Really, what more can I say, except that you have to hear the audio to really appreciate Palin.  Yee Gods!

… First, some straight talk for some, just some in the media, because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press.

And you have such important jobs. Reporting facts. And informing the electorate. And exerting power to in-flu-ence.

You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you. Our troops are willing to die for you.

So how about in honour of the American soldier, ya quit makin’ things up?

And don’t underestimate the wisdom of the people and one other thing, our new governor (Sean Parnell) has a very nice family so leave his kids alone.

Starts at 3:15 min. in this MSNBC clip

Today’s North Shore News reports that the District of North Vancouver (DNV) is pondering solutions to their snow clearance problems.  By “problems” I mean that they didn’t clear any.  In the furor that followed last winter’s major snowfall the DNV tried to claim that they were blameless in the chaos that followed.  At one point they even tried to explain that DNV policy was to wait a couple of days for snow to melt before sending out plows.

Let’s hope they don’t apply the same philosophy when dealing with earthquakes and fires.

As I remarked back in January, the snow removal up in Lynn Valley where I live was utterly pathetic.  Most side streets saw no plows for several days, and several neighbours simply gave up any hope of driving out.

It seems that the DNV’s only proposed solution to snow removal is to restrict parking so that plows (do they have more than one plow?) can get a good run at a street.  That’s leading to arguments because no-one wants to not be able to park on their own street.

If I were on council I expect that my first suggestion would be this: Call up any city in Ontario and ask them how to handle snow removal.  Seriously.  Cities like London or Barrie or even Ottawa deal with lots of snow and manage to function fine.  Copy whatever they do, if not in terms of equipment, then at least in developing policies and practices to clear the most snow in the shortest period of time.

I will admit that many Ontario cities – Hamilton for sure – have handicapped themselves terribly when it comes to snow removal.  A few years ago I summed it up by writing:

Cities like Hamilton have sold off their snow clearing equipment, and laid off the people who did the work, and instead have sub-contracted that work to the lowest bidder.

The outcome is predictable to any right thinking person. The lower the bid, the greater the likelihood that the sub-contractor is going to cut corners to avoid losing money. That means less equipment, less supplies, and fewer employees.

So streets that would have been plowed in a few hours when I was young now sit untouched for days or get one cursory run down the middle of the road. Ordinary tax paying citizens may not be able to get to work, or to the doctor, and may wind up in more accidents as their cars slip and slide on unplowed streets, but the sub-contractors can point to a profit, and the politicians can make yet another promise to lower taxes.

That’s why a lot of Hamilton’s streets were cleared not with proper snow-plows, but by guys in pickup trucks with $995 Canadian Tire snow blades.  These may be totally inadequate (as was their apparent training), but boy they’re cheap.

What frightens me about all of this is what is says about the DNV’s overall level of preparedness.  The time when you most depend on your local government is during a crisis.  A major snowfall anywhere - if left unattended and unplowed – is a major crisis.

It concerns me that both the DNV’s immediate reponse after the snowfall, and the comments reported in this week’s North Shore News suggest that they just don’t think this was a big deal.  I have to assume that if we get another heavy snow fall this winter it will be dealt with in the same inadequate fashion.

If the DNV can’t deal with a winter storm – if they don’t have some contingency plan in place to deal with an unexpectedly large snowfall – then what other emergency preparedness scenarios do I need to worry about?

What if there is a major forest fire that comes down the mountain into Lynn Valley? Is there a plan in place?  What if there’s a large chemical spill on the rail lines? Is the DNV equipped and prepared to handle it?  Lengthy power outages?  Earthquakes? Flooded creeks and rivers?

I don’t want to know what the DNV will do in an average year, I want to know that they have plans in place for the once in lifetime emergencies that eventually will happen.

In the days of my youth any product from the U.S. – which was most things, except stuff like shoes, appliances and televisions that we actually made here – was advertised as having an American price, and a slightly higher Canadian one.

That’s mostly a thing of the past, except when shopping for pet supplies from  a company called JCMCD Enterprises who go so far as to display the following on their web site:

Hmmm… that telus.net e-mail address would seem to suggest that this might be a Canadian company!

Yup – JCMCD Enterprises’ address is:

JCMCD Enterprises
412 Cantrell pl sw
Calgary,  Alberta  t2w 2a4

OK, I’ll bite – how come it costs more to ship from Calgary to Calgary than it does to ship from Calgary to the States? I think I’ll write and ask!

Oh yeah. Another of JCMCD’s fine products -the Fart N Phone – is out of stock.

Last night we watched Knowing on DVD, one of Nick Cage’s 2009 releases.  It was your typical end-of -the-world foreseen by depressed and psychic children type movie – the kind where you keep looking for REDRUM to appear.

When it was done we looked at each other and asked “What ever happened to Nicholas Cage?  Why does it seem that almost every one of his movies is so bad?”

And why would he choose to keep doing obviously bad movies? It’s not like he needs the money.

I liked Wild At Heart, David Lynch’s violent epic.  Cage’s brooding thickness just worked in that film.  I really liked Moonstruck, Norman Jewison’s 1987 romance featuring Cher and Cage as a brooding, uncultured baker. 1987 gave us the Coen Brother’s  Raising Arizona, with Cage playing a none too smart, brooding petty criminal.

Then there was Con-Air. Then there was Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Then there was Ghost Rider. Then there were any of the forty plus other pictures Cage has made, each less appealing than the last.

It was at this point that we jumped up and exclaimed “Aha! The movies that succeed are those in which Cage a) has a REALLY strong director and b) gets to play someone who’s not very bright.”

I’m not saying there’s a connection but…

According to CBC, the Unemployment rate in these parts is still hovering over eight percent. Assuming the bulk of those people are collecting Unemployment Insurance (a debatable assumption) that means that eight percent of the people around you suddenly are living on about 55% of their regular wage.

Example A

In the last 26 weeks you worked for 26 weeks and earned a total of $10,400. You live in an area where the unemployment rate is 13.1%; so the divisor is 14. To determine your average weekly earnings, we calculate $10,400 ÷ 26 = $400. We use the number of weeks worked as it is greater than the divisor.

To determine your weekly benefit rate, we calculate 55% of $400 = $220.

What would your spending patterns look like if you had to cut back by 45%?   What would you give up? Which of your local businesses would you stop visiting, or stop visiting as much?

That eight percent doesn’t include all of the people who are being squeezed but who haven’t managed to become “officially” unemployed. There are thousands of people who have been forced to accept pay cuts of five or ten percent. There are thousands more who have gone from working 40 hours weeks to 30. And of course there are people who went from secure well paid unionized jobs to non-union jobs paying much less and offering little or no benefits like dental coverage or disability insurance.

Each of those people, not reflected in official unemployment statistics, is cutting back, spending less, hunkering down a prolonged depression. They’re the folks who understand that a lot of good paying jobs have gone forever to China or Mexico, and that the political masters and economists aren’t likely to do anything to try and prevent those losses.

The next time that one or the other economist or politician starts painting a rosy picture of how well we’re doing during this depression, think about all of those people that aren’t part of the official eight percent.

I’m now an offical contributor to the North Vancouver Politics Blog.  You can check out my inaugural post here, along with many enlightened and thoughtful responses and comments.

I was tempted to talk abour Stevie Harper’s unbelievable gaffe at the funeral for Romeo LeBlanc, but decided to stay local and talk about all of the things that I like paying taxes for.

It’s a pretty good list.

Since the dep/recession settled in there has much discussion of the adequacy of Canada’s unemployment insurance system (quaintly renamed a few years ago as “Employment Insurance”, in much the same manner that Ontario’s welfare system became “Jobs Ontario.”)

If you believe the media the question of EI actually could have led to an early election as the Liberals (under Iggy) threatened to bring down the Conservatives (under Stevie) in a vote of confidence in the House of Commons.

So, given the import ofthis issue, why was  this story buried below the fold on page six of the Business section of the Globe and Mail?

Jobless benefits in Canada are well below the average for OECD countries and, despite recent federal government enhancements to the system, remain more meagre than in previous recessions, a study said Tuesday.

The report, by Dalhousie University’s chair of economics Lars Osberg, found Canada’s current system “offers relatively little income protection” in terms of access, benefit duration, and income replacement levels compared with other industrialized countries, and compared to Canada’s unemployment insurance systems of previous years.

Is it a conspiracy? Is it an attempt to keep ideas like this from average Canadians?  Is there any sort of reason why this isn’t front page news?

To see the report without mediation by the pro-business media, visit the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Note: the story is nowhere to be found at CBC’s front page either.  It is though buried in the “Money” section under the header EI not the panacea Canadians think, report suggests.