Anti-Hoarding Task Force?

Ok, this caught my eye - Vancouver has an "Anti-Hoarding Task Force" that goes about attempting to deal with households who have accumulated enough garbage to be a risk to themselves and neighborhoods?

A Vancouver woman refused help from the city’s hoarding task force just a few weeks before her house burned down, says a city councillor.

Members of the city’s Hoarding Action Response Team conducted the first property inspection early this year after a neighbour launched a complaint with the city about the clutter and rats in the backyard.

The city’s Hoarding Action Response Team, the first of its kind in North America, was created in 2011 with Vancouver Coastal Health as part of the city’s Healthy Cities initiative. It was meant to be an 18-month pilot project to deal with a backlog of complaints about hoarders in Vancouver.

He said of the estimated 80 hoarding cases that the team took on when it was set up, about 50 per cent have been successfully resolved without forcing the person to clean up. He added that in most of those cases the person has sought therapy for the mental health disorder.

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Adobe Customer data hacked - serious risks exist

It was finally disclosed by Adobe that 2.9 million customer records were compromised - along with other suspected software codes.    Of course there are laws in place that are supposed to prompt these disclosures ASAP - but they are routinuely ignored.

"Many companies believe that it is worth the risk of not reporting since reporting could mean a loss of consumer confidence in the brand," 

Of particular concern is the pervasive influence that Adobe plays in HTML code - and that it's very popular products could now provide a new attack vector to deliver exploits and viruses.  Of course customer identities have been compromised as well - but that seems the least of anyone's concerns.

LA Media deserves ridicule

I recall briefly reading about these rare fatalities when Asian 214 crash landed last week.  It seemed a miracle to me that so few died - so I didn't give it much thought - but the names didn't seem right.  Mostly it struck me as unusual they had released anyone's names so quickly - and I wondered when on earth they got the names anyways.   My discomfort was valid.  

The names were fake and Oakland CA TV Station KTVU 2 got "punked".

Sorry - no sympathy.   This is high school grade humor - and should have been caught immediately.

Anthony Eliot Spitzweiner

Courtesy of New York Magazine. 

"In light of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer entering New York City's comptroller race during a year when Anthony Weiner launched a mayoral bid, New York magazine placed both disgraced politicians on its cover—their faces combined to look like one individual."

John Stewart does Obama

What is the future of Brent Rathgeber?

Last week his surprising announcement shook-up the Hill.    Much speculation that this was a significant sign of CPC problems when combined with continuing problems with Sen. Mike Duffy Expense Scandals, backbench Socon revolts and now speculation about the PM's future Leadership intentions.

Then this?

I rate it as unlikely he will run Provincially - but I am intrigued that so many NDP think Rathgaber it worthy of comment.    I suspect it may have something more to do with the changes in Alberta Federal Riding boundry's in his riding and others in Alberta.

Canadian Psycho

It's official, and ex-Premier who was probably astonished to get re-elected - resigns.

Tom Sowell "Dismantling America"

How to bury a terrorist

“Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back.” 
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

John Robson addresses the bumbling decisions over burying the Boston Marathon Bomber - Tamerlan Tsarnaev.   His key point is that we should be worried about burying Tsarnaev in a way that he wanted.  No we bury the bodies of terrorists to suit our convenience - and refuse to kowtow to his religious supporters - as if we owe them something..

Wildrose Hits just keep on coming...

As if Redford needs it - the hits just keep on coming!

Ex-AHS Capital Health VP expensed thousands for dinners, booze, charity balls

Former Capital Health vice-president Michele Lahey - for whom opposition Wildrose revealed last week had claimed expenses of $7,000 for a second medical opinion on her Cancer diagnosis at renown U.S healthcare Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN - also billed over $10,000 for Charity Events*.

Documents released by the Wildrose opposition show former Capital Health vice-president Michele Lahey expensed $4,300 for the Nov. 5, 2005, St. Joseph’s Annual Gala Fundraiser, which Lahey described as a “heavenly evening of dining” on her expense form.

She expensed $3,000 for St. Joseph’s College Gala, $1,200 to the Hope Foundation of Alberta and $1,700 to host the Friar’s Ball on May 6, 2006, advertised as “one of the top social events of the year.”

All the donations were made between 2005 and 2007 by Lahey’s husband, former provincial Crown prosecutor Bill Gatward. Lahey expensed the donations to Capital Health and they were approved by health authority CEO Sheila Weatherill.

In addition this healthcare bureaucrat took a course that would allow her to examine her family roots in order to:

"give[s] you emotional tools to allow you to have the choice to let go of many limiting belief systems so that you can enjoy the banquet of life instead of just settling for the crumbs,”

How uplifting!

(How fast can you back-pedal this bike?)

*Noun	1.	blandishment - flattery intended to persuade cajolery, palaver flattery - excessive or insincere praise
	2.	blandishment - the act of urging by means of teasing or flattery wheedling enticement, temptation - the act of influencing by exciting hope or desire; "his enticements were shameless" ingratiation, insinuation - the act of gaining acceptance or affection for yourself by persuasive and subtle blandishments; "she refused to use insinuation in order to gain favor"