Tired of the negativity

[Firesong]

I'm sorry but I won't build homes for homeless so they can live for free.
I'm all in for shelters and such.

I sound mean but nothing's free.
FS

[marsgal42]

Homelessness is a complicated issue, and there is no one answer for all the people involved. I see at least three groups of homeless people, with different problems and solutions.

There are homeless people who are damaged, and who should be cared for. Many of these are from the de-institutionalizing farce of a few years ago.

There are homeless people who are underemployed. Vancouver housing prices are indeed insane, but housing prices outside of Vancouver are not insane. Given the choice between being homeless in Vancouver and having a roof over my head in, say, Williams Lake, I know which I would choose. I guess that's just me.

Then there are the group who have opted out of society. They can freeze and/or starve for all I care. If you reject the society around you, how can you possibly expect support from it?

...laura

[FalcoColumbarius]

This is really a philosophical topic. Let's put things into perspective. Humour me.

My old man served in the Second World War and like many others from his generation he felt that his children were not going to have to suffer like him. My generation grew up in a wonderful environment. So wonderful that we really got spoiled. When times have gotten harder we have really not been ready for it.

I think... when life is not going your way, it is really easy to fall into a mindset that wants to shift the blame (thank God for bad refereeing), hence conspiracies &c.. Having said that ~ I would like to refer to the story of the boiling frog. If you drop a frog into boiling water he will be off like a shot. If you place a frog into tepid water he will get comfortable ~ and as you gradually increase the heat the frog will adjust his body temperature to the water until he eventually boils to death.

In 1976 the minimum wage was increased from $3.00 per hour to $4.00 an hour. For one hour's labour you could buy an LP ($3.00); a pack of smokes ($0.86); a bottomless cup of coffee (a dime); and for an extra eight cents ~ a Mars bar.

In current times I believe minimum wage is something like $8.50 an hour? Twelve ounces of coffee ranges from $1.60 to two bucks; the Mars bar is around two dollars (for the same size); the pack of smokes is in the ten dollar range; and a CD is fifteen, or so, bucks.

In the '70s a fully loaded Cadillac was in the neighbourhood of $5,000.00; a custom tailored (to your body) suit, made of the finest material, cost around $100.00. If you got fired from your job in the morning, you would be working at another job by the afternoon ~ so long as you looked for work. Life was a piece of cake.

Today ~ the cost of living is sufficiently higher. Marriages have become more of a business partnership & tax haven than a "union of Love" ~ and sometimes "life occurs" and one can find themselves on the street. When you are on the street life can really suck. So you gravitate to a place that offers you free soup to quell those hunger pains that are eating your insides out ~ when someone in the queue next to you suggests this wonderful escape ~ if even for a few hours ~ called XTC! Wow.... what a beautiful day!

But then you come down. What a wonderful dream that was... What a sh*tty situation I am in! So you go looking for more but there is no XTC to be had at the moment and you wander the streets amongst well dressed people who seem to step away from you as you pass them. Then you pass a TV and you see this white haired, stuffed shirt wearing glasses that has taken money from your local soup kitchen to bring prosperity to the affluent (from your dirty street perspective) and when asked about bread for the poor ~ the stuffed shirt says that they will be able to eat cake when the games come to town and they will only cost the tax payer $600 million.

You have been looking for work but frankly ~ you no longer look like the employable type. You go home longing for next Wednesday only to find out that your daughter has found a way to pay for her fix of whatever... How did I get this way? Life is no longer a drag... life has become a nightmare. You can't understand why those well dressed people don't people don't see your side of the story and they don't seem to understand why you don't just get a job and be as affluent as they are ~ so long as you don't get a job in their firm and potentially threaten their livelihood.

You pass by another TV that has a news show discussing the current cost of these games, now at $6 billion, and more cuts will have to be made........... Whatever........

So you find out there is going to be a rally that could solve these issues confronting you so you go to it. As everyone you are with walks down the main street, waving banners and calling for reformation along with guys wearing black kevlar armour and shields and batons walking ominously behind you ~ some chick wearing a black balaclava out of nowhere suddenly turns around and shouts out "PIG!" and throws a brick and all hell brakes loose.....

*************************************************************************************************

This view is at one extreme end of the spectrum, I know ~ but it is still a part of the picture.

I have nothing against the Olympics ~ I really don't ~ they can bring nations together and afford different cultures a chance to understand one and other, thereby potentially uniting the world.

Throwing bricks or striking someone down with a stun baton is not the answer. Neither is turning the other cheek so far that you no longer see what is in front of you.

Perhaps if we look at everybody around us, no matter who they are, and consider that our actions toward them inevitably affect ourselves.... then perhaps our world would in fact be a better place for all.

In the meantime I am between jobs because everything in my industry is shut down so I am going to do my national duty as a Canadian and b*tch about the refereeing and remember that Canada is by and large a peaceful country.... except on the ice.

Remember 1812. Go Canada Go.

Falco.

[Modsqwad]

Love the level of intensity in the athletes. Hate the intensity of commercialism in the rest of it. The cost is borne by all of us not just
the homeless, they are just in the unenviable position on the bottom of the food chain. Protest has a place if done right. Violent disruptive protest is suited to causes like the overturning of apartheid not commercial disagreements like this.
Whatever the issues now that its here I can only celebrate the sport itself and wish all those young people who have trained so hard good luck. GO CANADA!!
Andy Wilson

[jrman]

I've got one simple reason to support the olympics....are you ready....have I got your attention yet....do I need to throw the word SEX into this message????.......it's called FEDERAL MONEY. You can bitch and moan about missing this, or housing issues that, or hype and love whatever ever you wish to love or hate for that matter...but at the end of the day, without the olympics, there would be a hell of a lot more cash spent in Ontario and Quebec from 2003 through to 2010....of that, I am 100% for sure. Everything else is open to debate - both good and bad. Infrastructure has been built, and it won't go away, and that is money spent in a large part by Ottawa that would have still been collected from you and me and most certainly spent elsewhere. So, sadly - to get our due - we must play this political game - and since it's here, I'm going to enjoy every moment, and have done so thus far!!!!!

As for the limey (edit) whiners (edit - from the press / media)...well, according to the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, they have the worst sex lives of the industrialized nations...they've gotta need a diversion of some sort (UK Delica Owners exempt I'm sure). Let em bitch!....we live here....they don't!

Rock on Canada!

[mararmeisto]

I'm sorry but I won't build homes for homeless so they can live for free.
I'm all in for shelters and such.

I sound mean but nothing's free.
FS

Habitat for Humanity - the houses are not free.

[Firesong]

'Habitat for Humanity - the houses are not free.'

I never said they were.. I think I misread the intention here.
I said I won't help build houses for people to live in 'for free'

FS

[Erebus]

Falco & Laura,

Thanks for your posts. You show a great understanding of the homeless. The TV show _Law & Order_ often has homeless people in their episodes, and certainly show there are no easy solutions.

[Erebus]

I'm with you!! I on the other hand am glad they are here, except for the overpriced bubget and poor planning on VANOC's part. I think it is exciting.

Expensive? HA! Montreal's Olympic Stadium (aka the Big Owe) -- not the whole Games, just the stadium complex -- cost 1.5 Billion, and took 30 years to pay off -- just in time for pieces to start falling off.

And Calgary STILL goes on and on and on about their snow-less Olympics of 1988. Guess nothing noteworthy has happened here since.

At least VANOC fixed the fence-around-the-flame pretty quickly. All in all, from my remote vantage, the games seem to have been pretty good.