The Real News is Alarming...and Essential

Regular commentor "Murdock" has alerted us to therealnews. com and in particular a frightening story about the CIA. This story also carries back to Canada and the Arar case.

Check it out. It includes a first-rate video cast.

Pseudo-Science Strikes Again

The trouble with most so-called "studies" is that they tell us what we already knew ages ago. Money not well spent.

Yesterday, I was singularly depressed by a TV commercial for a van.

The commercial shows a "family" all piling into the van and each person disappearing up their own asshole playing with a different electronic device. One boy is on his X-Box, two kids are playing some other thing, mom is on her computer, dad is driving and watching a movie. Everybody is having a grand old time. The van gets to a spectacular cliff overlooking a beautiful sunset-draped beach. Everybody continues playing with their toys.

This is, apparently, the groovy new family configuration. Great.

So this morning the Vanier Insitute for the Family announces with front page fanfare that "Family Time is Losing out to Technology." Apparently, they have discovered that people "can be isolated even when under the same roof."

Brilliant.

Why the study? Why the announcement?

All they had to do was ask the ad agencies. Or you and me.

7-Eleven Model for the Homeless Exposed

Bev Meslo, writing in the Letters to the Editor, today, absolutely nails it on the subject of Campbell and Coleman's cynical shelter money.

She calls it the "7-Eleven" model.

Read the letter.

Graham Bruce is Guilty of breaking the Rules

Graham Bruce was the BC Labour Minister.

Now he is a lobbyist.

It is not credible or acceptable that he claim he didn't know he had to register as a lobbyist. This is sheer arrogance and lies.

Shut the man down.

I Hate Your Team. I Sabatoge Your Bus

Hockey is so serious in the Hinterland that people cut the brake lines on a team bus???

Oh, yah, the backwoods are a great place to raise kids.

If you missed this story, you're in luck. Here it is.

Air Canada & WestJet should be grounded until, they GROW UP

The Conference Board of Canada is trying to get a handle on CO2 emissions.

But Air Canada and WestJest have both refused to disclose information on what kind of imprint heir little enterprises are making on the environment.

Now, that's great Corporate Citizenship.

I'm Sorry, Your Policy Has Been cancelled Due to High Winds

Are you familiar with the many insurance companies that have gone broke?

No, of course not. Maybe you're more familiar with the Insurance Companies, who, like, banks, have marble floors and 40 foot ceilings and towering towers.

Well, check out the latest from the Excited States, where it is now becoming commonplace for major insurers to cancel people home coverage for fear of catastrophe like hurricanes.

This is the best example of the dry rotten underbelly of Corporate Thinking I've seen in a long time.

Victor Nails It Again - for the common good

A certain bloated talk show host is waxing troubled because city employees took other jobs during the strike. The same bloated talk show host has a morning radio show, does the nightly tv news and writes a magazine column while young journalism grads are working at Tim Hortons for lack of jobs.
Victor

Taser Death - An Unexplained Epidemic

The taser death at YVR raises some serious questions. Pardon my cynicism if I don't expect many useful answers.

The simple fact is that, across North America, "death by taser" has become almost commonplace. Jurisdiction after jurisdiction show the same results. Police attempt to subdue some fool who is "out of control," and not long after the sorry soul is dead.

Why? Is it the taser shock(s) itself? Is it the way the suspect is pinned against the floor or otherwise confined?

I don't know. But will you and I ever know?

America, the Has Been

In the August 27th edition of the New Yorker Magazine, in house writer Adam Gopnik, who spent many years living in Paris and writing about France contributed an excellent piece on Nicolas Sarkozy, the current President.

That article is worth reading entirely on its own merit. But it is especially revealing in its final paragraphs, where Gopnik comments on the current view held Europeans of America.

He argues with calm persuasion that the old days of loving (Blair) or hating (Chirac) the USA are over.

Rather, he suggests that America has fatally shot itself in the foot on so many fronts (economic, political, cultural) that Europeans by and large just don't care any more. They look to China and Arabia and India for financial interests and elsewhere for almost everything else. In short, America is not the power it was even 10 years ago, or five, and that may be a good thing.

He also higjlights the dreadful experience that most everyone who is not a US citizen now has when arriving at JFK, an experience that seems to be echoing here at YVR. The assumption that if you are not a National, there is a high likelihood that you are a terrorist.

The whole article is available here.

Brady Uber Alles

While the extraordinary run of the Colorado Rockies is compelling - especially for local fans with 20-year old Jeff Francis, a UBC physics grad pitching strikeouts - the hottest game in ages was yesterday afternoon's drubbing of the hated Dallas Cowboys by the New England Patriots.

Brady and his front line and his rejuvenated core of receivers were sensational.

The final score, 48-27, doesn't really indicate how thorough was this pasting. It could have been 92-12.

The shame will be at the end of the season when the two best teams in football, New England and Indianapolis and the two premier quarterbacks of this era, Brady and Peyton Manning, slug it out for the AFC title, the winner going on to bury whoever is the NFC sacrificial goat.

The NY Times full coverage can be enjoyed here.

Boogie Woogie Piano

Aretha Franklin - Don't Play That Song For Me

Oh Boy! Oh Boy!

Patti Page 1981 -- Tennessee Waltz

And So It Goes

Great Billy Joel Anthem

Elvis Costello - Veronica

Doing the Vatican Rag...hahahahaha...

Vatican official ‘was pretending to be gay'
Associated Press
October 14, 2007 at 11:45 AM EDT

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about “those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity.”

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.

“It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work,” La Repubblica quoted Father Stenico as saying.
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Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the monsignor had been suspended pending a Vatican investigation. Father Stenico is a top official in the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy.

The Vatican after acted its officials recognized Father Stenico's office in the background of a television program on gay priests that was broadcast on Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian TV network. Father Stenico was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful.

In the Repubblica interview, Father Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality “to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people — among them some priests — is doing so much harm to the Church.”

He said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy.

Italy's Sky TG24 said Father Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defence.
Calls to Father Stenico's home and Vatican office went unanswered Sunday.

What the...

Man dies at Vancouver Airport
ROBERT MATAS
Globe and Mail Update
October 14, 2007 at 12:51 PM EDT

RICHMOND, B.C. — A middle aged man died at Vancouver airport today after an encounter with police involving a taser gun.

RCMP do not know what precipitated the incident, Sergeant Pierre Lemaitrre said in an interview.

Nancy Baggio, operations manager for the airport, said the incident did not disrupt any flights. Some travellers were redirected to another area but operations continued uninterrupted, she said.

A man in his 40s was behaving wildly around 1:30 a. m. in the arrivals area. The RCMP were called to assist the private security company, Sgt. Lemaitre said.

An RCMP officer used a taser in an attempt to subdue the man. However the man continued to strike out, Sgt Lemaitre said.

Three officers finally restrained him. The man passed away shortly afterwards.

Police had the man's passport, but Sgt. Lemaitre declined to release his name.

The local coroner removed the body from the airport about 9 a.m. The police investigation continues.

Campbell/Coleman Housing Scam

Rich Colman is well named.

Only someone named Rich could announce with pride that some millions of dollars have been allotted to keep homeless shelters open 24/7. Only someone who completely doesn't understand the issue could talk this way and do these things.

Rich, by the way, is Gordon Campbell's Minister of Forests AND housing. ??????

The best reaction comes from comes a Carnegie worker: "A 24-hour shelter is a commitment to homelessness." And others have pointed out that there is no announcement about new social housing.

Clearly Campbell and Coleman are DELUSIONAL. Listen:

"There is not a jurisdiction in Canada as advanced on housing as we are in BC."

Is he joining Mildew every day for a toke?

MIro Cernetig rightly points out in his column that this sham announcement if, of course, all about 2010. But even a good writer like Cernetig doesn't understand the landscape. He reports "Outreach workers will be installed in the shelters to guide people to social housing, psychiatric care and drug counselling..."

WHAT FUCKING SOCIAL HOUSING AND DRUG COUNSELLING????

If it doesn't exist, for what do we need guides?

I stick to my new Credo: All Official Stories are Lies.

***WARNING*** major stupidity ahead

WARNING!

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IS SICKENING! GOOD LUCK...

BEFORE YOU READ IT, CONSIDER THIS: Libby Davies and Penny Priddy are both wonderful people; serious, hard-working and dedicated to public service in the best possible way. UNFORTUNATELY, when it comes to drug addictios and the public policies we have on addictiosn, they are COMPLETELY IGNORANT...AND THUS DANGEROUS.

What is especially depressing about all this is ALL THE OFFCIALS WHO AGREE WITH THESE MISTAKEN IDEAS and HOW CONVINCED THEY ARE OF THEIR CORRECTNESS.

Campaign for a Common Sense Drug Policy: OCTOBER Harm Reduction UpdateDear Friends,The federal Health Minister has bought his government some politicaltime by the extending the operating permit for Vancouver’s safeinjection site, InSite, by six months. However, given the recentannouncement of the Conservative’s new “Anti-Drug” strategy, and theeven greater emphasis on criminalizing this public health issue, Ibelieve the future of InSite is as uncertain as ever. I am writing to all Members of Parliament and other public officials toask that they join the growing support for InSite, and to ensure thatharm reduction remains a key part of Canada’s Drug Strategy. I haveincluded my letter below along with the most recent press release fromme and my NDP colleagues, about our concerns with the Conservative’s newso-called “Anti-Drug” strategy.Also, as you may know, this summer I began a campaign to visit citiesacross Canada, meeting with communities, organizations, and publicofficials to raise the alarm that harm reduction programs are at risk. Iwill be at a public forum in Ottawa on Thursday, October 25, hosted bythe AIDS Committee of Ottawa. I’m hosting a Vancouver harm reduction forum at the end of October, andwould like to take this opportunity to invite you to join me and myspecial guests, including former Vancouver Mayor, Phillip Owen, Dr.Thomas Kerr, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and other leadingexperts and advocates for harm reduction. The event details are asfollows:What: A public forum to discuss the future of harm reductionWhen: Sunday, October 28, 2007 2 pm – 4 pm Where: SFU Downtown Harbour Center Fletcher Challenge RoomSponsored by: Portland Hotel SocietyPlease mark your calendars or contact me at daviel@parl.gc.ca or604-775-5800. Yours SincerelyLibbyDear Member of Parliament, I am writing to you about an important public health and social justiceissue: Harm Reduction. The rapidly growing spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood bornediseases among drug users is taking its toll on our health care systems,communities and the health and lives of some of our most disenfranchisedcitizens. Innovative strategies like the City of Vancouver’s Four Pillar Approach,integrates prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcementprograms, with positive results, recognizing the value of acomprehensive approach to drug use. Vancouver’s safe injection site, InSite, serves as an internationallylauded example of harm reduction success. After much scientificscrutiny InSite has been proven to reduce the spread of HIV andHepatitis C, significantly increase the number of people accessingtreatment, and decrease the number of overdoses and public injections. Despite the overwhelming evidence and wide spread support for InSite,the Health Minister has refused to acknowledge its successes, and hasagain delayed a decision to extend the program for the requested fullthree years. InSite staff, drug users, and the affected community arefacing an uncertain future. As you know, the Conservative government has recently removed harmreduction from Canada’s Drug Strategy. Criminalizing this public health issue is short sighted. With 73% ofour current drug resources going to enforcement, diverting more dollarsto enforcement may leave harm reduction programs, which we know areworking, in jeopardy. World leaders, politicians at all levels of government, activists, localcommunity organizations and even the Vancouver business community havepublicly recognized the social and economic benefits of harm reductionand InSite. I would like to invite your support for making it clear that harmreduction is a key part of Canada’s drug strategy, and that InSiteshould continue to operate. I hope that you will be interested injoining an informal Parliamentary network of MPs and elected officialswho support harm reduction programs. Please fill in the attached statement and return it to my office, and Iwill be glad to contact you and convene a meeting to discuss thisfurther. Yours sincerely, Libby Davies, MP VancouverNDP Spokesperson for Drug PolicyFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 4, 2007 FAILED US STYLE DRUG POLICY WRONG DIRECTION FOR EVERYDAY CANADIANS: NDP WINNIPEG, TORONTO AND SURREY – NDP Spokesperson for Drug Policy LibbyDavies (Vancouver East), NDP Health Critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis (WinnipegNorth) and Public Safety Critic Penny Priddy (Surrey North) criticizedthe Conservatives for taking the wrong direction on their anti-drugstrategy today. “We need to combat the very real problem of youth gangs, violence andcrack houses in our communities,” said Wasylycia-Leis. “But everydayCanadians know that simply criminalizing a public health problem is notthe solution. We don’t need more advertising – we need to invest in harmreduction, education, treatment, and enforcement.”“A heavy handed US style war-on-drugs only serves to create a culture offear,” said Davies. “This so called drug strategy fails to address thevery real needs in our communities. Experts and average Canadians alikeagree that we need to invest in real, long-term solutions to drug useand the problems that result from serious substance abuse.”The New Democrat MPs pointed out that the Conservative government hasconsistently failed to address the root problems of drug use in Canadaor to invest sufficiently in real enforcement solutions. “The Conservatives are not investing enough money where it’s needed tocombat the very real problems of crime and public safety in ourcommunities,” said Priddy. “Investing in adequate police resourcesallows the police more time both for enforcement work as well as forschool and community outreach initiatives.”The Conservatives showed their focus was on greater enforcement overtreatment and prevention in its 2007 budget, when it removed harmreduction as a pillar of Canada’s Drug Strategy. Health Minister TonyClement has also refused to commit to the requested three year extensionto InSite, Vancouver’s safe injection site, despite the scientificfindings that the program has reduced the transmission of HIV/AIDS andHepatitis C, and increased by 30% the number of people accessingtreatment. “Empirical evidence has proven that treatment, prevention and harmreduction programs, that are community based and accessible to drugusers, are key components in preventing drug use,” said Davies. “Thegovernment must acknowledge that these programs continue to producepositive social and economic results for working families in ourcommunities.” -30-