Tough On Crime

One day, Canadian judges will realize that to get tough on crime, there needs to be some funds directed at the Canadian justice system that either deters others from committing the same crime, has a REAL shot at rehabilitation, or for those for whom rehabilitation is a lost cause, to keep these people away from the general population outside the walls and fences of our human warehousing we know as jails and prisons.

Start with eliminating the concept and practice of concurrent sentencing. If somebody is convicted of three counts of {name your crime}, with an 18 month sentence each, that person needs to serve 54 (4.5 years) months in federal prison, not 18 months in provincial jail. While you are at it change the automatic time off for good behavior from 10 days for every 30 sentenced, to five days for every 30. 

That way the person sentenced to 18 months would only get three months off for good behaviour instead of the existing six months – during the 54 month sentence as above, the person could earn up to nine months off for being a model prisoner and be out in 45 months.

Change the earliest time for day parole or early parole to be after the person has completed 80% of their sentence after time off for good behaviour. The 54 month sentence could see early parole in 36 months.

Get drunks off the streets. The very first conviction of driving while impaired needs to result in a minimum mandatory sentence of 729 days (two years less a day) in provincial jail. With good behaviour they would still be off the streets for a little over 20 months.  A second conviction needs to result in a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison in a different province. IF the person decided to repeat the behaviour, then they have demonstrated they are a lethal menace to the public so a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge is appropriate. The three-time loser would still have to serve a minimum of 16 years before they could apply for parole, but at least the public would be safe for 16 years.

Make conviction fines mean something by combining a minimum amount with a percentage of income – whichever is greater. If a person is speeding up to 39KM over the posted limit, there is a speeding ticket of $138-$196 is applied. It is the fines for excessive speed that needs to be adjusted (currently, the range is from $368–$483). For a first offence this needs to be from $3,680–$4,830 OR 5% of the driver’s gross annual income, whichever is greater to be paid within 365 days. 

A second offence this needs to be from $36,800–$48,300 OR 10% of the driver’s gross annual income, whichever is greater to be paid within 365 days.  

A third conviction demonstrates they are a lethal menace to the public so a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge is appropriate. The three-time loser would still have to serve 1 minimum of 16 years before they could apply for parole, but at least the public would be safe for 16 years, in addition to the minimum fine.

I have absolutely zero tolerance for drug dealers. Any conviction requires a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, for each charge. Period.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime

Which Bible? (Continued)

Thanks for the comments, private and public on my original Ramblings

If you are looking for citations for my Ramblings, you are out of luck. This is not an academic exercise, but a culmination of 35 years of research (academic, mentored, and personal) and my opinions based on those 35 years of intense navel-gazing contemplation with the support of an assortment of a dozen (or more) Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Priests/Ministers , no less than five Rabbis, three Imams, a Mahasaya and a very interesting Sikh Granthi who had more positive input on the Christian Bible than any other community religious leader noted above.

My original point was referring to a document that cannot be called THE Bible, because there are so many variations and information lost in translation from the second and third century CE Armenian (the common language of the people in the Middle East from 2000 BCE), to Greek (the common language of international commerce and philosophy of the day) to Latin (the common language of law of the day) to ancient Spanish (the most widely spoken language on the planet after the 4^th Century CE) and finally to English in the 16^th Century CE, and the variety of translations in English since 1611.

This is not to mention the dozens of political additions, subtractions, and translations from the bible from the First Council of Nicea (325CE) to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum) in 1965.

As an instrument of instruction for living a good life, it can be boiled down to what has been come to be known as the “Golden Rule”: Treat everybody that way you want to be treated. This is common in every one of the current spiritual instruction books on the planet – Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Islam, Jewish, etc. Everything else is filler and often poor translations from the original Armenian/Greek/Latin writings of the second and third Century CE when 90% of the Common Era history was written.

In 35 years of academic instruction, reading, and being mentored in the study of organized religions, there is nowhere in any Bible I have been able to find that rejects the celebration of birthdays, that requires spiritual leaders to abstain from marriage, that the world was going to end in 1925, that the ‘gates to heaven’ closed in 1935, that the world would end in 1975, or that the birth date of Emmanuel (Jesus) was December 25 (rather than late Spring/early Summer as indicated in actually READING the book).

The bottom lines:

Do good stuff, not bad stuff

Treat others as you want to be treated

Which Bible?

It continues to amaze me that there are those that cling to a singular view of all things biblical.  If it is not in the King James Bible exactly the way he had it translated, it is a fake, a forgery, or an insidious plot by Satan to corrupt the minds of men.  

All of the excluded books from the 4^th through 19^th century, of course, are controversial to some, but authenticity is an individual decision.  Anything else is, in any case, intellectual censorship. 

It is also interesting to note that the first books of the New Testament were not written until 40 years after the crucifixion, therefore written by scribes who were at best, toddlers at the time of the crucifixion with only word-of-mouth stories to relegate to papyrus. The following books were written after that. Three hundred years later, a political convention (Diet of Wourms) made political decisions as to what should, or should not be included in the Bible to ensure that the Church of the day maintained absolute religious and political power over the population.

For anyone who claims that the Christian Bible they hold so dearly in their hands is THE Bible, it had better be written in Greek, Hebrew, or Armenian and contain ALL of be books of both the old and new testaments. For example, the four Gospels of Mary of Bethany refer to the marriage of Emmanuel (Jesus) to Mary of Bethany, (Magdalene), at Kefr-Kenna and the subsequent birth of their son Sirach, which flies in the face of the Catholic belief of a life-long bachelor and childless Jesus.

There are over 500 books that have been associated with the Bible either through archaeological research or historical documentation.  This does not include any books believed to be written after the corruption of doctrine by the Universal Church established by the Emperor Constantine in the Fourth Century AD.

More than 60 English-language versions are available. We can divide them into three broad types: word-for-word, meaning-to-meaning (also called thought-for-thought) and paraphrased. Usually a particular Bible version will explain, on its introductory pages, which approach was used in preparing it – some include the apocrypha, many do not. The term "apocrypha" comes from a Greek word meaning "hidden" or "secret" and the books were originally considered by the early church as too exalted to be available to the general public. As time progressed, the exalted nature of the books was lost and the books were deemed by some as false. Between the Book of Malachi and Matthew there is a gap of approximately 450 years. It is these books that fill that gap and, in the time of Christ, these books formed part of the Septuagint Greek Bible that was in circulation at that time.

What is missing from most Bibles, and our understanding of it, is what happened in that 450-year gap. Prophets were still writing and reflecting on life in the Holy Land right up until the Romans destroyed the temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The world that Jesus entered in 4 BC is not the world that Daniel and Malachi experienced. One of the values of these books is how they reflect the mindset of Judaism and a Roman world that the New Testament writers faced. Malachi and Daniel leave us in Persia; Matthew brings us into a Roman world. 

The Apocrypha bridges that gap and gently nudges us into the reality of Roman Palestine. It was only in the fourth century AD that Christians first started to question the “canonicity” of the works, although most survived to be included in the King James translation of the Bible in 1611.

Unknown to almost all of the over two billion people who claim the Bible as their spiritual foundation is that there are several books and two sections missing from all but a few modern versions of that Bible. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets of the modern Protestant church is that the Bible used by that church is not the original King James Bible. That translation, completed in 1611, and the Bibles published for the use of the clergy and the church members until 1885, contained 80 books. Although attempts to remove the books of the Apocrypha from the Bible began immediately after the King James translation was completed, they remained in the Bible until the end of the 19th Century. There is no doubt that the books of the Apocrypha were controversial, but it cannot be denied they were included in the original King James Bible.

The concept of the Protestant Church about the Apocrypha is virtually non-existent, with the general understanding that only the Catholic Church uses it. One would be hard-pressed to find any members of the clergy even aware that these books were ever included in the King James Bible. There are 155,683 words and over 5,700 verses contained in 168 chapters now missing from the King James translation of the Bible due to the exclusion of the Apocrypha. Although this only happened just over a hundred years ago, their existence as fully accepted scripture is virtually unknown.

The Apocrypha in the original King James Bible (1611 – 1885):

1st Esdras

2nd Esdras

Tobit

Judith

Add to Esther

The Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son Sirach

Baruch

Letter of Jeremiah

Prayer of Azariah or Song of the Three Young Men

Susanna

Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasseh

1st Macabees

2nd Macabees

The Apocrypha in the Douay Rheims Bible:

1st Esdras

2nd Esdras

Tobias

Judith

Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclisiasticus (The Wisdom of Jesus' Son Sirach)

Baruch

Abdias

Micheas (This is the book of Micah)

Aggeus (This is the book of Haggai)

1st Macabees

2nd Macabees

These Apocrypha books are missing from in the Douay Rheims Bible:

Addition to Esther

Letter of Jeremiah

Prayer of Azariah or Song of the Three Young Men

Susanna

Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasseh

Electoral Integrity

There is a government that is using unilateral power to change elections to suite themselves. Getting rid of the ‘watchdog’ agency was the first step, re-writing donation rules allowing millions to pour into party coffers, disallowing classifications of people who are expected to vote against the current rulers followed shortly thereafter. 

The actions being undertaken are deeply damaging for electoral integrity within the country, as well as providing an example which, if emulated elsewhere, may potentially harm international standards of electoral rights.

Pippa Norris, a Harvard University lecturer who is leading a six-year electoral integrity project, comparing democratic systems worldwide. Ms. Norris said "I would very much hope they take a breath and would take account of expert opinion, would take account of civil society, would take account of everybody and have basically a royal commission, is what you need, [that] could take this out of the partisan arena," she said. "By eliminating identity vouching at the voting booth, the bill mirrors efforts in the United States that would, in effect, add barriers to the voting process" she said.

Other scholars warn the bill would expand "the role of money" in elections by allowing parties to exempt fundraising activities from campaign spending, raising certain donation limits, not requiring parties to document their expenses and "increasing the influence of personal wealth" by allowing people to donate more to their own campaigns.

China?

Iran?

Afghanistan?

Russia?

Nope: Canada. Google: Fair Elections Act

Georgia Grandma

Lawyers should never ask a Georgia grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defence attorney?'

She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a
youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defence attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counsellors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,

'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair.

Knick Knacks

Like knick-knacks on the the shelf, there have been a number of little things on my mind lately that individually are nothing to complain about, but collectively add to the static blocking out items of more relative importance that I want to think about. My objective here is to lay out the knick –knacks so I can start to forget them.

Beiber, Justin: (Canadian Singer Embaressment  Idiot). It boggles the mind that ANY news service, even the bottom-of-the-barrel-lets-make-stuff-up, Faux… err  Fox News would spend more than two seconds on the antics of this mental midget and the headlines he hopes to make. If the reporters would not show up, he would learn that he is not as important as he thinks he is (unless you are a girl between the ages of 8 – 12, who are infinitely more intelligent than Beiber).

“I Lost Everything – I have No Insurance”: What morons. In the last three months news stories have hit the airwaves about families who spend hundreds on Christmas presents but REFUSE to pay the pittance premium for content insurance when they are renting. Wake up, people! It is an added cost of renting, like utilities. Many of these renters have combinations of phones, cable, cell phones, Xboxes, Play Stations, etc. paying the connection and monthly fees, but REFUSE to buy content insurance to protect their toys. These morons need to get their priorities straight.

Darwin Award Winners:  “…Citizen Smith, was killed late last night while walking on the right side of the highway. S/he was wearing black jeans, and a black hoodie with no reflective patches. The driver of the SUV  accidentally hit Citizen Smith who was pronounced dead on arrival …” Far too many variations of this happen in the winter, and my give-a-damn, just gave up.  From the time they can walk, sometime between 9 and 14 months of age, we teach our children to walk facing traffic: on the LEFT side of of the road. Anybody walks on the right, especially after sundown, is simply playing Russian Roulette and may end up strengthening the human gene pool as a result.

Reporters who get “assaulted”. Having seen on the news how reporters hound people they deem to be newsworthy, invading their personal space with microphones, and cameras, it is surprising how few of these vultures have been  pushed out of the way. In a society that is generally considered to be ‘polite to a fault’, why is there no common decency and respect shown by people who report the news? There are no legislators, provincial or federal that have the intestinal fortitude to write and enforce respectful boundaries for the Fourth Estate. Even allowing every citizen one metre radius of personal space between themselves and the media could be enough to keep the peace.

Social Service Drug Addicts. It has long been accepted that drug addiction is a disease primarily of the mind, but has very strong affects on the body, and spirit. So treat them as a victim of a disease by placing them in residential programs, psych wards, and other acceptable means of treatment. Sounds like a plan, right? Well what we do with these sick individuals who are unable to find work due to their disease, is pay them not to look for work. An estimated 250,000 people in BC alone extrapolates to 2,5 MILLION Canadians are on social services, collecting a ‘paycheck’ on the last Wednesday of the month (thanks to the generosity of the taxpayer).  It takes nothing short of a court order to have any one of them tested for illegal drug residue, which would prove to the courts that the person is using his/her public funds to purchase and use non-prescribed drugs. If they have enough money for tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, (and the list goes on), perhaps the government is giving them too much money to begin with. Order a random series of blood an urine tests, and anybody who has illegal drug residual in either system needs to be cut off the money supply for a three months on the first offence; one year on the second offence, and with three strikes - they’re out. PERIOD. NO MORE BUCKS.

“I can’t find a job in Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton/…”   In the BC North alone there are 1,000 jobs right now, today, just in construction paying union wages for everything from Labourers, to Journeymen, to supervisors. Never mind all the ancillary jobs to support the industry.
BUT the jobs are in places that are cold (a previous boss used to tell people who complained about the cold to work harder), experiencing upwards of six months of snow per year, and 18 hours of daylight in the summer. To those who continue to complain: If you are too lazy to work: STARVE.

I do one part of my job and put on a forced smile, because I have a job to do and every job has something that we dread with every fibre of our being, but it has to be done. For some people it is quarterly reports, others it is budget development, somebody has to drain the swap full of alligators, and clean up after the elephants. Overall I love what I do,where I do it, however once every 18 months I am forced to spend a week in Vancouver. Vancouverites, tend to be under the misconception that anybody who is not within an hour’s drive of ‘Metro’ are desperate and anxious to get to the city at all costs, whenever they can possibly get there, and to provide poor country bumpkins with the opportunity to have their flights and hotel paid is equivalent to Nirvana. Well I have news for you Vancouver, you can keep your city, your smog, ALL of your suburbs, and overbearing crowds. Yes, I have to be there one every 18 months and will undertake my duties as efficiently and effectively as I can possibly muster, but please do not, under any circumstances, even for a nano-second delude yourself into thinking you are doing me a favour.

No More Posties?

Many people will complain about anything, especially when they imagine the “boogie-man” behind every shadow. What is worse is the average person will react emotionally to anything that is unknown therefore an element of fear confuses and takes over the function of reason and logic.

A perfect example arose recently, when Canada Post announced the gradual withdrawal of door-to-door delivery of letter mail in urban centres across Canada. The most vocal reaction was both predictable and could be most accurately described as ‘knee-jerk’ and visceral.

First, the convenience argument:

“… My {fill in the disability} {fill in the relationship} cannot possibly walk a block to get his/her mail every day, because {fill in the pitiful situation} …”

My first thought was, how does {fill in the disability} {fill in the relationship} get groceries, a hair cut, to a doctor, dentist, specialist, etc.?  SOMEHOW {fill in the disability} {fill in the relationship} is able to fulfil most of these activities as well as any other citizen, despite their {fill in the pitiful situation}. If {fill in the disability} {fill in the relationship} gets everything delivered, then perhaps a trusted neighbour, relative, friend could pick up the mail when they pick up their own? Sorry, this argument is a non-starter, designed to reach you at your core emotions, because we all know somebody with {fill in the disability}. I have grown up with people with a variety of disAbilites, and not one of them would accept anybody’s pity, never mind assistance. A babysitter who was born blind (Pauline would not let us get away with ANYTHING), a paraplegic Great Uncle, co-worker in a wheel chair, a blind university professor, and an gifted speaker with Cerebral Palsy.

Second, the financial argument:

An estimated 8,00 letter carriers will be laid off.
8,000 people being paid well beyond the skill set required for the job.
While CUPW is predictably upset about loosing the union dues from these 8,000 people, they only have themselves to blame with their unreasonable pay increase demands over the last 40 years.

Consider the skill set required to deliver mail:

Grade 6 literacy to be able to read an address, and the physical capacity to carry the bag(s) of mail.
This sounds like a job for your average newspaper delivery person who can get paid upwards of $500/MONTH if they take on 3, 4, or 5 delivery routes. We had a neighbour who worked for the post office who bragged that she was home for lunch after working a hard four hour day and was paid for eight. 

Considering that the Federal Minimum wage is based on the provincial/territorial minimum wage they would still be paid between $9.75 and $11.00 hour for each our actually worked, depending on where they work. 

Perhaps if letter carriers were paid their worth, they would not be looking at being laid off and the general public would not be paying $1.00 for a postcard to be delivered in Canada.