My son and I had a wicked thought over breakfast yesterday.
Elect Carole James in May and rob Gordon Campbell of his Big Wet Dream - Crying with happiness in public at the Gordo Games.
I know.
It's cruel.
But we are simple folk. We cannot help ourselves.
The Davies commission of Inquiry into the death of Frank Paul has rendered, among others, two very important recommendations.
The first is something that many of us have been hollering about for ages - a civilian office to investigate all police-related deaths.
The police investigating the police is stupid and unproductive. It must go.
The police must be answerable to the people who pay them to serve and protect.
The second recommendation calls for a civilian "sobering centre."
The police pick up a drunk for whatever reason, fine. Step One: the drunk goes to a civilian detox, where he or she is first "cared for" and the risk of dying mysteriously in the hands of hostile or indifferent people in uniform is minimized or eliminated.
Why does it take inquiries such as this to raise the obvious?
And when, if ever, can we hope to see tfese imminently sensible changes come to life?
The defense team in the Basi-Virk trial have won an interesting concession from the court.
They will be allowed to subpoena the phone and email records of named MLA's.
Which I think is a good thing.
Then only question is...where is the crown on this? Wouldn't you expect the crown to ask for these kinds of evidence?
And yesterday, the name of Patrick Kinsella was uttered in this court case.
What can it all mean?
Hm?
Chrylser has resorted to blackmail.
Give us a cookie or we'll leave.
Very grown-up.
Among other concessions and hand-outs demanded, they want Canada Revenue Agency to back off on the $500,000 lien it has put on its Brampton, Ontario plant.
Hahahahaha...
Obviously, these rubes have never dealt with the kindly folks at CRA before.
As one who has, let me assure you there is no madder dog in the yard than a CRA sniper on a mission.
To Chrysler Canada and its threats to move south, we offer the words of that great American folk poet, J. Joplin, who once gloriously sang, "Bye Bye Baby Bye-Bye..."
Yesterday, given a hint of the chaos that will visit this city next February, I wrote in this space that I think I'll go to Melbourne during the Olympics.
But I really had no idea just how disruptive and destructive this little party would be.
Nor, it turns out did any of the many rah-rah-rah businesses that will suffer hugely. When the Downtown Business Association - perennially the biggest civic cheerleaders about almost anything - are kvetching, you know you've got trouble right here in River City.
VANOC is now apparently the highest form of government in the land, unelected though it may be. VANOC can close streets, re-route traffic hire or buy buses by the freight load and do just about any darn thing it wants to in order to make its famous Games work.
VANOC vice-president Terry Wright said yesterday that while the message will be "There's no room for the car," it will also be "There is room for you - on transit."
Really, Terry?
Which transit system is that exactly?
Portland? London?
Because the transit system that I know right here in Vancouver is and has been for a long time an unholy mess of insufficiencies.
Anyone remember the Cambie Merchants and how they have been screwed by the Cambie Line construction, not once, but ten times over?
Well, folks, you're going to see it all over again. On Robson and Granville and Hastings and West Broadway to name just a few choice locations where businesses will suffer mightily for the 17 days of wonder and awe.
And will any of those businesses receive compensation for Gord's Interruption?
Hahahaha...take another pill.
And were any of those businesses, most of whom proudly wore their "I'm backing the Games" buttons and banners and bows, told that they would be asked for this personal pocketbook sacrifice so Gord can have an emotional moment or two? Doubt.
Then, for those of you deranged enough to brave the Sea-to-Sky so-called highway, be prepared for the stop and security check. Be prepared to prove that you are not The Mad Bomber, that you have been a tax-paying church-going nose-cleaning citizen of the province for several decades.
Several commenters on yesterdays blog item asked if they could join me on my escape to Melbourne.
I think we should charter a plane and make a whole Vancouver Escapes thing out of it.
Maybe we can get a Canada Council grant or a government bail-out.
Patrick Kinsella is the provincial Liberal War Horse. He raises the money, he gets out the troops and he gets Gord elected.
Fine.
Now, the NDP opposition would like to know why Kinsella's company was awarded $300,000 in contracts from BC Rail, exactly at the time that Gord was selling the company off.
In an almost biblical scene, The Opaque One was asked this question in the House yesterday and 12 times he declined to answer. 12.
Gord? He let Wally hang in the wind.
Dear NDP Opposition and Dear Journalists,
Keep asking.
That's it.
I'm going to Melbourne when the world comes here.
Did you see the announcement this morning?
Major traffic routes in and out of and around the downtown core will be closed during the 17 day Gordon Campbell Games next year.
And much of the downtown will be one big pedestrian mall - or should that be, maul?
If this were some civilized city, and it's not, that might be a pleasant idea. People strolling, enjoying the sense of community.
But this is Canada, and the Wild West to boot, where The Romance of the Drunken Lout continues full force.
We are a crude adolescent culture. Break me another cold one, eh?
And no, I will not be renting my house out to some nutty coke-fueled NBC cameraman or executive.
I think I'll just quietly slip outta town and come back when the hay has been lifted.
1. "They are so pretty and so cute and they talk to you and follow you around," gushed Heather Havens.
The question we have to ask, of course, is..."Heather Havens?" Is that a made-up name? Or dare I ask, a "nom de PLUME???"
Heather is talking about her favorite hens, Zilla and Cheeks, whom she keeps in her Surrey backyard.
Heather is understandably all a-cluck with delight at the motion passed by Vancouver City council last week to legalize Z & C and all their feathered cousins and uncles and aunts.
The motion by the way was made by new council member, Andrea Reimer. Is this what you ran for civic office for, Andrea?
But enough about Andrea. Let's go back to the continuing adventures of The Loneliness of Heather.
Ms. Havens said keeping chicken isn't about saving money.
"You find yourself making excuses to go out and be with them," she said. "You bring them a treat, or check for eggs, but really, they are just nice to be around."
You cannot write material like this. It shows up once or twice in a lifetime.
2. Headline:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
7:30 – 9:00pm Vancouver Public Library, Downown Branch, Robson & Homer
Alice Mackay Room, Downtairs
Arguing the AFFIRMATIVE: Kirk Tousaw, Barrister, & Chairman, BC Civil Liberties Association Drug Policy Committee
Kirk is barrister and social justice advocate based in
Academically, Kirk holds a Bachelor’s of Art in political philosophy (
Kirk and his wife Debbie are parents to three wonderful children, Kaya (age 8), Caiden (age 3) and Oaklen (age 2). Kirk is active in the community, volunteering as the Chair of the Drug Policy Committee of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and is a member of that Association’s Board of Directors. Kirk is a member of the NDP Executive of both the federal riding of Vancouver-Quadra and the provincial riding of Vancouver-Quilchena.
Kirk has written and spoken extensively on issues related to drug policy, privacy, religious freedom and criminal justice policy. In addition, Kirk has had the privilege of testifying several times before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights of the House of Commons and also before the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
Arguing the NEGATIVE: Barry Joneson, Recovered Addict, www.pacificlabour.com
Moderator: David Berner
A "native healing centre" may or may not be the best thing to ever happen to rehabilitation, criminal justice and addiction in this province. But it sure can't hurt.
This is a 44-week residential treatment program that was supposed to open last fall at Centre Creek, a former youth detention camp near Chilliwack.
Let me tell you up front from 10 years of personal experience that, if well run, a 44-week residential program is exactly what so many addicted people need. Yes, it will turn people around and it will save lives.
But wait.
Enter, walking backwards and in silence, Tom Christensen, the worst Minister of Children and Families this province has ever tolerated. (The really good news is that he has announced he will not run again in May.)
So the program that was to begin last year will not open until...well...your guess is as good as mine.
But hey. What's the hurry?
Young men and women are dying and stoning and committing suicide and especially in our native communities.
Why should that move the good Minister and his UberBoss, the Olympic King, the do anything, like provide the operating dollars to start the work that will save lives?
The monies are a few million.
Olympic lunch.
What sympathies am I meant to have for grown men who ski out of bounds and die in the snow?
What stretch of Christian charity should we find for people who climb under ropes and move past sign after sign warning of the dangers?
I am small and limited.
The news from India is truly horrifying.
At least 500,000 people have lost their jobs in recent weeks and the number could approach 2 million.
To make matters worse, there are no social safety nets.
A woman who worked 8 1/2 hours a day, six days a week earned $77 a month.
That is gone and she cannot buy buy milk and bread for her children.
As grim as things may be here in Canada, do we have any sense of how fortunate we are to be here and not in so many other places?
It must be frightening and frustrating and for Indian people living in Canada to know that their friends and families and country men, women and children are facing such dire hardships.
Investment wizard, billionaire and advisor to President Obama, Warren Buffet says succinctly "the economy has fallen off a cliff."
Asia Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda declared "This is by far the most serious crisis to hit the world economy since the Great Depression."
Hang onto your hats. Pray. Walk without a Walkman or an mp3 and notice your world. Enjoy simple gifts and pleasures. Turn to one another.
The coming few years will present enormous challenges. Individually and collectively we will need clarity and purpose and understanding of the basics.
I've been thinking about government bail-outs of the auto manufacturers, which now, on both sides of the border, runs in the many billions of taxpayer dollars.
(I'm not sure yet what I think about similar bail-outs of banks -except for a natural disgust, of course - so perhaps more on that on another day. For the moment, I'll just add that to my list of reasons for being happy I am a Canadian and not otherwise.)
It seems very clear to me that the car companies as they are currently structured and focused are history.
The so-called Big Three have been making trashy products that not one person I know buys. The only place I ever see these products are on rental lots.
It is all well and good that the unions have made concessions and taken pay roll-backs to help these misguided corporations seize more of our money. But that is hardly the answer.
If Obama and Harper are so determined to save these industries, then why not ask for real change?
We'll bail-out your sorry butts if:
You start making electric cars today.
You make small cars like the Smart Car.
You take the plans and tool-ups for all your SUV's and turn them into nuclear waste.
Trucks will be built and sold to truckers, not re-designed as passenger vehicles and made exempt from pollution restrictions.
Every American preisdent and every American presidential candidate for ages has blathered on about the necessity for "freeing ourselves from the addiction to foreign oil supplies."
So?
Go ahead. Free yourself.
Go electric.
Go small.
Go You-Know-What until you can come up with real valid reasons for taxpayers to shore up these doomed and completely out-of-touch businesses.
With another shooting early this morning, it is clear that Vancouver area newspapers, struggling to remake themselves in the hope of survival, will have to begin every day with a new category:
THE DAILY SHOOT
This is where rookie reporters will pay their dues and get their stripes.
The next section of the remade papers will have to be something like:
DAILY GOVERNMENT PROMISE OF ACTION
It is now legal to keep chickens in your back yard in the City of Vancouver.
This is what your City Council is up to these days.
And they did it all without Kim Capri.
Can you say, "RATS!' boys and girls?
Vermin, stink, guano, foxes, coyotes, raccoons...
Sometimes you read things or hear abut them in the grocery store and you think, "No, that can't be. Who would do something that idiotic?"
So you dismiss the whole idea for a day or two and finally you go back and do the research, and, yes, they really did it.
Vancouver city council voted unanimously Thursday to change city bylaws to legalize the keeping of urban hens.
I will never run for office.
But if I was in council on the day such a nincompoop notion was raised I would squawk, "SHUT UP! GET OUT! We have serious business to do here."
This a city.
Or an approximation of one. A facsimile. We try to be a city.
In real cities, people don't even have lawns. They have parks and commons.
Chickens are for farms.
I buy my already slaughtered chicken at Safeway. After I do some things to it over a fire we like to call a stove, it's just fine thank you. Yummy.
My grandmother, who was born in Russia, bought live chickens from a farmer and killed them and prepared them in our kitchen sink.
IT WAS DISGUSTING!
I was very glad to leave 1950 Winnipeg behind.
Why are we revisiting a disease-ridden, plague-driven, stinky messy gulag lifestyle?
What next? Lions? Alligators?
How about a piranha tank at 12th and Cambie?
SEATTLE — Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has made offers to some staffers to participate in an online-only version of the newspaper, the P-I reported Thursday.
An unspecified number of the P-I's 181 employees received “provisional offers” Wednesday and Thursday to work for the online venture, the newspaper said in a story posted on its website.
The paper, quoting two reporters, said the job offers would be formalized if a website is approved by Hearst's senior management.
Hearst announced Jan. 9 that it was putting the P-I up for sale and said that if it couldn't find a buyer in 60 days the paper would likely close or continue to exist only online. There has been no word on a possible buyer.
Calls by The Associated Press to Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer were not immediately returned Thursday.
P-I Managing Editor David McCumber declined to comment. “I'd like this process to play itself out,” he told the AP.
He said he did not know exactly when the P-I would cease publishing its print edition.
“I don't have a sense of that,” he said Thursday. “There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of logistics, lots of things to be considered.”
Permanent layoffs won't occur any earlier than March 18, P-I Publisher Roger Oglesby informed the state Employment Security Department in a January letter.
Hearst said in its January announcement that if it does become an Internet-only operation, the P-I would have a “greatly reduced staff.”
Metro reporter Hector Castro said he received a provisional offer Thursday but declined it, saying the package wasn't good.
“They're talking about a small team of people working hard to make this a profitable venture,” Castro said, adding that he didn't know how many people were offered positions.
A number of staffers contacted by the AP declined to comment.
Sports columnist Art Thiel said Thursday he had not been contacted and that the news of a possible online venture didn't surprise him.
“They said they were thinking of online, now they're doing it,” he said.
Since 1983, the P-I has shared business operations with its cross-town rival, The Seattle Times, in a joint operating agreement.
Under the JOA, The Times handles advertising, printing and other non-news functions for the P-I, so the layoffs at the P-I would only affect newsroom staff.
The P-I has a weekday circulation of 117,000, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
The P-I was founded as the Seattle Gazette in 1863. Hearst has owned the P-I since 1921, and the paper has had operating losses since 2000, including $14 million last year.
Hearst is a major media company that also owns TV stations, other newspapers and magazines including Cosmopolitan.
NRF writes:
NRF has left a new comment on your post "YVR KILLING -Waldo to the rescue?":
Martino wrote, "The RCMP is not above the law of the land..."
Well, sir, I am afraid that it is and the Dzienkanski case is illustrative. The standard cover-up strategy failed because,early on, BC Coroner's Service stated publicly that Pritchard's video could be returned to its owner. In the RCMP's disappointed words, that removed their only legal justification for keeping the original video tape. As recently demonstrated in North Vancouver, Houston and Prince George, the RCMP prefers that videos of members' actions be unavailable.
Evasion of the force's moral responsibility in this case fails only because the video tape is here for all to see. In the past, officialdom has been compliant, even helpful, to such evasion. Examine Stan Lowe's statements when he disclosed that the Crown would not lay charges in the swarming. That Crown decision was defective, made without expectation of intense scrutiny to follow. (Unhappily, their spokesman is the new BC Police Complaint's Commissioner.) Here is the Polish Embassy's reaction: “Reading the [Crown's] statement, it appears that the main reason for Mr. Dziekanski's death was his fear of flying, tiredness and lack of ability to communicate in English. Particularly disconcerting, though factually baseless, are repeated insinuations of alcohol abuse..."
Only the naive imagined that police testimony was always unimpeachable but few citizens suspected that the entire agency, including its management hierarchy, would work together to spin a self-serving story as in this case.
The RCMP fails the ethical tests put to it in recent times. Corruption and political interference are unacceptable elements of Canadian justice. Rot at the top of the RCMP has been apparent for some time. Shuffling the deck chairs is insufficient. They should be removed as a local policing agency in this region and replaced by a provincial police agency that is not managed by authorities who live 3,500 kilometers away.
