Tax Time: Feels like Punitive Punishment to me.

January 28th, 2012 Thomasso

Yes sir, it is that time of year again, when my frustration from doing my annual income tax return comes out from the usually four hours of pen, paper and calculator, game I have to play. This year was not that bad compared to “tax pain sessions” in the past, but the feeling of just how much I got “raked over the coals,” from paying the MAN, really sinks in when you are grinding away at these tax forms.

There is one great feeling I have this year, and that is my income was lower this year compared to the last five, and this means that I paid less to the Man than I normally would have. The silver lining is that I contributed less to a government that I have ethical reservations with. Sadly, my thinking is flawed because governments in general, and this one in particular, can create deficits and debts, that they can pass on to our children long term. So the pain of a bad government can have future repercussions far into the future. However, this year, they had less of my money to play around with, so I see that as a good thing from my perspective.

I should strongly point out that I have no objections to paying taxes, as I understand full well the necessary function that this money goes towards. My objections go towards governments that squander this money on frivolous things and functions that do more harm than good. Corporate welfare is just one of my pet peeves when it comes to seeing how my tax money is spent. Then there is this whole equality thing that I see so wrongly laid out to the different income classes.

Anyway, I have done my rough work. Most of my calculations are done, and it all looks good in terms of completeness and accurateness. Tomorrow when I am not so frustrated, I will transfer my calculations of the final draft, and go over them one last time. Monday I will snail-mail my paperwork off to the boys over at the tax department. I am expecting a refund this year, so I will see how well my calculations stack up to the Revenue Agency’s final tally on me goes.

Posted in Diatribe, Events, General, Social economics, Social Justice | No Comments »

Stupid Says, “I’m Stuck.”

January 15th, 2012 Thomasso

Here we are in mid January, living in South Western Canada, at a time of year when snow sometimes falls, and stays on the ground, and creates these winter like environments that are talked about during Climate Change conferences. Although, over the last few years, snow has become a foreign concept to most, snow does fall, and blankets the ground every once in while. We are living in one such moment in time when snow has invaded our land, and it appears that it will stay for at least the next few days to come.

Even though we do not get snow often, we are responsible for keeping ourselves prepared for it.

We cannot depend on our governments to keep the roads the clear, as they themselves are mired in debt, resources shortages, and in some cases, exercising austerity measures through limited snow clearing operations, or just to clearing the main roads only. So it is up to each and everyone of us to have proper snow/winter equipment, and to be able to deal with these types of weather on our own. Hey, we all voted for this, so now we must deal with it.

It never ceases to amaze me at just how forgetful some people can be when dealing with snow. Take for example, my neighbour who drives a Honda Accord. He drives with summer tires on his vehicle all year round. He is currently stuck, in his own driveway. He is angry, upset, blaming everyone and anything at his own stupidity. He will only be satisfied when the snow melts and he can drive once again with his Honda Accord bearing summer tires.

Posted in Around Town, Bitching about weather, Events, General, Humour, Social economics, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

No Grumpy People Here Please

December 26th, 2011 Thomasso

Oh yes, ’tis the season of anger and unpleasantries, and with all those who focus on the martial rather than the seasonal time off to spend with friends and family I say to you, “go get a life, and spoil someone else’s good time.”  I am referring to the unruly shoppers, and consumers who want to be first in the line-ups; those who demand that they be given first priority when seeking customer services; those who push and shove other people on the sidewalls as they walk through. I am shacking my head at just but a few who cast a shadow of darkness on festive environment. But my list goes on.

To add to the horror show of the Canadian Christmas Season, I witnessed in the Langley City in Walmart the pathetic stench of selfishness and snobbery – in Walmart of all places. I seen a lady, who was no Goddess of goodness her self, cursing at another patron regarding her two year old child who was crying becuase she was not happy standing in a line up. Yes, the young woman lost it, and would not you if a 150 kilogram woman told you to shut your two year old up because she was trying to talk on her cell phone while waiting in the line-up?

A man at the Esso gas station in Fort Langley freaking out becuase another person parked in the stall that he wanted. Rather than waiting, the man decided to run over to the lady in the small car and tell her that she was a “stupid @#!* blond Bimbo who can’t drive.” She won the spot fare and square. A real man would be more than happy to allow the lady to have her fill of gasoline, but not today (Dec. 23), it is “me first,” and “look after number one” rules of social conduct. Intimidation are the tactics of some consumers now days that I see. Thankfully not all are like this.

Perhaps it is my age, and I have reached a point in my life when I see beyond the child-like rose coloured glasses that I once wore, and I see the real images around me now. Maybe I am more sensitive to the chaos that erupts around the down town core this time of year when shoppers scramble into their buying frenzy this time of year?

In hindsight, I make it a point to stay away from the crowds and the chaos we call the Christmas Holiday Season. Even though I do not celebrate it myself, Christmas is the dominant religion in Canada, and our culture is based on this, so this locus of buying takes precedence and all follow it as our economic lives depend upon it. The best part about all of this is that by tomorrow everything will be back to normal. My commute to work will be the same, the down town core will be the same, and people in general will be the same. Was it all worth it?

Posted in Around Town, Diatribe, Events, General, Social economics, Social Justice, Story Telling | 1 Comment »

The Crow and My Nissan Pathfinder

December 25th, 2011 Thomasso

While I was doing my morning chores, I heard the familiar sounds of the gang of Crows perched on the trees cawing away. As usual, they were making their morning racket of noise. This means that they are anticipating food, or one of my deviant neighbours had just fed them peanuts. Either way we go to great lengths to scare them away becuase they cause havoc for the rest of us – the Crows leave their droppings on everything.

Sadly the authorities cannot do anything about the offending people who feed them, so some have devised other means of keeping them away without harming them (the neighbour), and the Crows.

By the way, this post was not suppose to be about issues of bird droppings, but I guess it turned out this way. And, I also do not endorse the harming of any living thing, even Crows – they were here long before we humans were.

So here are some shots of the Crows, doing what Crows do best:

The above image is the Crow that left his gift on my Nissan Pathfinder after I took this photograph. He landed right on the Pathfinder and did his business.

Side note: One of our older neighbours invented a “Sonic Cannon.” He got the idea from the RCMP, who had something similar used for the 2010 Winter Olympics to use on protesters. The device sends out a powerful, yet very narrow, sonic wave that is so loud that your ears ring afterwards. You cannot hear it unless it is aimed right at you. Only a 2 sec long, 120 decibel treatment, is enough to send the birds on their way. They only need one session with it, and after that they only need to see it and they fly away – classical conditioning!

Posted in Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Photographs, Social Justice | Comments Off

The Electric Lazy Boy

November 7th, 2011 Thomasso

People and electricity have one very common attribute: both will always travel the path of least resistance. Sometimes this path of least resistance may not mean taking the shortest route. In some cases, this behaviour takes on the most illogical behaviour that baffle even the most brilliant minds who study human behaviour; but once the data are added up, then this behaviour makes sense, or takes on a pattern that can be replicated, then we can learn from it. An example that I am looking at are people who work, and are performing a tasked that they simply do not wish to undertake. I use the task of taking out the garbage as my case example.

Now, the dumping of garbage, or waste, has some rules, or parameters that must be kept. Imagine if in your neighbourhood someone just dumped a bag of trash in the middle of your street – you would be upset. There are rules, like using a bag, and putting that bag into a sturdy container. Once the container is ready for dumping, it is then taken to the dumpster (if your neighbourhood has one). You would never dream of just letting the bag of trash sit in the middle of your driveway, or be placed along the farthest edge of your property line hoping that some small rodent will carry it the rest of the way for you to the dumpster.

We live in a time when you just cannot throw everything into the dumpster. We now have rules, or by-laws, that prohibit some materials from going into the mean-stream landfill. One such item is the material known as cardboard. Cardboard is the material that makes cardboard boxes. Cardboard can be recycled, and is therefore kept separate from the rest of the garbage that we throw out. Cardboard boxes generally come in the form of a cube shape, when consumers purchases their goods that are packaged by these cube like structures. The endgame with cardboard boxes that are going to be disposed of, is to change them from a cube, into a shape that will take up the least amount of physical space possible – usually we call this process, flattening. Flattening does require some labour, depending on the size and strength of the cardboard.

So, as per garbage etiquette, we separate different materials that go into the waste collection bins, and also, we need to do some processing to help facilitate our obligations to this waste separation process, such as flattening of cardboard. Failure to this leads to inefficiencies in the system as a whole, and adds more costs to the program which is felt by all who are in directly responsible for it. As for the human who acts like electricity, and is caught up in the whole physics of taking the path of least resistance, his laziness now burdens the added costs onto to the rest of the community. By not flattening his cardboard boxes, he has now taken up space inside the bin that could normally hold three times that amount, and now has added a cost to the rest of the community who wish to add  their cardboard to the bin.

Sadly in our punitive style system of public works, we all have to pay for this one individual. Added to this sadness, there is no way of enforcing the waste separation rule. We cannot “arrest” him, or prohibit him from using the waste bins. All we can do is watch this electrical thinking individual continue to travel the path of least resistance. Perhaps shamming is the only tool we have left of helping our community without violating our higher laws that govern our society?

Just throwing this out there.

Posted in Criminology, Diatribe, General, Humour, Social economics, Social Justice, Story Telling | Comments Off

Going to the Polls – Civic Election Langley

November 3rd, 2011 Thomasso

One would think that there is an election going on with the sudden crop of election signs that just popped up along every roadway and field throughout town. According to my sources on Twitter, and verified on the various webpages that I read, we have one coming up on November 19, 2011, a Saturday. If that was not enough, I have being approached by two friends who have friends of their own who asked if I would help out planting election signs with them. I had to decline becuase of my super busy schedule, but they gave me the “dirt” based on their perspectives and ideologies about the upcoming election, and why it is so important to get the word out and get people to vote.

You need the information about this civic election?

Well, here is a good place to start: Township of Langley Elections.

I am not going to go into a big long spew about why it is so important to vote, and why those who do not vote are saying that democracy has failed us, and that your vote does not matter. Nor am I going to go into the whole morel and ethical reasoning of why living in a democracy is better than living under a dictatorship, or regime. The choice is really yours to make. However, I do encourage everyone who can vote, get out and vote, especially for a civic election.

Why is voting in a civic election so important?

Of all major levels of government, your municipality is going to effect you the most. Everything from business to property tax, your schools, fire departments, policing, street cleaning, (to name but a few) these are huge areas of costs and services, and they effect you directly. Yes, even those who rent are directly effected by how your municipality runs and operates!

So on November 19, 2011, get off your butt, out from your arm chair, and head down to the polling stations to cast your vote(s). Do some research on who you want to run. You will be faced with a number of choices, unlike provincial and federal elections where you pick “one of the above;” civic election you will be choosing a number of candidates to run for a number of seats and boards at once.

Vote!

By the way, I do not represent any of the candidates, or political parties that are running in this civic election for Langley Township.

Posted in Around Town, Events, General, Photographs, Socail Media, Social economics, Social Justice | Comments Off

Social Apathy, or a Psychological Problem

October 29th, 2011 Thomasso

I have been desensitized over the years with news stories of human suffering and tragedy. In my academic studies in criminology, I have read, encountered, and studied both the purely bad and truly evil acts that humans have done, and through this, I have built up a resistance from these deviants, and often criminal cases. However, once in a while, a case pops up that adds a new level to this playing field that supersedes my definition of sick and twisted. The news story of two year old Wang Yueyue who was run over twice on October 13th, 2011, and then eight passers-by walked by her as she lay in the back alley injured from the first vehicle impact (CBCnews, ABC news & BBC news Television, October 14th to October 21, 2011). All of this was captured on a security video camera.

The video footage was grainy, and CBC News censored the image of the child, capturing from the time that she was impacted by the first vehicle, all the people that walked passed her body a she struggled for help, then a second vehicle hitting her, to finally a woman who grabbed her and took her to safety. Even with the child’s body blurred out, the image still shocked me. I had to turn off the television and retreat from what my eyes had just seen.

I knew right away. I knew what had happened as to why so many people walked by as I remembered my lessons in psychology on topics such as “Group Think” and “Passers By” conditions. Could this be prevented, say training people to stop and care?

China is by no means the only place where this has happened. It has happened in Canada, the U.S., Europe, just about anywhere around the world. Some argue that laws and cases where the victim has litigated by the rescuer for causing further injury, is a reason for not getting involved (CBC news, “Was the law at fault in Chinese toddler tragedy?” Oct 22, 2011). Others say that they just do not want to get involved and bare the responsibility and the time that it would take and to deal with the repercussions afterwards (CBC News).

There are people who just do not want to get involved. Simply put, most people in large groups will not even look directly at a victim of need because this would mean taking time, diverting from one’s course, and blending in, following the flow of the crowd. So hiding in numbers makes it easier not to look.

In Canada, we have the right not to rescue in some circumstances. This means that if I see a person drowning in the ocean, and I cannot swim, the Criminal Code protects me from not rescuing the drowning victim because I would then be also putting myself in the same danger as the drowning victim. In Canada, according to the Supreme Court of Canada:

According to the trial judge of a modern case, later affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, “the law is clear that there is no general duty to come to the rescue of another person … the law leaves the remedy to a person’s conscience.” (“Duty to Rescue,” PSW Law Website: 2009)

However, there are some circumstance that would tie a duty to rescue under statutory law, such as a parent, a person of trust, a life guard, and so on (PSW Law: 2009 Website).

My point to this post is why so many people walked by while the little girl lay on the road at the point of death. Perhaps, as many have said on the media, we must change our values and take action. Some have gone further and saying that laws need to be rewritten to reflect a high moral standard, while others are saying that the law is not the answer, but teaching people to be proactive rather than being nonactive.

I also need to add a legal disclaimer here too: This post is not to be used as information for legal advice, and I encourage you all to do further research on this topic if you need to find a specific legal issue about this. Also, these laws vary from country to country. According to the media, several people were charged in China who injured the little girl while driving their vehicles, so the law enforcement authorities did enforce the law in accordance to that country’s penal code (CBC news, Oct 24, 2011).

This post was originally written on October 24, 2011

Source

ABC News, 2011: “Chinese Toddler Ignored After Hit-and-Run Dies” Oct 21, 2011: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinese-toddler-left-bloody-hit-run-dies-14784046

BBC World News, 2011: “Anger and debate over hit-and-run toddler Wang Yue,” Oct 21 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15401055

CBC News, 2011: “Chinese toddler run over twice dies,” Oct 21, 2011: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/21/toddler-china.html

CBC News, 2011: “Was the law at fault in Chinese toddler tragedy?” Oct 22, 2011: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/22/f-china-yue.html

PSW Law, 2009: http://pswlaw.ca/2009/06/duty-to-rescue/

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice | Comments Off

The Rightness of Wrongness: The Canadian Right

October 25th, 2011 Thomasso

Earlier today I sat in on a gathering of people who talked about the changing evolution of corrections (prisons) that Canadian society was moving towards. A lot of what was said falls into the category of classical social fear; crime is getting out of control and safety for property and person were at the top of the list from almost every speaker who lead the discussion. The dynamics of the meeting was subtle, but from person to person who gave their input, I could see that each changed to fit the “group think” attitudes that prevailed until everyone just agreed.

Am I surprised?

No.

Categorically, the meeting ended with each speaker making a statement that issued an appeal to the government, law enforcement, and to their fellow citizen to pull together and help clamp down on the crime menace. None of the speakers would, however, answer the one key question that hung over the entire meeting, “have you ever been a victim of a crime within the last twelve months”?

The speaker that I thought was the “most out to lunch” was actually the star of the show, so to speak. He was loud, captured the audience, and made tens of statements in less than three minutes before he sat down. His introduction was extreme, and waisted little time getting to the point. He said, “The only real experts on crime are C.O.P.s (sic), and those academics have no clue what is out their in the real world… to create a bunch of theories does not fix anything, we need action now…, and we need to do something about the issues instead of thinking like a bleeding heart Liberal (sic).”

Obviously I cannot argue with someone who has closed their mind to the openness and vastness of human society and the intricateness of human psychology. However, I can make him think further, and go beyond the single brush stroke statements, and make him see that the issues cannot be painted with just one colour. But time is the great definer of getting that message across, and time was not on my side–time ran out for me.

There were several issues that really concerned me that came out of this meeting today. Most are very serious in that they are false and misleading from the truth based on scientific facts. To discount peer reviewed studies, is like going back to the Witch Hunts of the Dark-ages, ignoring the enlightenment of human ontology. To invoke fear, well, that is in itself is a criminal act depending upon the level of unsighted accusations being made, and this gathering came close to breaking that threshold.

In terms of rhetoric, the foundation of my friend’s logos, cited the media as proof enough that crime has gone beyond what anyone organisation can manage to deal with. And with that, came the pathos of his argument, that we should fear, becuase the changing face of our country is diminishing, and we (his group) will be swept a way if we (he) sit back and do nothing. And finally, his ethos of his closing statement was based on his next door neighbour being a police officer, and confiding in him (the speaker) of the moral dilemma of why even the police are powerless in the war on crime.

What I have witnessed today is typical of a group who are trying to deal with a problem that goes beyond the scope that most care to deal with today at a complex level. The study of crime and deviance is a huge field, with many branches that stem into a vast array of specialised fields, as each field has developed into its own faculty or discipline, and few have studied under all of them. I studied Criminology, and I continue on today with that study, looking at both the social and psychological perspectives of humankind; so I try to go to these gathering in hopes that I can broaden the mind of the general public and move forward to a better society. “Baby steps” as an old friend used to say to me, “baby steps.” Not everyone is an academic.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

Looking at the Money Tree

October 7th, 2011 Thomasso

I have being giving this a lot of thought lately as our economic world falls into the abyss. Everyone is touting that Canada is doing so good in terms of economics, saying that we will weather the bad times and continue on without any devastating crashes compared to the other countries that we stand beside. But for some strange reason, I feel we are not doing as well as our elected and non-elected official are saying.

My doubt is from seeing more and more people on the streets, in and around the Langley Township area, where I live. Sure, the police and public do a great job of forcing the homeless off of the streets, from plain view, during the day, but this is a totally different story when out at night. Every now and then I like to hike the trail called the “Fort to Fort Trail” that follows the Fraser River from where Fort Langley is located.  It is a great trail to walk and run, and it is used a lot, both day and night. However, at night, in the bushes along that path, you can expect to see one or more homeless people camping out.

So, in these tough economics times, and living in a country with so much wealth, why are there homeless people, when, according to our leaders, we are doing so well? Yes, I know the answer(s), but I like asking the question.
I see two classes of homeless now. I see those with mental illnesses, who cannot manage themselves in normal circumstances, and I see people, young and old, who can work, who have education, but are unemployed. Both groups are of great concern to me.

Why do I care? I care because in a country like Canada, we seem to have lost something in our identity, in ourselves, and in our national fabric of how we see ourselves. We seem to have replaced liberalism with something dark and bitter. This started way before the economic meltdown of 2008-09. This was an escalating problem back when times were booming, and Canada was facing a labour shortage. I saw “something” thrown out with the bathwater, as the saying goes, and our good name went with it. The “haves” and “have-not” gap grew in the last decade, based on my own observations, and this really made me ask questions.

I really believe that this issue must be kept up on top of our list of problems socially, so that it is not something that slips down to the bottom of the list of priorities that are of least important. I somehow wish the media would report this message ten times a day, rather than the petty crimes that get front page status all of the time.

Sadly, I believe that Canada has changed, and this change is not something that is totally pure and beneficial to all mankind. Or, maybe Canada was always like this, and I was naive in the lenses of the rose coloured glasses of liberal ideology?

Posted in Around Town, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social economics, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

X-ing Hell

August 29th, 2011 Thomasso

Yesterday I was crossing Glover Road at Mary Street in Fort Langley when out of no where a cyclist darted out in front of me when I was halfway across the crosswalk. This is not the first time that I have had near misses at this cross walk. Over the years, I can recall three other instances when people either kept on driving, never even slowing while I was crossing, or they would slow down then try to accelerate through the crosswalk before I crossed into the lane that they are in, and one woman even stopped, then sped onwards while I waited for her vehicle to come to a complete stop before I entered the crosswalk.

The cyclists proved to me that it does not matter who your are, or what your mode of transportation is, you have to be on your highest level of alert possible when walking the streets here. This is probably good advice for anyone around the Fraser Valley.

The only thing that I can think of that would make this part of Fort Langley safer would be to request that crossing lights be set up here at this crossing. Pedestrian traffic is very high on this section of Glover Road, but so to is vehicle traffic as more and more people are using River Road to get to 200th Street, or to Highway 1, further South. With the population explosion of the surrounding area, drive-through traffic will probably increase at a very high rate, and so too will the foot traffic.

Comparing Ontario to British Columbia (BC). In the city of Toronto pedestrians must point, with their finger, forward as they cross on the crosswalk. Here in BC, you would be classified as a “nut” if you where to do that. The point would be driven to the motoring public that you intend to cross, but because driver’s are not accustom to this practice, I think you would be ignored here in BC. Drivers in BC, after all, pass other vehicles on the right at intersections, or on single lane roads when a vehicle that is stopped is trying to make a left hand turn. The “me first” attitude is common here, and sadly this has spread to cyclist.

Where’s a COP when you need one?

Posted in Around Town, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Photographs, Social Justice | Comments Off