Principles Shushing Away in Flurries

To paraphrase...

"It little profits a man to sell his soul for the world, but for...ski jumping?"

Yet this is exactly what we are doing.

No sooner do we raise the flag and flame with the excitement of having The Games here in a great Western democracy, then we abandon all principles and become a Fascism of the Happy Face.

The culprits are VANOC and the IOC. The victim is Free Speech.

Listen to the language:

"The artist shall at all times refrain from making any negative or derogatory remarks respecting VANOC, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic movement generally, Bell and/or other sponsors associated with VANOC."

Nice.

Keep those nasty noisy artists quiet, we're luging here, folks.

Why have The Games, if the price is reducing the social order to Orwellian sheep?

Salt Lake City and Melbourne had no such restrictions.

What is it about Vancouver that makes it so hyper-sensitive?

Politics

Dictionary.com offers several definitions of 'politics.'

Here are a couple:

6.	use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc.

7.	(initial capital letter, italics) a treatise (4th century b.c.) by Aristotle, dealing with the structure, organization, and administration of the state, esp. the city-state as known in ancient Greece.

This morning we have two glaring examples of how whatever politics may be, it/they sure know how to cloud the issues. Perhaps the definitions could have used some more qualifiers, like 'self-serving, above all....'

1. The Harper government has apparently sent out a flyer coloring the Liberals as anti-semitic.
That resulted in a letter signed by many asking the Prime Minister to withdraw the offending document.

“We find it highly disturbing that any party or parliamentarian would attempt to use Israel as a wedge to divide the Jewish community and, indeed, Canadians, for partisan gain,” the letter says.

“Support for Israel should not be portrayed as exclusive to one party. The Liberal Party has a history of support for Israel, working co-operatively and effectively with the Canadian-Jewish community and speaking and acting against terrorism.”

What across-the-board- bumph.

2. On Friday, I posted an item herein on how Richard Colvin had testified at a Parliamentary inquiry that all prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers and handed over to Afghan authorities in 2006/7 were tortured - and that many were innocent.

Government backbenchers and others rushed to denounce Colvin.

Now, the government wants David Mulroney, currently Canada's ambassador to China, to return post haste to Ottawa to refute Colvin.

The opposition dogs are screaming blue murder that Mulroney shouldn't be allowed to testify -basically denounce Colvin and his testimony - until they can see more documents.

Simple question.

How is the Canadian public to learn anything approaching the truth with all parties involved huffing and puffing like crazy?

The answer, of course, is painfully obvious.

The very point of all this noise is to obfuscate and obliterate.

Politics.

How helpful.

Lagging Behind

Yesterday I posted an item about child poverty on Canada.

Today, Ed Broadbent offers his thoughts on the subject in an op ed piece in the Globe.

The NDP needs someone of Broadbent's calibre.

Two Different Worlds

On one page, we have the amusing spectacle of an egghead asking for more taxes. Only a fully tenured academic could ask the federal government to raise the GST and HST. Must be nice. What an idiot.

On an earlier page, we have the hard truth of the Canadian economy and the lack of political will that embraces it: ONE IN TEN CHILDREN IN CANADA LIVE IN POVERTY.

This should not be a news item featured on page three on a Monday morning.

In one of the richest and most peaceful sovereign states in the world this disgrace should be front and centre until we do something real to change those numbers.

Twenty years ago, Parliament voted unanimously to eliminate this scourge within a decade. So much for the vote.

National Child Care has been on the agenda for at least the last ten years and we are no closer to it than ever.

Times have changed.

Mommy and Dada are both working.

They have to. This is not a "life style" choice. This is a bare necessity.

A 70-year old falling down wood frame bungalow on the treeless east side of Vancouver costs just under a million dollars.

The minimum wage in B.C. should have been $10 ten years ago.

So let the politicians and their Econ whores tell you that the HST is good for you.

Let the academic elite ask for more taxes.

Then let them take a starving kid to lunch.

It's All in the Family

It is kind of silly, perverse fun to watch the Liberals of Iggy Pop squirming over nothing.

Janine Krieber, the outspoken wife of Stephane Dion posted - and then quickly removed - a comment on her Facebook in which she trashed the current Gang:

"I will not give my voice to a party that will end up in the trashcan of history," she wrote in a passage that included shots at a "Toronto elite" behind Mr. Ignatieff's rise.

Hahahaha...

May they all bite each other.

A friend's sister at Vimy

Melancholy beautifully defined

Nature Advisory

Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs
of belonging to the New Democratic Party..... as they have apparently
learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide
for their care and sustenance...

And where the heck did that waiter get to?

A Comment that Deserves its Own Post

[The PHOTO is of Ephesus, and it comes from my friend, Maurice.]


What is worse is that public libraries are getting HIGHER USE during this recession.

People who have had their wages/hour cut at work (or who have lost their jobs altogether) have less money to spend.

They try to save a few $'s by frequenting the library to borrow books, dvds, and even video games.

They attend the "story times' for their children. They attend book readings and lectures.

Job seekers even utilize the resources at the library to help them in their career change or job search.

This is the time to INCREASE funding to the libraries, not decrease it.

BTW - David, you didn't mention it in this blog posting, but could you have a word about the Conservatory and the Stanley Park Petting Zoo.

I recently took my children to the Conservatory and, as usual, was happy to have an inexpensive, non-commercialized place to bring the kids on a cold day. The kids were pointing out birds, fish, plants and trees. After, as there was a break in the rain, we walked around the quarry gardens. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours (and cost less than $10 for two adult admissions to the Conservatory itself). Not many places that we can go for an enjoyable outing for that kind of money.

Of course, because of the fiasco surrounding the Cambie Line, business dropped off for the Conservatory for a few years there. Now that the Cambie Line is complete, the Conservatory could be getting more people (individuals, families, school groups, seniors group and tourist groups) and more facility rentals, thus getting higher revenues.

As for the Petting Zoo, accessible transit has FINALLY been provided to Stanley Park (the #19 Stanley Park bus was not accessible until a couple of years ago). Families often had trouble getting here (if they didn't drive). Coupled with the Stanley Park Train, the Petting Zoo was another enjoyable outing for families.

I guess the needs of residents (especially families with young kids) just isn't on the radar of this city council

To voice protest, write the city at

mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca

I have already written my letter.

Billboard

Mark Leiren-Young's latest effort continues on all cylinders.

Check it oooooouuutt!

Energy Plus

Caught bits and pieces of "Walk the Line" again on TV last night.

Reese Witherspoon won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2006 for her role as June Carter Cash and, given, the peculiar choices that year, it was well deserved.

Joaquin Phoenix lost out to Philip Seymour Hoffman, who pretty much had the award to himself the moment "Capote" was released.

And Phoenix is pretty darn good in all of the dialogue scenes. From moment to moment, shy, determined, crushed, enraged, addicted, desperate and so on.

But...

When he straps that guitar on and leans into a microphone some alchemy beyond explanation takes place.

He is utterly transformed and imbued with a wild, deranged beautiful energy.

The performance and concert scenes are astonishing.

What is so strange is that this is exactly what happened with Jamie Foxx in his Oscar-winning performance in "Ray."

Both movies are rather pedestrian. Predictable and formulaic music star biopics.

But in both cases, the two actors get hit by a bug when they take on the music.

And in both cases the result is electric every time you watch.

I mean electric.

Last night, I kept switching over to some other movie or the news or whatever during the expository dramatic scenes.

As soon as the singing came back on, I was there, whooping it up and with tears in my eyes.

Go back to these two flicks for a helluva good Saturday Night time.

Inspired Performance

Wake Up Call

The Canadian Soldier Coming in From the Cold

Do you admire the Canadian Forces?

Are you pleased to see our men and women in uniform on the streets?

More and more Canadians would say, "Yes," to both of these questions.

There was a time not very long ago when the Canadian Soldier was very much at the bottom of the ladder.

That perception and the acceptance that comes with it is changing dramatically.

Michael Valpy has written a fascinating piece today examining this shift and our "embracing of the warrior culture."

Particularly interesting was the following:

"Warriors were the centrepiece attraction at a black-tie dinner titled True Patriot Love held in Toronto on Nov. 10, organized by some of the city's super-wealthy with $750-a-head tickets and an auction that raised more than $1-million for Mr. Hillier's Military Families Fund."

Could that have been possible even 10 years ago? I don't think so.

Very few people want war.

Some do, but that's another story.

Few of us want war, but most of us realize the cold reality of a harsh and often hostile world.

There are real dangers and it is our necessity to have a well-equipped and honorable and honored standing fighting force.

We needn't blindly worship these men and women. Nor should we revile them or diminish them, as we too often have in the recent past.

One of the worst and dumbest faces of a week-kneed liberalism - that can only flourish in the safety and luxury of a peaceful social order - is the citizenry who scoffs at its military.

These comments are not a reflection on foreign policy or an excuse for not asking for the same transparency from the military that we demand from other government offices.

Costs of Recovery

Wendy Stueck has written an excellent and compelling report in today's Globe about the Burnaby Centre for Mental health and Addictions.

She argues persuasively that the Centre is doing some truly good work in helping some hard case people to get clean and sober.

I admire their efforts and cheer them on.

But there is a small catch.

The cost per bed per annum at this facility is in excess of $125, 000.

Critics of treatment often charge that treatment is too expensive.

My first response is I am happy to pay whatever it takes to do this difficult and necessary work.

But I add this.

The Behavioural Health Foundation in Manitoba is doing exactly the same work with better demonstrable results for $50,000 per bed per annum.

BHF is the oldest and leading Therapeutic Community in Canada.

Other TC's in Canada operate on similarly smaller budgets than the Burnaby Centre.

They are able to do this because they use so many recovering addicts as staff.

Praise the Burnaby Centre, but note that less can be more.

The Sponsorship Scandal - Quiet Please

I copy herein in full the Globe story of the crook who wept and gnashed his teeth at his sentencing yesterday.

I add that we are not moved.

DANIEL LEBLANC

OTTAWA — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 12:00AM EST Last updated on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 3:11AM EST

Adman Gilles-André Gosselin had the gall at the time of the sponsorship program to frequently charge taxpayers for more than 24 hours of work in a single day.

The move was part of a systematic attempt to squeeze every penny out of federal contracts, even if it meant making up timesheets and fake invoices.

For his crimes against taxpayers, whom he defrauded of $655,000, a sobbing Mr. Gosselin was sent to a federal prison yesterday to serve a sentence of two years plus a day.

His lawyer said Mr. Gosselin, 62, is bankrupt and suffers from depression, heart problems and sleep apnea.

Madam Justice Lise Maisonneuve took those factors into account, but she insisted on a jail sentence, saying the one-time journalist was educated and well aware that he was committing fraud as president of his advertising firm from 1997 to 2000.

Mr. Gosselin said little during the 11/2-hour hearing, except to plead guilty at the start and to express remorse at the end.

"I'm sorry, I apologize," he said in tears, unable to add anything else.

Mr. Gosselin's firm, Gosselin Strategic Communications, was a major player in the sponsorship program, overseeing federal visibility at 500 events that received government funding.

He made $4-million from 1997 to 2000, but his remuneration was obtained in part through the submission of 81 fake invoices to Public Works Canada.

The court heard yesterday that Mr. Gosselin had instructed his staff to overcharge the government to maximize his company's revenues.

On the Dial

One of the best things on television these days isn't on television, it's about television.

So why isn't someone televising it?

The CRTC hearings over the dogfight between the broadcasters and the cable companies is a laugh riot and filled with great quotes day after exasperating day.

But Jim Shaw gets the award with the following addressed to Ivan Fecan, the president of CTV Globemedia:

“You're the CEO of CTV. You're owned by the richest family in Canada, and yet you've never, ever come and seen me … never, ever come to Calgary,” he said of Mr. Fecan, whose company also owns The Globe and Mail. “You can't even get your arse on a plane and come out and see me. Come on.”

Shaw has said that he is tired, very tired, and Konrad von Finkenstein, the CRTC chair says that he is sick.

Between them, they are sick and tired.

Hahahaha...

"Good morning, Sicken Tired. How may I direct your call?"

If they think they are sick and tired, try being an average popcorn consumer of Canadian Cable TV and paying a fortune for Seinfeld reruns.

War Stories

One story has utterly dominated this morning's Globe.

It is on the front page. It is the main subject of the editorial and the editorial cartoon and the op ed and the letters to the editor.

The story is this.

Richard Colvin, a Canadian diplomat, has testified that our soldiers in Afghanistan turned over prisoners to the Afghan knowing full well that the prisoners would be tortured.

At first glance, nothing seems very surprising about such an admission.

But the reaction from the government - our government - and from some observers is amazing.

This horrible "whistleblower" must be lying, claims Defense Minister Peter MacKay.

Huh?

Why?

Why would Colvin make up this tale?

And what could be more ordinary in the course of war, murder and mayhem than the torturing of prisoners?

This is new? This is news?

Why the hysterical denials?

The man was giving testimony to a House of Commons hearing. Does he have some secret and dangerous agenda?

Or is the government of the day just being plain old silly?

On the other hand...

If you want to really learn something about the realities in Afghanistan, read the piece on Malalai Joya, (pictured above) an Afghan woman and writer and activist. Here you will find more of the hard and simple truths.

Your Library Card is Running Out

Watch for library cuts across the city.

City hall wants the Public Library to trim close to $1.5 million from its budget.

Shorter hours, fewer staff, closing of some branches altogether.

Now, that $1.5 million is juts about the exact equal to what this gang of fools spent on the famous bike lane nonsense on Burrard Bridge.

As a friend said yesterday as we were crossing the bridge in the dark and the rain, "It was all symbolic."

I had just commented that the Bikes on Burrard issue was neither good nor bad. It was simply a waste of tax money.

The truth is that car traffic has been barely changed and that bike traffic has been barely changed.

So what was it all about?

Pretty Boy Floyd told his pedal constituency that he'd do this thing, so he did.

Whoop-atee-ay-oh.

Now, libraries - that's another matter completely.

To me, a public library system is one of the first signs of a civilized state.

The Toronto Public Library, main downtown branch, for example, is much loved by locals and deservedly so.

I seem to be one of the few people who really likes our main library downtown.

More importantly, I want to see all public libraries in all neighbourhoods open 7 days a week and for long hours.

I'm happy as a taxpayer to fund this commitment to lifelong learning.

City hall is, as usual, an ass.

Attenzione, si prega...

I must leave early Wednesday morning on an assignment and I won't get back until Thursday evening.

Ergo, non blogismentis.

Hope to be back in full dish Friday a.m.

Best wishes to all and to all a good night...