Be humble

…to be frustrated.

..and only $9 K

Just so you know the truth, I think it was on one of those crispy winter days last January,that it was sub zero, winds gusting to 70 KPH and snow up to my waist that I said, “I will never complain about the heat again..."  I lied

I have found much to disagree with when reading Rob Paterson’s blog.  Like most of us who mutter publically, occasionally a gem appears.  This is one of Rob’s.  Perhaps because these are some of the thoughts that I have had and I suspect a few of my friends have experienced, it struck a chord.

The certainty of life, until death, is change.  Change can be resisted or it can be embraced.  Embracing change can be one of the most rewarding things we do.  Bring it on.

When I read Rob’s comment, I went looking for this.  Glad I did.

Back in the days when I was a burlap-wearing hippies (whatever a hippy is) and was part of a fringe movement, which is fine for vegetarians and people who drive Subarus (oh wait, I still have a Subaru) – warning, misinformed and condescending comment – may be offensive to some – reader discretion is advised, I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the blending of cultures and nationalities.  Many of my friends were first generation and second generation immigrants to the US and Canada.  They were moved to their new country because they wanted to be in what they deemed a better place.

One of their first priorities was (often) to learn to speak the language of their new country.  I was often surprised with the zeal with which a new language was adopted.  There was no gommit funded school to teach the new arrivals.  They learned because they wanted to .

We now learn that the gommit of PEI is funding an English school for new arrivals to our shore.  The published cost is $1,000,000.

Interesting that we now pay to keep immigrants here.  I guess we need them more than they need us.  Times have changed.

…and for the record, I never knew anyone who wore burlap.  Homespun material, yes, but not burlap.

Interesting comment on the Wikipedia:

Hippie fashions and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts. Since the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream society. The religious and cultural diversity espoused by the hippies has gained widespread acceptance, and Eastern philosophy and spiritual concepts have reached a wide audience. The hippie legacy can be observed in contemporary culture in myriad forms — from health food, to music festivals, to contemporary sexual mores, and even to the cyberspace revolution.

Robert Ghiz promised to eliminate patronage.  Then again…

Eyebrows were raised within the provincial bureaucracy when the premier named Liberal supporter Aidan Sheridan as CEO of the Public Service Commission. A lawyer, Sheridan has worked for 25 years as an advocate for veterans in disability pension disputes. It’s not a natural path to a deputy minister’s chair.
What have some in the civil service concerned are Sheridan’s political connections. He has been a significant financial supporter to the Ghiz Liberals as well as serving as a senior party volunteer on the federal side.
Traditionally the CEO of the Commission is a non-partisan appointment. Bureaucrats largely respected Jim Ferguson, the man Ghiz bumped from the job. They fear part of Sheridan’s job description will be to somehow deliver jobs to Liberal faithful.

Plum jobs go to Liberal elite | peicanada.com

Yesterday we were advised that our government betters have decided to take control of the good people and good work of the various watershed groups. We are further advised that 12 government officials will be appointed to manage these hard working, committed and passionate groups.  In addition our government betters inform us that they will now handle all of the future hiring for these groups.

As one person said to me last night, “Aidan Sheridan will be making the hiring decisions and you know who he will choose”.

It will be sad to watch the dedicated people abandon such good works.  ..and abandon they will as the hand of politics interferes with those who actually understand what they are doing.

One Liberal supported told me “it is our money, we should be able to spend it how we wish”.  I considered reminding the person that it was the taxpayers money – not the Liberal party’s money.  I then realized it would be a waste of breath.

Oh well, it is just water after all.  We really don’t need water, do we?

..has been sneaking around again.  Test the new Google search tool.

Bell Aliant and the Government of PEI today confirmed they have reached the halfway milestone in the broadband initiative to deliver high-speed Internet to virtually all areas of the Island by the end of the year.

It is hard to argue with the desirability of medium speed Internet to rural PEI – however, let us stop referring to it has high-speed.  Yeah, to the many who listen to the sickening sound of the modem negotiating a dial-up connection it will seem like high-speed (if they actually get it), but it really is a technology that most of the developed world moved on from a long time ago.  I guess it is good enough for us poor folks, though.

Now we hear from the Honourable Robert Ghiz, Premier of Paradise, that the good taxpayers of our little Island shall have the pleasure of investing another $500,000 with Aliant, to bring the project to completion.  Meanwhile Bell Aliant has agreed to invest $500,000 themselves – though this is widely believed to follow the usual Bell Aliant model of ‘in-kind’ which is code for nothing.  I wonder what the real cost to the taxpayers is? 

Remember, Minister Valerie Docherty said that ‘”by December 31, 2009 there will not be one square inch of PEI that does not have high-speed Internet”.  The statement was apparently approved by the unelected Myrtle Jenkins-Smith.  It must be so.

Oh, how is your connection working?