August Bile, so I'm a bit late

Hollywood Marriages should come with an automatic expiry date. Who knew that Johnny Depp was married?

Windows seems more broken than usual and Microsoft today issued 3 updates. Now that they're no longer trying to foist an unwanted Windows X upon us Update has finally returned to normal without the need to uncheck the auto-update button and the pretence that it is downloading the new OS.

A book publisher liked my review of one of their books. They read online reviews?

In the land of the free and the home of the brave governments may not feel free to tell you not to build in a flood plain but water will take its natural path nevertheless.

The Donald hasn't self-destructed yet? Pity.

Vandal(s) spreading peanut butter on children's playground equipment.

Florida cop kills senior with live rounds during a public relations event.

Doesn't seem to be much job security in being a CBC interview host. Is it the hosts or the failure of senior management's screening process. Ask Strombo or Shad. What did they expect from a Rap Artist. One thing the Gomeshi fiasco served to highlight is flaws in the Canadian Justice System and the reason why more woman don't come forward with accusations of sexual abuse and harassment.

Testosterone, youth, and alcohol, always a dangerous mix as four American Athletes in Rio are discovering. Their chef de mission has had his hands busy baby sitting the team.

Oakville received its second drenching rain of the summer Thursday Night.

I'll be up front. I consider highway tolls an abomination. Governments already tax drivers more than enough to maintain and build highways, unfortunately those taxes enter general revenue and are not designated for highway maintenance and improvement. I resent having to pay for highways twice. Tolls also slow traffic. What we do not learn is the ratio between the tolls charged and the expense of collecting those tolls. Worse, from my driving experience it is often obvious that the moneys collected are not spent on maintaining the highways involved.

The War on Drugs

The war on Drugs has miss-placed priorities. Our courts are clogged prosecuting small-time users and sending them to over-crowded prisons where their education in crime begins in earnest. Drug pushers use juveniles to peddle their wares because those under 18 will get only a slap on the wrist. The “Mister Bigs” of the trade are better funded than law enforcement agencies and have more sophisticated tools and weapons. The off-shore suppliers are more powerful and better funded than most small governments placing Drug Cartels above the law. Sovereign governments resent interference from first-world agencies where the appetites for drugs fuel the problem in the first place.

All this misses the point that if there is a demand and easy profit to be made someone will seek to fill it. What do people get from these drugs that makes them risk mental, physical, and financial health to take them? We understand alcoholism and drug addiction and many of these drugs are instantly addictive. The affects are artificial elation, numbing, and altered reality—hallucinations. So what is missing from people's lives that they seek these artificial means of escape?

Let's look at the causes of most crime and racism:

Poverty

Malnutrition and poor diet

Disease

Suicide

Lack of education

            employment

           self-worth

           feelings of accomplishment, self-fulfillment.

If we want to stem the flow of drugs we have to start looking at the reasons people feel the need to escape the realities of their lives. Unfortunately these issues are not confined to the lower class—middle and upper income types are just better at hiding the problem.

It starts with how we run our governments and other institutions. How we build our cities. Schools that meet the needs of their students. How we fund our schools, the arts, recreational facilities. Rethinking our capitalistic system. Is it right that CEO's make hundreds of times the wage of their lowest paid employees. Minimum wages, the administration of welfare, guaranteed annual income. Should sports be about defining winners and losers or opportunities for recreation and camaraderie?

A world where it is more profitable to grow drug crops like poppies than food to feed starving people. Where third world countries grow consumer crops to pay off IMF Loans rather than food. Where the price of food goes up because corn is used to make gasohol. Where the arms industry and the wars it supports and feeds is more profitable than foreign aid to better people's lives. Should the rich live in gated communities where they lobby for greater law enforcement and tougher laws on crime or should we tackle crime at its source?