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September 03, 2004 -- 2:07 PM
posted by eric
- Jere, what plans do you have tonight? i gotta give you that Domino Death Race CD.
September 03, 2004 -- 1:09 PM
posted by Tonestar Runner
- Jere, here's my cell number: 953-6906
September 03, 2004 -- 12:08 AM
posted by alison
- I thought it was pretty obvious - the ranchers need duct tape to shut up.
I sent a complaint e-mail to the survey hosts (so AB finance) and they responded quite business-like that if I wanted to say more than what they had allotted me in the survey (does the incredibly ambiguous and empty question set, three 50 character spaces, and one 300 character space give Albertans enough voice?), I should go to the regular www.gov.ab.ca page and send them an e-mail... with whatever I want to say in there.
But that's not the point. If the government was actually interested in finding out what Albertans want, they should give us a chance to tell them, not just fill in things guiding us to an answer (albeit a very vague answer) they've predetermined. At least that's what the survey was for me... "What do you think we should do? of all the ideas that we've come up with and are probably going to do anyway, what should we do? do you have any new ideas? no? well good, because we're only doing what we originally set out to do anyway"
I mean, it's like the Water for Life survey they sent around in 2001. Except that that survey actually had some depth to it... but they were still only interested in doing what they set out to do. Tons of farmers and ranchers expressed concern over water reserves (aquifers etc.) and over oil and gas use of water, and NOTHING has happened. In fact, no one hears anything about Water For Life any more, like the entire effort ended with 2001, and the results weren't going to change anything. Mind you... with people like Mike Cardinal in charge, it's no wonder nothing's changing. What a poor representation of anyone who should be responsible in Alberta... (or perhaps the perfect representation of what "responsible" people in the government are...)
um... yeah, no more rant. It feels good to vent. And now to work, and leaving the province!
September 03, 2004 -- 12:00 AM
posted by Leo
- Do you know what's sad and insulting? When someone make the effort to plan an outing to a movie and the only people who didn't ditch are the planner, his sister and someone who's seen the movie 3 times prior to going.
For shame.
September 02, 2004 -- 6:47 PM
posted by Beck
- hmm.... $280-$300 seems a little expensive
But what option do we have?
September 02, 2004 -- 2:29 PM
posted by AD
- MUST ignore urge to make political rant...
...
Oh what the fuck, I'll sum it up like this; If we are as rich as he wants us to believe, why do we have all the problems in this provence that we do?
September 02, 2004 -- 1:40 PM
posted by Par
- Why do the ranchers need duct tape. We're only at threat level Bert.
Actually, I was thinking election... but those appear to be meaningless anyway.
Oh and <response>no</response>.
September 02, 2004 -- 12:19 PM
posted by alison
- um... you forgot to give the ranchers duct tape...
and could that perhaps be "plebiscite" or "referendum" that you're referring to? Not going to happen... I mean, really, more wasting of taxpayer money to actually find out what Albertans want...are you kidding? the government only wants to pretend to care... and waste our money in the process.
one more thing. Could you not talk in htmlese, it confuses the rest of us out there
September 02, 2004 -- 12:04 PM
posted by Par
- Can't we just literally swim in it? I'm thinking build a giant Scrooge McDuck-esque money vault and fill it with millions of gold coins, so we may languish in our vast wealth. Apparently, this is not one of the survey options. It's amazing what options are lacking on this survey:
- Build a spaceship and allow the upper echelon of the Tory party to explore outer space and, hence, grow our wealth. We can save money by not actually plotting a course. Or sealing the ship. Or requiring it to leave orbit. Or requiring it to enter orbit. In fact, as long as we can strap a sufficiently oversized SUV (maybe even a Hummer) onto a rocket and get it at least a kilometer into the air, I'd say the mission would be a success.
- Build giant cutouts of Ralph Klein to place at the four borders, picturing him thumbing his nose at our neighbours, complete with Nelson Muntz sound effect (this may be the most expensive part of the plan, buying the rights to that loveable ha, ha.)
- Invest in a billion dollar supercomputer that can count all those facts that we love to keep track of:
- Acres of forest destroyed / dollar of surplus
- Number of malnourished children who could be saved by the excess billions we have
- Number of people who could be saved from the African AIDS epidemic by Alberta's oil revenues
- and many more!...
- Buttons and posters for every single Albertan with a picture of Ralph Klein and the "He Listens. He Cares" slogan
- Shovels and shotguns for every cattle rancher
- Limited edition Tory cabinet minister punching bags in every home/homeless shelter
- <Your options here>
Okay, perhaps I'm being slightly cynical about this whole thing. Maybe it's wrong to be pissed off when, without a semblance of a plan, and ignoring public input, they slash the budget and then, come election time, they act like they're doing us a favour by asking us what to do with this extra money they earned for us. Nevertheless, despite the ludicrousness (ludicrousosity? ludicrousossilizationalism?) of the above options, they're easily far more concrete than "Provide support to Albertans who need help". I mean, what the fuck does "Make long-term investments in priority areas" mean?!?! Who was the brilliant fucktard who decided that maybe they should ask us "should our priorities be making long-term investments in priority areas?" ?!?!
We're supposed to make policy decisions based on marketing surveys full of nothing but positive options? Either the government leaders are the stupid ones, for making decisions from citizen input to a useless survey like this, or they think we're morons to believe that this survey will help them make a decision. A better way would be if we had some sort of system, where we were presented a number of alternative plans (say, three) for the province and, with everyone getting a voice, we could choose (cast a "vote" on, if you will) which plan we wanted. I wonder what that would be called?
Maybe we get the government we deserve, but this is ridiculous. They've done some horribly stupid things, and Klein is running out of steam (he's too tired to attend a first ministers conference. It's not as though the Leg is in session, or he's even made a decision (Toffee or Boston Cream dilemma notwithstanding) in weeks, but he doesn't want to go. If he ignored everything that was a waste of time and wouldn't make for any progress, we wouldn't have had an election in ten years.), but this is... words cannot describe my frustration with this survey. When they asked for three things to improve this province, I actually wrote in and submitted "Shoot. Shovel. Shut up." Why should I bother?!
</rant>
</klein> (please! pretty please! with sugar on top!)
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