SILENCE IS GOLDEN, RICH

It's a classic case of Blaming the Victim.

The BC Government screwed up and screwed thousands of people in the act.

First, Victoria promised 100's of arts and community groups, like Little League Baseball for chrissake, dollars from Lotto and Bingo revenues.

So, promise in hand, these innocents went out and ordered the printer to print the tickets or iron the costumes or blow up the balloons.

Next thing they know, Victoria says, "A Big Ooopsie, we're not actually giving you the money after all."

Leaving Soccer Moms holding the proverbial bag.

BUT...

The media coverage of this insult is so extensive and soooo baaaad that Victoria has to back-peddle and find the money and hand it over anyway like they promised to do in the first place.

Can you say, 'MISMANAGE,' Boys and Girls?

Then...

Not content to just leave enough alone and let the dust settle and let hounds like me move on to the next day's outrage, Rich "I've Never Been Wrong About Anything in My Life, So there" Coleman, who happens to be - lord save us - the Housing Minister (make that the Hosing Minister) adds fuel to the fire with this little gem.

Non-profit and charity groups aren't entitled to guaranteed money from B.C.'s lottery revenues and old agreements to funnel cash from bingos and casinos to community organizations are no longer valid, Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Thursday.

Oh. I see.

Because the community groups had this irrational expectation that you would actually follow through on your original promises, they are now dressed up and put on parade as THE GREAT ENTITLED PEOPLE.

Yes, let's all through the old vegetables at the freaks.

Or...

Better yet, try to remember this kind of September when promises were hollow with nothing to follow...follow, follow, follow....

JUDGES NEED REALITY THERAPY

The Bench continues to totally not get it.

The creep shown herein had 44 convictions dating back 20 years and that was in 1995.

Of course, he's added to his honor roll considerably since then, mostly by supplying street boys and girls with drugs so he could have sex with them.

Nice.

But here comes da judge.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Josephson found that while Neale met the legal definition of a dangerous offender, the judge decided to use his discretion and designate Neale a long-term offender.

"I come to that conclusion as I am satisfied that his age on release together with the options available under the long-term offender provisions are sufficient to reduce the risk that Mr. Neale poses to the community to an acceptable level," the judge concluded.

The good and learned judge's reluctance to declare this thorough miscreant a dangerous offender demonstrates the judge's total disconnect from reality.

What medications is he on?

Read the story and ask yourself what further proof does the judge need that this sorry excuse for a human being is in fact the poster boy for dangerous offenders.

MJ IN BUCHAREST

I caught about a half hour of a concert video of Michael Jackson in Bucharest last night.

My goodness, whatever else Jackson may or may not have been, he was for sure one helluva freaked out insanely sublimely talented performer.

My all-time Show Biz Hero is Fred Astaire, bar none and that includes Marlon.

BUT…

Jackson could dance like nobody’s business.

So precise, so demanding of himself, so exact.

Thrilling in every breath and every step, and every break and pause and freeze.

Wow!

Way too much has been made about his death and dying.

But I tell you, his Life and his Art were truly something else.

SCARY GOOD

EVER BEST

BEST EVER

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!