...And Speaking of Education

My Mom asked me to write Revenue Canada after she recieved a letter of rejection for a tax credit she expected from a German language course she took at U Vic. Below is their justification and our response.

REVENUE CANADA:

We have adjusted your federal claim from $155 to $0 and your provincial or territorial claim from $155 to $0 for the following reason(s):

-The course you took cannot reasonably be regarded as one that will provide you with new skills or enhance your skills in an occupation.

ME AND MOM:

Dear Revenue Canada,

I was dismayed that you rejected my claim for a tax credit on tuition fees on the basis that my chosen course of study will not enhance my skills in an occupation. It was my understanding, based on the receipt I received from the University that I would be granted a tax credit; no one said anything about how this education needed to be directly related to the possibility of enhancing my employability.

In the first place, you seem to have insinuated that my studying of German has not benefited Canada economically. In fact, my tuition was helpful, insofar as it was paid directly to the University, an institution your political masters have consistently under-funded. Not only that but I purchased books in German from local sellers. Perhaps I will use a Travel Agent in the future to book a trip to Germany; more spin-offs for the local economy. Therefore regardless of my ability or desire to use my course directly as a business resource there have been benefits to the Canadian economy.

In the second place, since when has it been a qualification that educational tax credits are conditional on the basis of how much future revenue they generate for the federal Government? If this is indeed your policy it is your obligation to publish a complete list of the courses you deem worthy of tax credit and make it available to the Canadian public. As a highly informed and literate person this is the first I've heard of it. It is deplorable that you would use the dubious method of rejecting a claim after the course has been taken and the money paid, in spite of your promise of a credit.

Furthermore, your decision is a direct insult to retired persons who choose to use their hard-earned savings to better themselves and their communities through continuing education. I may no longer be gainfully employed, but I continue to pay taxes and use my knowledge to benefit society. In turn I expect that will honour the rules you have created to help me save on my taxes, much as I have honoured your right to collect them.

In conclusion I request that you a) reverse your decision regarding my educational tax credit forthwith, as I have proven it to be economically beneficial to Canada and b) send me a complete list of the courses you have designated worthy of tax credit status that I may use it for my future reference.

Education is a Right

Here is a letter written to the Winnipeg Free Press on Feb. 20 and my response:

Re: Universities pay steep price for tuition freeze (Feb. 19.)

I would like to know why every couple of months or so the Winnipeg Free Press takes a swipe at students' groups and everyone else who believes that post-secondary education should be affordable and therefore accessible for all Manitobans.

There are two ways of looking at education: the first is to see it as a commodity. Under this model there is no limit to the cost of tuition and only the ultra-wealthy can afford it.

In study after study, cost is identified as the single largest barrier to education. The other way of looking at education is to see it as a right. We believe that books and learning should not be roped off like a gala at a yacht club.

Perhaps the Manitoba Business Council should lend its expertise in developing administrative efficiency at our colleges and universities as opposed to ensuring the exclusivity of its membership by pushing for elites-only access to education.

CHRIS MINAKER

Chris Minaker is correct in stating that education is viewed as a commodity. The majority of students who seek a University level education do so with the hope of increasing their prospects of meaningful and lucrative employment upon graduation. Indeed a majority of the nation's best employers now demand that their employees become more marketable by attaining some level of post-secondary education.

But he is dead wrong in assuming that education itself can ever be limited to those who can afford it. Anyone who can get a library card or buy a book can access education. Furthermore, those who wish to educate themselves can attend free lectures and even audit University courses if they so desire. No one in our free society can rope off the right to learn.

While I sympathize with the plight of lower-income Manitobans who seek to better themselves and their career prospects through higher learning, I believe activists like Mr. Minaker should refrain from hyperbole when making their case. Those of us who appreciate honesty and balance are not swayed by such arguments.

Bachelor Pad 2002 X-Mas Card

I was trying to come up with some portfolio items tonight, and I came across this. I can't believe I took the time to texture and shadow everything, and I did it all on my super-slow 1995 Mac. It must have taken me a month!

No, I'm not drunk, or an idiot...but I just can't talk to women

IMHO / BY RYAN KINRADE

WHEN it comes to dating, a lot of single guys like myself suffer a wasting disease that renders us incapable of becoming the Casanovas we know we are inside. Chronic shyness has sent millions of otherwise fine and eligible gentlemen to their graves as bachelors throughout the ages.

Shyness is something I've struggled with since my teens. I've been unable to figure out why I am crippled by this tragic affliction. It's not that I think I'm ugly or unintelligent. In fact, I know myself to be just the kind of person that a lot of women say they want. I'm a good listener, I love children and I'm a domestic all-star. I'm mature, passionate about art and life, and -- I've been told -- a damn good kisser.

So how come when I'm out there in the world, at a pub say, on a Thursday night, all that comes out of my mouth is garbled? How come I can't work up the nerve to say something witty or even just plain dumb to that cute girl who just flashed me a pair of come-hither eyes?

The key ingredient to a successful hook-up is confidence. Nothing flattens a soufflé faster than a stuttering buffoon who can't even manage a conversation starter, however lame. Yet for some reason, whenever I see a pretty girl, my mojo just seems to fly out the window, and unless I am forced to talk to her (i.e. she is my waitress) I seldom do. In fact she could be just my type, standing alone, talking to no one, smiling invitingly, and the odds are still very good that I will not talk to her.

Funny thing is, once I'm introduced to someone I'm usually fine. I can keep the conversational fires burning and flirt as a normal human would; in fact, I can be downright charming. But I cannot initiate, and even though the rules of dating have changed considerably in this post-Sex and the City world, a man who cannot initiate is almost always dead in the water.

My irrational fears are not alleviated when my married friends start to cajole me with helpful little taunts like: "Right there, Ry; she's looking at you, go talk to her." No, rather than listen to their advice, well meaning as it is, I will take an unnecessary trip to the washroom to hide for a while, and when I come back I'll have another Standard and a shot of Jim Beam, thank you very much. Not that liquor ever does the trick -- if anything, it makes me more self-conscious. But hey, if you can't get lucky, might as well go for the consolation prize.

Perhaps I should be peppering my act with bravado and building interest through innocent lies, as I learned in advertising class. But I can't escape the idea that I must be honest about myself -- I guess you could say I have a bit of a moral complex on top of the shyness.

The only thing I'm sure of is that I must keep trying any and all means to scale the walls that dam me in. Because I really do want to share my life with someone special, or at least have the nerve to ask a girl out once in a while. I like movies, I like plays, and I do hate to go alone. Who do you discuss the plot and characters with if you've gone solo?

My roommate suggested I start by talking to guys: people in the check-out line, or on the bus, random strangers who interest me. This, she advises, will get my nerve up a bit; that way when I do finally approach a pretty girl I'll know I'm capable of small talk, I'll be more comfortable in my own skin and I might even have developed a solid opener.

But the wisest thing she said was this: the best way to do something is to tell yourself "I can" instead of "I can't." I've been telling myself I can't talk to women for the longest time.



Ryan Kinrade plans to chat up ordinary Winnipeggers indiscriminately and invest in a copy of The Little Engine That Could in the immediate future.

More B.S. from the Public Insurer

Today I recieved a letter from MPI regarding the $200 Surcharge they are attaching to my licence (Read the original rant and letter to the Minister I wrote in December by clicking on the title above). At the bottom of the letter it reads:

It's about fairness
Collecting more premiums from drivers who have caused accidents ensures they pay a fair share of the costs from those accidents. Otherwise, we'd have to ask everyone to cover the costs—including those who haven't caused any accidents.

That, quite frankly, is a bunch of crap. In the first place insurance is not about what is fair—it is about numbers and risk. The insurer uses the term "fair" to justify its policies, much like a politician would. It sounds good, and those who do not encounter it (i.e. the majority), do not object to it. What they are doing is collecting an extra fee from me because I do not pay premiums on a vehicle. They claim it is fairer that Manitobans be charged extra on their licences rather than losing their merits. But the fact is that losing merits doesn't bring extra revenue to MPI, surcharging licences does. Given the choice I would surely surrender my merits, rather than pay their punitive surcharge, unfortunately the monopolistic insurer has no interest in providing that option. It is more interested, according to the Customer Service Rep I spoke to, in insuring that people who register mulitple vehicles are not unduly punished for having accidents. Apparently those who own more vehicles are intitled to a better deal than those who own none because they pay more into the system, and presumably, more taxes. I had ten years of clean driving, hit a patch of ice on a driveway and hurt nothing but the flimsy bumper of the company van I drove. Now I must pay $200 on top of the $200 deductible I am already responsible for, and that's "fair"?

In my opinion the insurer should have the option to raise the rates of the vehicle that was involved in the accident, irregardless of who was driving. It should not at any time use its influence as a provinical crown corporation to affect the cost of vehicle licencing. If it cannot collect enough money from deductables alone then it can raise deductibles. It is my right to appeal, which I will likely do, however, I still firmly believe that this policy is pure B.S. and should be irradicated.

Rebuke of the Union

Oh yes, lead us
brave America
with your secret police
and international
detention centres.
Your way is the way
to Freedom
but the man with a small
dick who runs your country
is fucking things up
for all of us.
It's not really even him,
he's just the salesman,
the lovable guffoon
who you can absolutely trust
even when he's pitching
absolute horse-shit.
He's a gutless little Nero
holding on to broken notion
of what it means to be a great man.
He worked really hard
to have it all handed to him
and now he wants to make his mark,
stamp a purely elitist and corrupt ideology
all over the history books
and whoever's left to read them.

We Don't Need Your Stinking Call Centres

This is another letter sent to the editors of the Free Press. If you have a subscription there is a link to the original editorial embedded in the title of this posting.

Steve Demmings' article "Manitoba's lack of motion: Province missing boat" is a highly skewed and misleading PR piece that should to be dismissed without further consideration. Mr. Demmings, president of a call-centre consulting firm, bemoans the fact that Winnipeg lost out on attracting companies like RIM (Research In Motion: manufacturers of the Blackberry) from setting up shop here. Never mind the fact that RIM is less than a month away from a hearing in the U.S. that could spell oblivion, or that more and more "customer contact centres" are leaving our shores every day for cheaper labour overseas, we should, he argues, be doing our best to foster a high-tech work force to man a ship that has already sailed. I would counter that the way to develop a "knowledge economy" is not to hop on the backs of wind-blown, bottom-line obsessed multi-nationals, but to create innovation and excellence within our own community by encouraging the growth of small and medium sized businesses. Sell your snake oil somewhere else Mr. Demmings.

The State of Our City Today

It is not all flowers and rainbows
on the streets of Winnipeg,
but sometimes you forget
how desolate it can be.
Everyday there is another
tragedy in the making,
always plenty of evidence
of broken spirits.
And then there's those
assholes who capitalize—
leeches on the killing floors
of Capitol-ism.
It burns me up
to see dispare so evident
so many people lured
into a life devoid of meaning.