Too Much Stuff

If Resolving Timeline Issues wasn’t all new preggo brain, she would be blogging away, as really….there is just TOO much to rant about these days.

Hence, why I have again not done my weekly roundup post.  I didn’t want to take away from the current posts about Exit Commander Kitty and The Widow Colony.

Thank you kind ladies for asking me to share these events with the readers here!

Not to mention….I mean come on!  Between Municipal, Federal and US elections…what ISN’T there to rant about these days?

What made my blood boil this week, was in an article by Mike Howell at The Vancouver Courier, a paper malagnied by The Georgia Straight as being not leftie enough in their ‘Best Of’ segment.

Thank you Georgia Straight …when I am restaurant hunting, I will flick through your paper again.

I find more and more that the little Courier paper is the one that informs me the best about what is going on in our city and what sometimes is total bullshit.

Mind you, the nugget that got me pissed (pardon my unprofessional language) was not met in the article with any huge outrage either….but I think it should.

The article, titled Vision Quest, is a good piece on the Vision party and their last big nomination day held last weekend at Sir Charles Tupper school.

This is the bit that got me.

 

This was a ballot that Jang, Reimer, Meggs and Dhaliwal agreed to circulate to their supporters. It also had an X marked next to the names of the incumbents. 
Coincidentally, they all got elected.

Jang handed out the fake ballots-in the same blue colour as the legal ballot-to supporters from the South Asian community as they descended from a yellow school bus.

Jang’s team mailed 1,100 of the ballots to supporters and handed out another 2,000 Saturday on the school’s grounds. Dhaliwal arranged for at least three school buses to transport supporters. The Courier attempted to speak to some of the South Asian seniors, but they did not respond and kept walking with their fake ballots in hand.

“It’s important to have these types of cards so they know what to do because it reflects the structure of our societies,” said Jang as he greeted his supporters. “Chinese and South Asian communities, they are very patriarchal and they look to the leaders and ask, ‘Who would you like us to support?’ And that’s the way it’s been for centuries.” Umlas signed up 600 members for Louie when Louie ran in June for the party’s mayoral nomination; Jang was part of Louie’s team. Umlas signed up an additional 700 since then.”

 

This is the photo that bothered me .

                                            photo used without permission.  Original photo by Dan Toulgoet

This is what is termed ‘Block Voting.’  I am frankly aghast that this is not illegal and dealt with far more harshly.

The South Asian community apparently does things like this quite often.  I recall a Liberal nominee in Surrey being in trouble for it before.  The Liberal party tend to be popular among the South Asian community due to their views on immigration.

I am unsure about how the Vision members on the fake ballot  feel about immigration or the plight of the many migrant and under paid South Asian farm workers and so on.

Basically, they bused in a number of what appears to be mostly immigrants, no doubt elderly family members and so on, who no doubt speak very little english and probably are not entirely clear on how Canadian politics are SUPPOSED to run.

They were handed a piece of paper - a fake ballot - to show them EXACTLY where they should put THEIR X on the real ballots!!

No doubt with any real thought or care about WHO they were voting for or why.

I am not remotely trying to be racist here.

To me this is totally taking advantage of people and their lack of understanding about the country they now live in.

It is total manipulation and makes a mockery of the whole idea behind the ‘RIGHT to vote’ and the ideals behind a democratic country.

If this is how the Vision Party operates…they have all lost my vote.  I am sorry Mr. Robertson, the party you are now affilitated with stinks.

I am so tired hearing about political corruption, back room deals, lies, lies, and more lies.  I am also tired of just how apathetic we all are.

How we (like myself right here) rant away…but do abosultely NOTHING about all the problems the people WE vote for continue to generate for us all.

As all these elections draw near….I think the biggest thing you can do is be in touch with your representatives and ask the questions about the issues that are important to you…and demand answers.

Then…when once again, all the campaign promises crumble….we all need to speak up and ask for accountability.

These people…on all the levels, work for us.

We must never forget that.