Peggy Lee

wow...

Bye, Bye...

CONRAD BLACK GUILTY!

Conrad Black has been found guilty of enough charges (4) to land him in prison for a very long time.

Read the entire story here.

How Many Wives is 2 Many?

And congratulations to Sun editorial writer Daphne Bramham, who has continued her coverage of the polygamists in Bountiful, BC.

As Bramham writes today, the case has much wider ramifications in terms of the entire scope of religious freedoms vs. existing laws.

Polygamy has been illegal in Canada almost as long as there has been a Canada. let us hope that some appeal to the Charter of Rights & Freedoms does not overturn that.

Importing Domestic Abuse - One of the Many Unintended Consequences of a Policy of Multi-Culturalism

How surprised will we all be when we learn that the husband did it and staged an attack?

About as surprised as we are to learn that he already has a kidnapping conviction and a history of domestic violence.

Perhaps someone needs to explain to people moving here from other cultures that treating your wife like livestock in a no go in Canada.

But, when we strain ourselves to offer driving tests in over 180 languages and dialects - none of which appear on road signs - how soon is that likely to happen?

Go, Lions, Go!

When I was a kid growing up in Winnipeg, I used to listen to Blue Bomber games on a little bedside, brown plastic radio. Later, the CBC began a practice of playing the week's game in real time on black and white TV on Sunday nights around midnight. You could actually see a football game from pay to play in one hour. It was wonderful.

Then, when I was playing basketball at the YMHA, I would occasionally find myself, age 14, playing against Bomber coach (and Minnesota Lakers star) Bud Grant or Bombers quarterback, Kenny Ploen. Amazing!

But in the late sixties, here in Vancouver, I discovered Johnny Unitas, the Baltimore Colts and Kenny "The Snake" Stabler and the Oakland Raiders. My interest in the CFL plummeted as my obsession with NFL football grew exponentially.

I travelled to Seattle once and saw the great John Brodie throw 2 absolutely dead-on TD bombs to Gene Washington right in our corner of the Kingdom!

All of which is a preamble to say how positively impressed I have been with the CFL and the Vancouver Sun in recent years in their efforts to win back my attention. In a league that has been plagued by dollar problems and often a lack of identity, much good has been done to keep the fan base and bring in more.

Congratulations to the league, to the newspaper and to the Lions, in particular.

The Hollies - Bus Stop

One of my favorite groups of the Beatles era...

The Religion of Crow

No finches, juncos, robins, sparrows or stellar jays.

That's the current state of our yard and our neighbourhood of late.

You know why?

B-caws! B-caws!

Crows. Wall to wall crows. Night and day. All crows all the time.

Yesterday I hauled out the binoculars and counted over 20 of these suckers roaming over the tops of 3 evergreens across the way.

They are loud, noisy, annoying and they chase everything else away.

But wait.

They are also all dressed in black, they produce many offspring and they keep to themselves. Why didn't I think of this before?

They are just Hasidic Jews in disguise!

Psychiatrists Are As Crazy as Killers

Nobody is crazier or more socially irresponsible than psychiatrists.

This week a 13 year old Alberta girl was found guilty of stabbing to death two adults and an 8 year old boy.

Quick as a wink, Dr. Dominique Bourget of Ottawa has offered her wisdom:

"It is of the utmost importance that the girl receive a complete psychological assessment.It will be almost impossible to reform the girl if any mental illness goes undiagnosed.

The girl will require years of intensive one-on-one therapy in order to be successfully rehabilitated.

You need to come to terms with what has happened, develop more understanding of empathy."

HAHAHAHA....

Who is the crazy person here?

What is it about violent murder of your family that the doctor doesn't understand?

Who will pay for these years of one-on-one intensive therapy? Why should anyone?

Guest Blogger on Ed Mirvish & others...

Hi David,

This comment isn't really about this item on your blog. I wanted to write you about someone else (coincidentally a jew) that I think deserves recognition. I couldn't find an email link, so I post it here hoping you will read it.

A great Canadian, Ed Mirvish passed away today just short of his 93rd birthday. I had the great pleasure to work for him on a few occasions and to know him and his lovely wife a little bit. I wish we had a citizen statesman like Ed here in Vancouver. Ed built theatres and invested his money in the cultural life of his city. He hired people and paid them good wages and benefits. He was Jewish, but handed out free turkeys to anyone who needed one each Christmas.

The best we can come up with in Vancouver is Jimmy Pattison: Best known for owning a gigantic yacht and Frank Sinatra's old house in Palm Springs. He apparently made his fortune by firing the worst performing (least lucky?) car salesman at the end of each month in each of his many car dealerships and by polluting our province with ugly billboards. Philanthropy doesn't seem to be his strong suit. How do we get an Ed Mirvish in Vancouver?RIP Ed.

Thanks for listening David.

Cheers,John

Sink-Hole on the Inlet

Can you say, "A Billion" boys and girls?

Cause that's what the final tab will be on The Trade & Convention Centre Expansion.

It's instructive that wily old Gordon Campbell threw this public relations disaster onto the lap of Stan Hagen, a career politician with no known accomplishments.

If you ask Stan, he'll tell you that he pretty much single-handedly invented good government. The only problem is that when you bother to look over his track record in various offices over many years, you find...uh...er...nothing, except a marvelous ability to convince the rubes in his neck of that woods that he's a lovely, charming guy and they should vote for him.

You and I will rarely, if ever, set foot in this Folly on the Water, but we will have shelled mightily for it, so dentists from Albuquerque can try our local hookers. Fabulous!

Download Stunner

A guy electrocuting himself by sweating and listening to his iPod in a lightening storm...you really have to write your own jokes here.

But wasn't there just a tiny, mean, vengeful part of your soul that read this item and said, "YES!"

Victor on Hasidic Jews & Barbara Kay

Hi Mensch:

I sent this letter to the N-Post the day the piece ran. Naturally, as it constituted a criticism of a journalist (horrors!) they never ran it.

I'm not Jewish but I was offended by the invisible subscript that seemed to say " If you're in a small town and some bearded types with headgear move in it's upsetting but if you're in a big city and 120,000 hairy, turbaned folk move in, it proves you are multi-cultural".

Sorry. I remember small town folks shooting different people in the early 60's. Small town is not a passport for small-minded. I guess it still is.

I meet more and more people , which explains why I like my dog more everyday.

Le Boulevardier

"Barbara Kay seems to justify community wariness of Hasidic Jews on the grounds that these people with elaborate headgear and full beards constitute " a critical demographic mass of self-segregating people". Wouldn't that also describe many of Canada's Sikh communities? Both the Hasidim and the Sikhs are hard-workers with estimable business skills. True, Hasidic Jews, unlike Sikhs, tend to avoid political involvement, but then they don't demand headgear exemptions under safety laws. As for willingness to integrate, I would think that a red-haired Irish boy hoping to marry either a Sikh or Hasidic girl had better be prepared for a long wait.
Joe Clark referred to Canada as a "Community of Communities". It is really a galaxy of ghettos, a legacy of our insipid multicultural policy. Deal with it."

James Taylor - Sweet Baby James

Here's one of the sweetest voices in contemporary music...

Further Thoughts on AntiSemitism

Walter has left a comment on my post about anti-semitism in the Laurentians outside of Montreal.

He refers to an article by Barbara Kay, published yesterday in the National Post, on this very subject. In the article, Ms. Kay talks about Hasidic Jews not being good "mixers," as if this were the very stuff of civilized behaviour.

Well, first I encourage you to read the article. And when you've done that, consider this.

Ms. Kay is, in my opinion the very worst kind of apologist. She is a conservative, modern Jew who is uncomfortable with women and men who will not shake her hand, women and men and children whose lifestyle is a degree or two different from her own. She distinguishes between what she calls "mainstream" Jews (that is, Jews who don't make trouble by wearing funny clothes and walking a lot) and what she outrageously, egregiously calls "cult" Jews. She somehow doesn't see the mortal ironies in her position of appeasement.

The most telling sentence in her essay is this one:

"...many Quebecois are still anti-Semitic, a few hatefully so."

Huh?

You mean there is an approved, acceptable kind of anti-Semitism that is not hateful?

Here is the shaky ground on which this classic middle-class desperate-to-belong striver stands. Her position is exactly akin to the "discreet" homosexual who loudly separates himself at every opportunity from Gay Pride Parades, drag queens and gay political groups.

There are many kinds of gays, catholics, Jews, bongo players and fire fighters. For one sub-group to discredit another is self-destructive.

A know far too many Barbra Kay's. I don't spend much time with them. When the bullets start flying, you never know if they'll still be in the trench with you.

Ainti-Semitism is Alive & Well in Canada

The good burghers of Val David, Quebec are in an uproar because Hasidic Jews have bought a former resort and are now living there.

I've never known Hasidic Jews to steal, shoot anyone or have sex in public. Yes, they wear different clothes and live differently than you and me. Their entire focus is on living a rich family life based on kindness and study.

What, besides knee-jerk anti-semitism, is the problem, folks?

And the Canadian Government will not allow a Canadian citizen to declare on his Canadian passport that he was born in Jerusalem, Israel. Apparently, not everyone in the world recognizes that Jerusalem is actually in Israel.

Now, in spite of the fact that there are many similarly contested locations on the globe, this is the only one that Passport Canada has decided is a no-fly zone.

What, besides knee-jerk anti-semitism, is the problem, folks?

RCMP More Blue Than Red These Days

Why is the RCMP going out of its way to lose credibility with the Canadian public?

As if the force hasn't enough troubles...It was announced today that an officer in Prince George, who had been accused of buying sex from teenage prostitutes over a period of many years, has been returned to active duty.

No charges were ever laid (so to speak), thus the officer has done nothing wrong, blah, blah, blah...

Couple of small problems here.

The Mounties took over a year to launch a disciplinary hearing. Apparently they've never heard "justice delayed is justice denied."

The officer is one of several who were similarly accused and they were all part of a case in which Provincial Court judge David Ramsay was sentenced to 7 years after pleading guilty to various charges involving young prostitutes and violence.

The officer's lawyer is quoted, "He's looking forward to the day when he gets back to active duty."

Well, let us assure the good solicitor that he must be the only one.

The rest of us are wondering just how many self-inflicted wounds the RCMP can handle.

Victor Drives Into The Red Zone

Twice, this weekend, I observed something that sends me into a white rage and surely bothers many of my calmer fellow citizens.
It's the Vancouver traffic game called IGNORE THE SIRENS.
On the first occasion, Saturday, I was at Oak and 41st and heard oncoming sirens. Like any barely civilized person, I stopped and looked in all directions, so as to know where to crowd over. Not so the morons ahead of me who continued into the intersection, each trying to beat the ambulance, with the result that the intersection became plugged. The ambulance waited while bumper car drivers sorted themselves out, each feigning surprised innocence.
On Sunday it was worse. Two fire trucks and two ambulances tried to get through a tight street near Granville Island. Again, deaf dummies continued driving. I lost it and walked into the road, yelling at drivers to move over, using my middle finger to give them directions. It was hot. My partner thought I was going to have a heart attack. A fireman actually jumped out of his truck and yelled at these braindead schmucks to get out of the way. Hey, he's only saving lives. He couldn't possibly be as important as the Vancouver driver.
We need signs in all spoken languages. Big signs in English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Cantonese whatever. The signs should say something like:
"If you hear a siren, stop driving. Pull your goddamn Lexus over. Don't block the intersection. If you block an emergency vehicle, we will throw your fat fucking ass in jail or maybe just let the ambulance drivers beat the snot out of you".
This used to be a civil city. We need to shame these assholes the same way we shamed smokers. Yell at them. Use the finger. If this continues, some kid will die because some dickheads will block an ambulance lest they be late for their hair appointment.

Nick...On Illegal Immigrants

Everyone has a story pertaining as the why for their actions. Mr. Laiber Singh who was previously in a care unit (after his brain aneurysm) has taken sanctuary in an Abbotsford Sikh temple stating that if he was deported back to his homeland of India that he would most certainly die. I'm not the one to argue about the validity of Mr Singh's claim, but I am here to point out his successful attempt in entering the country illegally. Yes illegally, like the Chinese migrants that paid off their life-savings and enlisted in a month long boat ride across the Pacific Ocean for a chance at freedom or to escape social/political problems/oppression (sound familiar?). The notion of immigrating to another country usually implies that the person had entered the country while adhering to a set of binded legalities such as proper paperwork and proof of identification to ensure that they will not be deported after settling in Canada for a few years while working illegally (Yes Canada is still that slow after being a country for 140 years mind you). If Mr. Singh had entered Canada through the prescribed legal channels then we wouldn't have to see another person seek sanctuary or suffer a debilitating illness on the day that their deportation papers arrive. Earlier this evening I was listening to Christie Clark on Nightline BC and listened as Harsha Walia (the spokeswoman for No One is Illegal)tag on the notion that Canada should accept Mr. Singh on the notorious Compassionate and Humanitarian grounds. The problem with that school of thought is that anyone that can, will claim the same status as Mr. Singh and expect the same outcome whatever that may be.On a side note, if you recall Irene Thorpe and her senseless death by a street racer, you'd know that the offender Sukhvir Singh Khosa is still here in Canada having repealed his deportation. When you know that an illegal immigrant has killed someone yet still has the right to stay in the very same country, you know something is terribly wrong.

Another Guest Blogger Tells Us the Truth of Child Addictions

One of my pet beefs!! As a mother who had to witness her teenager slide into more and more rebellion, drugs, missing out on schooling, getting in trouble with the law.....the only place he'd go to school and church was in juvenile detention, I would have preferred a reform school, but that's against children's human rights. Right, instead they become drug addicts, criminals, prostitutes, miss years of education, die of an overdose, live on the street...we're failing our kids.Our son started being out of control at 14, at 21 we put him on a bus to another province, with some money, advise and a one way ticket. He got independent and off drugs, but emotional, physical and psychological damages are evident, not to mention the years of school he missed. The only way we could have controlled his behaviour at home, would have been to lock him in a cage. We were being abused. I tried to find any help at all, there is none. The stress of those years has brought on depression for myself, Crohns disease for my husband. Our daughter, being younger, seemed to become stronger and made very different choices than her brother. Both are doing well now. Yes, society needs to help parents help the kids!