Candidate on the Loose

Vision council candidate Kerry Jang is a Professor of Psychiatry at UBC and a member of the Federal Mental Health Commission.

He is also a candidate for City Council.

Here is a short story on Jang's behaviour.

At the first Mayoral debate on Oct. 1st at the Library downtown, I asked a question of Ladner and Robertson about busing in ethnic voters who knew little about the issues, didn't speak English and were given fake ballots by the Vision team.

Jang, who was in the audience, sprang to his feet and yelled, "How do you know if they knew the issues?"

The debate continued until its natural conclusion at 9 pm.

When 300+people were milling about after the debate, Jang stood a few feet away from me and glared.

Glared psychotically and threateningly.

I said, "Yes?"

And we went off ranting at me, "I know who you are! I know what you're all about!"

Then he stood a few feet away from me and stared at me with complete hatred.

I have spent half my life working with criminals and drug addicts and I know danger when I see it.

I made sure that I could see him clearly in the crowd until he left. And I made sure I knew where the security people were as well.

Professor of Psychiatry and member of the Federal Mental Health Commission,

That speaks volumes for those two august bodies.

Good luck.

Famous Last Words - The Village Idiot File

Any money that may have been loaned is fully secured by the real estate and by other assets as well," Malek (Millenium principal) said in a brief telephone interview. "There is absolutely no exposure for the taxpayer. None."

Rule of Life # 7: As soon as you hear that everything is safe, head for the life boats.

Today the headlines are all about who leaked the document?

Who cares?

Let's say for a moment that the world is not entirely black or white.

Let's imagine that somewhere in the middle ground All Secret and All Exposed are not reasonable options.

When you hear Philip Owen or any other elected official going on about how the public will know things in due time, of course you are offended by the sheer arrogance.

But certainly it must have been possible, it must still be possible, for City Hall to share enough information with the public about SPENDING $100 MILL LION TAXPAYERS MONEY to satisfy our grubby little curiosity.

Sensitive negotiations can be respected.

But when an elected body of alleged government promises enormous amounts of public funds on a deal shrouded entirely in secrecy, something is off kilter.

And all the happy-go-lucky columnists insisting that everything will be O.K., kids, does not make it either right or suddenly pleasing.

To save his bacon, Peter Ladner must tell us something useful and understandable about this Village Idiot deal.

Standing in the rain in the DTES and talking about 400 square foot portable tin can temporary shelters that are a bad and arrogant idea at the outset will not win the election.

Try a little exposure.

Too Busy for Democracy - How Important You Must Be

Perhaps the most important thing you need to know about the upcoming civic elections has nothing to do with what the candidates are promising or what their recent crimes may have been.

No.

The really important thing comes from a Frances Bula piece in Saturday's Globe & Mail.

Here it is:

In 2005, the number of people who voted in Vancouver was 32% of eligible voters. In Victoria, 26%; in Prince Rupert, 46%; in Chilliwack, 15% and in Kelowna, 31%.

Hello??????

Tomorrow is a National Holiday.

It is called Remembrance Day.

You buy a poppy from a boy scout and wear it as a badge on the lapel of your raincoat.

But you don't vote.

Let's say it again for the 900th time.

Men and women fought and died in World Wars so that you could have the honorable privilege of throwing away your franchise, behaving like a selfish neanderthal and not exercising your right to vote.

Oh, we know.

You don't like the candidates and this is your little rebellion.

You are too busy.

When we are too busy to practice the simplest rites of democracy, we are rushing headlong to a precipice...and texting while we do it, no doubt.

It is your civic and moral responsibility to vote.

It doesn't matter that the quality of candidates has fallen dreadfully in the last 20 years.

It doesn't matter that you don't like Jack over Bob.

It only matters that you behave like a citizen.

Vote.

Charter Burns

A couple move to Canada for the express purpose of subverting local laws and culture.

Their entire lives are devoted to criminal behaviour. They make fake passports, drivers' licences, marriage certificates and university degrees.

Their work is top notch. The police say it is impossible to "tell the difference."

This is a particularly heinous crime because...if we can't trust identifying documents, what can we trust?

Of course, by now, clever reader that you are, you can see where this is going.

Straight into the judicial toilet.

Out the front door because the police didn't have the right paperwork when they walked into this fine couple's home.

Rights infringed in bust, judge rules

Couple charged with making counterfeit documents acquitted

In throwing out charges of possession of forged documents and instruments of forgery, (Judge)Blouin warned the couple not to look on the acquittal as vindication. The evidence found in their home, the judge said, was a "serious crime" that could impact national security. "Short of violence I can't think of many more serious offences."

But he found the actions of the police even more serious, saying officers had entered the house without "much in the way of grounds."

Read the entire story from The Toronto Star here and light a black candle for Pierre Elliot Trudeau who has given us such a gift that never stops giving.

Oh yes, then go vote for his talented son because he has curly hair.