Seniors could lose homes to taxes.

 

Seniors could lose homes to taxes.

When we, the elders, built this province, we could afford to pay more for everything. Now many of us are existing on savings, fixed pensions, and sometimes foodbank donations. Many of us moved to little towns since houses were cheaper. A few lucky seniors have company pensions that they paid for, but most don’t. Poor seniors are the people whose homes need work that they can’t afford. If we risk our fragile lives to do repairs and improvements ourselves, the tax assessor never misses it.

We are the people who can’t afford to fight. Being old and on fixed pensions, we can’t hire lawyers to fight the Province or even Town Hall. What we do will deplete our savings. A few saved enough for occasional trips or a newer vehicle every few years, but we must have enough not to land on Social Assistance at the most vulnerable time of our lives. Our pensions and savings are taxed or depleted with inflation.

The situation is dynamic and always changes. When I was little, there were little towns and communities all over the country. Now the towns are dying since a few mega-farms took over, mines became mechanized, and all who served the communities moved away. Those who remained are slowly being pushed out by making do with fewer services and increased taxes.

Taxes may be the same, but rural communities must pay more for policing the highways, attracting doctors, and providing education for the young. If and when “our resources” like oil, fetch better prices, we are told to be proud of the government that balanced the budget.

I am not impressed, to say the least. I am a senior living on a fixed pension that I paid for over many years. When the Province downloads tax burden on the town, I am forced to make up the difference and pay higher taxes on my home. In my case, I have a company pension, but most of my senior friends live hand to mouth in their little homes. They pay from their food budget or their modest, minimal existence.

Two years ago, the province reduced taxes from 12% to 8% to “stimulate the economy”. My taxes stayed the same and the increase in oil revenues, not related to action by the Province, improved nothing in my life. Actually, I pay 50% more for energy. The lives of seniors like me became much harder when we can hardly do anything about what is done to us. A solution presented itself. We can remove medical mandates and see how many seniors will get infected by the ongoing pandemic, die, and quit ranting. That was the choice picked by my elected leaders. Apparently, we don’t need a war to hurt people and remove their homes from their possession. It could be done with political decisions.

Ironically, the latest events also showed a solution. If the government doesn’t listen to us, we can veer off from being the agreeable folks we always were, and blockade some roads. It worked well in Coutts. In Ottawa, a few members of parliament openly supported blocking streets and there are pictures to prove it. I do not recommend or support public disobedience, but I can imagine possibilities.

There is a narrow section of highway in our municipality where a check stop can stop traffic to give travelers information. Using an old practice from medieval Europe, citizens could ask the motorists to contribute to a fund to maintain police and safety services on the highway, (for their own good). We could explain that in the Pass where the average income is less than $52,000 a year, minus taxes, seniors can’t afford to take over provincial responsibilities such as policing. After all, we had nothing to do with negotiating EMS or RCMP contracts and we believe that both do an excellent job but we can’t take on the costs.

I will be the first to recommend fair pay for hard-working people who must have extensive training for the jobs they do. I also think that a move like this would receive attention from the media, and convince the powers to be to share a little of the bounty from oil and gas, our resources, with those who may lose their homes and freedom because of rising prices. We have done our share and shouldn’t be picked on when we are most vulnerable. Also, with the government measures to protect us from COVID removed, we can’t look for part-time jobs to increase our income during our golden years.

All the people who are reading this page are older or will get older. In the future, there may be fewer seniors, now when society chose “assumed freedom” ahead of life.

I can’t help it. When the majority of my municipal representatives choose to force me to give my money to a rich provincial government and call it “fiscally responsible” I get irritated and consider other solutions. If I lose my home to the taxman, will the heroes of a balanced budget save me?

We built our entire economy on credit and debt financing expenditure and growth. People take a mortgage and get a house. Why do I and seniors like me have to pay for services that are traditionally paid for by the province?

If the province wants efficiencies, let them find it without indirectly taxing me and face the music on election day. Don’t shove your responsibilities onto suffering rural communities. That is not being fiscally responsible, it’s robbing the poor to pay the rich. 12% tax would have easily paid for our policing and emergency services.

I always look for peaceful ways but sometimes we need to turn over the money changers’ tables. Our representatives should be fiscally responsible to us, not to a provincial political party far removed from our concerns.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

The Centurion.

 

The Centurion.

The tiny Jewish nation in Judea was looking for a Savior who would be a genius military leader able to unite them and beat the Romans. Yes, two little Jewish tribes beat the Roman Empire. The Maccabees did that with the Greeks, but it didn’t last. You don’t get freedom if you don’t have enough soldiers to defend it, unless…

You may have freedom if there is nobody who wants to take it away. Humans can look after each other and not use force to subjugate those with less power. Big nations could be like a big brother taking care of family. We don’t have to starve anyone into submission. The Jewish nation who believed in one invisible God came up with a person preaching love instead of force. Sharing instead of hoarding.

That dangerous man, who said we are all sons and daughters of the one God, had to die. He had dangerous “lefty” ideas. Nothing changed. If we listened to Him and evenly distributed the resources that we all need to survive, we would have peace. All human efforts could be directed toward the betterment of humankind. This is possible but not feasible. Human nature is such that all good things are taken by the most capable and others are deprived. There is some need for rules, laws, and enforcement.

When Jesus (Yeshua) gave up his spirit on the cross, things happened. One was that His teachings didn’t disappear into the fog of history. Dedicated followers brought His message to the world and His following grew. Still growing to this day. (Even with all the scandals.)

The second was that a woman who loved Him bravely broadcasted that He was alive. She saw the evidence and didn’t just shy away, but told the people. She could have been denounced as a liar, but she insisted and told the truth. That was Mary Magdalene who declared the resurrection and started Easter.

Third, a hardened killer, a man of arms, the Centurion, who was a foreigner, said at the foot of the cross, “we have just killed God.” He wasn’t the kind of man that someone would laugh at or dismiss as an idiot. He brought in the enforcement part. A man that would fight for the good side. Those of us who believe in peace know the value of peacekeepers. I wish we didn’t need force, but this year taught me that we do. Peace, harmony, and equality are not possible without setting rules and having the means to enforce them. Evil doesn’t die, it only goes away to rejuvenate and attack again.

In 2022, we see much proof of it. I believe no one wins wars, but we will have wars unless we have strength against aggression. It began with a pandemic that killed a million people on our continent alone. We had talented people working to eliminate it, but a noticeable minority wished to make money off the suffering and delay the end of it. A well-coordinated campaign against measures to contain the sickness flared up.

A couple of months into the year, another disaster struck. The distribution of food and goods was halted. First by a blockage of a main transportation corridor, followed by a shortage of workers to do the essential distribution work, and then by people, misguided by false information on social media, trying to take over governing the country. At this point, energy producers saw an opportunity to raise prices and sink the attempted economic recovery deeper. Energy-producing countries did not cushion their citizens from the blow.

The world of humans is speeding towards the moment called the “final judgment.” Life exists on energy and humans spoiled themselves by using stored energy to do their work. Yes, we are addicts and addicts are always finishing the addiction with death. The stored energy in the form of fuels is now owned and controlled by a relatively small portion of humanity, who also controls politics. They are fighting amongst themselves. Sharing and helping all humans seems to be out of the picture.

However, we have a picture in our minds of a hill topped by a cross with a human body hanging on it. He was against “the winner takes it all” and for all people being their brother’s keepers. In His view, we can only move forward and survive when we all move together. He ended up executed on a cross, but His theory remained the best theory ever invented. Under the cross were some women, soldiers, and a centurion.

The few who own and control stored energy, mostly oil, are using it to rule the world and will not give up easily. They will stir up trouble with the folks who refuse to use our medical knowledge, with big nations attacking smaller ones, and religions fighting each other. They will keep hiring people to promote using up the Earth’s resources fast without consideration for future generations. There is a need for people like the centurion. People must make rules and people must enforce them.

Now the billions of people who are not on the top of the pile are losing ground. Global warming, threats from major world powers, and reduced resources to help the impoverished squeeze them. First, they try to flee or migrate and if they can’t, they will fight. The more fortunate people increase defense spending and the danger becomes more acute.

A man died on the cross because He threatened the establishment. The leaders of his society didn’t want him to convince common folks that sharing wealth is the right way. They wanted to hoard it and have power. He showed them that you can’t win by killing for long.

The conflict is still going on to this day. We remember it every Easter if we focus on the message, not the characters as we have been doing.

Let’s pretend. (Sci-fi.)

 

Let’s pretend. (Sci-fi.)

If you get to be old, you collect many memories. I remember a friend in grade one telling me, “Let’s pretend,” and we went on playing that we were other than ourselves. Later I became a parent and watched my kids pretending and, more recently, my grandkids. It’s not just a kid’s game. I have adult friends who pretend that they own a sports team or even play on it. A group of players from many places is gathered by some business owners and my friends think they are a part of it. “We kicked their butts” or they cheated us and really didn’t win. Our guy is the best goalie in the league.

Let’s pretend that a spaceship came over and rested above Blairmore, or one of our other little towns. A small vessel the size of a train locomotive left it and landed here. Out came humans much like us and, using a translation device much like our cell phones, they talked with us. World media arrived but came against an invisible wall and only we who live here could converse with the aliens. Anashim, they called themselves.

We need some time to study your society, they said, and went on to do so. An invisible force here protected their “vehicle”, and we simply didn’t know what happened to them. At the end of one week, the spokesperson, a middle-aged woman, released a statement. It was a warm summer evening, and the aliens were gathered on the top of their vehicle, illuminated by a light with no visible source. The spokesperson’s voice could be heard clearly by about 5000 of us without being louder when physically closer to the vehicle. A full moon was rising above the trees in the surrounding hills. Media drones and helicopters were gently pushed away without physical means.

We are people like you earthlings, but technologically more advanced, she said. Our efforts went to developing peaceful knowledge while yours has been directed towards competing amongst yourselves. Our weapons are by far inferior to yours, but we have the ability to shut you away and even be invisible to you, so your ability to fight doesn’t concern us. Our world is the same as yours, but affords us more of everything we need. We spent no effort or material on aggression and, consequently, on self-defense. We only produce what we need for comfortable survival and hardly ever get sick. I am now nine hundred and six years old. She demonstrated her agility by jumping off the space vehicle and back to where she was. We excel in medical sciences.

Our world is less populated than yours. Most of us don’t reproduce and we share the children. Since we are all healthy, there is no need to have many children and we study instead of trusting evolution to bring us up to date, as you say.

In your human world, more than half of you are food insecure. The others have overeating problems. We regulate food consumption by following a religious-like rule. Overeating is considered bad manners and is highly unpopular. Using any resources above what we need is frowned upon. Our fashions are simple yet attractive. All of us wear the most efficient and comfortable clothing that we can produce. Individual expression is encouraged, yet conserving is idolized. On special days, we all wear the traditional costumes of our original cultures.

There are no elites amongst us and nothing is inherited. Anashim are valued for their behaviors and achievements. Leadership doesn’t give us additional benefits. People achieve fame and popularity by doing more than the rest to help society. We choose leaders in every aspect of life for their ability and willingness to work harder. If they fail, we will publicly challenge them. Leaders’ terms expire and they serve a transitional period to help train new leaders.

In our world, many resources like land, water, and air, can’t be owned by individuals. Since we live long lives, we exchange places on schedule. It is healthy for us to challenge ourselves and we do. Each of us has lived in every climate but can vacation in others. The change is always exciting.

In our world, we experience the best of all cultures. There are competitions in all things, sports, arts of all forms, and even gladiators fight to their deaths which most people abhor. We do not torture animals by making them fight.

On our planet, there is no poverty and no obscene examples of wealth. We have historical examples of how people lived before the equality revolution. All of us learn about the problems that made us suffer when we had no controls set and our selfishness almost destroyed our world.

People were getting rich by cheating on each other. There was no way to tell what is true or a lie, and stealing from each other was considered beneficial. People were competing for leadership positions to enrich themselves and using the name of the holy spirit to gain upmanship over each other.

The night was warm and the moon bright above Turtle Mountain. The crowd of over 5000 people was almost silent, including the children. Everyone felt that some life-giving secrets were being shared, and we didn’t think that the pretend visitors were chastising us. A jet crossed the sky and was illuminated as it came between us and the noticeable spaceship up above us.

The visitors came down and talked with those nearby for a bit and local photographers and press took pictures. Soon they walked up a ramp into their shuttle and it gently rose. It became a dot of light and shortly after, the ship above began its journey to wherever they came from. There was no mark of where the shuttle rested, but a few cell phones had short videos, which proved nothing. Just the idea that there could be a better life remained. In the morning, it was nothing but a dream.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Markets, Procurement, and emergencies.

 

Markets, Procurement, and emergencies.

If we want peace on earth, we must eradicate poverty and near starvation. Another big step is reducing human dependency on fossil fuels owned and controlled by a few. The explanation is long and complicated, but it must happen or else. At this moment, the most profitable businesses are the pharmaceutical industries, energy, and weapons manufacturing.

The problem is in our way of doing things. Politicians want to be in power. Civil servants want to keep well-paying jobs. Oligarchs want more money. The working people want easier lives at the expense of other working people. Others want to enjoy life while contributing as little as possible. Most people want to climb on others and be on top. They climb up, trying to keep others down. Life is an ugly game and we blame it all on natural selection or survival of the fittest.

Humans should learn from insects where the whole hive works hard for the survival of the society they build together. All members contribute what they can and benefit from the outcome. We humans will survive if we work on improving cooperation, not competition. Competition is a tool to motivate people but needs regulation.

When Hitler took over Europe in the second world war The Germans used a new strategy called the Blitzkrieg. They didn’t set up to fight enemy armies for months or years, but drove tanks and planes to the capital cities and toppled governments. They used the same approach against Russia. Stalin refused to believe that Hitler would betray the treaty he had with him and almost lost his country.

Now seventy-five years later, we moved from tanks to jet airplanes and supersonic missiles. Wars move on a lot faster and inflict much damage fast from the air. A country the size of Canada must have a good air defense capability that can deter the big boys from bullying us. We can’t assume that the US will protect us at all costs and not exact a price. The price could be a loss of freedom and independence.

The war in Ukraine taught us a lot about the world today. A small separatist group can cause a war if they ask a big country to “liberate” them. As Jason Kenney so famously said, we can’t let the “lunatics take over the asylum.” We have separatists and white supremacists as we have seen in Coutts and the “cry babies caravan” in Ottawa. I am not a Kenney supporter, but I agree with him on that. Canada “as is”, is a great place to be. As we see in Ukraine, a country can be peaceful and free, but it must also be strong.

In the world today, you can’t be strong without the ability to move fast and, to some degree, independent. We all remember how we purchased N95 masks and PPEs and watched Trump stop them at the border under his “America First” rules.

Some years ago, Canada was a developer and exporter of vaccines. Previous governments believed that the market knows best and sold the industry. When people last year were dying from COVID, we waited two months for our vaccines while across the border folks were vaccinated and free to go on with their lives.

The same is the story about modern warplanes. Canada was a leader in building modern jet fighters in the middle of the last century. Politicians who believed in giving the market free rein to rule us sold the industry and destroyed our Avro Arrow project. Now, when we could use many more fighter planes, we are stuck while a serious war is going on. Ten years ago, we should have ordered the new planes. Money wasn’t saved by not building our own. We will pay $115 million for each F35 fighter.

Sweden, a country with less than a third of our population, developed the Sab Gripen that is sold as a competitor for the F35s. The difference? The Swedes do things for the country, not for the investors. Their citizens enjoy a higher standard of living than we do.

Now we watch a war where people who are much like Canadians are giving the second largest army in the world a good fight for their money. They are doing it with donated weapons and cheap Turkish drones. We should learn from them and be prepared even better than they were.

Our Minister of Procurement just said that we may be ready in seven months to order a fleet of new F35 jet fighters that will not be fully operational for years. In a world like ours, we must have the ability to move much faster in every way.

If our dedicated professional health care people must save us from emerging pandemics, they need the country to have the ability to produce vaccines and medications that we can definitely develop. If our armed forces need to save us from attacks from outside, they need equipment and training that is the best in the world. Canada can provide it plus a lot more if our leaders will be dedicated to what is good for Canadians, not for private corporations.

To sum it all up, I believe that the major goal for humankind should be the survival and continuation of the species. We will only achieve it by learning how to live in peace and cooperate. We also have to leave some resources for future generations. In order to do that, we need to change our ways, starting with education, mass media, and ideas about the role religions play.

In the meantime, we must fight corruption and selfishness with all we have. We should select leaders for their ability to care about the country and the world, not for obviously being power hungry.

It’s a lot to ask, but the sooner we work on it, the easier it will be. I am sure that there are many people around who want a better world just to have peace and life.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.