Well, I wrote this letter to Kelowna Capital News because people are stupid. Lets put in cameras, lets implement bullshit systems and policies, lets beg for food and give it away at Thanksgiving, on and on....

I'm bitter. Can you tell?

Here's the letter....

I am writing to comment on the letters regarding methods to maintain air quality (Sep.29).

The notion of having cars either equipped with expensive monitoring equipment or participating in a mandatory inspection program is just another example of armchair activism without real thought. Sure, we would all love clean air, but implementing expensive and ineffective means to go about it are beyond reason.

AirCare in the lower mainland is an absolute farce. The McJobs it provides along with the true inability to do anything but collect more tax is about all it is good for. The safe work practices that must be adhered while working in the inspection facility prevent the “inspector” from examining your vehicle with more than a mirror on a stick. Then they connect a questionably calibrated sampling system up to your car and then get to climb in and abuse your vehicle for ten minutes so they can present you with a lovely page full of useless numbers and your total amount due at the bottom. The commercial vehicles seem to get a free ride in this matter. I have choked on black smoke from commercial vehicles more than once and still the guy in the family car gets stuck with the bill. Better yet, the low income people that can barely afford an old car (let alone a brand spanking new semi-emission friendly plastic shell with a motor), end up having to pay for multiple emission tests and get a “conditional pass” for spending $500 trying to make their cars meet the standard. The rich guy gets off with the cost of the inspection. And still, again the rich guy that has a cabin or second house in a town outside of the “mandatory inspection area” can insure and drive his car under his second address and skip the mess altogether.

Also, the idea of OBDII is great on vehicles equipped with it out of the factory, but who do you really think is going to spend the amount of another car on fitting their older car with ALL the sensors that these emission monitoring computers look for. If you have ever had to replace an emission component by itself without any labour, then you may comprehend how much an entire system fitted into an old car would cost.

How about this? Drive less and only where you need to go. Figure out better time and resource management. How many vehicles do you see in summer just “cruising the strip”? Electric trains are good for kids and the elderly with no real agenda, but on a day to day basis, commuters on their way to work would favour a direct route rather than transfer 5 times to all the buses and connections to get them to their destination. My sister was a transit user in Vancouver for many years and her route was like a sailboat tacking across the ocean. Most people would turn down an extra hour each way of commute time as a trade for sparkling clean air.

Car pooling is great if that works for you, but there is always the forgotten needs of service people and salesman that rely heavily on their vehicles to get them to and from places as a single occupant per vehicle. The HOV lanes were added in Vancouver to help the flow of traffic and usually they are empty during the rush hours. Good idea, but not very practical. People have come to rely on their vehicles.

Plant more trees around your house if you want cleaner air. I notice in these lovely new subdivisions how the whole place is burned, plowed & paved with little vegetation. That might be a better start don’t you think. Fix your own back yard before you go and irritate the lives of many with more regulation and law.

The only part of any of the letters I do agree with is making the large conglomerate commercial buildings comply with emission controls. All these big box stores generate a ton of emissions from large gas burning HVAC units going all the time. Next time you are out, look at all the stacks on these buildings. I’m sure they can afford to clean their exhaust gas with scrubbers and catalytic reduction. Large industrial facilities already have enough to deal with, but are normally given a bad rap because they are obvious targets. Emission control is usually a top priority for them and they are reminded of it constantly by public outcry.

P.S. I also agree that an obituary should be open to lost animal friends.



*The P.S. part was added to shut up some stupid bitch that was insulted by someone putting the loss of their animal in the obituaries. I say get bent and take your two bit opinion with you. Some people have animals as their only TRUE friends because the rest of the stupid morons in society are always scheming to screw you over and benefit from it somehow.


"Overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position....such a heavy burden now to be the one born to bare and read to all the details of our ending...to write it down for all the world to see....but I forgot my pen...shit the bed again......"

"Speak for yourself. Question authority."