Inquisition Revisited

What century are we in?

Pope Benedict is talking about returning to the Catholic liturgy a choice piece of once-abandoned ritual that calls for the conversion of Jews and refers to "perfidious Jews."

The prayers ask God to "take the veil" off Jewish hearts and show mercy "even for the Jews."

Even!

Is the Pope familiar with Hamas? Has he heard of Iran? Is he aware of the enormous world-wide hatred toward Jews today?

And Speaking of the Slammer...

California has more prisons and more prisoners than practically any other jurisdiction on earth. The state is currently allocating over $7Billion in additional funds to house a new influx of over 50,000 jailbirds.

Among the many institutions it either runs or pays profits or non-profits to run, California boasts a number of prisons for women and their babies.

In most instances, the women are, of course, drug addicts.

Now, the state has discovered that many of the prison babies are extremely less than well cared for.

How's this for a chilling comment:

“We don’t think that these kids are part of our mandate, because they are not incarcerated,” said the spokeswoman, Rachel Kagan.

Read the entire story here, and ask yourself a number of questions.

Why are so many people in the greatest state in the world (or whatever Arnie is calling it these days) sending so many people to jail?

Why are babies sent to prison with their idiot addict incapable so-called mothers?

And, if they are, why aren't they cared for by the people who run the prisons?

This makes as much sense as conjugal visits.

Do gay prisoners have conjugal visitor "rights?"

Could the women lawyers at the Marine Drive Golf Club - who now have lots of time on their hands and nowhere to go - could they take up this worthy cause?

Stop Sending Canadian Soldiers to Afghanistan

I have never been more sure of an opinion.

We have no business sending Candadian soldiers to Afghanistan.

As 6 more Canadian soldiers were killed yesterday, bringing the total to 67, and yet another grieving family was profiled below the morning masthead, I was convinced more than ever that this is the most fruitless effort.

I appreciate that not everone agrees with me. But I am firm in this belief.

Justice - One Little Case at a Time...

It was refreshing to see a Surrey kidnapper sentenced to 13 years in jail. But why are these sentences so few and far between? And did this one result in the kind of sentence most reasonable people expect, while so many other murderers, rapists and sundry scum get off with hand slapping?

The so-called Criminal Justice System remains one of the great mysteries.

Congrats to The Women!

Congratulations are much in order to Harsha Walia and the women she is working with in The Power of Women Group for their marvelous challenge to our loopy mayor and his dreadfully inept sidekicks at City Hall.

The Group has asked the good mayor and councillors to trade places with them Ha!

The first result of this challenge is a full page story in The Vancouver Sun.

We will see what other results may follow, but this much is certain: Great PR and Community development work in action. More! More! More!

Apologies and Promises...

Sorry, Folks, but I simply didn't have a single bright thing to say this morning. I read the papers. Maybe I just had too much on my mind today.

I'll be back with bloggistic treasure tomorrow.

Enjoy the sunshine!

The Tennis Fan's Agony: Broadcasters

TSN, ESPN and NBC are among the alphabet soups that just don't get it.

Tennis fans are...wait for it...TENNIS FANS.

They don't give a flying fuck what happened in the off-season in terms of NHL trades, what obscure 3d rate ball player snuck from 1st to 2nd in the bottom of an early season game between the Senators and the Louisville Snoozemasters, and what color underwear Beckham wore to the party last night.

Tennis fans are watching TV to do that one thing they only get to do 4 or 5 times a year...wait for it...WATCH TENNIS!

So NBC always starts their tennis coverage with some frozen smiling rictus in a New York studio bringing us all up to date on 9 other sports events before we actually get to SEE Wimbledon. Let them know at NBC that we TENNIS FANS are at home, yelling at the TV set, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! BRING US THE TENNIS, YOU MORONS!!!"

TSN, always, always, always chooses to display their visually and orally disrupting crawls (baseball scores, off-season hockey trades) at the bottom of the screen EXACTLY at match points and championship points. Is there some evil DNA lodged in their souls? Are they completely mad? Or just plain stupid?

And, of course, NBC must take us on colorful little tours of Paris or London because none of us have ever seen Paris or London and we tuned into a famous tennis tournament when we actually meant to watch the travel channel.

A billion dollar reward to the broadcaster who broadcasts tennis by...wait for it...broadcasting TENNIS!!!

The Excited States: Good News & Bad News

The Good News:

John McCain is running out of money for his presidential campaign. Yeah!

The Bad News:

That great and wise authority on jurisprudence, George Bush, has pardoned Libby. Boo!

"I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."PRESIDENT BUSH, on the prison sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr."

Beverly Sills Farewell - Her Final Performance!

Known as "Bubbles," Beverly Sills passed away yesterday at the age of 78. She was more than a great singer. She was a great organizer and fundraiser and ambassador for music.

Translink Beholden to Big Biz?

International News is a small mom-&-pop shop on West 10th Avenue. It sells newspapers, magazines and lottery tickets and rents out videos. The husband and wife who have been operating the shop for about 10 years now work about 12 or more hours a day, 9 days a week.

Late this afternoon, we went in to buy a monthly bus pass. We were told by the owner that she wasn't allowed to sell bus passes - even though she has asked Translink repeatedly if she could do so - because Safeway is one block away and that would affect Safeway's business!

Safeway is an enormous multi-national corporation. They can't handle the competition in selling bus passes from a little news stand operation?

At the corner of 10th & Sasamat, which is half-way between International News and Safeway, there are 4 banks, one on each corner. In total, there are 7 banks within a block and a half. There are 3 bakeries and about 10 coffee shops, all competing with one another.

Of course, what would TRANSCLUNK know about competition? Or serving the community? Or supporting working men & women?

The Legal, Immoral Drug Pushers

At last...someone in American government has proposed legislation that would force Big Phrama to report the gifts and enticements it offers daily to doctors.

Let's call these doctors and psychiatrists what they are - pushers.

Let's rein them in.

Please Stay Out!

Buongiorno Venezia reports this morning the unique tourism problems of Venice:

NEWS. During a conference which took place last week at Lake Garda, Mayor Cacciari made some remarkable suggestions about his city. "Please say thatVenice smells, that merchants are expensive; please do adverse publicity. In Venice, we have to thin crowds, not attract them. The tourists who arrive everyyear already number 20,000,000, and we are preparing for the Chinese touristboom, which is a frightening prospect. In China, new tourist agencies have been opened by the dozen, and everyone includes tours to Venice. The municipalitydoesn't get any benefit from this surge, and there are absurd costs for controlling trash and providing transportation. Tourism, beyond certain levels,becomes dangerous." It was a very clear speech, leaving no doubt about the municipality's dilemma.

Home $weet Home

You thought Vancouver real estate was expensive?

The highest price residential listing in America is a little place in Aspen, Colorado, built for and currently owned, of course, by a Saudi Prince.

Take a browse...

HAPPY CANADA DAY

The Canada Day long weekend is for: doing nothing, sleeping, resting, making whoopee, cooking and eating, seeing friends and family, golf, tennis, football, biking, walking, reading, Scrabble, crosswords, movies and giving thanks for a young and unfinished country that is far from perfect, but oh so rich and wonderful!

Ben Webster - Jazz 625 - Chelsea Bridge

This sings for itself...

Independent Lens

Billy Strayhorn was gay, black and a genius. He wrote and arranged most of Duke Ellington's most famous tunes. Read the book, "Lush Life," and watch for the doc on PBS. It's extraordinary stuff.

WRONG WAY CORRIGAN RIDES AGAIN

I've been thinking about the recently announced fare hikes for Transclunk.

And I'm also thinking about everybody's favorite hobby horse these days ' "sustainability." Or is it just - Stain-ability?

So how does Malcolm Brodie, who has never ridden a bus in his life, reconcile the larger issue of trying to get more cars off the road and more riders in public transit with raising the fares?

Answer: He doesn't. Malcolm isn't much of a thinker.

Shouldn't we be LOWERING THE FARES?

No Consequences

A woman calls 911 and tells the police officer that her nephew has slashed his wrists.

The police officer doesn't take this very seriously. His partner makes dark jokes.

The ambulance arrives after ONE HOUR. The man dies.

The delaying officer is suspended for THREE DAYS without pay. Huh?

The other fool has to write an essay!!!

Are we a serious community?

Here's another exapmple of this magificent baritone bringing new life to Rogers and Hammerstein.

How to Handle a Woman

Terfel is one of the greatest voices of our generation. He is most often singing opera, but he has proven again and agin that he is a master of the Broadway show tune. Here's the Richard Burton/King's song from Camelot.