Must be a full moon

I seem to be offending forum posters all over the place.

Recently changed my avatar to this image....



... and a complaint has been raised that it is porn. I will bow to the moderators decision; but in the meantime .... What do you think?

Pincott's # 1 fan

Seems I touched a nerve with Mr. Muta, Brian Pincott's #1 fan from Auckland, New Zealand.

On the forum mentioned in my previous entry; he responded with these rather hot-headed comments at 3:20 PM:

"Wow, sorry, but your 'blog' is a complete joke. Way to twist the context of what I said into your own sad, delusional argument. Did you even ask me to explain what I meant when you decided to take what I said out of context and 'blog' it? ....No? Okay, then. Just letting the entire world know that you didn't do that. Top notch journalism right there, yup.

Also, you're quoting your significant other's blog? Laugh. Try to get a more unbiased, neutral observation of how you perceive Pincott's views. Your credibility goes down the drain right there when you not only quote blogs, but family members. Even you can figure that out. I would've expected more from you.

Oh yeah, the living wage thing: I doubt yuo even know what exactly he means by that, and if it is what you think it is, we already have a very popular version of it: it's called welfare.

Furthermore, the rest of your argument is pure speculation and delusional crap without any real facts to back any of it up. Not only is it funny because you 'quote' your own husband's blog as being solid fact, but you mention how Pincott "has covered" things since being office. Then, you go on to list Pincott's opinions and values, instead of documented actions, as the supporting evidence for your claims. This, in itself, is completely laughable.

I NEVER said I advocated everything Brian Pincott supports; the fact that you blindly ignore this leaves little, if any, credibility to the tripe you claim to pass off as substance on your 'blog'.

You conveniently forget to mention Pincott's views on urban sprawl, public transportation, inner city beautification, homelesness, arts funding, a zero waste policy... and on and on and on. How convenient it is that you choose to attack his other (and in scope, minor) platforms that pale in comparison to the ones that you conveniently missed. What a joke.

Perhaps you should have done a little more investigation into the context of the argument first before getting headstrong through your keyboard trigger-happiness. It is amazing you were once a 'politician'; seems you're better fit for a career writing in the Columns section of the Calgary Sun.”

Then not even 30 minutes later; obviously still seething, left this in my blog comment section.

“Amazing that your blog is consisted of such tripe. Way to construe an argument to fit your own twisted, delusional agenda. Perhaps you would have consulted me for clarification on my views on Pincott's platforms? ...No? Okay, just thought I'd like to bring that to the attention of this website.

In case people don't know, this 'blogger' took a viewpoint from a message board, and construed it into some kind of piece she calls an argument. Then, used her husband's blog to back her own up hypocritically attacking Pincott's values.

How convenient it is Jane attacks the platforms that pale in comparison to the rest of the platforms Pincott suggests. Urban sprawl, public transportation, affordable housing, homelesness, arts funding... the list goes on. But hey, Jane likes to attack organic composting. Laugh.

The rest of your blog is laughable at best, with no solid evidence to back anything up - except for a blog that your HUSBAND wrote. You attack opinions and values, and then give questionable responses - and opinions - yourself. I'm in no way a supporter of Pincott, but the way you've construed your blog with minimal research and factorial information the consistency of gelatin is laughable. A Grade One student could crap out better writing bits than this.

Amazing that you were once a politician. You'd be better suited for writing column pieces in the Calgary Sun. You know, the section that people use for cat litter.”

Oh... where to begin. Earlier in the day I was accused of being a politician; now I "once was".

Yes, I have quoted my husbands blog and yes, it is my biased opinion he did a good job of covering Brian Pincotts idiotic ideas.

Does Pincott have some good ideas? Yes, sadly they are few and far between and not the ones garnering the attention of residents of his ward or the local media.

Now if Muta was here in Calgary he could read the papers. Given he lives on the other side of the planet, I suggest he brush up on his google skills. Then again he says he is not a supporter... but boy he sure gets steamed when someone draws attention to Mr. Pincott's short-comings.

Now since Mr Muta is lacking in google ability and questions the validity of the Pincott list of accomplishments, here is the list with supporting "independent" evidence.

Brian Pincott wants to ban you from fertilizing your own lawn.

The great pesticide debate

City committee to vote on the phasing out of cosmetic pesticides on Wednesday

Emma Gilchrist, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008

Pincott, one of three aldermen who brought forward the proposal for a ban, questions the credibility of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency.
Pincoott concedes the public will have to adjust.
"There will be some dandelions on sports fields," he says. "But that has never hurt anybody."
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/reallife/story.html?id=3281fbcb-75af-4c0c-889a-2d1b12ed6d6f&p=1

Brian Pincott wants to ban backyard fire pits.

Aldermen Agree To Study Permits For Firepits
CHQR Newsroom
10/7/2008

But Alderman Brian Pincott says maybe the city should look at banning them altogether.
http://www.am770chqr.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1031355

Brian Pincott wants to ban household pesticide use.

Ok, I admit this is a duplicate; see #1 above.


Brian Pincott wants to violate your property rights by banning you from cutting trees and bushes on your own property.

Rick Bell
Wed, July 30, 2008

What is even scarier is Druh the Shrew and a few of the other aldermen, who were no doubt always the kids ready to tattle to get attention, are winning in their agenda to sweat the small stuff and let the big stuff slide. First they push a bylaw where the municipal crowd will take away Aunt Marge's pension cheque if she dares spot-spray a dandelion with 2,4-D, approved for use by Health Canada.

Then they muse openly about banning new drive-thrus and forcing citizens to get the permission of city paper shufflers to cut down a tree on their own property.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Bell_Rick/2008/07/30/6305546-sun.php

Brian Pincott supported spending a million dollars to have artistic decoration at
Calgary’s sewage processing facility.

Brian Pincott wanted to hire a poet for the city of Calgary for $250,000 per year.

Seems these two are really one and the same... all the better. LOL

Ian Robinson
Sun, September 14, 2008

Brian Pincott, whose extensive background in the theatre makes him the only alderman who can actually -- without blushing! -- defend hiring a poet for the sewage treatment plant.

http://tinyurl.com/6mrwkz

Brian Pincott supports spending millions on pedestrian bridges downtown.

From Ward 11 blog:

….yes, I did vote in favour of the bridges.

We agreed to spend $25 million on the design of two bridges and the construction of one.
http://www.ward11calgary.ca/#blog/pedestrian-gateway-bridges

Troubled water for bridges

Alderman calls on council to sink $25-million pedestrian walkways project in wake of financial meltdown Ald. Brian Pincott, who voted in favour of the project, said while he has received an earful from constituents, they weren't given the correct information and he wants to set the record straight.

"The public reaction has been pretty heavily against these bridges based on really substantial misinformation in the media," he said.
"A basic pedestrian bridge across the Bow River is in the range of $15- to $18-million and this is something that will benefit the city for many years."

Pincott said city politicians need to stop looking with a short-term vision and start thinking how the city will look 30 years down the road.
But with council trying to stay below a double-digit tax hike for 2009, McIver said this isn't a hill for aldermen to die on.

Brian Pincott called for a review of Calgary’s off-leash dog parks because apparently there are not enough dog free paths for joggers.

Mike Blanchard
AM770

Dog park review will likely go to the dogs
6/24/2008 9:00:00 AM

Does Calgary need more off-leash parks? What about dog-only parks? It depends who you ask. Suddenly, off-leash areas are an issue again. Alderman Brian Pincott wants a review of the situation saying these places are becoming more crowded. There's no doubt that some parks have become incredibly popular places.

http://tinyurl.com/6kqyua

Let's see, what have I missed. Oh, yeah. I am not a journalist and have never claimed to be. So to try and insult my writing skills or my blog has zero effect, nice try though.

Mr Muta claims I have taken his statements out of context... even though I have posted them verbatim and anyone can view them on the original forum thread.

I think I will close with a comment that was left on my *gasp* husbands blog.... it is a very telling response from someone who does live in Pincotts ward.

DW Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:15 pm

It’s ironic that one of the most affluent wards in the city woke up the day after the election and found out they had elected a naive, but nevertheless stereotypical “green-at-any-cost” socialist (ex NDP candidate) with no understanding of business issues or economics. He is pushing his own agenda, not that of the citizens he was elected to represent.

But whose fault is that? OK, Alderman Pincott may have a different set of values that drives intrinsically bad policy decisions, but how many of us are calling him and putting our ideas or preferences out there for him to digest and hopefully follow? Its time we all get involved and take action. Talk to him and guide him in his direction. Harass him if necessary. Tell him we value our hard earned money and we want him to be responsible with our tax dollars. And if he doesn’t listen, fire him in two more years. Even if he listens, I urge citizens to vote for someone that is a responsible custodian of our taxes and not someone with his own agenda and complete disregard for who will fund the burden of his many pet projects.

I’m not sure how many people read this blog…. I stumbled across it tonight while searching for some information on Ward 11 issues. But the writer of this blog is interested enough to rant and provide a forum for others to rant as well. This is the kind of participation we need in our community. SPEAK UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT!

Oh and one last thing. It might be an idea for Mr Pincott (or maybe Mr. Muta) to dig deep into their pocket and find a few toonies to resolve the "billing issue" at http://www.brianpincott.ca.

Brian Pincott; his vision transcends asphalt roads and pipelines.

The title of this entry was recently posted on a forum. It made me laugh, in a sad sort of way; especially when I found the poster was serious.

I responded with directing the poster to this blog posting by my better half.

To which I got this response:

Aren't you a politician yourself? Or course you're going to have a biased opinion of another polictican that doesn't agree completely with what you believe in.

Also, linking to a personal blog isn't really credible. It's just some right-wing conservative spewing off their own opinions (like millions of other blogs around the world), and they happen to not like Pincott. You happen to agree with this. But not everybody does. Perhaps a more established link of some sort that provides accurate performance review of Mr. Pincott would be better suited.

Here's a better link as to what Pincott believes, straight from his mouth:

http://www.bettercalgary.ca/assets/surveys/Pincott.pdf

Brian Pincott is far from perfect; just like everybody other politician. But atleast the link above outlines his priorities, some of which make alot of sense given today's issues. I'm not a Pincott advocate, but I don't think some of the man's ideas are silly either.

As to not completely derail the thread, I have chosen to responsd here.

If running twice in elections makes me a politician, then yes I am guilty. Some may feel I have a biased and right wing opinion; however those who know me, know I am very (small “l”) liberal in many ways.

Brian Pincott however is so far left, you could put a full blown Liberal beside him and their opinion would appear right wing as well.

Though there is no date on the link provided, I suspect it was done during the civic election. There are a couple of points I do agree with; sadly though they are outnumbered by the ones that raise an eyebrow.

From the survey quoted:

Regarding homeless and urban poverty.
Brian Pincott says:

I believe the city should adopt a living wage policy …..

Great, free money for everyone. What will be the price tag on this?

I am all for recycling and composting, but here are his thoughts on curbside blue bins.
Brian Pincott says:

The current plan does currently include plastics and should include organics.

Awesome, food rotting in front of every house. Apartment hallways will be particularly pungent.

Brian Pincott says:

Also, a way to ensure that people are not throwing recyclable into the waste stream, such as insisting on clear plastic bags for trash, would help to ensure that we capture all recyclables.

So he would have the city mandate we all use clear bags so they can see what we throw out. And what’s next, fines if we throw out the wrong things? Well pretty close…

Brian Pincott says:

As well, the “user fee” should be on the behavior you wish to discourage……

There are more, but I think you get the idea.

Those are all things he “said” he would like to do over a year ago.

Here is a list of things he “has” covered since being in office.
Which I believe "provides accurate performance review of Mr. Pincott."

Brian Pincott wants to ban you from fertilizing your own lawn.

Brian Pincott wants to ban backyard fire pits.

Brian Pincott wants to ban household pesticide use.

Brian Pincott wants to violate your property rights by banning you from cutting trees and bushes on your own property.

Brian Pincott supported spending a million dollars to have artistic decoration at
Calgary’s sewage processing facility.

Brian Pincott wanted to hire a poet for the city of Calgary for $250,000 per year.

Brian Pincott supports spending millions on pedestrian bridges downtown.

Brian Pincott called for a review of Calgary’s off-leash dog parks because apparently there are not enough dog free paths for joggers.

How long will this list be after three years on council.

He makes a very, very strong case for recall ! ! !

Do you really want this man to be the Prime Minister of Canada?

ATB best place to launder money in Alberta

Thanks to CaramonLS at the puck forum for reminding me to blog about this.

In my business I conduct the banking for some of my clients; in the course of a month I deal with nearly every major bank in Alberta.

I can tell you things like; RBC is the worst for business service charges, CIBC and Scotia do not have convenient locations, the TD despite their long hours always has line ups, etc…

But the most alarming discovery I have made is that the Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) are the best place to launder money. Now, this should not to be construed that I do launder money or that I encourage it; but if I have figured it out, certainly the criminals have as well.

Case in point:

For one of my clients I deposit payroll cheques and sometimes cash (hotshot) on behalf of the employees. One particular employee deals with the ATB. His cheques were continually being held. The only explanation they gave was “that’s the way we do it”.

I asked once; “These cheques are going in on a regular basis without any NSF problems. Doesn’t that constitute a good record and further cheques should be accessible right away?” …. Answer: NO.

We then we switched to doing certified cheques for this employee, yet the issue continued. So I asked them; “Why on earth would you hold “certified funds”, they are the same as cash?” To which they said; “With the amount of cheque fraud, we must still wait for the funds to clear.” Huh? The money has already “cleared” at the bank it is drawn on.

I then asked; “What if I deposited cash?” Response; “Cash is ok.” So I asked; “What identification would I need to provide?” …. Response; “None.”
Which is odd, since at every other bank when I deposit cash to someone else’s’ account I have to produce my drivers license and they record the number. This is to prevent, discourage and track money laundering.

The ATB’s rules are encouraging businesses to move away from cheques and use cash. They have created a very friendly environment for the criminals. I wonder if it is just coincidence that they are completely regulated by the Alberta Government.

Family update.... love in the air.

Our oldest daughter is expecting ...... an alien….. LOL, just kidding.
It is a little boy. Though in his first picture, he sure looked like an alien.


This will be our first grandchild and we can’t wait to see the little gaffer. We will be grandparents before Christmas and Cory isn’t even close to 40 yet ! ! .. Ha, ha…just had to get that jab in.

Then there are the engagements, three in total.

Cory’s brother finally will wed his lifelong love. It will be the third Morgan wedding in as many years... and another one set in the Canadian Rockies.

Next is our oldest son, to a wonderful dynamic woman; truly a “soul mate” to my boy…here’s hoping I am not a typical a mother-in-law. On that note, I have two awesome mother-in-laws to give me guidance. ;)

Last is my nephew….. normally I would not even mention nieces and nephews… I have WAY too many… but I find it hard to believe that someone actually tamed this boy… all 6’ 7” of him….

The love in the air has even stuck the youngest member of our family…. Stewie. He is now 9 months old and starting to fill out, looking more and more like his daddy Armonti every day.

Armonti:

Stewie:


We frequent an off-leash park and everyone tells us there are other bulldogs that go there as well, but we have never had the opportunity to meet any of them. We seem to always “just miss” them…. Until today. Stewie and I decided to go for a morning visit and he was lucky enough to meet Coco.



She is very soft and absolutely adorable. Stewie fell in love with her very quickly and they had a great time playing together.




Coco is a strong young girl, she did not hesitate to tell Stewie just what and what not, would be acceptable behaviour….LOL.
She is blonde and a little bit older than Stewie….hmmm seems he is taking after his human daddy too. ;)

This and that....

Just a quick follow up on a couple of my earlier blog entries.

The police have arrested Travis Marc Martel for Sarah Rae's murder.
Family and friends can now move to the next steps; though they will be difficult, it is progress.

Herald article here.

Also the Monday following this entry, Mr. Prentice's sign was moved off of the school grounds to a location across the street onto public property.
Darn, it didn't show up on my yard. ;)

Wildrose Alliance Stands Up for Albertans

October 3, 2008

Wildrose Alliance Stands Up for Albertans against Federal Constitutional Creep

All federal parties -- including the Conservatives, but also the Liberals, NDP and Greens -- are vowing to trespass on the resource ownership rights of Albertans. The right to own, manage, regulate, export and benefit from natural resources is reserved to provinces by sections 92 and 92A of the Constitution Act 1867.
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/c1867_e.html#distribution

Of particular concern is a declaration last Friday and repeated in the Federal debate by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper that his government will forbid the export of Alberta's raw bitumen for processing in countries with environmental standards lower than Canada's (such as China and the USA, though they are not named). http://www.conservative.ca/EN/rss/1974

The Wildrose Alliance advocates that as much bitumen processing as possible take place in Alberta and desires co-operation with Ottawa. However, this federal Conservative pledge amounts to a politically motivated challenge of Alberta's section 92A right to control its resource.

"Given the substantial volatility of oil prices both up and down, Albertans should stand on guard against constitutional trespass by the next federal government, regardless of which party wins this election," says Wildrose Alliance leader Paul Hinman. "National parties do not represent the unique needs and interests of Alberta but Provincial parties do."

The Wildrose Alliance calls on Premier Stelmach to stand up against this attempt of Constitutional creep and issue a statement that Alberta will not allow federal encroachment on the rights of Alberta.

"Silence is never a defence," says Paul Hinman, adding that "Canada was founded as a federation and we are proud Canadians and proud Albertans. However, there are areas of responsibilty for the Federal government and areas of responsibility for the Provincial government. The Wildrose Alliance desires to have Alberta play a strong role with the confederation and the abrogation of its rights is not congruent with that goal. The Premiers of Alberta have always stood up for Alberta before, now is not the time to begin silent protests."


FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Paul Hinman
Wildrose Alliance leader
Phone: 403 393-2003

Email:
info@wildrosealliance.ca