Lawyers, Litigation & the Human Needs

Highly conflicted families are usually found in counselling offices struggling to make it together. And when they failed to work things out some ended up in Courts. About 12% of these remained in a state of perpetual conflict. They as a group is the main source of incomes of family lawyers; an average divorce legal costs per couple in Toronto is about C$60,000. That's a lot of mullahs if you asked me. The litigation process as we know today isn't working. Family incomes paid to lawyers are taken out from looking after the young ones. That's the opportunity costs. They are the innocent victims the legal professionals don't like to talk about. Lawyers prefer to speak about how they represented the legal rights of their clients. They might even add that the current systems are the only ones we got and until better ones come along we are stucked with the present status quo. What we need to hear more of are solutions to mitigate more costly litigations. What we need to have are systems that help more people to move on with their lives without the high costs passed on to the children as their burdens. We must stay away from litigating family issues, especially parenting after the split. We currently have mediators, but they are under-utilized because lawyers prefer not using the process unless they have to. I would prefer putting mediation and other forms of dispute resolution in place prior to litigation. Jus my 2-cent worth.


blackberrycat

Passport Office, let the buck stops over there ...

So, I heard today the Canadian Passport Office has withdrawn its plan for passport applications over the net. The official explaination cited for the withdrawal was quite insulting of Canadians. Apparently they withdrew services because they decided it was not "convenient" for the general public to access their services. Wow! blame the public - their clienteles - when their setup was amateurish and most mediocre the first place. Last year their system was compromised, and recently Canada's privacy commissioner called their setup "sloppy". What's wrong with these people? I swear somebody was sleeping on the job. What ever happened to accountability? I say sack the IT department. Better still, fire the politician who is in charge of that department. Let the buck stops there and maybe the message will get across that it's not the people's fault when they screwed up over there. Jus my 2-cent worth.

blackberrycat

Mother Nature here I come ...

Spring is Definitely Here

We waited and we waited somewhat patiently, and alas! Spring is here; in Kitchener it's about 8 degrees Celsius. What choice do we have but wait. Some of us, myself included have been known to complain hoping that maybe Mother Nature would hear us and grant our wishes for warmer days. Or at least make the snow melts away and temperatures stay above freezing so we could brave outside for walks around the block. A piece of advice. There are no warmer or colder days for walks. Speaking from experience I too waited for the warmer days in the past to justify walking outside. In reality, they were never warm or hot enough days or nights to motivate venturing outside, so I stayed, and stayed inside until the hot summer "chased" me out of the house. Like most Canadians we went outside to cool off because we didn't want to pay the high costs of air-conditioning. The average Canadians already spent their hard-earned money on gas and/or hydro heating over the winter months, and so most of us have to conserve energy costs knowing soon enough Mother Nature's winter blasts will be back ... THE SOLUTION? Get involved with a walking club in your neighbourhood. I did, and since Fall of last year I was outside walking at least 3 - 4 times a week, even in minus 40 degrees Celsius weather. Now I plan to walk through Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. I swear I will never let Mother Nature makes me her prisoner ever again. I intend to be free from the cruel, whimsical cycles of the so-called Mother Nature. Come June-July I plan to hike 77 km of the West Coast Trial, and no wild animals can scare me away. Black bears and cougars aren't going to scare me in-doors. I want my freedom, and I wanna feel free from here onwards.

blackberrycat