Gas – Nobody Rides for Free

May 10th, 2011 Thomasso

I have been hearing a lot of chatter on Twitter and the Web about gas prices lately, especially in the last twenty-four hours.  I, like millions of other motorist, are very familiar with the price of gas as it has been slowly creeping its way up on the price scale. Why now has there been a huge serge in fossil fuel prices that kicked in yesterday, and why now has the media, and everyone else, just started to care about it?

I think part of the answer is in the trend itself. It has been steadily climbing ever since the economic meltdown back on 2008. With this slow, or fast creeping rise, depending on how you look at it, this trend in the cost seems to be now effecting us disproportionately more so. This could be the breaking point?

Last night I heard that the flooding of the Mississippi River had “spooked” everyone who cares about the markets of commodities, and they then speculated that the cost of fuel should rise as a hand full of oil refineries along the river’s bank will be shut down. That, coupled with the unrest in the Middle East, are said to be what has caused this sudden drop, and then rise in prices are our gas pumps. This according to the CBC News.

We have food prices creeping upwards too, although how much of it is directly effected by fuel prices is uncertain to me, but the cost of some food stuffs is mind boggling. Tomatoes are a weird food commodity as I have seen a two hundred and fifty percent rise, while coffee has climbed about fifty percent. Then there are the smaller packaging by food processors too – to trick consumers that cost are normal. These are increases that I have observed at my local grocer here in Langley Township from comparing receipts over the last twelve months.

The really big factor is the recovering market from the 2008 meltdown. Growth is still slow in Canada, and the unemployment rate is still something to be concerned with. Corporations are said to be stock piling their cash reserves, so a good chuck of the “trickle down” effect is very slow in returning back to the mainstream according to CBC News. And of course, debt is the number one cause of consumers, businesses and governments from getting back on track with their austerity measures. This all seems to me to be the recipe of a very slow recovery, and possible the “double-dip” recession that everyone keeps talking about.

Since I love statistics, and like to graph out everything I find so that I can visually see the effects, I have put together a couple of charts, courtesy of GasBuddy.com. You can got to their website and play around with the chart, imputing your data ranges and compare your ranges to your heart’s content. The program is limited, but serves its purpose nicely.

Click on the chart to make it bigger. The above chart is comparing the Canadian average, in litres per CND Currency-60 month range, of gasoline prices, in Orang. The Blue line is Vancouver’s price rate compared to Ottawa’s same performance. Vancouver’s rate is higher due to taxation, so the difference compared the national average and Ottawa’s is almost relative. Also look at the huge drop in the middle of the chart, 2008, and the slow creeping climb from 2008 up to now.

This chart compares the USA average, in Blue, to the Canadian average in Red. Again, taxation and government subsidies are responsible for the relative difference. Note too how close together the lines match up together during the 2008 melt-down, and how much farther apart these two trends seems to be afterwards. Keep in mind that a $1.50 litre is almost equalled to $5.68 a US Gallon.

Posted in Diatribe, General, Social economics, Social Justice, Twitter | Comments Off

The Carrot Stick, and the Pay Cheque

May 4th, 2011 Thomasso

Today an old friend of mine from University popped by to discuss some research I did for her regarding some suspicions that she has about her current employer. It took me about fifteen minutes to hit pay dirt, or find the dark and dirty secrets of this individual. When I presented this information to her with the data, she was not as devastated as I thought she would be. But this exercise brings up many ethical questions about our ideological needs and social concerns when dealing with offenders, and how we react to them.

So here is the first question. Would you continue to work for an employer who has been convicted of a sexual assault in the past, if you just found out about it today, and you are a woman?

I was surprised by my friend’s reaction as I handed her the file to read. Now for me, I deal with this all of the time so I am some what tempered by the many types of people I work and deal with in the prison system. I have interviewed, worked with, and being involved with various programs that are centred around people who have committed very heinous crimes, so I am use to it. In the rule of law circles, the belief is, once a person has fulfilled their time and punishment, then they are free to rejoin society and we as the public should take them back with open arms. As a Criminologist, I know first hand that that is not the case. In most circumstances, the opposite happens. My friend was not as concern as I thought she would have been about this news that I gave her.

So, the next question is, would you quit your job if you found out your boss is a known sex offender who has served his time and has been released?

Sex offenders are held as the lowest of the low in Canadian society. With this mark, you do not have to go far to see the public outrage that is generated whenever an offender is released from prison after serving their time. When my friend decided that she would continue to work for this guy, I was shocked.

This beings up a very interesting aspect about our society. On one hand, we have a woman who just found out that her boss is a convicted sex offender, yet, because it is a job, she will continue to have this relationship with him. So this has got me thinking that there are some huge philosophical dynamics being played out here between someone’s moral and social values on this topic.

If she had know that this man was a convicted sex offender from along time ago, then she probably would have never worked for him. Yet, because she has just found out, and confirmed this, this changes everything. Her tie, as part of her relationship as an employer employee connection with him exists, it appears to be a far stronger tie than I would have expected. The level of merit between her and her boss has changed significantly. This change is so strong that she is even willing to forgo the fear and anger of what this man is in her mind, based upon his past, that she has told me that she will decide over time rather than making her decision based on anger on the spot.

I can see that this has changed the quality of the relationship between her and her work, as I can assume that she will be looking over her shoulders continuously now. But, before this, being employed by this man for roughly a year now, what has really changed?

I hope you, dear reader, can make your own informed assumptions about this post. I have left the names of both people out of this, but felt that it is an important topic to blog about. This is after all one of our biggest social fears today. Your comments are welcomed.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | 1 Comment »

It’s Over! Yay – Election 2011

May 2nd, 2011 Thomasso

I am sure happy all of this is over now. The results were nothing short of surprising. For myself, I am stunned on so many levels. Sure, the Conservatives get their majority government that they so gleefully cried for coming into this election, but to have the New Democrats as the official opposition? We are talking a Cow with holes in it! It think tonight many choices were made by the Canadian public, and results speak very clearly for themselves. I see it as “out with the old, in with the new.”

Now whether you agree with it, or not, as I am sure many are unhappy, or shouting hysteria with glee, tomorrow our country will have changed. Canadians have asked for this, Canadians will finally get what they deserve. With a majority government, change will effortlessly take place unlike the case with two consecutive minority governments of the past. We have forty-eight months to test this new machine out and see if it can deliver all those promises that were made during this election.

I will update this graphic tomorrow once the final numbers are in. For now the Conservatives have a clear lead, and a clear majority government, with the cut-off of 155 seats for that majority in Ottawa. This graphic has been updated on May 3rd, 2011. It appears that these are the final results from the election.

Congratulation to Stephen Harper as Prime Minister, with a majority government, and Jack Layton, who is now the leader of the official opposition, a first in Canadian history!

Posted in Art, Diatribe, Events, General, Socail Media, Social economics, Social Justice | Comments Off

VOTE! Get Your Butt to the Polling Station and VOTE!

May 2nd, 2011 Thomasso

Today is the big day. I’m excited. Later on today, probably around noon, I will head down to the voting booths and cast my vote, hoping that the guy I voted for gets in power.

I am keeping that information privileged. The guy I’m voting for will remain a mystery here on the old weblog. That is personal information and my own opinion, and I have learned over the years that you should keep that bit of your life personal unless you want it to be exposed to the public. I’m a private kind of guy with this sort of stuff. Only the trained, and keen individuals, can figure out who my true colours, and ideologies, are from reading this blog, but that is for you to make, and of course, that is your opinion too. I respect that.

I have spent most of the day so far reminding people to vote. I’m going to walk with a couple of people because they like to be with people when they go out into the public spaces. I know one of them suffers from agoraphobia, so timing and comforting is everything for him. As weird as it sounds, they (my two friends with phobias) do not like to venture often, or by themselves, so they travel in pairs, or with a group of friends. But hey, it gets them out to the polling station!

I’m even going to go over who the candidates are and what parties they represent for my friends. It will be hard to do this of course while being unbiased. But, on the same token, I don’t want to be too simplistic and contrasted so that they they build a false sense of impressions and become disillusioned.

So here is to the greatest privileged that anyone can have in our modern world, the power to individually choose and take part in the election process of our government!

And on a side note: Thank you Twitter! With out you, the lest vestiges of our government’s control have been taken away and reduced to nothingness! I thank you again for  making the world an even freer place to live! Now I think we can say we are living up to the standards set out by our constitutional law, not what a small group of people’s opinions are who interpreted this as so long ago in a long ago era. (I’m off my soap-box now).

Get your ass out there and VOTE!

Posted in Around Town, Events, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter | 1 Comment »

Politics and That Bin Ladin Guy from 9-11

May 1st, 2011 Thomasso

I was reading some tweets from friends when I noticed a huge surge of tweets with the trending topic of Osama bin Laden in them. Around 7:30pm (pacific time) these tweets started popping up. Then the grand-daddy of all tweets coming from President Barack Obama, who tweeted that he was about to do  a rare late night public announcement live, streamed live on the web. So I waited with bated breath.

It was announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American forces, issued by the President (10:30 Eastern).

Oh Twitter. I laughed, I cried, and read with intent. There were so many perspectives on this event that I had to stop my stream to read them all in real time. As I type, our Prime Minster is speaking about the 9-11 and the death of Osama Bin Laden. His speech was short. I understand that he is, after all, in the twilight of an election.

Here is the President’s speech in its entirety:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U[/youtube]

So, I will continue to pick this up for tomorrow.

Election Fun:

On a Humours note, poking fun at the election, I present a YouTube clip of this acapella group, “The Tra La Las,”  poking fun at the Harper Conservatives. This is for some members of my family, who are staunch Conservative supporters–you know who you are… Heh heh heh. So get out there and VOTE tomorrow! Vote, it’s your right and privilege!

Harper is the Root of All Evil

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVH9C_JWwJU[/youtube]

As the night progresses, and if I have more energy, I will probably add more to this post. But I must get back to Twitter.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Events, General, Humour, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter, Video | Comments Off

The Underground Economy

April 10th, 2011 Thomasso

I have been trying to help an old friend from moving back into the realm of criminal activity, and convincing him to keep his life on the straight and narrow. My efforts have been doubly difficult as the economy is making the search for legitimate employment more difficult for him. As our self melodious Prime Minister touts, Canada is in good economic terms compared to the rest of the world, but that is coming from a politician that wants to get re-elected. OK, if that is the case, then we are in big trouble as the Canadian economy is hurting, to use the lack of a better word. That is not going to help my friend who is on the verge of moving out onto the street.

My friend has done time in prison before. He was convicted of possession of illegal narcotics, and served less than six months, then three years on parole, where he was finally let free, back into society, basically to fend for himself. He has managed to keep himself in good shape, and has been working, earning a legitimate wage for over the last three years. His good fortune turned when he was laid off and now has been unemployed for a couple of months. He is now keeping himself going by selling what he can of his own personal belongings for cash, and feeding himself by going to the local food bank in Langley City, when he can. He will be homeless after this month, as all of his savings are almost gone.

I have taken some time study the underground economy in Canada. Partly because I did a lot of research way back when I was a second year Criminology student, writing a paper on this topic. I learned then that the public associates the underground economy with drug dealers and organized criminal gangs, while revenue Canada view it as any money where taxes have not been paid on it through profits and income. I see it as a hybrid of the two, mostly pertaining it to both organized and White Collar crime. As I gathered more statistical evidence, I found that the numbers of dollars circumvented from the tax man seem to be neck in neck with White Collar criminals as compared with the drug trade; although finding the true measure of the dollar amount will always remain a mystery as any research on criminal activity will be classified as being involved in the criminal activity itself.

For my friend, the ease, and the lure, of moving back into the illegal world of commerce has never looked so good right now for him. Based on my research, the underground economy is very much alive and well in British Columbia. Sadly, some predictions say that there could be a spike in people migrating towards the underground economy, as never seen before. As money and services start to contract, companies start cutting corners to remain competitive, or current market wages could be undermined by the cheaper available labour, citing some examples of what is happening. Under the table labour is becoming the next bastion of life for many people who are on the brink of becoming homeless in the Vancouver area. My friend is struggling with these temptations. He is down to the choice of feeding himself, or going hungry.

In his mind, if the means are available, then how be it a broken social system dare tell him what he can and cannot do to survive.  Even he knows that the resources for law enforcement are stretched so thin through under funding by all three levels of government that resources for White Collar crime is almost nonexistent, and adds to the legitimacy of doing such crimes here in Canada.

I continue to appeal to my friend, asking that he keeps on trying, searching for the legitimate job. However, I too can see the strain of his temptation to dive back into the criminal world. He told me that as of last week the crime world is the only world that is hiring! That shocked me when he said that. I guess it is true, in a sad and truthful tone.

My hope is that he can find some work soon. Like so many, our economy is collapsing, and the bottom economic strata are always the first levels to fall in times of economic hardship. His criminal record, by the way, does not seem to deter him, as he told that most of his former employers never asked. So, as he said, it is the availability of work that is at play here. The last thing I want to see is him moving into a cardboard box sleeping out in the elements somewhere in Langley City as a vagrant. So I am really hoping that he finds something soon!

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

The Slut Walk in Toronto

April 5th, 2011 Thomasso

On April 3rd 2011, just last weekend of this writing, hundreds of women, men and youth rallied along Queens Park in down town Toronto to protest remarks made by one Metropolitan Police Officer. The officer in question said something to the effect that if you (women) want to be safe, then you should dress accordingly, directing his statement to women at a campus information session, at York University’s Osgood Hall (Slut Walk Toronto, 2011). This implies that women who dress in a so called way, deemed provocative, or dare I say like sluts, then subject themselves to being raped, sexually assaulted and treated in such a way as inferior.

Although the spotlight as being on the hundreds of women who have taken to the streets in protest, I have found that none of the commercial media outlets have focused on the real issue, and that is, this is a  men’s issue, or Male problem, of our society. The wrong doing here is that the Toronto Police officer  took an all to subjective point of view and a male chauvinistic stance on a problem that should have been driven towards the men in the audience. It is not the women who dress in such a way that is the cause of the problem, but the attitudes of men towards women who view them as subjective and perceive them as a specific stereotype. It is the men who should be given the attention of police in recognizing that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated in a free and democratic society such as Canada.

Yes, I am a male. A man who studies bad people, and social problems, for the last eight of my life. Academically, my field of expertise is in Criminology. My insight into various social problems has enlightened me to an understanding that I take seriously that deal with looking into root causes of problems. I pay close particular attention to the policing organisation in Canada. When I first read of this story, I was not surprised that an officer would make such accusation. This has happen in numerous occasion in the past, and more will continue into the future, but this is a social, and seemingly weak cultural norm, an attitude shared with many, from various groups, even today.

So, would an organisation such as the local police force dare tell an audience of its Male peers that it is they who should be warned, made vigilant and be reserved?  My point comes from an story a first year prof who told me of a case called the Boston Strangler, where police then proclaimed that a curfew of just women had to be made. The rational was that all of the victims were women who walked the streets after dark. The culprit was a male who first raped his victims, then strangled them afterwords. Instead, the curfew should have being for the men, not the women. The logic is, then only the one male would be walking the streets, and his capture would be better guaranteed.

I am on the fence with a public event of people like this.  I believe in education, starting a young age, then working it through all facets of society. However, sometimes it takes a march, or parade, to educate, and bring to light this social problems such as this. I believe that there are many cultural norms that need to be purged because of their underlying harms and discrimination that they ensue. The best example are the Gay Pride events. In less than forty years, homosexuality came from being a criminal offence, to a level of openness and acceptance in Canadian society today. There are groups today who wish to revert back to the days of darkness and run the world in ignorance, but hopefully the human race has risen above that for good.

LINKS

• CBC News: Toronto ‘slut walk’ takes to city streets April 3, 2011
• TheSTAR: Mallick: What to wear for SlutWalk March 30, 2011
• The Toronto Star: ‘Sluts’ march against sexual assault stereotypes April 3, 2011

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

This was not the Monday I Wanted, so…

April 4th, 2011 Thomasso

I woke up to a phone call this morning only to find that it was a wrong number. OK, no big deal, but it was at 6:30am. After that I could not get back to sleep. When I almost dozed off, my neighbour behind me had car problems, so I decided to get up, get dressed, and went out to help him. His vehicle was in bad mechanical shape, so I drove him to work. It was the good Samaritan in me. How many people you know would do that for you, at 7:00am?

When I got home, half hour later, there was over ten emails in my box, but nothing worth me dropping
everything and start running. In fact, the people who were suppose to send me information never did. I contacted them, only to find that they were behind their schedules, and ask if I would wait a few more days. I forgot that the world is in no hurry to move forward as, everywhere, everyone is running a tight ship with the recession and economic fragility implanted in our brains.

But that does not stop the solicitors. I live in a park that has banned solicitors, but sometimes some sneak in under the radar. I had one guy who was trying to sell a subscription to one of the news papers, and he would not go away. I literally closed the door in his face after I said no at least three times. I know he was trying to do the hard-sell, but shit, no one here has disposable income to spend on that kind of nonsense.

Anyway, the day is only half over, so lots can happen. What I really want is for this rain to stop. It has gone on, none stop, for over a day now, and the temperature has really dropped, though not below freezing. I am thankful that we are not shovelling it.

Now, on to other thoughts…

The thing that has made this election more bearable for me, than those of the past, is the use of social networking, like Twitter and Facebook. Focusing on Twitter, I can really see how how prolific people’s opinions are on it. I mean, in the past you had to rely on commercial media outlets to guide your thoughts and it is they who bring the important issues to your attention. Well, that has changed, and probably for the best too. Take for example this little slogan that I ran across on my Twitter feed: “You wouldn’t let your grandparents choose who you date, then why let them choose your government! Your choice. Your Vote May 2nd, 2011. for more information go to www.elections.ca” The slogan is a double take on the state of our society. First, the older generations vote while the youth do so very little. This is probably the reason why Canada has had this trend of one minority government after another; the older voters are looking for security, as one possibility, so they shift to political right hoping to save their fixed incomes. This leave the black hole from the youth who simply do not vote. The 24 to 36 year old age group seems to have a very low voter turnout. Secondly, because the youth represent a smaller demographic they seem to have a stronger scene of apathy when it come to voting believing that their vote means nothing. Hopefully the slogan works?

I like it when people who are pro Conservatives, or Cons as I call them, tell me one liners like, “it’s where the rubber meets the road,” and “we need a strong economy, not destroy it…” So, some smart person on my Tweeter feed posted this little graph that in my mind speaks for it self. The clever part to this graph is that it clearly shows just how big the national debt, and how it coincides with the change in government from 2006 onwards. This leaves me with the question of why, from a government that claims that it is here to balance the budget, lower our taxes, and maintain our national infrastructure has put Canadians into a almost 60 billion dollar hole?

Posted in Diatribe, General, Photographs, Socail Media, Social economics, Social Justice, Twitter | Comments Off

The Month End Report

March 31st, 2011 Thomasso

It is always sad to see the end of something and become cautious heading into something else. Normally I would agree to this, but March 2011 has not been one of those periods. In fact, The month, and most all of the beginning of the year, has been very disappointing. It is really tough to break down all of the positive accounts from the bad ones, and lump them all into one nice little paragraph. Mind you, there are a couple of very positive outcomes, but they are only in contrast to the gloom of the general state of the Canadian economy and preceding nauseating effects of the glacial speed recovery. I can understand why everyone is so reclusive and withdrawing; when even citizens are practising austerity measures of their own to fight bankruptcy, nothing moves fast.

I have met many people who have given up, yet will not admit it. They are the ones of whom worry me. Which is funny when I hear marketing experts and business people talk about how we all must diversify, these are same tards that forget that thirty percent of the population is in, or near retirement. This translates into a very large chunk of our population that is living on fixed incomes. For the young and budding business person, exploiting any segment of the market that has potential is fair game, but whine and complain when our elders do not nibble at their marketing. Yet, for other reasons, our seniors are responding to the attention, but not in the way that marketers want. Seniors are craving attention, and seek companionship, no matter how little, or from what source, but talking to someone, interacting, bonding, this is a human condition. So they spend money to seek that attention. To meet with a person who is eating Chinese noodles, cabbage, and wieners, once a day for seven days straight, and they will not admit it, scares the shit out of me. These seniors are in a self made prison in the sense that they have very little interaction and contact with stimulating people. This is why they will have a sales person come into their house and sell them a Seven Hundred dollar vacuum cleaner to fulfil that need.

I have started taking up hiking, and I will slowly get back into running again once I have achieved a better level of fitness. Baby steps. But yes, time to rid myself of the “spare-tire” that is wrapped around me.  I have started the Fort to Fort Trail and then I will start on some of the other trails once I get familiar with them. Today’s run was great. I have hope yet! I power-walked the whole trail, 8 km in total. The weather was perfect and there was lots of other joggers too, so this could be a good very good change for me.

On a side note, I seen my first sighting of a woodpecker. He was chewing up the top of the hydro-pole at the end of my block. How this bird does not get a headache is beyond me?

Well, it is late. I want to type on, but I must get sleep. Tomorrow is April Fools day.  I must be on guard as I know many pranksters!

Posted in Around Town, Diatribe, General, Photographs, Social economics, Social Justice | Comments Off

Election Fever and Soap Scum

March 25th, 2011 Thomasso

Just like the fine folks over at CBC News World said they would, the Government of Canada had a vote of non-confidence, and it fell, springing us into an election. I was prepared, and we all cannot say we did not see it coming with all the news reporting going on about it, so the shock of having an election was nonexistent. I think the news television programs, and reporters in those news programs, really spoiled it for us. That was a joke, by the way.

Do I want an election?

My short answer is yes, I really do want an election. No, I have not been drinking or consuming something that I should not have been taking; I am level headed. I really think we need one. I am on board with the idea that we either get a majority government, or get some change happening over there in Ottawa because what is going one is not working.

People call this stable and we are on the right track?

These people are either living up on cloud nine, and have not had their pay cheques cut off, or reduced, or they are a stone cold corporate recipient of the 2008 bailout of our hard earned tax money. I am having a hard time swallowing this fiscal management thing when I see Fighter Jets and Prisons not being properly tallied up on the balance sheet. Government owes it to its people how much we are on the hook for. Damn it, I want to know!

OK, now to be honest, I really do not want an election. I live in British Columbia, and this year we are going to be inundated with elections from all three levels of government, including the 2011 census this year. I know I will be going through election fatigue soon. I can see myself wanting to run over all the election lawn signs as I drive by them. My poor PVR will be going though mechanical failure after using the fast forward, and commercial delete buttons, so often. (Yes, my PVR has a commercial delete button!) I heard that one party alone has taken out something like 3000 commercial spots on various stations? I wonder who that could be! That is 3000 political attack ads folks! 3000 of them!

Now on to soap scum. I do not know what they are putting in our water here in Fort Langley, but I cannot get this white film off from my bath tub. I have being noticing it over the last few months, and it seems to be getting worse. I can only describe as being something like a calcium white powdery, film, type scum that is always there after each use. It is weird stuff, and really hard to get off my bathtub and shower bottom. I really noticed it when I redid my hot water tank. About five cups full of the stuff came out. I am just wondering just how healthy this drinking water really is? I have not noticed any difference in taste, so maybe it is natural. Heh, watch next week, as I piss out a one centimetre diameter kidney stone!

I have tried some industrial strength solvents, along with some natural solutions like vinegar and baking soda, but I can only minimise the effect. I think I might try filtering my water from the main-line going into my home. My neighbour told me that is what he is doing. He has the same problem, but not to the same degree that I have gotten. Either way it means spending more money protecting myself from some potential harm from these utilities.

Posted in Diatribe, Events, General, Humour, Socail Media, Social economics, Social Justice | Comments Off