wats the problem?

[Jack Bennest]

Is the demise of radio as we knew it the "issue" in the world today?

If you ask experts what is the ‘number one’ issue facing the planet today, you will receive different answers from different people.

Some will vociferously argue that US ‘imperialism’ is the problem, others will tell you that it is the rise of China; still other will say it is terrorism or global warming.

Or the most critical issue is the food shortage, which is itself linked to worldwide water scarcity.

Canada:
US imperialism is not a problem
rise of China is not too bad
gangs?
terrorism is not really on our map
global warming is not bothering me
too many vancouver left wing nuts
food shortages in Canada not evident

but we do have a radio industry that sucks


Any comments on what the number one issue is around your kitchen table

[Russ_Byth]

My kitchen's too small for a table.
As someone who's still in the biz.... what we're hearing about most is government action/inaction and finance-related issues such as the price of gas and owning a home to put the kitchen table in.

[skyvalleyradio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VveZdp8OLh0

[Jack Bennest]

I would like to break Mike's cherry!

On the other hand, the clean one, I would like to show restraint and just
slap him

[skyvalleyradio]

...at times it's nice to have a rusted ol' BC Ferry between me and the rest of North America

[Jack Bennest]

until there is a law on full disclosure...there may be more than one rust bucket between me and you - buddy

[crs]

this, BY FAR is the topic just about every night around our kitchen table. how the crime fighters of our land (that would be the Police) are consistently let down by a justice system that fails to deliver on appropriate punishment (that would be jail time and NOT house arrest NOR a suspended sentence) for the criminal element brought before them.

[Jack Bennest]

the justice system is run on a precept of keeping the non dangerous ones on the streets and the more dangerous ones locked up - therefor 60 percent stay out.

the system doesnt wants to pay the piper for more prisons so the policy is to keep the rooms filled but no more so we release the bad ones earlier to reoffend (thats another subject). There so be a separate facility for the ones that are not getting out or the life sentences.

my point about behavior modification is that the prisons should be 200 miles north of prince george and not in the lower mainland. It will never happen though because I dont know what the professionals know.

they know that a big beef steak, a 42 inch tv and cogengial visits on the lower mainland means there is no riots right??

[jon]

Maybe it says something that the most common topic of conversation in our household was the topic of Hicks on Six (Edmonton Sun) on Friday:

END RESULTS

Provincial auditor general Fred Dunn took the provincial government to task for inaction over lack of follow-up to the four-year-old mental health program.

On the same day, a senior is stabbed to death in a west-end parking lot by a stranger with no apparent motive.

These two news items are likely intertwined.

Dunn says mental health is getting the pointed end of the stick.

When police track down the murder suspect, there is a chance he could be severely mentally ill, his actions partially the responsibility of a society that isn't doing enough to ensure the chronically and severely mental ill do not harm themselves or others. (P.S. Severely mentally ill includes brains shredded by massive drug use.)

FIXING A BROKEN SYSTEM

This is not a rant against the mental health treatment system - Sharon Sutherland of the Alberta Alliance on Mental Health advocacy group says many good people do their best.

In Edmonton, Capital Health is doing its best to fix a broken system.

The Mental Health Amendment Act, stopping the mentally ill from harming themselves and others, is close to becoming law. Former health minister Dave Hancock was pushing for enhanced services for the mentally ill.

But the system remains terribly broken.

WHO CARES?

Psychiatric wards in our hospitals are holding adult patients for up to a year.

The patients are too far gone. No group homes or residences will take them.

These poor creatures require highly qualified, 24-hour-a-day supervision.

Before they turned 18, Alberta Children's Services would fund whatever care was needed. Specialized agencies could provide 24-hour expert staffing to handle the worst of the worst ... for $150,000 to $180,000 per child, per year.

But at 18, Children's Services funding dries up.

What's left? Maybe AISH, welfare, a little Alberta Health money.

They'll be assigned a therapist (nurse/social worker/babysitter). But the therapist has 200-plus clients. The department is underfunded. Therapists are underpaid. Even with decent pay, skilled people can't be found.

So the 18-year-old ends up on the street. Doesn't take his meds. Gets messed up on street drugs ... goes crazy ... ends up in emergency ... is released because the beds in the psych ward are filled by long-term patients who can't be placed elsewhere ... and the cycle begins again.

Same song, second verse, a little bit louder and a little bit worse.

HOPE MISSION

Meanwhile, back at the psych ward, the hospital social workers do their best to find a home for their psych patients. But nobody will take them.

Finally, these poor people are dropped off at the Hope Mission or other shelters, where great humanitarians do their best to help, with next to no resources.

Out of the hospital, no home, mentally ill, no social worker with time to help ... off their meds they go, taking drugs or alcohol to dull the pain, ending up back at emergency ...

Same song, third verse, a little bit louder and a little bit worse.

LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE

I've covered this relationship between chronic mental illness and homelessness for a long time.

I'm convinced at least half of the chronically homeless are also chronically mentally ill.

We've abandoned them.

Left them to fend for themselves, to be aggressive panhandlers, to rage at passers-by as they wander the streets. To let the voices in their head, unsuppressed by medicines, get worse and worse. Voices in their head that might urge them to kill innocent people.

Same song, fourth verse, a little bit louder and way, way worse.

[skyvalleyradio]

around ours and probably every other kitchen table on Vancouver Island and the Goofy Islands:

why the f*** are we paying higher ferry fares to use OUR highways (waterways?) when the Board of Boneheads at our "privatized" ferry corp get a 60% raise? This scam of a "private" ferry corp that the government can intervene against is a bunch of crap and every time I see CEO David Hahn (sp?) on the TV news I want to throw a brick at it! Sorry this isn't global or even national news, people...but the ferries ARE our highway and every time we need to go to a medical/dental specialist or do a major shopping trip, we're captives of BC Ferries. Yes...I've heard the argument a million times: "if you don't like the ferries, why not move off the Goofy Islands" Why should I? This is MY home just as much as any other British Columbian and we pay taxes and user fees just like everyone else in our beloved province. My taxes subsidize highways on the mainland, so why shouldn't OUR highway receive a reasonable subsidy? Our local MLA is so tired of confrontations with residents over ferry issues, that he rarely travels over here to meet with his constituents. Oops...sorry i have to run now...got to catch the 9:50 to Swartz Bay...

[Promotions Guy]

SVR you have a point (or maybe more) about the high cost of the BC Ferry System. Take a consolation prize though. You live in God's Country. Where else can you watch whales and sea lions basking off shore, fish for some of the best salmon in the world, and visit centres like Parksville where many of the old broadcasters now call home. Can't offer you any relief to the high fares, just ask that you keep a light on near Nanaimo for me when I finally leave the 9 to 5 world.

[skyvalleyradio]

PromotionsGuy - far be it from me to complain about life here on the left coast - in fact its just the opposite. I KNOW how blessed I am to live here & am quite happy to accept the consolation prize! I simply demand some fairness from the Ferry Corp when considering rates for travel here. The wasted money on making the ferry system more 'tourist-friendly' with ambiance taking precedence over transportation performance is BS. Forget about making BC Ferries "an excursion" or "an experience" and just get us to our destinations on time using well-maintained, reliable vessels. Running this 'quasi-privatized' transportation service without some accountability is ludicrous. What private corporation would allow that to occur? Trust me...there's more than just myself that's itching to have CEO David Hahn on a local talk show once CFSI-FM is active. And yes...the porch light's on for ya buddy & the fish are biting...