Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
FUNNIEST COMMENT IN YEARS
David,
I have referred your blog entry to my panel of judges. We had a difference of opinion so we sent the matter to a parliamentary committee. They decided to have a royal commission to study the matter. The report is 1,200 pages per volume. Its 26 volumes. We have a group that has applied to study our findings. They will need a government grant. Wally Oppal has been appointed with Bob Rae to report back to the provinces.
Damn you Mr Berner.
See what you have caused.
13
TAXED IN HALF
The news today is standard fare - a hockey game, a wedding far, far away, America the Beautiful struggling with gun laws vs. medical marijuana laws.
But one item stands out.
Don Cayo, writing in the Sun, informs us that the tax bill for the average Canadian family is now more than 41% of earned income.
41%
The taxes come from every direction and from every manner - some unimaginable - of thing.
And why is this?
I'll tell you why.
Because even though governments have a responsible and useful and important role in our lives, nobody (other than Trudeau, of course) ever said governments should be the primary engine of national life.
I believe that 50% or more of all working Canadians are now employed by one level or another of government.
That's a lot of paper pushing, a lot of desks, cell phones, BlackBerrys, fax machines, memo pads, lunches, conferences, and bull.
The reason that 41% of our earned incomes are now devoured by government machinery is because the machine itself is so big and so unproductive.
If there is anything that can humanly be done by two guys with a shovel or a microchip, government will find a way to employ 14 to do the same job. After the discussion, of course.
And yet...
And yet.
Are we not hot in the midst of some national voting event called an election?
Have you heard one single candidate of any stripe whatsoever mention for a nano-second PRODUCTIVITY, say, or BLOATED BUREAUCRACIES?
Would anyone dare suggest that half the tit-sucking mandarins in government employ go out into the real world and create something useful and contributory to the general weal?
No.
Because the "real world" is what exists.
It is you and I who live in a fantasy.
Monday, April 25, 2011
THE NEWS JUST AINT SAFE NO MORE
Wanna see me and Iggy Pop on Sun TV today with very different views of "Insite?"
Check it out.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
JUST ONE D-CUP AWAY FROM THE PEFECT WORLD
Just in case you were wondering on an Easter Sunday morning if the world really was completely demented...
In the post below (Sin teats no hay paraiso), you will see a segment from an actual TV show from Columbia.
The show is about women getting breast plants so that they can be the girlfriends of drug cartel bosses.
It is a scripted and acted (more or less) drama (more or less) that in its final episode attracted 63% of Columbia's TV audience.
Nice share.
What is even more illuminating is that this piece of art was only one cosmetic surgery away from making it to NBC.
Following are a few paragraphs from the Wikipedia entry on the subject.
Without Breasts There Is No Paradise was the working title of an NBC drama series produced by Universal Media Studios which was to be adapted from a 2006 Colombian telenovela called Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso. However, with the departure of NBC Entertainment chairman Ben Silverman in 2009, it never came to air or even went beyond having a pilot filmed.
The show [1] was set to revolve around the adventures of a young prostitute, who seeks massive breast implants to attract a rich cocaine smuggler. The Colombian version's final episode scored a record 63 share of the country's viewers.[2] The story originated with investigative journalist Gustavo Bolivar's eponymous debut novel about child prostitution.
In April 2008, Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC, said that "We're continuing to develop it," but he hinted that an English-language version may not be produced.[3] "It's very likely, actually, to go on Telemundo," he said. "Our script wasn't quite ready." NBC has said little about this project since it first announced in mid-2007 and no pilot has been produced.[3] The network announced in June that the series remains in development for the 2009-2010 season - or beyond.[4] The Daily Mail reported in October, 2008 that the project is still in the works.[5] However with Silverman's departure from the network in June 2009 and the network completely distancing itself from most of the pilots brought in by SIlverman which never made it to series, the project is likely dead and unlikely to be revived by NBC.
Paraíso tells the story of 17-year-old Catalina, a gorgeous young girl who descends into a decadent world of easy money as a teen prostitute "pre-paid girl".[6] She comes from a poor single-parent family and her brother works as a hired killer for drug traffickers. The girl dreams of a life of luxury, but she is not bosomy enough to attract a wealthy pusher whom she can seduce into making her a pampered paramour.[7]
Sick of poverty, Catalina decides that plastic surgery will help her find a new life. During her pursuit, she is raped, gets an abortion and dives into the sex trade.[8] She sells her body to raise money for breast augmentation.[9] After four operations, she loses the will to live, tries to commit suicide, so instead she placed a hit on herself.[7]
Gustavo Bolivar's heroine is a "pre-paid girl," which means she sells her services around-the-clock for a set period, hoping to make extra money.[7] The screenwriter says Paraiso highlights an unflattering part of his country: teenagers in the Colombian narco-culture getting the breast implants.[8]
Bolívar says the story is based on real-life conditions facing child prostitutes in the town of Pereira. There he met two girls who were desperate for silicone breasts. One told him that she got her operation for free in exchange for sex. Unfortunately, the doctor used a pair of used implants, which led to allergic reactions and infection.[7]
IN SHORT...
MISERY AND DEGRADATION (ALWAYS POPULAR THEMES IN GOOD STORY-TELLING) AS ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
HOW DARE YOU FUN ME?
The moment you hear the word "Tribunal," you'd best saddle up the pony and head out of town fast.
Worse, if you hear the phrase, "Human Rights Tribunal."
Worst, "B.C. Human Rights Tribunal."
Get out the iron masks.
We are told that we live in a society that manages itself according to some agreed-upon laws.
Systems are in place. Hm...
But, what kind of feudal throw-back are tribunals?
Three folks appointed by someone to make subjective judgements about someone else - without regard for any written and agreed upon set of laws.
Judgements, in effect, by fashion.
And whose cousin got the cement contract, by the way?
I mean, who are these people who get these assignments?
Now, the story.
Comedian fined for hurling sexual insults at show
Standup comic, restaurant owner ordered to pay woman total of $22,500 for tirade of sexist, homophobic slurs
Hahahaha...You can't write material like this.
Two lesbians go to a comedy club on Commercial Drive, which is a Lesbian Ghetto, and are amazed that a not very witty or skillful almost-comedian is throwing "dyke" jokes at them.
I'm not sure exactly which cookie jar these women and the Tribunal geeks have been living in for the past 50 years, but let's talk about comedy clubs.
Fuck, shit, piss, cunt, cock, pussy, eat me.
If you're not looking to hear this kind of simple-minded expression, you probably shouldn't be seeking out comedy venues in the modern world.
Please note that one of the tribunal members is named Murray Geiger-Adams.
I ask myself why does Murray have a hyphenated last name?
I answer myself that Murray has a vision for the New World, where all people are equal in all things all the time.
So Murray, when he met the love of his life, changed his name, as did she, or he, and now these two perfect partners have a perfectly balanced hyphenated name.
Congrats and Mazel Tov.
Meanwhile, back in court...
You won't be surprised to learn that the so-called guilty parties are appealing the decision - fucking
straight breeder bastards.
THE ETHNIC VOTE
The story in today's Sun about Ujjal Dosanjh filing a complaint over the Khalsa School's endorsement of a Conservative candidate is a microcosm of the corruption and injustice that dominates public life in Canada today.
The school is a registered charity and it receives almost $8 Million a year from the BC government.
The founder of the school is Ripudaman Singh Malik (pictured herein), the man acquitted in the Air India bombing.
He may have been acquitted, but that was not a finding with which most people I know agree.
It is near impossible to work through the layers of evil that are woven into the background of this nightmare without being called a racist.
Dosanjh, who was viciously beaten many years ago in his long public opposition to Sikh terrorist groups, is to be applauded for standing up once again to yet another small perversion of Canada's political system, laws and culture.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
JUST RE-ELECTED
I was wrong and Vancouver City Council was right.
Yesterday in this space I predicted that Vancouver would approve the Big New Casino caper.
They did not.
They rejected it unanimously, thus surprising everyone in town and delighting most of us.
This is a great triumph for good common sense, citizen participation and for the current Vancouver City Council.
For anyone who has followed this blog, you may have noticed that I almost never refer to City Council in any way whatsoever.
The reason for that has been that, until last night, I have thought of this current administration as basically silly and irrelevant and not worthy of attention.
Bike lanes, poultry and pigs in the back yard, daffodils on the roof. Please!
But this Vancouver City Council has not only redeemed itself with this decision, it has also guaranteed itself re-election come November.
Barring some major gaffe or scandal revealed, expect all seats to be filled by the same skirts and suits next time round.
The Big Casino in downtown Vancouver was a bad and odious idea. It came from people who have no real sense of what this city is.
It deserved to be rejected and we can only applaud the choice made last night at City Hall.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
THEFT - GOVERNMENT APPROVED - BIG TIME
The money being given to casinos and forgiven by the provincial government are a criminal offense unto themselves.
This money comes under the curious title, "Facility Development Commissions."
Or FDCs.
Pete McMartin & Larry Pynn have written two excellent pieces in this morning's Sun about this handy little give-away.
The bottom line is this:
BC taxpayers are handing casino owners, builders and developers close to half a BILLION dollars to help these poor souls create gambling places.
Not one of you - hoping to open a shoe store or a dental practice - can ask the government for similar kick-backs.
For that is what they are - kick-backs.
You build ugly places where miserable foolish people can lose lots of money that we can collect and we will be so grateful to you that we will practically build these sheds for you.
And the ways that these shady operations claim FDC money are hysterical and mind-boggling - parties, poker dealing lessons, celebrity pianos...
Best of all is the quote from Michael Graydon (pictured above), President CEO (Chief Evading Officer) of the BC Lottery Corporation, who says it is is not his business what casinos do with FDCs.
What exactly is his business?
How does this guy sleep at night?
Some time today, Vancouver City Council will not doubt approve the massive new gambling joint downtown.
Which will make practically everyone who has been in government for the last two decades complicit in this massive criminal enterprise.
GOOD ON YA'
Congratulations are very much in order to the Union Gospel Mission for their new multi-purpose facility on East Hastings.
UGM has been quietly and honorably serving the DTES and the entire community for a great many years now.
They are one of those front-line social service agencies that do effective human and humane work with "the least among us."
They rarely make headlines or attract attention to themselves.
Today is a worthy exception.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Self-represented Litigant files to Supreme Court of Canada
Susan Heyes files Leave to Appeal to Supreme Court
Is justice only available to the rich and powerful?
I have just filed for leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada as a self represented litigant.
Contributions can be made to the Susan Heyes Legal Defence fund : Royal Bank – account # 07200 – 5076666
I have no means to pay further huge legal fees to take this case to the Supreme Court of Canada, but as a citizen and a small business owner, I can’t afford not to. This is an issue of national importance with the potential to impact any small business in Canada.
The ruling of the BC Appeals Court, if not overturned, would mean that any small business in Canada in the path of a mega-project could suffer severe financial hardship or bankruptcy, without any legal obligation to tell the truth or to provide restitution, on the part of those responsible.
In this case of the P3 model for the Canada Line, this project has even been provided with the powers and funding of every level of government, to profit at the expense of the small businesses. This is unjust and unfair.
I began this fight for justice and compensation six years ago. I have mortgaged my home twice to keep my business viable. $300,000 of the $600,000 award plus costs, was paid out in legal fees, leaving me with a fraction of my actual losses to invest back into my business.
The Canada Line consortium, with assets over $13 billion, expects Hazel & Co to repay the entire $600,000 award, including the already paid legal fees. However, the lawyers for Canada Line apparently suggested that they might be prepared to waive some or all of the recovery of all moneys paid to Susan Heyes Inc. if no Leave to Appeal Application to the Supreme Court of Canada was filed.
Faced with another massive legal bill, and considering this financial inducement, the incentive for stopping any further legal action is compelling. But so is my determination for justice to prevail, and for this issue of national importance to be fully heard, and rectified.
I welcome financial assistance to continue this
If the several years of catastrophic business losses caused by the secretive, non-compliant cut and cover construction of the Canada Line is not considered severe, unreasonable, intolerable - and merits compensation - what process, what length of time and what degree of harm
The Supreme Court of Canada will be asked to consider the balance of fairness in the shared burden of costs and the shared benefits, as they relate to all participants in this landmark case, and that leave is being brought forward by Susan Heyes as a self-represented litigant, at great expense.
Susan Heyes
HAZEL&CO
4280 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
V5V 3P9
604 687-0721 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 604 687-0721 end_of_the_skype_highlighting w
604 551-8852 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 604 551-8852 end_of_the_skype_highlighting c
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
WHO HAD THE CEMENT CONTRACT?
The best political leader in the country, bar none, is Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts.
She has now publicly chosen light rail as the best and only feasible and affordable transportation addition for Surrey and district. The mayors of White Rock and Langley agree.
The cost of at-ground light rail is ONE TENTH that of the hideous mistaken eyesore known as SkyTrain.
To quote Mayor Watts, "At-grade rail is cost-effective and efficient, and would not only create a new transportation option, but also increase economic development and improve quality of life."
Not only that, but Mayor Watts wants this plan to be ratified within days or months and wants construction to begin ASAP.
I know of no other political leader with her good common sense, her feel for the pulse of the community and her willingness to speak and act directly.
Monday, April 11, 2011
BEST SHOW IN TOWN - BEST IN AGES!
MASSEY THEATER. COM OR 521-5050 FOR TICKETS.
BUY 10 OR MORE FOR MAJOR PRICE DISCOUNTS!
Theatre review: Boy howdy, The Will Rogers Follies are a real treat
By PETER BIRNIE, VANCOUVER SUN April 10, 2011
THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES
When: 8 p.m., to April 24
Where: Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave., New Westminster
Tickets: $20 to $39, go to masseytheatre.com 604-521-5050 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 604-521-5050 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Chances are, folks 'round these parts haven't heard of The Will Rogers Follies. That's a pity: A big Broadway show that gets neglected because, well, it's too big, means we've been missing out on a real treat.
Until now.
Royal City Musical Theatre has once again enlisted an army of talented amateurs, topped things with a couple of real pros and come up with magic up the hill in New Westminster.
The Will Rogers Follies takes the tales (only some of them tall) of America's favourite everyman/funnyman, a wise-crackin' cowboy from Oklahoma, and spins them into a sweet reminiscence of the life he led about a century ago. As she did last year with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, director Val Easton won't settle for less than a thoroughly polished offering of song, dance and lots of one-liners.
She's blessed to have Matt Palmer doing her Will. We already know his charms as a singer in many musical-theatre offerings and it's great to see him step up to mastering tricky rope tricks (well, he's getting there nicely, anyway), but what's best about Palmer's performance is the deep understanding he has of this fella's charms.
Rogers was one of the good guys, as expressed in his mantra that "I never met a man I didn't like." Boy howdy, that takes a lot of commitment to one's fellow human beings, and Palmer convincingly conveys the many charismatic ways Will roped in all his many fans.
On a promenade in front of the orchestra pit, he welcomes us to a unique kind of cabaret. From beyond the grave Will's been brought back by the great Florenz Ziegfeld, who used to pay Rogers a great deal of money to appear in Ziegfeld's gigantic vaudeville shows, and so The Will Rogers Follies unfolds as both biography and an excuse to parade pretty girls among the melodies.
Palmer has the drawl down pat, as well as the self-deprecating manner that so assured America and the world this slow-talkin' cowboy was the real deal. But the actor also projects something much deeper from behind Will's trademark smile — his heartfelt love of life.
A serious scene in the second act has him standing at an old-style microphone, delivering a radio address that was supposed to cheer listeners up just after they'd been handed the latest bad economic new from President Herbert Hoover. Instead, Rogers spoke at length and with great eloquence about the injustice of inequality in a nation where the wealthy were busy cheating every penny they could from the poor.
Word for word, what we heard on Saturday's opening night could have been written the day before, when the U.S. government was frantically trying to tie itself into its latest Gordian knot of economic chicanery. So many of the jokes heard in the whole show are likewise cut eerily close to spoofing what we witness spewing from today's politicians.
But back to happier times, and those girls. Laura McNaught has a funny recurring role as the impossible leggy Ziegfeld favourite who helps change scenes, and her fellow chorus girls are equally beautiful in their manner, movements and especially enunciation. Musical director James Bryson has cracked the whip to create the same vocal discipline that Easton demands in her choreography of suitably overblown dance numbers.
A show-stopper in the second act, for example, sees Palmer as part of a chorus line celebrating his bid to be U.S. president (on the Anti-Bunk ticket, of course). Sitting in a row and slapping their knees, and then each other's, and turning this action into an infectiously snappy dance number, Will and the women find all the fun in Cy Coleman's cheery score.
As the cowboy's wife, Sara-Jeanne Hosie gets to sing the sultry stuff, with poignant lyrics by the legendary Comden and Green. Betty Rogers doesn't have the same globe-trotting fun as her husband, but whether in the love duets she sings with him or the spoof of a smokey "he done me wrong" ballad, Hosie shows why she's one of our best Broadway voices.
From the four adorable Rogers kids (Nathan Piasecki, Keira Jang, Trevor Kobayashi, Connor Macmillan) and his gol-darned dad (Tyson Coady) to Chris Sinosich's ocean of gorgeous costumes, the big brass in Bryson's pit-packing orchestra and a richly creative set design by Omanie Elias, this stellar production of The Will Rogers Follies is filled with the fun of a family treat your clan should see. Yes indeedy, from eight to 80, come one come all.
Sun Theatre Critic
pbirnie@vancouversun.com
Saturday, April 9, 2011
THREE LITTLE THINGS
THING ONE - Best pre-election promise by a candidate: Harper says he would require bureaucrats to eliminate a regulation for everyone they propose.
Let's go him one or two better.
How about they are required to eliminate seven regulations for every new one proposed.
Or, they are required to eliminate seven bureaucratic jobs for every new reg proposed.
THING TWO - Kash Heed has been cleared again. That's fine with me; no argument. But what has been on my mind for a while now is this.
I've been thinking that Kash Heed took the offer to leave his job of West Vancouver's Police Chief to run for BC political office, so that he could be appointed Solicitor-General, all of which happened.
But he did all of that for one sole purpose - to create and institute A British Columbia Police Force with him as the Top Cop.
This would be his revenge for not getting the job of Vancouver Police Chief.
Now.
Am I dreaming? Am I making this all up out of whole cloth? Is it likely or possible?
Does anyone agree?
Will this fantasy, in time, cme to pass?
THING THREE - "Worst Headline of the Year" Award:
Killer teens never got the help they needed
Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
THE DANGEROUS AMONG US
Delusional and possibly schizophrenic.
An apt description for our criminal justice system.
Of course, originally this phrase was used to describe a man who killed his three children three years ago.
But now that knowing authorities are granting this dangerous felon leave to go swimming and have coffee at the mall, we can best apply this little summary to the authorities and to the system itself that allows such fools to be in charge.
The authorities, of course, have no - NO, ZERO - sense of community responsibility.
B.C. Review Board chair Bernd Walter is one of these men.
Dr. Johan Brink, the clinical director of the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital is another.
Remember their names.
Because when their patient, Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, kills someone else, these nutty, irresponsible fools should be held accountable.
Here is the shrink`s rationale for this hideously mistaken decision:
Brink said Schoenborn was “compliant,” taking medication and learning to cook.
Good. Nice.
What I have read of this dreadful story tells me this:
Schoenborn is and was NOT insane. He knew right from wrong when he killed his children, which he did entirely asd an act of rage against his wife. He then had the foresight and clear headedness to hide out in the woods until he was caught.
But Walter and Brink are insane.
They are dangerous men who are out of touch with the realities of their communities.
They are secreted away in their little jobs and have forgotten, if they ever knew, what is right and what is wrong.
Schoenborn is a high risk offender - as in way off the charts.
And these two men are aiding and abetting him.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
DOWN TO THE SEA, AGAIN
Esquimalt may lose command of ships
Navy proposing to switch control of Pacific operations to Halifax
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
WE GOT TROUBLE
Three videos this morning.
The first two bring you our interview, taped yesterday, for SHAW COMMUNITY TV, CABLE 4, with Rick Green, the Mayor of the Township of Langley.
Mayor Green has been embattled with his own council since the day he was elected two and a half years ago.
The third video is of Robert Preston doing his famous number from "The Music Man" at the Tony awards.
Enjoy.
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