WHY DO WE SWALLOW SUCH OBVIOUS LIES?

     Recently the Canadian government gave fifty million dollars to a charity that promotes education for African girls. Government budgets are made up with a line for international aid. Throughout the year this aid is distributed. In July the government allotted the money 

    Recently the Prime minister announced a donation to the charity at one of their major fund raisers. This was meant  as promotion of the charity fundraiser.

    The opposition in this country twisted the story to make it sound as if the prime minister on his own whim decided to donate the fifty million as if it was his own money.

   Talk about a cockeyed story. 

    So the other day at skating while I was sitting on the bench ( I sit on the bench a lot these days) I heard my 3 buddies discussing this issue. They were in full throated roar. The prime minister was an indescribable monster. They had some lovely descriptions for the man.

    These three guys should know much better. They all have education beyond high school They had to use their education everyday in their work. In other words they took information and made judgments on the evidence.

    One was a teacher, another and administrator and a policeman. I would hope that the teacher taught his students about making judgments.

    I can see that someone may think that spending money on external aid is not a policy they would agree with and that they would be able to support their point. Why would anybody not want to help with the education of African girls? 

   Evidence and fact had blown away like desert sand. 

   Why can't we look at issues or news reports and make judgments as to the validity of the information? Have we lost some marbles? 

YA CAN'T BEAT CITY HALL

      I have heard this saying for  long time and didn't put much weight to it. I have always known half my councillors on a first name basis and the mayors for the last 20 years on a first name basis. Listening to mayors and councillors I always had the view that city council was positive and helpful. I have served on city boards and knew my way around city government.

     Well, things changed recently. I had the opportunity to fight City hall and I lost.

     A few weeks ago I attempted to pull into the bank parking lot which is at the back of the bank. There was one spot left and it was a tight one. Well, it was raining so I wanted a convenient parking place. In attempting to squeeze into the parking stall  I heard that dreaded scrape noise. I knew I had scratched the side of my car or more. 

    What I had scraped my car on was a huge garbage dumpster...in some places known as a garbage bin. Well after a major cussing session, I sadly went home.

    After thinking things over I thought, you know the dumpster is in the wrong place. Aha! I'll ding the city on this one and get them to pay for my damages. 

    You don't really know where to start your fight. We checked the Waste management dept. They would send out an inspector who promptly got everything wrong. Up the ladder a bit and the guy claimed that even if the the dumpster was in the wrong place it was my responsibility to not drive into it. This sounded nuts to me. I also noticed how each official covered the other guy's back. They did contradict each other from time to time. They were plain dumb at times. At times I thought they were not telling the truth.

    So I harassed some more people trying to see how far wrong the dumpster was out of place. I kept getting the line that it was my responsibility to not run into the dumpster even if it was in the wrong place. I thought the idea of hitting something in the wrong place was ridiculous. It didn't sound like common sense.

     I checked further and phoned the police. They confirmed that indeed a driver should not hit a stationary object even if it was in the wrong place.

    So Monday I'm going to have to concede to  City Hall that indeed, they are right.

    How about you? Have you had the opportunity to fight city hall.