http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/Home.aspxBob Laytons Blogen-usCopyright 2013, CHED-AMSat, 25 May 2013 07:50:21 GMTFri, 24 May 2013 16:00:34 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comIt’s Friday.  Let’s have a look in the mailbag.  About the idea of taxing unhealthy foods, Richard says only if we drop the price of nutritious food by the same amount.  About Nigel Wright, the PM’s aide, who gave Senator Duffy ninety grand and then left his job: Several want to know how much severance he’s going to get.  About homes in tornado alley being required to have storm shelters, Lorne says that would take a tough building code, because some builders only work to the letter of the law, not to safety requirements. Paul says insurance in disaster-prone areas quickly becomes unaffordable, and people depend on the taxpayer and the Red Cross to bail them out.  Cheryl is an emergency care professional and sees a lot of children injured every summer.  She wants inattentive parents to pay the whole medical bill and then justify themselves to a judge.  NewDivide ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10548678info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10548678Fri, 24 May 2013 16:00:34 GMTWhenever there are natural disasters that destroy homes, we always hear how resilient people are in re-building.  I always wonder, why?  When an area is known for flooding every few years, why do they re-build on the same spot?  Maybe if they put their house on stilts to accommodate the water, it would make more sense.  I’ve seen that in a flash-flood area in Nevada.   Then we have the thousands of people who live in tornado alley in the U-S.  I wasn’t going to ask why underground storm shelters are not part of their homes because I didn’t want to appear to be blaming the victims.  But now the mayor of Moore, Oklahoma is asking.  As those thousands of homes are rebuilt, Mayor Glen Lewis wants safe-room shelters required in every new home.  You can build an underground safe room below your garage for about four thousand dollars.  He expects to ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10547847info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10547847Wed, 22 May 2013 17:57:11 GMTI grew up in small town, Alberta.  I heard the old folks lamenting that so many of the next generation were moving away, because there were no opportunities for them.  Things were better in the city.  That’s why Mayor Mandel’s comments about building Edmonton for the next generations hit home with me.  Over the years, you’ve told me what you thought of the mayor and our current council.  Most of you think there was far too much time and money lost on ideas like Indy and Expo, and not enough consideration given to potholes and snow removal.  You like the expanded LRT and help for the homeless.  You like the arena complex, but not the risk to taxpayers.  You are split on the loss of the City Centre Airport.  I’m with you on all of the above, and the airport was a personal convenience for me.  One thing Mayor Mandel ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10547565info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10547565Wed, 22 May 2013 10:16:31 GMTWe live in a time of questions that may never get answered to anyone’s satisfaction.   Three years from now, when the contractors and the accountants are done, how much will the new arena actually cost?  What kind of a mayor does Edmonton prefer, one with vision and grand ideas for the future or one who concentrates more on roads and things the ordinary taxpayer can appreciate on a daily basis?  Will the polls in October telling you who will be the next mayor, mean anything to you?   Did Nigel Wright really give Senator Mike Duffy $90,000 out of the goodness of his Tory heart, or was he prompted to do so, and by whom?  Why do some senators not understand the term, “principal residence”?  Do we really need this senate?  Was Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, smoking crack cocaine?  Will he offer more of an explanation than just saying, ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10546977info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10546977Tue, 21 May 2013 10:46:04 GMTSo, how many families will be heart-broken by the end of summer, because someone out in a boat drowned?  Every newsroom knows we will soon, sadly, be announcing the first one.  We have a ridiculous law that says you have to have enough life jackets in a boat for each passenger, but they don’t have to be wearing them.  What?  We are ordered to wear seat belts and bike helmets but not life jackets.   I remember reporting how a person riding on the bow of a speedboat fell off and drowned, her lifejacket safely tucked away in the boat.   Mounties looking for a body at one of a lake got a call that someone else was under water at the other end of the lake. No life jackets on.  I went for a ride in a friend’s boat.  We were jacketed.  The friend at the controls pointed out all ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10542602info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10542602Thu, 16 May 2013 17:26:26 GMTIt’s Friday, let’s have a look in the mailbag.  About the arena deal: Richard doesn’t like it but it’s a done deal so he’ll take his frustrations out at the ballot box.  Lorne says the arena will be fantastic for Edmonton and area.  About the election pollsters being so wrong, again, Bill says maybe they can only get in touch with people like him and his friends who make sport of telephone surveys.  NewDivide says pollsters are as annoying as telemarketers.  Wendy says she never tells them the truth.  Paul says people tend to speak ideologically but vote pragmatically.  About the forced teachers’ contract, Mike says the government obviously has its own agenda.  He thinks this will be their last term and he voted for them.  David says school budgets are way too big and there are too many fiefdoms.  Matt doesn’t like the way the education minister undermines elected ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10545593info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10545593Thu, 16 May 2013 17:18:01 GMTA couple of decades ago I started a small DJ service.  Not having much money, I bought the least expensive speakers I could get.   Once out of the store and set up in public they looked cheap and I soon discovered they didn’t have much range.  Half-way through a dance one side blew out, and I was left with moving one speaker to the middle of the stage. Embarrassed, I bought the most expensive speakers on the market.  They were big.  A thousand watts.  When I got home I felt sick.  I now owed payments and interest that were not justified with the few bookings I had.  I set up for the next dance. They sure looked good on stage.  Before I had even started the music, a man came up to book me for his event.  “But, you haven’t even seen my show, “I said.  “Don’t need to,” he ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10545330info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10545330Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:03 GMTIt was just a little over a year ago we were asking the same question in Alberta that they are asking in British Columbia today: How could the polls get it so wrong, again?  This was supposed to be the big upset election.  Some polls had the NDP in office by a landslide.  18 to 20 percentage points were popular numbers, although the day before the election that lead had shrunk to a still winning 9.  But, it still didn’t happen.  Pollsters are 0 for 2 in just over a year.  So, why is that?  Do people bothered at suppertime not tell pollsters the truth?  Are pollsters missing a portion of the population?  Landlines are becoming landfill, and pollsters can’t get to you on your cell phone.   Are the polls too cumbersome, not able to turn on a dime when social media causes a sudden u-turn as a candidate says something stupid?  ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10544795info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10544795Wed, 15 May 2013 13:15:04 GMTThe heavy provincial hand that has come down on post-secondary institutions and doctors and pharmacies is now crushing opposition from school boards and teachers.  The Alberta government is bringing in legislation to implement a new labour deal for its 40-thousand dedicated teachers.  Education Minister Jeff Johnson says the move is necessary because a majority of teachers and school boards have ratified the framework deal.  He claims to have the support of 97% of the people affected.  He calls it support.  That might be a little generous.  Look what happened to the STAR Catholic board in Leduc. They dared to disagree with the province.  They rejected the deal.  That earned them a special meeting attended by Minister Johnson.  They “revisited” the decision and this time, enough voted in favor to eke out a 5-4 decision caving to the minister.  The board says this is not a question of the trustees having ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10544216info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10544216Tue, 14 May 2013 10:12:51 GMTIt’s Friday, let’s have a look in the mail bag.  About the hundreds of people who emailed council to get the arena job done, Lorne says email volume can be manipulated.  He’d like to see a referendum.  Richard agrees, saying the only people against that are the ones who know they’d lose.  About the number of children in foster care, David says we only hear about them when they die.  He’d like to hear about it when children are removed from horrible situations in the first place.  About what we should be teaching students in High School, Lorne says public speaking would be a big help.  Dave wants us to get back to the 3 R’s and morals.  Kate wanted to be in a shop class but they discouraged her, saying it wouldn’t be good to be the only girl in the class.  About the terrible roads, Ken says it ...http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10542588info@630CHED.com (Bob Layton)http://www.630ched.com/Blogs/BobLaytonsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10542588Fri, 10 May 2013 08:56:33 GMT