The $52... $104 Million Question?

So the City did it. They took our money citing the flood as the reason. I am unimpressed. I am impressed with Big Red but not Calgary City Council in general. Once Alderman Colley-Urquhart heard from us in Ward 13, she changed her tune about what should be done with the money. Who knew? We have a representative who listens! Exciting stuff.

I am seriously starting to feel Mayor Nenshi sees himself as Prince John and we his subjects. We are nothing but dollars signs to him, so why not tax us to death. The flood was nothing but a God send of money in the bank, gold to take from his subjects and a reason to raise next year's taxes beyond his forecast. It seems the decision has already been made that next year's tax break, if there is one, is going straight into the city coffers. Why not, last year's did. How much is that now? $90 million? $100 million that the city has taken from us? I would prefer the province no longer goes through the city for taxes. I know it's for their convenience, not mine.

I, like everyone else, knows the flood was unprecedented but that's what the emergency fund is for. The province has said they'll help pay for flood damages. The federal government has said, they'll help pay for flood damages, so why does the city need to keep money the province has allocated back to us? There is absolutely no reason for it especially since the city intercepted it long before the flood ever happened. How did this become “flood money” all of a sudden? As I've heard so many times before, it rained, use the rainy day fund.

Mayor Nenshi, it appears, wants to replenish the rainy day fund before it's spent. City Council doesn't even know how much of the city's rainy day fund will be spent. Not only that, it's not even known exactly how much flood recovery will cost. You know, the stuff the provincial and federal governments said they'd cover. Even if the city's rainy day fund has to be tapped, it's supposed to get replenished from future taxation, not current or in this case, past taxation. It's not like “oh look, we've been hit by a hurricane, use 100% rainy day fund AND increase taxes to fill it back up tomorrow.” We don't expect another emergency that quickly, that's why it's called an emergency.

If this is how the City of Calgary has decided to operate, this worries me. In essence they have raised taxes due to an emergency. What happens in the next emergency?  There will be a next one. Will they have an emergency session, find some law that states they can raise our taxes effective immediately and we're hooped? The province won't always provide the city with our money as a windfall.

With the farcical poll that was held, Mayor Nenshi says “the results don't add up to a whole lot.” I beg your pardon? 5 simple questions, click here, get simple answers. “Give it back” got the most votes. Why, why, why does that need a lot of thought? What I see is Mayor Nenshi trying to reframe the poll into “keep it for city hall.” But that doesn't matter anymore, city council has already voted to keep it.

If Mayor Nenshi actually cared what we thought, the money would have been put back into our bank accounts. It would never have been a question, but he doesn't care about us. Before the flood, it was all about the biggest, newest, shiniest project. How many hundreds of millions of dollars can be spent right now. City council would complain about how they have no money for infrastructure maintenance but that's okay, they'd just raise taxes next year. Now, it's about how quickly they can screw us and make us like it. I also didn't like the argument “well the previous council spent a billion dollars on their project!” So what? It has been time for fiscal responsibility for so long. City Council is borrowing money for projects as it is. We have to stop spending! Play catch up for a few years! No more $500 million dollar projects! We should not be spending on public art, ever, but especially when tapping into the rainy day fund for an emergency is a cause for concern. This is stupid.

I’ve also heard it said that taking this money IS giving it back to Calgarians by using it for maintenance, projects, flood recovery or what have you.  Then why not tax me at 100% and give me my daily rations, room and board.  Wait, I believe that was called Twentieth Century Motor Company.

I watched City Council for a short time and I was rather disturbed by some of the things the Aldermen were saying. Unfortunately, I didn't record who said what.

One alderman said we are a collective as a municipality. No, really, we're not. Yes, we all live in Calgary and speaking for infrastructure needs, we pay into the same pot and expect the city to do its job. Saying we're a collective makes it sound like we live in a communist dictatorship. I don't work in the best interest of some guy in north east Calgary. This is certainly not a reason to keep the refund the province meant for us.

Another Alderman did make the point that there is only one taxpayer, but then went on to say that the city can only tax property. This was the reason to take the $52 million. Again, no. He explained that after taxing property, they have to go with their hand out to the province and the federal government. And? Calgary is in Alberta which is in Canada and guess what, this one taxpayer has to pay municipal, provincial and federal taxes. I don't have a choice so saying that they have to steal my money in order that they don’t have to “beg” the province or the feds does not make me any happier. Hiking my property taxes 30% over the last 3 years really makes me unhappy, my bottom line doesn't like it. The city is still saying “please sir, I want some more!”  Then the so called experts say “people aren’t spending as much on goods and services.”  I wonder why?

If the city is so short on funds, maybe they should start running properly. I will repeat myself - fiscal responsibility - and there is a reason. No private company could run like this city runs, it would be out of business in no time. City council continually approves billion dollar projects, they borrow for the next huge project and each division gives themselves raises every year whether they deserve it or not - and they almost never deserve it. The only city workers that deserve it this year are emergency services. The Calgary First Responders did fantastically.

We need to restart plebiscites. If the city wants to do a $500 million project, do a real vote. They should never again do some poll that'll be outright ignored. When they do a vote, they need to include an honest cost/benefit and if the there are massive cost overruns, there needs to be an external investigation and audit as to why. It seems every project that runs through the government, there are massive cost overruns.  That needs to end. Again, no private enterprise can run like that. The project manager would be fired.  Things need to change.  No more stealing of our money, no more mismanagement of our money.  Enough is enough.

These last number of years should teach people something.  Don’t forget the last few years because of a couple of good weeks of leadership.  Don’t allow these politicians to continually steal, pillage and plunder from us.  Make them responsible.  Politicians, do your job.  You work for me, my neighbours, their neighbours.  You do not work for your own self interest.  My memory is long, your term is short.  Never forget, you only care about my opinion once every few years, but I show up, every single time, unlike your current power base.  

Calgary Property Tax Farce

I was initially going to write on the issues I have with the impending green bin fiasco that I see coming but I think I want to do something a little different. Not so much different but change my tactics because really, what's bothering me about the green/blue/black bins is not so much the bin but the lie.

In Calgary, we currently have a city council that does nothing to protect the taxpayer. This city council is quick to spend. They love their legacies, good or bad. The rebuild of 16th Avenue North is a good example.

Calgary has been my home most of my life but I moved away for a couple of years. During that time, 16th Avenue got torn apart. When I decided to visit, I learned (by driving down it) to stay off 16th. I had no idea why it was being torn up but friends were telling me it was to expand it and make it easier to get through the city. I thought “fantastic”! I used to go to Crescent Heights High School, so I used 16th a lot in my teenage years. Traffic has only gotten worse, go for it.

I move back to Calgary after four years and 16th Avenue is still under construction. My God this is taking awhile! The Brick closes, the dry cleaner moves under protest, but the construction moves forward. Awesome. Then, those planter boxes get put down the middle of the road. Traffic is as bad as ever, very little changes and the lights are synchronized to go red no matter how fast or slow you drive. I mean seriously, have you driven down 16th Avenue? I still avoid 16th Ave like its plague. So how many millions went into space for really big, ugly planter boxes?

Okay, I can deal, not a problem. I don’t own a home yet, I haven't noticed too much. Why does my rent keep increasing? I lived in Tofino FREAKIN' BC for God sake and I think this is nuts! I'm not kidding. I rented a house in Tofino for cheaper than my tiny apartment here in Calgary! I'm having serious issues with this.

I'm sorry, how much for an LRT expansion? I'm not going to hyperventilate. I'm... okay. I'm still standing. The world is a little fuzzy, I'm feeling a little woozy. What else is happening? Oh, that Glenmore upgrade thing? Well, that's cool, it's needed that for awhile. What else? There are how many construction projects this year? I did notice I can't drive anywhere without running headlong into construction. This is crazy even for Calgary.

Okay, I own a house now. That's nice. I find I'm paying a lot more attention to stuff. I don't know if that's better but I'm paying attention. A lot of stuff the city and province do give me a headache. The tunnel is one of them. It was suppose to replace Barlow but it follows Mcknight and Country Hills Blvd. and costs how much and ends where? Oh look, my property taxes just increased. That's why my rent kept increasing. You want to build 4 rec centres with money you don't have. Oh look, my property taxes increased. You introduced blue bins and black bins, with a fee... but my property taxes went up. How does that work? You can't control Calgary Transit or its costs so you now include them in my property taxes and now my property taxes increase. I'm seeing a trend that I don't like.

City Council says time and again that they're dead broke, no money for years to come. The province doesn't know what they have to give but you want to build a composting facility, so you are probably going to increase my property taxes. You want to build a new library with money you don't have, guess you want more of my money right. You have this fantastically fabulous idea for green bins, that will come with a fee but you're going to not only take the tax break the province gave me, you're going to increase my property taxes. OH, and you've already decided that next year's is at least a 6% increase.

Are you seeing a pattern? Are you happy with the pattern because I can certainly say, I'm not. I'm very unhappy with this pattern and I'm very concerned. Not only am I concerned, I'm angry. Why can this city council not control its spending. Why can it not stop spending? Why can it not get its fiscal house in order? This has to stop and it has to stop 5 years ago. There are only so many “only's” left in us. It's “only” $6/month. It's “only” $126/year. It's “only” 6%. It's “only” my hard earned money. It's “only” my husband's hard earned money. It's “only” my neighbour's hard earned money.

The effort of earning a living, the effort of earning nice things, the effort of putting food on the table does NOT give this city council a right to take it. Public art is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. No public money should ever go to art! I'm sorry but I will stand by that and I'm a photographer.

I also don't like it when I read that Calgary has the lowest level of taxation across the country, so be happy with the increases. No, I will never be happy with increases unless I can agree with why I'm being taxed to death. When taxation is over 40%, I’ve got a problem with that. When the mayor is taking a tax break given to us by another level of government, and then tells us there is due process to potentially get it back, I’ve got a problem with that because Calgary city council interrupted due process in the first place.

As far as this $52 million is concerned, the province taxed it away from us, the province decided to give it back. The only thing the city did, was take it for the province. City council should have NO right to keep it once the province decides to give it back. It was NEVER theirs. Same with last year’s $40 million. The city made their budget, it should be their responsibility to stay within their spending means. They did not find $52 million laying around, it's not a windfall. It's theft, from either the provincial coffers or from us. Plain and simple.

The politician that puts the word “only” in front of an increase or dollar amount has immediately lost my respect. That politician certainly has no respect for me. Just because it's “only $$” to him, doesn't mean it's only $$ to someone else. That could be a meal for someone's children or a bus ticket to work. I put value into every dollar I have. There was a time I had very little. I'm by no means rich yet but I'm no longer poor. $126 could be groceries for a week for some family. My family used to be one of those. I can thankfully say I'm no longer in that boat but it's still my $126 to do with as I please. It's not City Council's to take out of my pocket because they've overspent and now they're screwed.

Mayor Nenshi does want to add some sort of municipal tax to keep up with the city council's out of control spending. He would like to put upon his subjects a tax of “only” 1% above GST or a gas tax or whatever else he had in mind. He does not wish these taxes put to a vote. We're being gouged enough though. As landowners, I want a Magna Carta signed!

Maybe we should be writing up a new Magna Carta. We have one but it's being ignored, so perhaps the Magna Carta 2013 is required. Our current “leaders” are certainly acting like Kings of the land so I don't see why not. We're certainly being treating like subjects. We're being taxed like subjects. When does the tax collector knock at my door to collect his gold? I won't be surprised when he shows up.

The Magna Carta was written to limit the powers of the King. City council and the province are way too liberal with our money. That’s because it's not theirs. I do want to limit the spending powers of the Federal government as well, but we can argue with them some other time. Governments should be worried about protecting us in various ways, not about their legacies. They should be worried about infrastructure, water & sewer, roads, not public art and bridges we never wanted. That bridge is less than 100 m from one and I can see another bridge not far on the other side. However I had to ride my bike 7 km to find one when I was at 17 St SE. I could have thought of another place that required a bridge, even an eyesore like that one. Governments should be worried about bylaws and how to enforce them, not shark fin soup bans. That's a federal deal in my opinion, if it's an issue at all in Canada.

If city council actually got its priorities in order, actually did what city council was suppose to do, we wouldn't have this spending problem. Our city council could, in theory have money. But they want to go the easy route, they'd rather continually increase taxes. They'd rather give themselves yearly raises and pat themselves on the back. Do you know who should vote whether they get a salary increase or not? Us. Even I would vote myself a salary raise - anyone would. Why not if you could? It's not their money, until it is.   

Enough useless spending.  Enough unwarranted salary increases.  Enough abusing taxpayers.  They seem to forget, there’s only one taxpayer for all levels of government.  Don’t say you respect the taxpayer, show it.  As far as I’m concerned, we’re being treated like ATM’s.  The wallet’s empty, time to make another withdrawal.  It’s “only” another twenty bucks.

The Canada Firearms Centre, A Positive Experience

So this year my husband had to renew his PAL (Possession and Acquisition License) and his long term ATT.  The long term ATT (Authority To Transport) allows licensed people to move restricted firearms to ranges, gunsmiths and border crossings for a period of 5 years.  Last October, he sent in all his information and his PAL came through just fine.  Somewhere along the way, my husband, me, the RCMP, all forgot about the ATT.  We haven’t gone shooting for a few months so it hasn’t been an issue and even so, I have my ATT, so it still wouldn’t have been an issue.  I would have been travelling with him.  Even so, he needs his own.

The issue came in when we were at the Calgary Gun Show and he purchased a handgun (a restricted firearm).  Life was good, he and the seller called the Canada Firearms Centre and the RCMP were very helpful.  The officer even said “Well, your short term ATT has been approved so I assume your long term was already sent out, all is well.”  My husband pointed out he has yet to receive his long term ATT. So the very nice lady on the other end of the phone changed the date of the short term ATT.  (A short term ATT is a one trip ATT with specific ‘from-to addresses’ that basically let the RCMP know a restricted firearm has been picked up, and by whom.  It’s part of the registration process for restricted firearms.  We all think it’s a pain but it’s law.)

This morning my husband re-submitted his application for his long term ATT thinking it would take awhile.  Well it did.  It took a mighty, now get this... 27 minutes!  The Canada Firearms Centre is certainly getting their ducks in a row! Alls I can say to that is wow.  That is awesome!  The Canada Firearms Centre gets more pleasant to deal with as time goes on!  Keep it up guys!

Firearms, CFO's and Rights of All

So passes another successful Calgary Gun Show.  The first day of the show, I helped my in-laws man (woman?) their booths and there was quite the crowd.  It was great and a little overwhelming!  Of course, I ditched the booth to do my own shopping which is always fun.  People always have the most interesting displays.  Like last year, we sold a couple of long guns (no registrations, win!) and again, my husband purchased a handgun which he’s still waiting for (registration complications, it was misregistered as a prohibited firearm which is a whole huge discussion that needs to be had.)

It wasn't all fun and happiness though.  Right before the gun show, the Alberta CFO decided to enact some new rules.  These rules are not law nor are they federally mandated, but they were enacted - in the opinions of law abiding gun owners - to scuttle the Calgary Gun Show.  It was done maliciously and to make life difficult for the vendors of the Gun Show.  Again, like I have asked so many times, why punish the law abiding gun owner?  Should we not be the closest ally to the police and those who make laws?

For those who don’t understand how gun shows operate, guns are generally disabled, and even if they are not, a vendor does not have the ammunition for the firearms they are selling.  It is okay and legal to disable a gun with a zap strap, trust me, it works.  I've cursed many a zap strap holding down a trigger in a removal attempt!  I swear, you can lift trucks with some of those damn things!  Anyways, vendors follow safety rules and regulations because in every walk of life there are idiots, and we don’t want to meet them at our table - or if we do, we’d rather our firearm be no more useful than a club.

What the Alberta CFO demanded was every gun be trigger locked.  Now, if we knew that even 6 months ago, it wouldn't have been a big panic.  We believe that the Alberta CFO was hoping to scuttle as many of the sales as possible at the Calgary Gun Show with this rule thinking we couldn't find enough trigger locks.  It was close, but the vendors did find all the trigger locks they needed.  I swear we were all looking in couch cushions near the end but we got thousands of trigger locks on thousands of guns when zap straps were enough (and legal).  I maintain when you can hold two cars together with plastic zip ties, it’s enough to secure a firearm.  They use them to secure criminals, you've seen it on TV, don’t lie, I know you have.

Another rule that we were told to follow was all (unloaded, trigger locked) firearms had to be pointed inward so as not to be pointed at people.  I actually have to say, huh?  When I pointed my gun that I wanted to sell inward, it was pointed at me!  I think I’m people.  I don’t know, I should check on that.  Also, I was in aisle Q.  That means there were people walking all around me so even pointing the gun “inward”, it was still pointing at people walking up aisle P (well, aisles A through P.)  I did have a rifle on the table.  If the CFO was serious, he would have said the guns must be in a rack pointed at the ceiling.  Wait, maybe I shouldn't say that.  I don’t want to give anyone any ideas.

Also, the firearms needed to be secured down to the tables.  We didn't own the tables so it’s not like we can modify them or anything.  So what?  Do we bring really long cables and secure all of the guns to our wrists?  God help us if we needed to use the washroom!  Most of us just secured the guns to each other, if at all.  It’s never been a problem before, why is it now?  Oh ya, because the CFO decided to be difficult and he wanted to scuttle the gun show.

If the rules weren't so arbitrary, I could almost stomach them.  If I felt there were for the safety of the public, I could tolerate them.  If they were to stop actual honest to God crime, I could accept them, but they’re not.  The police and politicians can’t stop criminals so they punish the law abiding, licensed gun owner, and that just irks me.

We get frowned upon for just wanting to get together to buy, sell, and trade firearms, ammunition, brass, gun parts, T-shirts, USB sticks, jewelry, and the like. For the love of God, WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS! If we were, we would not be going to all this effort, jump through all of these ridiculous hoops to stay on side with the law and with power tripping CFO's.

What would make me happy is if the Federal government would step in and protect us. Why aren't they? What's the deal? Why are our rights not being protected?  Why are the CFO's being permitted to walk all over us? The rules are there, the regulations are there, the law is written.  The CFO's have learned they can bypass them and nothing happens to them as long as it's just the gun owners, gun nuts, and gun fanatics that are being harmed.

The thing is I'm not “just a gun owner” nor is my husband.  It is our hobby, our collection.  We’re business owners, home owners, car owners, cat owners.  He’s a cyclist and I’m a writer.  He’s an accountant and I’m a photographer and the list goes on.  But for those who wish to take our rights away, they simply see “gun owner” or “gun nuts” or whatever other term you wish.  

“Gun owner” is only one facet of who we are and it's the one facet of our rights that are being stomped on. If this was a gay rights issue, all kinds of people, gay, straight, men, women would be fighting for equality, but not for us. The problem is, once our rights are gone, it'll be time for the next group. We’re just a good target right now. Not only that, we're big into free speech. That seems to be bad and I don't know why.  People are fighting us on that front as well.  “You can say what you wish as long as it fits the party line.”  Free speech doesn’t work that way, but that’s a whole other fight.

CFO’s in general are not a good idea.  That’s being proven time and again.  Province after province, CFO’s are creating rules (not laws - a cop can’t create a law) that we have to follow.  And technically, they’re not allowed to create these rules.  The problem is, if we as gun owners don’t follow the rules set out by the provincial CFO, we lose our property, our rights, and have little to no recourse.  With that, the federal government really needs to step in and get the CFO’s in line with the law or get rid of the CFO’s completely.  I would prefer the latter.  The CSSA (Canadian Shooting Sports Association) of which I am a member, has put out a petition that I think you should read.  Also, write your own letter to your MP and Garry Breitkreuz, a Saskatchewan MP who is on our side.  Written letters are far better than emails.  It gives them something physical to put in front of others are taken far more seriously.

CSSA Petition - http://www.cdnshootingsports.org/2013/03/CFO_petition_release_en.html

Garry Breitkreuz - http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/

The fact that the police are controlling us to this extent should scare the hell out of people.  It’s starting with the gun owners but who’s next?  I know a lot of people are thinking it’s “just those  gun people” but what’s going to happen when they realize how many more rights the police have taken from you, and you just didn't notice because it started with the gun owners?  It could be something innocuous like police acting as judge and jury at the roadside.  Without medical education, your car can be confiscated and your license revoked, and there’s nothing you can do and all because you have asthma and can’t do the breathalyzer.  If they’re wrong, it costs YOU money and time to prove otherwise.  It’ll be better to plead guilty and carry on with your life.

Rights are disappearing, some have noticed, others have accepted it because “why do I care, I don’t own a gun anyways.”

Be Popular, Be Disrespectful

A couple of months ago, I gave up the news because I went from being passionate about my opinions to being angry about the decisions the governments are making.  MLA’s, MP’s, Aldermen and our “leaders” don't care about us.  They’re very good at pretending but in the end, it's all about their legacy.  The problem is the legacy they are leaving is not a good one.   However feeling personally insulted by one particular minister has caused me to write again.

Since when has it become okay to bash the rich?  It's been going on for a while, but since when is it okay?  Really, that's not what's bothering me right now.  The bashing has expanded beyond "the rich." The definition of "rich" is different for everyone anyway.  My husband was called rich by a very nice man a little while ago, and it was a man my husband helped.  

We're not yet rich but we are well off.  I call people who have their homes, all of their debts paid off and are still expanding their wealth rich, as well as people who have TONNES of money, own big businesses and the list goes on.  Others feel simply having a good "cushy" job makes you rich but I digress.

It seems now if you don't have a job that's "worth having" you are worth bashing.  If you live in the wrong place, you're worth bashing.  If you own the wrong vehicle, or OWN a vehicle, you're worth bashing.  If you don't donate to the right charity or don't donate every cent you make to charity, well... you get the idea.

But what got me on this topic is Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, the "Honourable" Doug Griffiths.  His retort of "urban Albertans who sit in high-rise condos and don't necessarily contribute to the grassroots of this economy..." seems counter-intuitive.  He of all people bashed those who choose to live in cities. Why?  Because it's popular?  He's out to lunch!  Apparently us city dweller types who do in fact contribute a fair chunk to the economy of CANADA are no longer worthy and should pay more taxes.  I beg HIS pardon?!?!  He seems to have missed that part where it says Calgary contributed to 24% of Canada's economic growth with 3% of the population of Canada, or the entrepreneurship that comes out of the cities OR the sheer amount of taxes we unworthy city types do in fact pay.

My husband both runs a business and is an employee of another business... AT THE SAME TIME!  He's doing this successfully.  Sometimes it keeps him hopping but he enjoys it even though he acts as though his head is about to spin off his shoulders but in reality he wouldn't have it any other way. So, with the fact that he pays over 40% in taxes and owns a house in Calgary and an acreage north of Edmonton, is he unworthy?  There are so many people like him, hell, he works for some of them!

Why does our own government feel it okay to spout this tripe off?  The Minister of Municipal Affairs guarantees the provincial Tories will not get our vote again but Mr. Griffiths doesn't care, does he?  We don't matter.  We're only two - count them - 1, 2 votes.

Now, we are staunch conservatives, but our own conservative party isn't. They're big spenders and controllers of people.  They have a poor opinion of us and don't care what we have to say.  That is so obvious.  If they cared, our Ministers would NEVER say things like this.

With this, my faith is lost in our government.  My husband wrote a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.  Read it, I think you'll like it.  Please write your own.  Our ministers MUST know how you feel or at least get the idea that we are paying attention and what they are doing and saying are unacceptable.


James McCullough, CGA
*** ********* ***** SW
Calgary, AB  T2* ***

March 7th, 2013

Honourable Doug Griffiths
Minister of Municipal Affairs
#104 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Ave.
Edmonton, AB  T5K 2B6

Dear Sir:

It has been brought to my attention the comment that you made in the legislature yesterday about “…urban Albertans who sit in high-rise condos and don’t necessarily contribute to the grassroots of this economy.”  I feel as a small business owner in Alberta who provides corporate-level accounting and controllership functions that this is meant as a personal insult to all working Albertans, not just the group you intended to single out.

The economy of this excellent province is driven by an entrepreneurial attitude undertaken by residents of all walks of life, from the gentleman I know who started a gutter cleaning business, to the gentleman who runs one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in Alberta.  Both of these men – and their businesses – are clients of mine.  Your comment, which appears to be based in the popular media notion of “rich-bashing” diminishes not only my own accomplishments, but since both of these people live in Calgary, you are tarring their accomplishments as well.

For a publicly elected official to fan the flames of economic discontent as you have is unacceptable.  As the Minister of Municipal Affairs, you represent all municipalities, not merely the ones that you have selected for your own personal agenda.

Please approach your statements with more respect in mind for all Albertans.

Sincerely,



James McCullough, CGA


Please write your own letter.  Here is some contact information.  Put it on paper, sign your name to it.  It’s hard to ignore us when our MLA’s are inundated by real mail instead of email.

Honourable Doug Griffiths
Legislature Office
#104 Legislature Building
10800-97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6
Phone: 780-427-3744
Fax: 780-422-9550
To call toll-free within Alberta, please dial 310-0000.

Alberta Municipal Affairs
Communications Branch
18th floor, Commerce Place
10155-102 Street
Edmonton, AB
T5J 4L4
Canada

Constituency Office
#201, 1006 - 4 Avenue
Wainwright, AB
Canada T9W 2R3
Phone: (780) 842-6177
Fax: (780) 842-3171

Honour: What does it matter now?

What you’re about to read I didn’t write, a friend of mine did. Ken is a proud American who’s taught me a great deal about American politics and he’s VERY opinionated and passionate about his views.  I think that’s great!  I have a great deal of respect for him and what he has to say.  Here’s why:

Honor: What does it matter now?

It has become painfully obvious to me that "Honor" is a concept all but lost on our nation's "leadership" and equally amiss amongst at least half of our nation's general population. When the Secretary of State, in an investigation involving the needless death of four good men and asks "What does it matter now?" we can be sure that honor has become nothing but an empty word.

So I thought I would take a moment to try and explain what honor is. Pardon my impertinence.

In the movie "Rob Roy" there is a scene where Rob is explaining to his son what honor is and he says "Honor is the gift a man gives himself." For a long time, I thought this was a very apt and poetic way of describing it. Poetic it is, but it is a flawed statement.

Self Respect is the gift a man gives himself. Honor is how he earns it.

Honor is doing right even when no one will ever know.
Honor is doing right even when it will hurt you to do it.
Honor is doing right even when doing otherwise would be more profitable or pleasing.

Honor is not a garment to be donned and discarded when you find it expedient to do so. Honor must be served with every breath you take.
Honor is not a "secret password" to be bandied about in order to gain entrance to the company of those who truly hold honor as their highest virtue.

Occasionally, because none of us are as perfect as Jesus Christ, we will err. We will do the less than honorable thing. Perhaps even the dishonorable thing. Those without honor will try at that time, to convince you that honor is lost, that you should abandon your high and mighty principles and admit you are as shiftless and double-dealing as they are. This is a lie, never believe it.

Honor is sometimes doing the wrong thing and then, when you realize your error, paying the price without flinching. Accepting the shame you have earned, realizing it is your debt to carry that shame for the rest of your life, and then going forth and making every effort in your power to undo the damage of your ill-conceived actions.

In short, admitting you have failed and beginning anew, with greater determination than ever before, to work and attempt to regain enough of that honor that one day, you may look in the mirror and view the one you see there with some quantity of Self Respect, even if that respect is somewhat dimmed. As long as you are willing to pay the price though

The one thing Honor will never allow you to do, is to give up. Honor requires your lifetime commitment. Honor requires your unflinching and steadfast effort. Honor offers the reward of Self Respect, but it also offers the punishment of great shame.

Sadly, our "leaders" have lost the capacity for shame. They have so muddied their souls they are beyond redemption. There is no honor within them and they know it well. Their failure burns within their heart forever and they will hate and despise any who possess the slightest shred of honor or self respect.

This is why you are their prey.

Do not abandon that which makes you their better. Regardless of what degradations they heap upon you, never, ever, let them take your honor from you. For if you do, you will be no better than they.

And that is truly, a fate worse than death.

Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Eric Holder, Bill Ayers, and all your cronies and sycophants, I am your better. I always will be. And you know it.


Death before Dishonor.
Semper Fidelis

Capitalists Are Not the Root of All Evil

Guilt makes for a good story but doesn't solve anything.

Christmas is here and it's been awhile since I've expressed myself. Like everyone else, I've been busy but not on Christmas shopping as I would have liked. My husband lost both his grandparents this year so I've been out on the coast helping his mother. I cleaned out a 3000 square foot house in November and I'm still tired. But, I digress.

It's no secret that I'm a capitalist. In so being, some of the news I've seen from the United States has made me shake my head. Watching a union activist punch a political commentator was eye opening. I know liberals and left wing activists can be... vocal, but this was insanity. It made me sit back and consider what's been going on over the last number of years. I've asked with other incidents, if a conservative did that, it would be called assault/racist/blame throwing. Why is it when a liberal does something like this, there isn't a witness in sight and the conservative is blamed or the incident is justified away, like Benghazi? I then asked the questions why the outrage about this union law change? Why the protests? Why the demands of eat the rich in general?

UNEDITED UNION ASSAULT FOOTAGE! - I subscribe to Steven Crowder's YouTube channel. Go take a look.

I also saw a picture online that actually made me laugh. The picture shows a protester holding up a sign that says “you can still be rich, just not that rich.” So many questions came to mind with this one picture. How rich can I be? Who determines the limit? What happens to MY money if I make too much? And so forth. One more question did come to mind: has this person ever held a real job in her life?

I begin to wonder about the mindset of so many of these people with an entitlement complex so big it doesn't fit into the average gymnasium. Why is it okay to demand money be taken from those who make it to be given to those who don't wish to work? What right do they have to say “you have more than that person therefore you should give more, pay more, lose more because you can?” I don't mind giving to those who truly need it, I resent being forced to give to those who simply want it, or those who feel I should have less just to have less.

From what I've experienced, so many of these demanding, self-entitled individuals feel the rich are exploiting them in some fashion and should be punished. Why on Earth would capitalists want to exploit the type of person who demands higher taxes for him for no other reason than he has more money? Why would a capitalist want to exploit someone who wants more for doing less? The feeling of exploitation is imaginary because this person would have nothing the capitalist wants.

A capitalist wants someone who is willing to work for their salary. A capitalist wants, shockingly, a budding capitalist in their employ, not someone who will do as little as possible to earn their way to their next paycheque then complain they didn't get a Christmas bonus.

Now don't get me wrong, my husband and I don't fall into the category of “rich” yet. We're still working on it. I wish to become a world famous photographer, the likes of Yousef Karsh... so I built my husband's website and did some of his simpler IT stuff. I also do the occasional bit of research for him. I go to business conferences and talk to people. Not one of them do I talk to about photography.

My husband works hard for his success. To achieve his success (present and future), he doesn’t take away from anyone, in fact, he’s increasing the wealth of those around him. Not only that, he's raised money for, and ridden in, the “Ride to Conquer Cancer” and I drove as his backup.  Many years now, including the upcoming year, he's ridden in the MS Bike Tour. Much money and effort has been raised for the MS Society between my husband, his friends and his colleagues. He also shows newcomers how to raise money for their rides. How is this all a bad thing? It's his capitalistic mindset that have granted him these abilities and achievements. Wanton exploitation of the poor would do him no good, it would lose him time and money in the long run and he knows it. Any good capitalist knows this.

The irony here is, Adbusters exploited the poor when they began “Occupy Wallstreet.” With “We are the 99%” they used so many images of homeless people and the underprivileged, I was amazed. The only thought that came to me was “instead of using all this time to show me all of this destitution, why not do something about it?”

Then the occupiers tried using the poor as a way to force governments to change and to steal money from those who had it. The time and effort the occupiers put into it was wasted. What the occupy movement accomplished was millions of dollars in destruction, assault, and lots of crying about how the sky is falling. In Calgary, the Occupiers wanted access to free electricity to use their laptops! No change was made except to show me that activists, the poor, and unsuccessful would rather camp in the park and complain about how much their life sucked than do something about it. Guilt makes for a good story but doesn't solve anything. It seems easier to hate those who work for their happy lifestyles and try to have the government take it away from them, than to try to become one of them. The problem they faced was, the actual working class didn't want to give their stuff up, nor should they have to; they earned it.

There is a lot of complaining about how the poor get poorer as the rich get richer. I found a perfect quote to describe why. “The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they use their time.” Robert Kiyosaki said this and it's so true. My husband and I both spend a lot of time working on his company. He works with his clients, I do some of the administrative/IT bits. He has meetings, I put together marketing. We don't have time to protest the inequities of the world. When he's not making contacts/consulting/analyzing, we're on vacation. Even then, we find things that would work in his businesses. Our last vacation felt like 70% vacation, 30% “you know what I could do with that in development?”

Who knows, maybe the poor are getting poorer. I could be wrong about the whole thing. I just have a really hard time believing this sentiment, especially after I passed a beggar on the streets of downtown Calgary a couple of weeks ago who had a better smart phone than me.