Marching Backwards, Praise the Lord

Ignorance is also power.

Perverse power.

The Ontario government wants more sex ed in public classrooms.

But wait.

Christians and Muslims strenuously object.

Why should children or adolescents have any knowledge or awareness of bodily functions, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, masturbation, gender differences and issues or any of the other myriad mysteries that are part of the puzzle called sex?

No.

Better they should wear tents and be treated like livestock.

Better they should be preached to about abstinence.

Understand and information are dangerous.

That's why we must leave all this to those ignoramuses we laughingly call parents.

In a perfect world, it would be lovely to think that parents in their wisdom would share and dispense such knowledge with their virgin off-spring.

But they don't.

The fact is they don't.

Proof of the pudding?

The Netherlands, where sex ed has been compulsory in all secondary schools for an ice age, has among the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.

No.

Keep 'em in the dark.

Cover them head to foot in dark shrouds.

That'll really help things along.

Get Serious

Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has been suspended for six games, may or may not be the biggest A-hole in the league.

But this action by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "for violating the league's personal conduct policy," is all window dressing and pure bull.

Twice in recent years, Roethlisberger has been charged bu police with sexual assault. Twice the charges have been dropped or he has been found not guilty.

That, of course, hardly confirms his "innocence."

But, unless the commissioner is privy to some information that we don't have, it makes this kind of punishment a PR stunt and not much else.

How does the NFL attempt with a straight face to present itself to the world as a clean family entertainment?

Aside from the regular scourge of screaming, violent drunken louts in the stands, the league is peopled with creeps, criminals and miscreants.

This is a business that awards often ignorant, certainly young, men with millions of dollars, who easily become part of a guns 'n girls culture.

There are revered murderers playing in those stadiums every Sunday. They line up against felons of practically every stripe.

The biggest job most NFL managers has is keeping the players from ruining their own lives each week. It is the most expensive baby-sitting job on the planet.

Sitting out all six games would cost Roethlisberger an estimated $2.8 million of his $102-million total deal.

He is a sacrificial goat. He is being burned on a fake altar for a dirty mass illusion.

Top of the Class

Rights - Yours and Mine

Come September, the only legal butts on the beach will be the naked ones at Wreck.

Smoking is on the way out.

Yes, it seems extreme and draconian and largely difficult to enforce.

But a simple unarguable fact is staring us in the face.

As smoking has been increasingly banned in public places, cardiac health problems have decreased dramatically.

On Vancouver Island, for example, a cardio surgeon was recently cut from staff as unneeded.

As We Were Saying...

“I think what we are doing to this country is that this idea of multiculturalism has been completely distorted, turned on its head to essentially claim that anything anyone believes – no matter how ridiculous and outrageous it might be – is okay and acceptable in the name of diversity.

“Where we have gone wrong in this pursuit of multiculturalism is that there is no adherence to core values, the core Canadian values, which [are]: That you don’t threaten people who differ with you; you don’t go attack them personally; you don’t terrorize the populace.”

And the speaker is???

None other than Ujjal Dosanjh, former Liberal cabinet minister and onetime B.C. premier, who says Sikh extremism is on the rise in some parts of the country, and blamed, in part, “politically correct” Canadians who let it happen in the name of diversity.

Amen to that.

And good on you for saying so.

Say, Who Brought the Glock?

A glock, a silencer, eight guns, bulletproof vests, ammo, drug outfits, coke and H.

Enough for a conviction?

Wrong again, plea bargain breath!

Not in B.C.

Turns out the guys had many, many big parties in their condo, so who knows who all that stuff really belongs to, your honour.

Moral of the Story?

Party On!

It'll guarantee you a walk.

$1Million/Day to Social Programs in the DTES...Results, please?

It's the oldest trick in the book.

Someone accuses you of an offense or charges you with an offense.

You sue them.

You say the accuser's charges are "frivolous and vexatious."

So why should we be surprised by today's headline?

B.C. housing advocate says lawsuit is punishment for speaking out

Right.

Last October, the Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charitable status of the DERA Housing Society for failing to file financial statements.

Now, BC Housing authorities have filed a lawsuit against Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association executive director Kim Kerr. The lawsuit contains dozens of allegations relating to misuse of government funds, contracts being awarded to insiders and tenants being allowed to jump social housing queues. None of the allegations have been proven in court, and a court date has not been set.

The lawsuit also alleges that the DERA Housing Society owes the province more than $400,000 in rent and property taxes.

The Globe reported today that they couldn't reach Mr. Kerr on his cellphone.

And who payed for his cellphone?

Dam Premier

For some time now, I have been calling Gordon Campbell the "Monumental Premier."

Not only has he proven me right, but now he has become a kind of parody or caricature of himself.

When I see him posed before one mega-project after another, I find myself thinking of that Southern-Fried Senatorial cartoon chicken, Foghorn Leghorn.

"Boy - I say, Boy - can you not see the glory of this design?"

So yesterday, in a flight of complete irresponsibility, Foghorn...uh, I mean Campbell, flies 120 folks in five jets up to some obscure landing strip in the North Country to announce his GREAT LEGACY - the site C Dam Project.

Or, if you're an environmentalist, the Site C Damn Project.

He schleps WAC Bennett's grandson along for the haul, just in case any one missed the GREAT HISTORICAL context of this MONUMENTAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

He could have shone a foto image of the reservoir on the legislature walls behind him while he made the announcement for a buck and a quarter, but now it's out with the Lear jets.

Now, I can't rightly comment on whether or not this project is good policy.

But what I can say confidently is this:

The Monumental Premier is all about BIG.

He has consistently over many years now shown no interest in small things and in "the little people."

And that's a crying shame.

To be more exact, that's his shame.

Because both God and the devil are in the details - the little things, which Foghorn sublimely ignores.

And the teachers and nurses and children and grandparents and Mom & Pop shop owners are the heart of this province.

It is his shame - and it will be his legacy - that he gave such scant attention to the region's beating heart.

Animal Farm

Let's see if I understand this.

The BC government is going to add to our tax woes by hitting us over the head soon with the so-called Harmonized (mmmmmmm...) Sales Tax.

But that's not enough of a punishment.

Now Colin Hansen has decided to spend our tax money on a government mail-out to every blessed household in the realm to explain how wonderful the HST is and how evil the NDP is for saying otherwise.

First they tax us and then they spend our money to tell us that taxing us is good.

Where is George Orwell when you really need him.

Quote of the Day

"It tarnishes the community. It tarnishes the South Asian people and it tarnishes the city. And it’s unacceptable.”

That's Surrey Mayor, Dianne Watts, the best Mayor and possibly the best politician in Canada right now, speaking about the famous Sikh parade.

Madame Mayor rocks.

ASH MONDAY

The numbers are a big part of the story.

63,000.

That's the number of flights cancelled in or into or out of Europe since Thursday.

3

That's the one day percentage drop in airline shares on Friday.

$1 Billion

That's the estimated loss in airline revenue.

Can you say, "Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, boys and girls?"

Me neither.

More importantly, this modest visit from Ma Nature is threatening the whole tender economy of the EU.

Air shipments of fresh fruit and exotic vegetables from the Mediterranean, flowers from North Africa, grain from Asia and transplant organs from across Europe have been suspended for five days, leading to shortages and some reports of panic buying.

Schools are closed, exams are postponed. Somewhere in Brussels, a girl has found Jesus because the volcano was sent to give her more time to prepare for that geography test she'd been avoiding.

Tourism has been especially hit and thousands of people are basically living in airports.

Imagine that fun.

Like visiting the lovely washrooms.

You're in Vancouver.

Sans earthquakes; sans volcanic debris.

So far.

The sun is almost out.

Count your blessings.

Victor Loves a Parade

'Victor' is a friend whose comments I post here from time to time. I especially loved the last line about "currying" favour...

When I was a kid in the 50's, there were Catholic and protestant
Parades. The Catholics, of which I am one, would have a parade
organized by the Knights of Columbus, complete with statues and
crucifixes. The Protestants would have an Orange Day parade, complete
with a King Billy on a white horse. These overtly religious parades
pissed off people in both religious camps so they were dropped around
1960.

I strongly believe that religious parades have no place in modern
Canada. That applies to Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews
etc. On that basis, I fail to see how Sikhs can tie up city blocks and
draw down vast amounts of city resources for what is essentially a
religious parade with free food. If there are to be further Vaisaki
parades, they should be licensed only on the basis that they are a
Spring celebration and must include opportunities for participation
by other groups. (Hindu, Muslim, Gay, Aboriginal, whatever). That's
how St. Patrick's Day parades work in New Your and Chicago.

If the Sikh community is unwilling to do that, their bigotry will be
exposed and politicians will no longer feel blackmailed into currying
favour with a large voting block.

I Don't Have a Friend Who's Not Been Battered

Guilty Pleasures

The first time I saw "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), I was disappointed.

And that was even before I learned that the original complete title was "The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley."

But over the years, as I have seen it many, many times on TV, it has become one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Like "The Way We Were" (1973), which I actually walked out of in disgust, but now I cannot help but watch every time it appears on the box, "Ripley" falls into that large category we can call Not a Great Movie By Any Stretch, But Boy Do I Ever Enjoy Watching it.

Look at the list of Oscar winners involved in "Ripley."

Anthony Minghella, Director (The English Patient); Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting); Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love); Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote.)

An that's not even counting Jude Law, who as Dickie Greenleaf almost stole the movie entirely. Except, of course, for Hoffman's wonderful turn as the too-clever-for-his-own-good-by-a-half Freddie Miles.

What keeps drawing me back to this schlock?

Well, the fact that much of it is filmed in Italy doesn't hurt as I have spent a lot of time over the last 15 years there, so just seeing many of those locations and hearing the language sends me back vicariously.

The central character, Tom Ripley, makes up much of his life as he goes along, following always some curious inner script.

Without copping to murder or any other crimes, I can identify with that.

Ripley, of course, is the creation of the great writer, Patricia Highsmith, who continued Ripley's lunatic adventures in a few other novels.

"Ripley's Game" (2002), with John Malkovich as an adult and still treacherous conniver, is not nearly as good a flick, but two things make it thoroughly watchable.

The first, of course, is Malkovich, who could make reading a Wikepedia entry on practically anything watchable.

And the second is the Palladian mansion used as Ripley's house in the movie. It's worth the price of the rental just to take an inside look at one of the great designs by one of the world's greatest architects.

And speaking of Highsmith...

Last night, TCM ran the movie version of her book, "Strangers on a Train" (1951), a wonderful classic from Alfred Hitchcock.

This terrific film, includes among other great moments, Hitch getting on a train carrying a bass fiddle. Hahahaha!

Farley Granger and Robert Walker, both huge stars at the time had curiously shortened careers.

Walker, because he died at such a young age. He was an alcoholic, and a combination of medicines provided by his shrink killed him.

Granger, because, although he has continued to work sporadically in films and TV all his life, he really hated Hollywood and bolted for New York, where he enjoyed working for some years on stage.

Granger was married for a short while to Shelley Winters.

I had the pleasure of spending an hour on the telephone with Shelley Winters, broadcasting in 1983. She told me that she called him "Farfel," which is basically matzoh crushed up into little pieces for baking or for a breakfast cereal. When I was a kid, who knew from Corn Flakes? I practically lived on farfel until my obsession with kosher hot dogs kicked in.

"Strangers on a Train," by the way, is currently being re-made.

Why?

It's only perfect as is.

Our Bond is Our Word?

Goldman Sachs has been a gold-plated crook for some time now.

Yesterday it didn't have a really good day.

It lost about 12 and half BILLION dollars.

That's because the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil lawsuit against the Wall Street giant.

Saying they sold a poop can designed to fail.

The only thing shocking about this revelation is how long it has taken authorities to get moving on the case.

Stand

AHOUSAT, B.C. — Twelve residents of this aboriginal community northwest of Tofino have been told they've got until Monday to get treatment for drug and alcohol problems or get out of the community.

Now that's encouraging in at least one respect.

A community has stood up and said, "These are our values. Get with the program or get lost.'

More folks need to say that.

From families to neighbourhoods to cities to provinces.

That's the good news.

The bad news is HUH?

What treatment?

Where?

Who's going to pay for this?

Just watch the Island Health Board screw up the stick handling on this one.

John Frank, chief councillor of the Ahousaht First Nation, said the original deadline was this week, but more time was given so lawyers could clarify wording on the eviction letters.

"They've got until Monday dusk," said Frank.

I love it.

DUSK.

This is like Tombstone or Gunfight at the OK Corral.

"You've got till dusk, Bart!"

DUSK.

Now, I think John Frank is right.

I just don't know where these righteous dope fiends are going to go for treatment.

I wish them the best and I wish Ahousat the best.

Ahousat is located on Flores Island, a 45-minute boat ride northwest of Tofino.

C U

Idiots texting their lives away have now another thing to worry about.

Wait for it.

It's a beaut.

Here it is.

Thumb injuries.

Yes.

Will our medical plans have to cover this?

Will specialists be born in Faculties of Medicine?

Hey there, sexy. What are you into?

Thumbs, Man. It's the going thing.

I was thinking about Texting Nation the other day as I watched people walking, sitting, eating, driving, no doubt, shtupping, and texting at the same time.

I was thinking how so many people are so easily duped into being mindless consumers.

Whatever bag of horse plop comes along, why I gotta have it.

F---, Man, I gotta have two.

It is truly pathetic to see how many millions of people cannot stop this addiction.

Hi Everyone. My name's David and I'm a Text Addict.

Hey Dave. Wait to go, Dave. Tell it like it is, Dave.

Nobody calls me Dave.

Moments from Text Anonymous.

Nobody in coffee shops reads. They socialize, work on computers, talk on cells or text, text, text.

"Text," the Broadway musical.

"Text," the ABC reality TV show.

"Text" - name of my new dog.

You should see how he indicates "W!"

By the way...

On a personal note...

Me no text.

Me no know how to text.

Me no want to text.

Me happy in ancient cave.

Warning from Within

One of India's best known and respected authors and historians says his country is not nearly ready to be considered a "world power."

‘How much inequality can a democracy sustain?'

Good question.

Read this revealing Q&A with Ramachandra Guha.

A Bridge Too Close

A 1.7 kilometre bridge, part of a 270 Million Euro highway will soon do considerable damage to the famed wine country district hot by the Mosel River in Germany.

This is part of a world wide trend, most evident in Europe in recent years, of governments barreling through more and more asphalt for more and more cars at the expense of agriculture, local business, tradition, clean air and good reason.

So the next time you see one o those photo-op international "green" conventions of "world leaders," don't believe a word of it.

Thinking - if such it can be called - has not changed a whit.

The car is still King and gasoline is the grape.

Is This One of the Great Songs, or What?