ARTS FUNDING EXAMINED

There was a rally at the Art gallery yesterday to support the arts and decry arts funding cuts by the current provincial government.

As rallies go, I can't say if this was a success or wonderful or mediocre. I don't attend rallies so I have no means of comparison.

I thought that too many of the speakers chosen were the wrong people and that they were too self-involved. I left after about ten minutes to do some art research of my own. Later in the day, I was told that the speakers got better as the even moved along.

Here's what I would say about the funding cuts to the arts:

1. Life without music is one long dental appointment.

2. Politicians and other officials believe at core that art is a frivolity, some added-on feature to life.

Wrong again, boys.

Since time began, right after roasting the mastodon on the fire, people have been painting on the cave walls, dancing round the flame and sitting and telling stories. Later, they wrote the stories down...in the dirt, on a stone or a hide. Then, they got on to designing better caves.

Art is central to the human experience. It is everywhere. In the clothes we wear and the cars we drive.

It is not an add-on or a frivolity.

Right after air, food, water and social contact, there is art.

3. Which Mayor or Premier in the last 40 years have you ever seen at the opening night of the opera or the ballet or a play or the opening of an art gallery or exhibit?

Answer none.

I have been attending such silliness for 40 years and I have known all of these mayors and preems and I cannot recall on one occasion seeing one of them.

Last year, I ran into Gordon Campbell at the Fifth Avenue when he was seeing Slumdog Millionaire. Whoo-ee.

If our so-called Leaders show no interest in The Arts, why should we be surprised that there is no money.

You want money? Get those neanderthals out of their box seats at the Canucks brawl and introduce them to something with real kick.

President Obama

Here are a few of the things President Obama had to say last night in his address to Congress about Health Care.

Referring to a woman with breast cancer who was denied help because she forgot to declare that she had a "pre-existing condition" - to wit, acne,

"That is heart-breaking, it is wrong and it shouldn't happen in the United States of America."

"Now is the season for action. Now is the time to deliver health care."

"In the USA, no one should go broke because they get sick."

"It is time to give every American what we (in government) give ourselves."

His speech was, as usual, powerful and inspirational.

At the end, he spoke of the American Character.

To witness the pettiness of the scowling,laughing derisive Republicans was sad and disgusting.

Getting Serious...a little late

Roger Walsh has been given a life sentence to prison. He is 57.

He is a multiple repeat dangerous drunk driver.

When he killed a woman who was in her wheelchair and celebrating her birthday by getting some fresh air with her dog beside her, Walsh was given his 19th drunk-driving conviction.

As the Globe editorial clearly and correctly argues, the crime is that this horrible fool was allowed to be on the streets for years when all of the evidence screamed otherwise.

We need many more such convictions and sentences and we need them much earlier and more often.

I don't care if the prisons are filled with these sick bastards. Better there than on my street.

Broadcast

Bill Good is being given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Websters this year.

Hahahaha...

Education or Olympics - Waving Our Values

Never before has the provincial (accent on the provincial) government of Gordon Campbell shown its colors so clearly.

Cut money to schools, but spend $500,000 doing a P.R. job for the Olympics in the same schools that now will have to scramble for library books, sports uniforms and play equipment.

Wait. I left out computers and lunches and breakfasts for poor children.

To add insult to injury, the funding that is being cut in half is free money - it is Lotto Bucks stolen from the ever hopeful. These monies are comically called "gaming grants." How about Bozo Bucks.

Wait. I left out roofs and hot water heaters and boilers for aging school buildings.

Patti Bacchus is the Chair of the Vancouver School Board.

"It seems ironic that we're celebrating the Olympics in our schools when we've just had cuts in sports operating grants," she said, after Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid and Olympics Minister Mary McNeil presided over the designation of False Creek as B.C.'s first 2010 Spirit School.

MacDiarmid who these days is masquerading as the Minister of Education has now come up with a timeless Let Them Eat Cake quote.

Ms. MacDiarmid suggested last week that athletes whose events have been cancelled could compensate by "walking or dancing or playing in parks."

Do you believe this arrogance and ignorance?

Has anyone pointed out to the good minister that it's kind of tough to dance in the park when you haven't had a good meal and when your school sports program is shut down for lack of equipment uniforms and qualified instructors?

The good minister is gallivanting about promoting a barley disguised Olympic PR pitch.

The 2010 Spirit School program, estimated to cost $500,000, is designed to encourage schools to embrace the Olympics in the classroom and motivate students to lead healthier lives.

Has anyone pointed out to the good minister that it's kind of tough to dance in the park when you haven't had a good meal and when your school sports program is shut down for lack of equipment uniforms and qualified instructors?

Equally offensive is that Campbell and his shills actually believe that no one is noticing their duplicity and their shabby lack of visions and values.

Please remember all of this the next time someone shoves a ballot box in your face.

Insanity

For those of us who like to continue to believe that terrorism is someone else's problem, witness the convictions yesterday in London, England of the bomb plotters.

Three men were found guilty of a lovely scheme to blow up several airliners at once. Two of the targeted aircraft were Scare Canada flights, one heading for Toronto, the other for Montreal.

How kind of these lunatics to recognize our Two Solitudes.

The tools were things found around the house and anyone with enough time and hate on their hands could hatch a similar plot.

What is equally neat is that each of these horrible mad men were London-born Muslims. (There are now more mosques in London than Christian churches.) The dears took little side trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan for "training."

Credit must be given to the police agencies who tracked these fools and caught them before they could blow thousands of innocent human beings out of the sky.

Dangers Abound

Today, President Obama speaks to school children.

This is a traditional communication used by American presidents for years.

In a pre-released copy of the speech, Obama encourages the children to be responsible for themselves.

Really incendiary, isn't it?

Republicans are demanding that schools and teachers and children refuse to listen to this hateful message.

Is Fox so-called "News" just about the worst thing that ever happened to so-called journalism?

Are the Republicans completely mad these days?

Tomorrow, Obama takes his health care message to Congress. Wish him luck. Let's hope he is clear and exact about what he wants. Let's hope that his program includesa government-run option.

What's in a Word?

Writing in this morning's Globe, Rod Mickleburgh is generally upbeat about the enthusiastic participation of aboriginals in the Olympic ceremonies and rituals.

However, when he gets around to mentioning protest, he feels it necessary to call the Olympic Resistance Network "strident."

'scusa me?

I am not a member of any "Network," but I have raised my concerns with the Olympic games enough times in this column to be reasonably viewed as a protester.

But strident?

You can hear my shrieks and whelps?

Oh, excuse me. That's just my busy and fabulous sex life seeping through the transoms of your mind.

There is a terribly funny and telling piece of business in an old Seinfeld episode in which Kramer, participating in an AIDS walk, refuses to wear the red ribbon.

For his individuality, he is rewarded by a severe beating from his fellow AIDS walkers.

The Tyranny of the Majority.

Now we have the official version in print.

If you find 2010 a bit much, a misuse of public funds, a little ski party gone mad, the you are Barbra Strident.

Puleeeze...

Headlines

Half of Canadians struggling with literacy: study

Yah.

And those are just the elected officials.

Trouble Getting the Kids Ready for School? This Should Do it

WINDOW SHOPPING

There is good news and bad news.

Here are some homes available for around $250,000.

They are not in Vancouver.

In Vancouver, $250,000 will get you a quarter time share in a 600 square foot leaky condo on Noisy Nightclub, Murder & Mayhem Boulevard.

The pastel house above is in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The blue house with four bedrooms is near Indianapolis.

The good news is that the food and the weather are said to be pretty good in New Mexico. And, if you hurry, you can get to see the last few years of Peyton Manning winning games for the Colts.

And the price.

That's the real good news.

The bad news?

These and other amazing bargains can be found in the Excited States where everyone is packing heat and no one wants affordable health care.

TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT - UH, NOT QUITE

I'm a big Tiger Woods fan.

I don't even play the game, but if Tiger's on TV, I'm there.

Apparently, I'm not alone. If Tiger's on TV, so are millions of others. The ratings spike when he's on the leader board and they are pedestrian at best when he is not.

You can't help it. He's one of the greatest athletes in history and to watch him perform is fairly regularly amazing. To list his statistical accomplishments would take pages. Just Google him; you'll see.

But...

I confess in recent weeks, the shine has somewhat come off the apple.

Yesterday was the second week in a row that Tiger has refused to speak to reporters after a competitive round of golf. He is sitting at 30th in the Deutsche Bank FedEx tournament that will be completed today.

Woods is the wealthiest person in sport.

Without the press, he'd be making a pleasant living.

If the only time, we get to hear from the Great Man is when he wins, we will have to start viewing him as not the most charitable fellow on earth.

Whatever happened to "gracious in defeat?"

Then, last week, he openly criticized fellow golfer Ernie Els. Woods carped publicly that he didn't think Els had work hard enough at rehab after an injury.

Way out of bounds, Tiger!

You may or may not have such thoughts. But it is hardly your business to air them.

Tiger seems to be having some confusion of late about when it is appropriate to open his mouth.

As one of the most immaculate athletes of all time, he should well know by now that t-t-timing is everything.

Follow the Money

1. David Ebner has written an excellent piece in today's ROB about the BC economy. The story is very detailed and worthy of a good, slow read. But the highlights are relatively simple. We have depended on real estate and consumer spending, while ignoring at our peril, exports. Our trade deficits are enormous.

What does this say to you about any real sense of planning and foresight and vision Gordon Campbell may have had for our economy?

What, if anything, have they been doing, besides riding the crests of various illusionary waves, about stimulating and encouraging productivity and exports of finished goods?

2. There was a small but telling story in the news today:

Ottawa spent $1.5-million on empty rooms at summit

More than half of hotel budget was spent on rooms that remained empty

Read the story and then ponder how this is but a microchasm (no, you spelling freaks, that is not a typo) of all governments all the time everywhere.

Multiply that million and a half by the days of the week and the months of the year and you will begin to get a glimpse into how your tax dollars are misspent with dedicated regularity.

If you have never gone to Victoria or Ottawa for even a day, you cannot rightly call yourself an informed citizen.

You must wander the halls and talk to the folks who "work" there - that is, between team meetings and lunch and coffee breaks and cycling. You have to add up all the copy machines and shredders and telephones and all the relocations and leather couches.

The Teen in All of Us

I'm not usually caught up with cars.

I drive a 16 year old Mazda.

But...

The other day a friend joined us for dinner.

He is 21.

He brought over his new Shelby.

Yikes!

500 horsepower.

Open the hood and the engine looks like something NASA would build.

I don't want it. I don't need it.

But having driven in it, I get it. Wow!

Home, Arthur...and make your best time

Make drivers pay up: transit report

Road tolls, higher vehicle fees and even increases to insurance are among commissioner's recommendations

The key to this story lies in the fact revealed very near the end.

Vancouver has lower overall use of its system than Toronto and Montreal, so revenue from riders doesn't cover as much of the operating cost – one reason the Vancouver system has to be subsidized so heavily by taxes.

Let's keep this simple.

When Transclunk makes riding its toys a reasonable, safe and pleasant experience, I'll be there.

You make people pay to get on your little cabooses and stop letting addicts and drunks on for free on the laughable "honor system" and have enough security to allow for some civil behaviour on your buses, and I'll be there.

Until then, you can tax and toll and fee me till you're blue.

I'm going to stick with my barely polluting 1993 450 km-to-the-tank Mazda 3 and count the six bicycles going over the Burrard Bridge any day.

Alternatives

A commenter raises an interesting point.

Responding to yesterday's post, "Elected on Lie$," he tells us that whenever criticism of Campbell's Liberals breaks out at a social gathering, he always manages to close the discussion with the question, "Who would you vote for then? Carole James."

Game, set and match.

Well, my answer would be "Yes. For sure. Carole James."

Because even though I don't think she's the greatest political leader in recorded history and even though I know that she must be beholden to someone, I don't think of her as a creepy, lying crook with a stone cold heart who will rob milk from children's breasts at any opportunity to build something new made of cement.

ELECTED ON LIE$

The current Liberal governement was elected on a lie.

The $495 Million deficit they announced at election time was easily in the Billions.

They knew it and perhaps some of you knew it. Now we all now it.

But, as Gary Mason points out in his column today, nobody really cares.

"In the spring of this year, the Liberals campaigned on budget numbers that were complete fiction. And now we know that even they knew it.

Does any of this matter? Does anyone care, other than reporters and political junkies? I'm not sure. But I believe we all should care because it speaks to the integrity and honesty of our politicians. And the day we stop caring about whether they are being truthful and forthright with us is the day we take a huge step back as a society."

Corruption is in Column A

The biggest businesses in the world are Armaments, Oil, Illegal Drugs and Pharmaceuticals.

With that much cash flowing, there's bound to be skulduggery at every level.

Big Pharma, one of my favorite whipping posts, has been caught again. Good.

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, will pay a record $2.3-billion (U.S.) civil and criminal penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday. This is the largest criminal fine in American history.

No sweat.

This is the fourth such settlement with Pfizer in 10 years. Clearly the company simply views these inconveniences as a part of doing business.

The fines come from, among other detestable activities, providing doctors with free golf, massages and resort junkets. This is what we call bribes.

Know in the comfort of your barcolounger that your doctor has been giving you medicines based on how much he has enjoyed his recent escape to St. Lucia.

Play this story against the background of President Obama struggling to provide 50 million of his fellow citizens with health insurance that they don't have and that they will never have if the Republican scare-mongers and Fox News gets its way.

RACISM SPELLED OUT - Again

I have written several times in recent days about the racism apparent in the sleepy response by Canadian governments and police forces to the disappearance of over 500 aboriginal women nation-wide.

I have suggested several times that if 500 white women were similarly "disappeared," the country would be on permanent uproar mode.

Andre Picard, writing in this morning's Globe asks exactly the same questions I have asked, only better.

"Let's be blunt. The main reason an in-depth investigation is required is that the situation reeks of racism, stereotyping and discrimination. There seems to be a deadly double standard at play."

"The life expectancy of an aboriginal is a decade less than a non-aboriginal in Canada. The rate of infant mortality is three times higher. The suicide rate is six times higher. Aboriginal people have a rate of diabetes and heart disease three times the national average, and dramatically higher rates of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS and H1N1 influenza."

And very much more.

Please read the entire column.

It is a sad and honest revelation of the continuing inequities in our country.

The Arts Review

1. The BC government has reversed its dreadful decision to withhold monies already promised to arts groups. It will now fund the over 500 large and small organizations it already said it would. That's real nice of them to stick to their promises.

2. The Toronto International Film Festival runs something called a City to City program. This year they chose to focus - How dare they? Who do they think they are? - on Tel Aviv.

That would be your Tel Aviv by the sea in that "apartheid regime" known and hated around the world as Israel.

Among the many vocal protesters to this monstrosity are Naomi Klein, Jane Fonda, and Danny Glover.

These deep thinkers allege, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that this is part of a Bran Israel propaganda machinery.

The ugly truth is that the protests are part of a Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.