Parliamentarians at All Time Low

This is sickening.

The Conservative National Caucus Chairman is a sociopath named Rahim Jaffer. He has been an MP from Edmonton for 10 years now.

Some years ago, scheduled to be interviewed on CKNW radio, he had an employee take the call and claim that he was Jaffer.

In spite of that detestable behaviour, which thoroughly speaks to Jaffer's lack of character, the idiots of Edmonton has sent him back to Ottawa again and again.

In Ottawa, Jaffer enjoys celebrity status, dressing beautifully, being photographed with his MP girlfriend and maintaining his public image for style and panache.

And we wonder why our governance has sunk to an all-time low.

PROSTATE CANCER EXPLAINED

Any male my age (approaching 65) is all too aware of the prostate gland and all the delightful little challenges it can have in store for us.

Failure to pee, too much peeing too often, blood in the pee and, of course, the grand prize, The Big Casino, cancer.

For one of the most comprehensive pieces on the "subject," read this excellent piece in yesterday's Globe & Mail.

If you're alive and breathing, it's a must read. I'm saving it for my next visit with the urologist.

Dancing at the Lesbian Bar

Recommended by BEN...didn't know this guy...but, hey, he is GOOD...

Big Media Gobbles More Than We Want to Chew

Two major broadcast purchases were announced on the back pages of the business section today.

Rogers has bought 5 TV stations in the CityTV chain, and Astral Media has acquired 53 radio stations (including Vancouver's CISL 650 AM and 95Crave FM) and two TV properties.

To me, this is very big news. And it is bad news.

Both Rogers and Astral are required by the useless, redundant CRTC to spend many millions over the next few years on "tangible benefits, such as the creation of local programming."

There are only two questions to ask of the members of the CTC Board:

What medicines are you on?

Or, From what Jurassic Park have you wandered?

"Local Programming" is almost non-existent in Canadian (and American) Narrowcasting today.

Channel 6 in Victoria is now E!, a weltshmerts of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton updates 24/7.

Thank god for Keifer Sutherland and his DUI - some Canadian content!

CityTV in Vancouver, having fired dozens of good news people, now has a 30-second news hit every so often throughout the evening, read by an almost illiterate young man.

The "convergence" of TV and newsprint under the Canwest Global banner has been, no doubt, a boon for the corporation in terms of economies of scale. But, for the Canadian public, to whom the CRTC theoretically owes some allegiance, this is a disaster.

Not only do we have to suffer the constant cross-promotion of one medium to the other for mediocre work, but we are limited to the sound of one hand clapping. One voice, one editorial stance, one version of the truth.

I am not saying that this is an evil plot. It is simply human nature to ride with the herd and echo the elk next to you.

The one good news is this otherwise moribund landscape is that so many people have sheered through the transparency of Big Media that millions now turn to small presses and the Internet to get alternate voices and faces and opinions and sounds.

Sports Medicine?

THE LANGARA DIALOGUES, a series of debates on important matters of public policy held monthly at the downtown main branch of the Vancouver Public Library, has scheduled a debate on performance enhancing drugs in sports for the evening of October 17th. Doors open at 7:15. The event runs from 7:30 to 9pm. Please join us.

In preparation for that discussion, you might want to read this piece from this morning's NY Times, which reveals the thorough and enormous presence of these substances in the marketplace.

Bruce Springsteen Dancing In The Dark

How great is this?

Small Light at End of Cambie Tunnel

Vancouver Board of Trade Chair, Henry Lee, has made a most practical and useful suggestion: Add 3 cents (!!!) to the new Canada Line fare to compensate the Cambie Merchants' losses during construction.

Of course, proposing something and having it become a reality are often light years apart. Nevertheless, kudos to Mr. Lee for the idea.

Following is the entire story from The Vancouver Courier and then guest blogger Susan's response:

Board of Trade boss suggests small fare increase could provide money for beleaguered businesses

Sandra Thomas
Vancouver Courier

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Diners and shoppers have been reluctant to negotiate around cut-and-cover construction along Cambie St., so Board of Trade executives ventured to the area for lunch this week with Canada Line CEO Jane Bird to show Cambie's open for business.
To get a real feel for Cambie Street, representatives from the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Canada Line should dine inside one of the massive trenches lining the road, says Art Goday.
"I don't know if anyone would want to have lunch on Cambie Street because the noise from the construction is so loud," Goday, the owner of Funhouse Tattoo on Cambie Street, told the Courier Monday.

Last week the Vancouver Board of Trade joined the Canada Line to promote Lunch on the Line, a public relations campaign to encourage the city's business community to eat at restaurants along the beleaguered street. The $2-billion Canada Line project is a rapid transit system under construction to connect the city with Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport.
The cut-and-cover method of tunnelling, used along much of Cambie Street and part of Granville Street, has been highly criticized by businesses owners affected by construction. Since heavy tunnelling began along the main business corridor of Cambie a year ago, almost 40 stores, businesses and restaurants have closed or relocated. Business owners who have survived have unsuccessfully asked for compensation from the city through tax breaks and for low-interest loans from the provincial government. Lunch on the Line launched this week. Today, Vancouver Board of Trade chair Henry Lee and managing director Darcy Rezec, were scheduled to join Jane Bird, chief executive officer of the Canada Line Rapid Transit Project, at Tokyo John Sushi at 3349 Cambie St. for lunch.

Lee said lunching and shopping along the Canada Line immediately injects cash into businesses along the line.

"Right now it's out of sight, out of mind," said Lee. "But it's really not difficult to get to businesses on Cambie. Too many people are focused on the negative and they need to look on the bright side."

But Lee agreed the businesses need financial support.

"I don't like to use the word 'compensated,'" Lee said, "because it's too controversial. But at the Board of Trade we also don't like to sweep anything under the rug, and we all agree these businesses are suffering."

Because the project is a joint effort between a number of partners, such as Vancouver, Richmond, TransLink and InTransit, Lee argued compensation shouldn't come from one partner. He suggested business owners should be jointly supported with money that could be paid back by increasing ride fares on the rapid transit system by three-cents.

He noted the Canada Line estimates it will handle 100,000 rides per day, which works out to more than 30 millions rides per year. Even if that number turns out to be half that, said Lee, at three cents, or even 30 cents, per ride over three years, he estimated enough money would be raised to pay back any amount borrowed.

He said the same goal could be accomplished with "minute" raises to property tax.
"I've crunched the numbers several times and it could work, there are very few merchants along the line," said Lee. "In the meanwhile let's do lunch on the line."

Vancouver Courier 2007

Thank you Mr. Lee for your support for financial help for the merchants.Even the biggest supporters of the RAV/Canada Line project, the Board of Trade, are searching for ways to do the right thing and financially support the small businesses.One of several suggestions was that 3 cents a trip on the new line would do the trick, says Henry Lee. Just 3 cents. Enough money could be raised to payback ANY amount borrowed."We all agree these businesses are suffering"."I've crunched the numbers several times and it could work, there are very few merchants along the line".So many solutions to this problem, yet the will to even take a determined look at a remedy has been dismissed by those in a position to make it happen.To all parties in this project - Stop the political finger-pointing, show some integrity, and do the right thing.

Susan Heyes

Cambie Merchant

There are Lies, and then there are Statistics

Statistics are almost invariably the other man's argument.

They are numeric fibs set in a row to sell more snake oil.

We must always ask ourselves, in the face of these teasers, who is to profit? What is at stake? What is to gain?

Statistics Canada - now there's a billion dollar expense that we really need and really asked for, NOT - will have us believe that we are tougher on crime here in B.C. than our fellow Canadians are elsewhere in the dominion.

But , as the Indian Chief replied to Columbus, "No. We discover you. All is relative."

StatsCan claims that we have the lowest rate of jailing drunk drivers at 6.4%, compared to the national average of 12.4%.

But what does this tell you?

It tells me that, after all the carnage,, after all the years and tears, we still believe that it is a right to be stupid drunk, drive a car and kill people. Why isn't the national average for jailing the murderous bastards who drive drunk more like 96%? I'm happy to pay for the jail costs, aren't you?

And what are these stories that appear day after day in our newspapers and newscasts about criminals getting off Scott free or with inappropriately small sentences? Are they fantasies? Are they the exception?

Why do police and librarians and doctors and mothers all believe that we are soft on crime?

Because we are, StatsCan be damned.

A horrible asshole who lives across the street from me attacked a school boy last month, absolutely unprovoked. Asshole was drunk and high on drugs. He smashed all the boy's teeth with a rock. Four police cars were on the scene.

Guess where this violent, out-of-control pig is living these days?

That's right. Across the street from me.

May he move into a house across the street from Stats Canada.

Colliding Values

Do I have to respect the social values of an entire nation, when I believe that those values are retrograde?

On the one hand (as Tevye, the Milkman, would say), it is my tendency to respect the ways of other countries and other cultures. On the other hand, I believe in the equalities of rights, privileges and responsibilities of people regardless of the usual package of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status.

So, what to do about Saudi Arabia where women cannot drive a car or travel abroad without their husband's permission and where there are no movie houses?

I don't respect those values in the same way that I don't respect the so-called "values" of men like Warren Jeffs who screw hundreds of teen-age girls, make hundreds of babies and call themselves direct descendants of Jesus.

Read this morning's NY Times story here, and decide for yourself.

He's not worth the ink.

THREE articles about Mr. Allen, including a full-page spread of him in his rainbow-colored bathrobe, which is funny for such a homophobe?

Come on, kids, let's move on.

What is much more interesting and more to the point is how the radio station shows its true colors.

This is another fine mess you've got us into, Ollie.

UBCM is a Horse's Ass

The other day, we registered a lengthy post about Censorship.

Today, we can add the Union of BC Municipalities' refusal to add the provincial Green Party to their annual gabfest.

The Green Party isn't much and hasn't achieved much, true, but it is a legitimate political party and the subject of the UBCM convention is "Climates of Change."

Could they do anything more to shoot themselves in the foot?

Bush-Wacked

Bush once asked, "Is our children learning?"

Now he has answered, "Childrens do learn." (Spellcheck just had a meltdown.)

A person who cannot speak his own native tongue properly is a dangerous person, a person incapable of real thought.

This is not some adorable, amusing nervous tic. This is a fundamental statement of inadequacy.

How frightening that America twice elected this disturbing fool.

george michael

I was in a private water taxi on the Grand Canal in Venice at 8 in the morning, when, against the silence and the silver quiet water, this explosion came on the sound system. I bought the CD ("Songs from the Last Century")at Heathrow.

Canada Line Smoke Screens Continue

The Canada Line people just won't stop with their never-ending PR fluff.

Susan, a completely distraught Cambie merchant who has shared her frustrations with us before, brings us up-to-date.

First, the Canada Line Snow Job:

http://www.canadaline.ca/uploads/NewsReleases/News480.pdf

Read it and weep. The TRANSPARENCY!

The read Susan's response:

This is beyond belief.

This rubbish is the result of extensive consultation with the businesses by an executive with Partnerships BC - head cheerleaders of the P3 model - at the request of Canada Line - for the benefit of Canada Line.More retail workshops for gawd's sake? Maybe some tap dancing classes?That's right - It's our fault we're losing our livelihoods, nothing to do with the deception and double-cross by the project and the government - the absolute lack of any financial support planned for or implemented - the "blame the victim" message being relentlessly sent out by the "folks" at Canada Line, and the "inconvenient" canyon outside our doors for years on end - the "disruption" caused by constant changes to the plan (what plan) - the noise - the dirt - the STRESS - the shocking losses we "may" be experiencing.....Cleaning the empty storefronts? You can still see the strings of white lights on the floors of the empty shops from last Christmas.....Enhanced communications from CVBA with the merchants....like ANY communication?Free parking on the weekends? Recommending attendance at a street party?They've lost their minds and we're losing everything as a result. No integrity. No accountability. No compensation of any kind. Three strikes - they should all be out of office.HELP - our democracy is on life support.

Susan

CASTING FOR MORE BAD MONEY

I have written so much and so often about drug rehabilitation and the dead-end, destructive routes that our official "helpers" are taking these days that I am loathe to say another word.

HOWEVER...

The story in this morning's Sun ("TRAIL WOULD GIVE USERS FREE SUBSTITUTE DRUGS") is available to make you sick here.

One needn't go over one more time all the many things about this story that are wrong and hateful and disgusting.

But let's say a few things.

When these bastards claim that they will engage the clients in psych-social counselling and treatment, they are lying. Yes, lying. And for 3 good reasons.

ONE: You cannot talk to a stoned person. You are talking to a drug. So, if these lunatics give addicts drugs, they cannot then have a meaningful conversation about the Canucks, let alone a New Life Plan. Give your child a cookie at 2 am and then talk to him or her about how you're never going to give another cookie at 2 am. Huh?

TWO: The mayor and his hoods don't BELIEVE in treatment. They disparage the whole idea of treatment. Part of their hideous platform is that 75% of treatment is futile. They say these things in public. And when asked about this, the mayor will readily admit that he is ONLY interested in a "civil city." Which is his cute way of saying that if the addicts are given free drug substitutes they won't break into your homes and cars.

THREE: But they WILL break into your homes and cars because 30 minutes after the addicts get their free drug substitutes, they will be back in the alleys getting the real deal, which costs money, which can only be had by breaking into your homes and cars.

The other thing that needs to be said is that this awful program is now proposing to raise even more money from government and the private sector...money that SHOULD go to real treatment.

Finally, the man who has taken on this muddleheaded project is Richard Mulcaster. When I first learned this a few months ago, I was shocked. Mulcaster was for many years the very excellent Executive Director of the Vancouver Foundation. When he retired, he told me that he would be doing some international development work for CIDA and others. He lives in Shaughnessy and one would have thought he didn't need the money.

But you can be assured that Sam is paying him more than $100,000 a year - a sum that would fund 2 places for 2 addicts in a real rehab program for a full year of being clean and sober and learning how to leave The Life. A program that involves Hope and Dignity.

Giving an addict substitute drugs offers hope and dignity? Teenage prostitutes, given free drugs, will continue to be teenage prostitutes. The mayor is enslaving sick youth.

So what is Mulcaster doing? You would have thought that in all those years of funding program for the Vancouver Foundation, he had learned something.

Apparently not.

Richard, hang your head in shame.

Victor (Guest Blogger) vs. Bruce & The Kneejerkers

The problem with tirades like Bruce Allan's recent rant is that they silence all legitimate questioning of unacceptable cultural practices. Instead of simply dismissing his "be like us or go home" rhetoric as foolish, commentators have been lining up protect multi culturalism from an imagined assault. Not surprisingly, of the 70 plus ethnic groups in Vancouver, one has been singularly vocal on this. They always are. Can anybody remember the last time Vancouver's Koreans issued a collective whine? Or the VietNamese community? Or the Malaysians? etc.etc.
The underlying theme in the media forelock tugging is that all differences must be accommodated in Canada, land of block voting.

This brings great comfort to the people in Canada who are slicing the labia from ten year old girls in the name of tradition.

It brings great comfort to people like the lovely Surrey couple whom put a hit on their daughter- in -law in India because she failed to meet tribal standards.

Or the guy in Kamloops who murdered his 15 year old daughter in an honour killing because she dated a white guy.

No doubt, those in our midst who still adhere to their cultural edicts calling for the stoning of gay people and adulterers, are praising the bovine inclusiveness doctrine being chanted by the media.

Yes, the Canadian mosaic is a source of pride to many. But if you look closely at the mosaic, there are some obscene, perverse and vile little drawings that have no place on the canvass. Leaving them there, without comment, on the grounds that no custom should ever be criticized, is foolish and dangerous.

Thanks a lot Bruce.

Sun Letter Nails Construction Addictions

Behind the scenes at construction sites

LetterPublished: Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I have worked in the construction industry for more than 30 years and I've seen a number of destructive changes that led to this current crisis of drug use on construction sites. The most destructive change has been the deunionization of the industry. In the 1970s, building trade unions, with support from employers, maintained some of the best drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs in the country. With de-unionization in the 1980s, employers abandoned these programs, leaving it up to individual workers to get themselves off drugs. Obviously, this hasn't worked.

It's time to return to a more stable construction industry. This requires improved labour laws, more employer and government support for drug/alcohol rehabilitation, and real opportunities for trades training -- as well as better working conditions for everyone in the building trades.

John Shaw

CENSORSHIP AT THE FOUR

Censorship is very much at the core of today's news, far and near.

Here are 4 stories:

ONE

The University of Victoria Student Society will not allow Canadian Forces to be present at a career fair. Or, unfair.

This speaks volumes about how far our armed forces have fallen in the public heart, how spoiled and out-of-touch are too many young people, and how ignorant these students are of the very central purpose of a "higher education."

An appalling decision. Based entirely on fear and ignorance.

TWO

The BC Teachers' Federation has pulled 40,000 copies of its own newsletter because it doesn't like one of the articles written by their own editor.

All articles are supposed to be vetted by the BCTF President. Now, the entire magazine will have to be first vetted by El Presidente.

Can you say, "Petty Dictatorship, Oligarchy, Totalitarianism, Boys and Girls?"

Remember that these enlightened soul claim to be teachers of your children.

BCTF might want to consider renaming itself as Teachers For Censorship. Their value statement could be, "Remember, kids, there's nothing you can create that we won't veto."

Can you say, "Anal, Dr. Freud?"

THREE

Mahmoud the Maniac made his speech at Columbia yesterday.

The President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, did two very interesting things.

One the one hand, he stood firm in his decision to allow Mushmouth the platform, saying, "the nation needs the intellectual and emotional courage to confront the mind of evil."

On the other, he introduced Muckraker thus, "Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a cruel and petty dictator. Today, I feel all the wight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion in what you stand for."

If I were in his position, I might not have allowed Madpants to speak in the first place, BUT...I salute Mr. Bollinger (pictured above) for both actions.

FOUR

The Sun editorial is right in defending free speech in the case of Bruce Allen and in noting that the subject of the integration of immigrants in Canadian society is a thorny one and necessary as part of our on-going national conversation.

But they have missed a huge point.

Mr. Allen should be dismissed, as should most of the so-called "management" team for bringing the level of discourse down to a bar brawl. Coarse, name-calling, race-baiting, simplistic in the extreme, without shading of any kind and unmindful of the truth that God and the devil are in the details.

Channel 6 in Victoria is now E! No longer a local station involved in its community, but a mindless dispenser of non-stop show biz bullshit and titillation.

This is where broadcasting has gone.

We are all the poorer for it.

The Abandonment of Broadcasting

Bruce Allen is a crude, distasteful excuse for a human being.

His rant about immigrants the other day expressed what many Canadians feel.

Unfortunately, it was simplistic, ugly, graceless and without subtlety or shading or understanding of the complexities.

Mr. Allen declares that he is an "editorialist." HAHAHAHA...

And that he "makes people think." HAHAHAHA...

When I was a kid growing up in Winnipeg, we used to describe vanity and self-delusion as a mosquito floating down the Red River on its back with an erection and hollering, OPEN THE DRAWBRIDGE!"

Moreover he is in a clear conflict of interest sitting on the board that will select artists for the 2010 opening and closing ceremonies. He has already selected his own stable of clients.

Management at the radio station have been starf**kers for many years now. I'm surprised they haven't given Todd Bertuzzi his own show.

The fact that they defend Mr. Allen and his superior, white, hate-mongering demonstrates the sewer levels to which this once important community resource has now sunk.

It's Monday. It's National Slug a Citizen Day.

Is this the new standard?

The Daily Reporting of which RCMP officer slugged someone or got drunk and then slugged someone and then got off with a fine or loss of vanilla milkshake break for Friday?

So the poor victim was a diabetic, momentarily incapacitated by his illness and the cop, brushing past the nurses, and refusing to pause long enough to ask the poor guy id he was OK, just timbered up on him for the same reason a dog licks himself - because he can.

Is anyone in charge of the RCMP these days?

Does anyone in the Force care about who they are and how the public now perceives them?

As in, really, really badly.

Where's Nelson Eddy when you need him, boys?

Freedom of Speech?

It is impossible to grab all of the details and nuances of the appearance of Mahmoud the Maniac at Columbia this morning.

For those who wish to fully enter the Land of Oz - WARNING: this is only for people who truly know who they are - read the story in the NY Times and then the blow-by-unbelievable blow Blog direct from Columbia.

Sanity at risk...good luck.

MONDAY "MORNING" BLOG DELAYED

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the management of his establishment is sorry to advise that tomorrow's blog will be posted - but a little later in the afternoon.

Bear with us, while these crucial adjustments are being made.

And Czech in again with us towards the end of the working day.

Shoot or Talk - Two Holy Ways

I forgot to add to the blog yesterday the little news about Rudy Giuliani, the man who lays claim to cleaning up New York.

Speaking before The National Rifle Association, Mr. 911 actually said that the right to carry guns is as precious to Americans as the right to free speech.

'Nuff said?

In addition to being the worst President in American history, now maybe George Bush will also be given credit for destroying the Republican party for some many years to come. At least that's something!

Who Said Satchmo Never Spoke Up?

In the light of what is going on in Jena, La. these past few days, it is more than instructive - it's downright wonderful - read what Louis Armstrong did on the subject of racism 50 years ago.

Mr. Armstrong was famously and wrongly accused by many black and white Americans of being a silent Jim Crow apologist.

But, read this NY Times reflection ("The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise") and you will see that Pop's heart and soul were always in exactly the right place.

Bush's Secret Paid Army

Good to see that Blackwater, a private American Army of highly trained mercenaries, is still out there in Iraq killing at will and with the blessing of George Bush.

Oh yes, this is a "just cause." No question about it.

Hitler on the Hustings

Perhaps someone could explain to me why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the murderous hate-mongering, terrorist-financing, nuclear weapon building madman who is the President of Iran and one of the most dangerous lunatics on the planet today, why this guy is speaking today at Columbia University and tomorrow will address the United Nations?

Can someone explain this, please? Huh?

O.K. Columbia, I understand. Egghead City would sit through a rant by Adolph Hitler because it would confirm their unshakable believe in "Free Speech."

But, the UN?

And the formless cowards will not walk out?

And the Lunatic attacks Canada (???!!!) as a place with no justice or individual freedoms?

Government "CARE" is a Death Sentence

If you thought that the government response to one of the Cambie Merchants that we posted here recently was cynical and in deep denial of reality, check out how the Ministry of Children & Family Development (God help us!) responds to 3 foster care deaths in one month!

"Sometimes it's just one of those statistical things that happen."

Now that should be enshrined in gold and bronze and platinum in the Public relations Hall of Fame handbook on How Exactly NOT to Talk to the Media.

And these folks have about 30 "communications officers" per square foot.

In fact, there were 98 child deaths last year under the ministry's caring umbrella.

Just stats, I guess, those no longer breathing, laughing boys and girls.

In a tiny item on page B2, we learn further that a father is guilty of assaulting his 19-month old son. The mother had already been found to be incompetent. But how did this happen?

Well...the social workers were "attempting to reunite the family."

Geniuses everywhere we turn.

Where Ideas Don't Stand a Chance

When the provincial government wants to advertise a job, they wrap the notice in a cheesy slogan - "Where Ideas Work."

But the Vancouver Sun's Larry Pynn doing some good work and asking for a Freedom of Information, learned that Victoria is unable to tell him and us what properties it owns in Vancouver.

What makes this failure even more astonishing is that the government just spent $14 Million on a "system" that would allow them to do exactly that.

What's more, they predict it may take another year to get the system operating.

In the meantime, nobody knows or can say which buildings and lots are held by the People's Government.

Ain't it grand?

Licensing Illegal Immigrants - Wisdom May be in the Details

The most fascinating dilemma is facing individual States in America, and the way that this issue is being managed is something we in Canada ought to witness clearly.

There is yet no clear and clean immigration policy, especially concerning illegal immigrants, most of whom are working and supporting families and blending quietly into the general fabric of American life.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is issuing driver's licences to those who can provide any reasonable ID.

One's first reaction might be, "Oh, that's dreadfully playing into the hands of people who are not legitimate citizens." And that reaction would be quite understandable.

But, read both the story and the editorial and you might agree that things are not always as simple as they may seem.

AMY WINEHOUSE - TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM

We are a Charitable Country...Which is a Good Thing for the Arms Sellers

Kim Bolan's feature story on the Canadian charities that fund terrorism is a terrific piece. And a terrifying piece.

While Revenue Canada and CSIS and the RCMP are smoking their hookah's and chasing actors and waiters and taxi drivers for tips and beating up cyclists who aren't wearing helmets, hundreds of millions of dollars are being sent from Canadian "charities" to arm lunatics like the Tamil Tigers.

And all from discrete little offices on Fraser St.

Read the story here.

I get High When I see You Go By, Me Oh My...

So glad that Hookah's will be exempt from the new anti-smoking bylaws. And that coke and crystal meth haven't been considered.

At least that will allow City Council to continue smoking whatever it is that they've been on for the last 2 years.

Dreadful Excuse for a Human Being Gets all the Goodies

So, many of Bruce Allen's musical clients will be highly paid to be a part of the 2010 extravaganzas.

And Bruce will make a small fortune. And Bruce is a part of the production team.

And you and I are paying him.

And one of his stable is helping ("proceeds", like what's left over after we take the rake) with literacy.

And the Sun basically made this the unofficial Bruce Day.

Yech...

Hillary & the Pussy-Cats

Hillary Rodham Clinton's universal health care platform may or not be flawed. It may or may not be an improvement upon her initiative of a decade ago.

BUT SHE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE OF ANY PARTY IN AMERICA THAT HAS HAD THE COURAGE TO EVEN BROACH THE SUBJECT OF 47 MILLION UNINSURED CITIZENS!

More power to her. Specifically the Power of the Presidency.

Bush Robs From Children to Feed Arms Suppliers

In a classic case of psychological projection (blaming the other person for your exact failings), Bush has accused the Democrats of playing politics with children's health care.

This was his way of explaining why he is vetoing a measure to provide health insurance for 10 MILLION uninsured American children.

Can a President be charged with treason?

Cost of War?

The NY Times reports today that $6 BILLION in supplies contracts with the Pentagon are under criminal investigation.

More, that $88 BILLION in supplies for Iraq and Afghanistan wars are being audited for "financial irregularities."

Corruption? Or corruption?

Read the entire mess here.

On the same day, Bush as vetoed health insurance for 10,000,000 American children. See above post.

Total Canada Line Melt Down

Dear Sir/Madam (For the Premier is not answering his email),

Your explanation and outright disregard for the business and residents alongthe Cambie corridor is shit. I am over being polite and probably will notget a response back or even a form letter but I don't care anymore. You sayyou are sorry to hear of the difficulties businesses MAY FEEL they areexperiencing! This is an outrage - it is not 'may feel' - they areexperiencing extreme difficulties! You are so disconnected from theday-to-day operations of small business that you can't see past your nose towhat is really happening here!!!Have you even taken the time to talk with owners and hear their plightand the amount of income lost while theycontinue to try and support their families!! It is clear that the ProvincialGovernment is taking absolutely no responsibility here. You state the Prov.Gov't is not supporting this project - you are a liar! Look at the books andsee for yourself the amount of money that was given and with giving comesresponsibility - absolutely!!And this is your sentence, "The construction,while posing some challenges to local residents and business owners, isexpected to be temporary." Temporary, hah! For many the construction infront of their business or homes has lasted well over 1 year. RAVco promised3 months and all the information circulated stated that timeline. Well, ithas come and gone. You say, "Lower Mainland will benefit from the CanadaLine." I say not! This will create nothing more than less buses on roads andmore cars for people will not drive from the suburbs and park to ride atransit line. The cost does not warrent this lifestyle change. They willcontinue into the city as always - you'll see. Many of the people who livein Richmond will very rarely use this line either, for many are of Asiandecent and will not get out of their cars!As for the residents who arecurrently living along the construction nightmare route, they are sufferingterribly. Many have reported upper respiratory problems, skin rashes, eyeinfections, along with increased stress and anxiety at trying to find newroutes to familiar places. These people, the majority of them seniors oryoung families are fighting to survive this voted down twice and completelyunnecessary project.By all means - just go ahead and delete this but you will have to carry theresult of this horror for life!!

----- Original Message -----From: "OfficeofthePremier, Office PREM:EX"

Thank you for your email regarding the construction of the Canada Line,linking Richmond, the international airport, and Vancouver.We are sorry to hear of the difficulties businesses may feel they areexperiencing as a result of this project. Although the provincialgovernment is one of the many groups funding the creation of the CanadaLine because we feel it will be beneficial to both residents andvisitors, we are not in charge of its contraction or operation. Themanagement of the project is under the authority of Canada Line RapidTransit Inc., which is a subsidiary of TransLink - the body responsiblefor planning, financing, and operating the Lower Mainland'stransportation system.The construction, while posing some challenges to local residents andbusiness owners, is expected to be temporary. In the long term, it ishoped that businesses in the Cambie corridor and across the LowerMainland will benefit from the Canada Line.You may be interested to know that the Canada Line project office has aseries of initiatives underway to help businesses promote themselves andto address their concerns during the Canada Line's construction phase.If you would like more information about these services, please visitthe Canada Line web site: www.canadaline.ca/commBusBusiness.asp.Again, thank you for sending me your thoughts on this matter.

To: Campbell.MLA, GordonSubject: Re: Canada LineGordon Campbell:It is enough already! Find the money and provide compensation to theBussiness owners and home owners that deserve immediate attention.These people have suffered from the onset; from the lies to the lack ofdisclosure or transparancy that surrounds this mega project.If it was not for the threats that came down the pipe from yourgovernment officials to TransLink Board members there never would havebeen a 3rd vote. Your government has royaly screwed up! From you to KenDobell and Kevin Falcon and so many others that demanded thistransportation nightmare must go forward. In spite of the out cry fromthe people and that numbered in the 10,000's you pushed Canada Line(RAV) forward.

Nutty Mayor Struck Again

I don't know anything about Vancouver City Councillor George Chow's record as a steward of public policy, but I know that I LOVED his slamming of Mayor Sammy on the op ed page today.

Best line?

Summing up The Nutty Mayor's contribution to date, Chow closes with, "division, polarization and stalemate - the trademarks of his regime so far."

The Killing Fields of Politics

Politics has been interfering with and dismantling reality for as long as people have been gathering in the town square.

But this latest from America is really unbearable.

The Democrats proposed that troops in Iraq, who are widely acknowledged to be overworked in combat, be given home leave commensurate with their tours of duty.

This motion was defeated yesterday by Republicans.

Thus, for the sake of partisan politics, men and women, who are putting their lives on the line too many hours of the day and too many days and months in a row, will continue to be put in harm's way. Many will die.

These bastard polticians should hang their heads in shame.

Dan Rather Sues the Company that Made him Rich & Famous

For the whole pathetic mess, read this NY Times story.

What a turkey. Always was.

Anatomy of a SCAM - Canada Line Bamboozle

FIRST: The media notice:

Lunch on the Line week from Sept 24 - 28

Media are invited to join Jane Bird, CEO, Canada Line Rapid Transit, Henry Lee, Chairman, The Vancouver Board of Trade and Co-Chair, Spirit of Vancouver and Darcy Rezac, Managing Director, The Vancouver Board of Trade as they announce “Lunch on the Line” week, 11:00 am, Wednesday, September 19 at Tokyo John Sushi in the Cambie Village.

From September 24 – 28, business people are being encouraged to take a client to lunch or treat their staff at a restaurant in the Cambie Village that has been affected by the Canada Line construction.

SECOND: The reply from a Cambie businesswoman:

Attn: Greg Johnson - The Pace Group

I have just been forwarded this press release by several members of our media, looking for comment on this proposal from CLCo and the Board of Trade. As usual, none of the businesses knew anything about it, and have not been consulted about the details.

We, the struggling businesses in the Cambie Village are delighted with this latest initiative from Canada Line.....simply if it finally brings to the neighbourhood the very people that have strongly supported this project, and to see for themselves the level of devastation it has caused in the Cambie Village. The conclusion they will come to is that all the project-promoting attempts at mitigation have obviously failed.

They will see that compensation should have been factored in, and was not, and is most certainly the right thing to immediately implement now.

They will see all the empty shops that were once the sole source of income for the families that operated them, who have now been forced out by this project. This token gesture, so late in the game, is irrelevant as a way to save us from bankruptcy, but may demonstrate to those who take the time to come here, a needed awareness of the level of harm this government driven project has caused. And by the way - I don't think that executives at the TD bank or Best Buy have had to re-mortgage their homes to keep their "small businesses" alive as have many merchants in the village. Our losses are life changing, and businesses unsustainable without financial compensation.

This is a Provincial project. The government's precedent being set here is that small businesses are expendable. Look out, businesses on Broadway. You could be next. We were promised a bored tunnel, too.

The right thing to do is compensate this community for the unjust financial burden we have been forced to bear.

It's much more than "lunch" that we all have on the line.

Susan Heyes
Hazel&Co

THIRD: My email to Susan Heyes:

Susan,

I will gladly publish this on my blog...but certainly you must realize that anything that comes from The Pace Group is an utterly insincere, snow job. The Pace Group is the very worst kind of Public Relations firm, famous for creating exactly these kinds of meaningless public demonstrations that are transparent in their cynicism.

I wish it were otherwise.

David

Kiss Me Once

Love at first bite is a research study at a university.

Well, I guess it keeps these professors off the street where they could do real harm.

CSIS should be sued by the Air India Families

CSIS erased surveillance tapes.

The Justice investigating the Air India case called CSIS and its actions and its refusal to share information "inconceivable, incomprehensible, indefensible incompetence."

I'm sure there's a Sinatra song in there somewhere.

But in the face of this level of bungling and stupidity, what else can you do but laugh.

Or cry.

329 people murdered. $50 Million wasted on a trial with no result.

RCMP is Lost and Defeated

Do the RCMP have no pride?

Two idiot cops get drunk and run around the street looking for people to beat up.

Result?

Lose 10 days pay.

If the RCMP has any sense of justice, or their own worth, or real values or even PR, these two hooligans would be fired on the spot.

How are we supposed to approve and trust the force when it doesn't take itself seriously?

Take a Deep Breath Now...

An 81-year old man in Gordon Head (an appelation soon to take on new meaning) has been living with a catheter in his dick for 85 days now.

Seems there is no urologist around to take this tube out.

Like a nurse in ER couldn't do this.

So much for my occasional day dream about retiring to Victoria.

City Profligate Spenders of Your Money

A few days ago, I wrote about the $23 Million that will be spent to provide 2 so-called Live Sites during the Olympics. I suppose there will be giant TV screens erected on otherwise quiet David Lam Park.

Today we learn that the $5 Million that will come from City Hall is supposed to be drawn from the "Olympic Reserve Fund."

Turns out that this reserve has no money in it.

And you and I are being chastised for spending money we don't have.

A World Full of Justice

While the Nazis were busy gassing women and children at Auschwitz, their senior officers and families were sunning themsleves and enjoying blueberries.

A new series of astonishing photographs have surfaced after all these years. You can see the slide show and read the entire story here.

Note that Karl Hocker, the camp's second in command, was not gassed on his arrival or beaten or even slapped.

He was convicted of war crimes and served seven years before his release in 1970, after which he was rehired by the bank. Höcker died in 2000 at 89.

Come OFF the Bench, Y'r Honor, and Try Reality

In the case cited in the post below (College Continues in Darkness), Dr. Mark Walter Stewart faced 78 counts of sexual assault.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce has declared that ""In my view, the petitioner [Dr. Sex Fiend] is not the type of person Parliament had in mind when it created the Sex Offender Information Registry Act."

This is an interesting comment from a Justice.

What type of person DID Parliament have in mind, You Honour?

Someone who is charged with 79 counts?

Dr. Sex Fiend still denies any culpability and continues to insist that all 64 of the women he assaulted "misinterpreted" his behaviour.

I'm sure that all the women of B.C. feel so much safer with Justice Catherine Bruce on the bench.

Doctors' College gets to Continue in Darkness

BC College of Physicians & Surgeons can breathe easier. But we have been robbed as a citizenry of learning more about the arcane workings of this cabal.

Twenty-two women courageously sued the College for its alleged failure to protect them from the sexual assaults of a Doctor.

Unfortunately, the women have now accepted an out of court settlement, which allows the College to continue to operate in the shadows, often protecting their own at public expense.

The good news is that, when this case first arose some years ago, the College attempted to have it squashed, claiming it (the College) had no legal duty to the care of patients of its members.

The court disagreed and that was what allowed the case to continue.

Now, if we can only get someone to sue Corrections Canada and the National Parole Board for so many of its dreadful, often lethal, bad decisions.

The Runaway Co$t$ of City Hall

Don Cayo rightly reveals the ugly numbers at City Hall:

Vancouver spends $137 per taxpayer each year compared to Surrey's $40 in the cost of general government; $20 in policing compared to $200 in Surrey, Burnaby & Coquitlam; $108 in planning & development compared to less than $50 in Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond & Coquitlam.

He then goes on to point out (blame?) the high cost of unionized workers.

Good info - bad conclusion.

The high cost of City Government is all about very highly paid middle management sitting in meetings all day gabbing about nothing. Like all institutions, City hall is a self-perpetuating organism that grows daily in exactly inverse proportion to any use or common sense. We have entire departments that are questionable in their very existence. We are convinced that we must do everything for everybody.

So far, what that kind of thinking has achieved is bloated non-governance and over-taxed citizens.

Ecodensity Challenged by Guest Blogger Baker

The following article is reproduced in its entirety from a website called "EcoPreservation." You can access that site and its other components here.

The author, Jonathan Baker, is a former City Councillor, a lawyer, a musician and an old friend.

WHY VANCOUVER’S ECO-DENSITY POLICY IS A FRAUD.By Jonathan Baker

Vancouver's Planner, Mayor and Council – the drum majors for the Development Industry are trying to persuade us that if we only let that Industry do their thing in single family neighbourhoods we will save the Pandas and spotted owls and all the glaciers will come galloping back.

Eco-Density is a copyrighted fraud.It is contrary to the GVRD's Livable Region Plan (LRP) and against common sense.

Environmental Preservation is a primary goal of the LRP which was in preparation for years and adopted in about 1996. One of the four major strategies to achieve this purpose is “to build complete communities.”

The central concept is to build a series of complete town centres. Vancouver is one of those centres. The other others are Coquitlam Town Centre, Downtown New Westminster, Langley Town Centre, Lonsdale (North Vancouver), Maple Ridge Town Centre, Metrotown (Burnaby), Richmond Town Centre and Surrey City Centre. Each of these town centres is expected to supply the housing diversity required so that people who wish to choose a particular housing type near to where they live have it available to them.

It was never a policy that people who want to live within the geographic boundaries of Vancouver ought to be immune from the law of supply and demand. To the contrary the strategy seeks to encourage people to live where they work so as to reduce commuting times. The Demand for housing was intended to be a function of jobs i.e. being able to live close to where you work.

An article by Trevor Boddy in the Vancouver Sun published on August 11, 2005 pointed out that the expansion of housing in Vancouver is at the expense of jobs. In this respect he says that it is becoming a “resort”. Much of the new housing demand results from the fact that people want to live here not to be close to work but because it is cool to do so. That is all very well but it turns the commuting policy on its head if people expect to live in Vancouver and work somewhere else.

Stephen Rees made the following comments about Boddy's article. Boddy's article is in quotes.
"...because of short sighted urban planning, downtown Vancouver may be becoming a fool's paradise. This is because people are coming to live and play here, but not to work.

Director of central area planning Larry Beasley confirmed in a recent interview that no new office tower has started construction or even been proposed for our downtown core in the new century. None. ..."

"According to condo and live-work tower developer Ian Gillespie, there is now a five to one ratio between the economic rate of return per square metre of new condominium apartment built in downtown Vancouver, versus a square metre of new office. ... I mentioned this five to one ratio to a May 26 symposium at New York's Institute of Urban Design, and the assembled developers, realtors, planners and architects could not name another city, anywhere, where the economic return from building condos so eclipses offices."

Boddy blames this on both land use policy - the lack of "dedicated office tower sites where business actually wants them - west of Granvillle" - and municipal taxes - businesses pay five times as much per square metre as residential compared to Toronto at 3.3 and Calgary at 2.7.
Boddy goes on to examine the impact on transportation - noting that the Skytrain plus RAV is essentially radial from downtown, "ridership projections for this latest line predict more people leaving downtown to work in Richmond than coming into the centre". He compares the peninsular of San Francisco (population 788,000) and Vancouver (580,000) "Nearly 900,000 people travel into downtown San Francisco daily, but only one third of this number enter our core (and our figures are essentially flat, growing at a mere one per cent annually ...)"

These comments are right. What the City needs to do is create more places to work in the down town core. Instead it is turning the city over to developers who are only to happy to buy land in single family neighbourhoods and build higher density housing thus eroding the required single family stock, and creating an imbalance in the commuting patterns.

Brain Theft at McGill - Give Coke to Coke Heads

The headline says it all:

"USERS GIVEN FREE COCAINE IN McGILL STUDY"

Academic research is a holy grail and may rarely be discredited. If you question one research project, you are apparently against freedom of thought.

This, of course, is the faultiest misuse of logic.

Nevertheless, the immoral, irresponsible eggheads of the world must do what they can to defend their dreadful acts and their detestable spending of public money on "experiments" that cannot possibly have any meaningful outcomes.

In this case, the study will last 10 years. Which, let's face it is a nice sinecure for some otherwise useless hallway gasbag.

The news report says the cost is $120,000 annually for this.

Even I don't have to grab my handy desk calculator to point out that this travesty costs you and me $1,200,000.

To add outrage to insult, this hocus-pocus was chosen as the BEST among 50 applicants applying for grants related to brain function.

I'd like to apply for a grant to study a) how the brains of people who give coke to coke heads function, if at all; and b) how the brains of people who award grants to people who give coke to coke heads function, if at all.

This alleged study hopes to cast light on addictions.

We already know just about everything we need to know about addictions. More importantly, we know how to treat addictions.

All we have to do know is have the courage to fund treatment.

Tiger is Amazing

A question for all the benighted, misguided fans of Phil Mickelson:

When has Phil ever won 2 events in a row?

No doubt, Phil has talent. And Phil has soft hands, great touch.

But he is among the streakiest players in history, relatively undisciplined and subject to colossal mental meltdowns that result in flat dumb golf decisions.

In contrast:

Tiger has won 4 of his last 5 tournaments, and, in winning the Fedex event this weekend by 8 strokes, he became the first player in history to win 7 or more events in a season 4 times in his young playing life.

Why do fans and broadcasters mention these two men in the same breath?

Who is O.J. Simpson?

O.J. Simpson is being held without bail in a local jail in Las Vegas.

This latest fiasco has something to do with sports memorabilia, hotel rooms, guns, gangs and so on.

But amidst all that has been written and all the hours of CNN and Larry King devoted to Simpson in recent years, there is one thing I have yet to hear:

What kind of a shnuck is this guy actually? Is he a major pain in the ass? Is he pleasant? Funny? Volatile? Vengeful? Respectful? Even-handed? Under-handed? Was he a good teammate in his football years?

We are all convinced that Simpson is innocent or guilty of murder. But what do we really know about this guy?