LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- October 07, 2008
To The Editor;
This election was not supposed to happen for a year according to a law passed about having a fixed election date. This is a good idea, because, if this law is taken seriously and followed, then the government of the day can't pull an election when things are going well economically or put one off until the last possible minute when things are going badly, (we have to have one every five years) the BC government has a fixed election date, we're having a provincial election next spring (this is a good thing).
Mr. Harper, the federal Conservative guy, felt that the US was in for a serious economic slow down and thought that when the wash from it started shaking our boat, he, being the skipper would take the blame. The various opposition parties would make sure of it. So, even though his heart is big for law and order, he ignored the law and ordered an election, this in spite of the fact that the first of his propaganda post cards which we all paid for on the free mailing privileges of various Conservative MPs this one shows some slovenly young person sitting on a couch holding what is very likely a bottle of beer and probably watching TV and asks brightly, Jail?? then goes on to say serious crimes deserve serious time, this is true, the British for example chopped off the head of Charles II for ignoring laws of parliament. We should at least sue the Conservatives for ignoring the law. Too bad we don't have a death penalty; I'd like a death penalty for child molesters, for example. But we do lock them up and throw away the key. Olsen and Bernardo are in for keeps.
This is a simple solution. The young TV watching beer drinker, hope it's Okanagan Spring, will get out again after some years and given the shape of our prison system, we put in some kind of loser, drunk, brawler or moderate pot head and get out a vicious hate chocked criminal, who has learned every sneaky vicious trick and is filled with hate for the world. Not everyone will write
'pilgrims progress' or 'the book of revelation' while in the slammer. The Dutch realized this and totally modernized their prison system with psychiatrists and lots of accountability. We can't afford to do this, so a parole officer and community service is a better option than literally throwing a dumb loser to the wolves.
Since we're committed to the Afghanistan mission, serious army time would be a good option for parole violations, we really need psychiatric service in our jails to isolate the real incurables and cure the people who can be turned straight. There really is no simple solution. The other mail outs are similarly simplistic and try to take credit for the on going work of the RCMP and the various departments of the civil service. To quote Robert Service "the simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things" these folks (the cops and the bureaucrats) just shake their heads and go on with the excellent job they are doing. You've got to hand it to Mr. Harper no other politician has thought of taking credit for their work. He blew it on the army however, he wants to spend a gazillion bucks on aircraft, when our folks in Afghanistan need decent armoured cars like the US got for their marines last year, they will be glad to sell us their used armoured Humvees since they have been replaced by slower but more heavily armoured vehicles.
This letter comes with a cartoon you have to picture it, can't draw. There is Porky Pig (Walter Lantz Inc.) wearing blue coveralls and a blue hard hat with a bright yellow badge saying
'pig oil' on the side of it in his back pocket is a little Stephen Harper hollering "the carbon tax is evil, Gord Campbell is evil, Steph Dion is evil."
This guy is not Robert Stanfield but he has done us a great favour he has called into question our way of generating party leaders. We should perhaps get a system like the USA where all the registered conservatives pick a leader and the same with the other parties we could perhaps eliminate the sleazier folks. Another idea I'd like to see is a run off vote second vote three weeks later of the top two. No one gets in with less than 51%.
- Glen Allison, Princeton
Dear Editor;
I just wanted to pass along my story of some very helpful workmen in our community.
The other day I had parked behind the Pharmasave to do some banking at CIBC. When I got back inside my truck, I noticed it making a really bad noise in the front end.
I had my window down trying to listen to this sound and while I was creeping along trying to figure this thing out I heard. "STOP! STOP!"
It was all the fellows working on the roofing job at the Pharmasave. They could hear this racket, too!
I stopped!! These fellows took the time to check my wheels, look under the front and side of my truck. We were all trying to think of what was causing this.
One of the fellows got on his cell phone and called one of our local auto places so I could go right away.
The best thing they said would be a rock in the wheel, the worst could be a bolt that had come undone and was in the wheel.
The good news is it was a rock and all the bolts were just fine. The really good news is that these fellows never thought twice about helping someone out.
Many thanks, Guys!!!
- Bonnie Theal, Princeton
