge because it exposes us to the realities of our leaders thoughts and their backgrounds. No matter what political spectrum or ideology you sit on, these types of hate acts are damaging and must be dealt within my opinion. Perhaps punishing these people under our criminal code may be too harsh, but as far as their public trust goes, they should relinquish themselves out from public office at the very least.

[CBC seems to have taken the video off from their web site. Probably due to legal reasons. However, you can still see portions of it on You-Tube by typing in Tom Lukiwski ]

I took the time to watch the entire 29 minutes of video from the CBC’s web site, and saw so many other issues that the media seemed to over look, and I wanted to take a deeper look to see the differences from then and now. I saw how the relationships in the working environment between the Males and Females seemed segregated compared to where I work today–although we are still not 100 percent free from gender bias today. Several times throughout the video I saw women giving their opinions, then suddenly cut off as the men spoke, but in every time the women stopped talking, or digressed. Sexist remarks and sexual groping seemed to be tolerable during this time period from what I saw on the video. Seeing people smoking cigarettes at their desks was a shock too–and the drinking of alcohol, in what seems to be in public view! But the language was very thick and vulgar, comparing it to what I would find on the streets or with a group of adolescents. But then the homophobic and racial slurs pop up.

I think people should be very aware of what they say, especially when a video camera is pointed at them. The question of whether someone should be punished for something they said decades before (in this case 1991) is a relevant issue here today. Our laws battle with these issues all the time, and standards of conducts very constantly. Would the prosecution of racial and hate comments warrant an criminal investigation in this case? Should latitude be given to the politicians who are exposed in this video tape? Perhaps this sets the bar of values in our society today, how far should we tolerate this conduct and by whom? Perhaps not all is cut and dry under the legal microscope?

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The Pay Phones are Missing?

January 17th, 2008 Thomasso

Three weeks ago I was driving to work early in the morning and I notice a piece of a red car fender laying on the grass beside the fence that once stood a pay-phone. A concrete garbage bid also lay on its side, and beside that on the ground the wires that once connected the phone to the phone-lines were dangling out from the post that supported it. It was so obvious that it was a hit-and-run, stealing the phone for its coins. Life went on….

Yesterday I notice yet another location that once stood a pay-phone, same as that one before, though this time this phone was getting repaired, but the same signs–missing phone–another hit and run. This one was in front of the gas station, and like the one in front of the community centre, it is used a lot. However, earlier last summer there were once two pay phones located by the IGA market that had been pillaged for their money, but they were never replaced. It was something that I even forgot about soon afterwords because I never really walk there that often, so I paid it little attention.

The population of pay-phones in Fort Langley is looking dismal. I even fear saying the location of the existing pay-phones here on the blog just in case some would-be pay-phone thief reads this and is searched for new loot! Not in my back yard buddy!

I know in Vancouver pay-phones are next to impossible to find, probably for the same reason as to what is happening here, but the convenience of having public phones is nice, even with the proliferation of the cell phones having a public phone could be a life saver if your cell died? I even use the pay-phones from time to time, so I can vouch for their usefulness. But current society attitudes may have to face the reality that having public pay-phones maybe a by-gone era as thieves pillage them one by one for their coins.

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