American Revolution - Health Care

In an astonishingly bold and exciting move, the City of San Fransisco has created a universal health care system in which 82,000 uninsured residents are now being provided free or subsidized health care.

Read this story from the NY Times here, and contemplate what this might mean for the 45 million uninsured Americans and for the inefficiencies and inequities of of our own system here at home.

Ignorance at the Eidtorial level is No Excuse

The editorial in today's Sun regarding Canadians in foreign prisons is so uninformed, so comically wrong that I actually started to laugh out loud.

Harper and Day have said that they are not quick to bring Canadians jailbirds back to Canada to serve their sentences.

Listen to the Sun's outrageously ignorant argument:

"If they're transferred to Canada, they'll receive the benefit of programming, and be subject to gradual and structured release, under the watchful eye of parole officers...."

HAHAHAHAHA....

The benefit of programming? In Canadian prisons? WHAT programs are these? Where are they? Do they work? Answer, of course is there are almost no programs and the few that exist are there only to keep the most dangerous among us off the streets - namely, psychiatrists.

Now for the supervision under the watchful eye of parole officers...HAHAHA...

Two weeks ago, a violent parolee who lives directly across the street from me, attacked with no provocation, other than that he was high on drugs and booze and had nothing else to do that night, a teenage boy, smashed all the kid's teeth with a rock and sent him to the hospital.

Four police cars "attended."

The psycho asshole parolee - no doubt, under some genius' watchful eye all the while - was taken downtown and then released.

Has his parole been revoked for what is an obvious violation of his parole conditions?

Of course not.

The editorial literally does not know what it is talking about.

Prisons have very few programs. Programs do not work in prisons. You know why? BECAUSE THEY'RE IN PRISONS.

And every day in this country, some lovely human waste called a parolee kills, rapes or maims a citizen while under the watchful eye of some sad sack parole officer who spends 98% of his day in his cubicle filling out false reports.

Nose Counting, Nose Picking: What's the Difference?

How much does the census cost us?

And what do we get for our dollar?

The answers are these: A lot, millions, who knows. And, not much, damn little, warmed over folk tales.

Who didn't know that there is every kind of "family" these days? Truth is, there always was.

All those years that saps were eating up "Father knows best," the neighbourhood was filled with single parents, blended families, bachelors and old maids, gay couples, menages and who knows what other arrangement human beings have been concocting since we crossed the dessert and moved into town.

So many people get depressed at Christmas. They are lonely. They see the beer commercial with the Clydesdales dashing through he snow past the lovely cottage in the woods with the fire from the hearth within glowing.

Get a life! This is a beer commercial! It is fiction.

Where I grew up in the north end of Winnipeg, a so-called "normal" family was a science exhibit.

Remember the war? Half the dads and uncles had been killed. And the ones who came back were alcoholics.

The Quiet Crimes of the Olympics

It's amazing how casually we treat public money these days. The spending of it in huge gobs in not only not news, it is buried in the back pages as an afterthought.

We have only ourselves to lame for this indolence.

Today, there was a small item on page B2 of the Sun headlined "City plans Olympic live sites."

This extravagance will cost a mere $23 Million dollars. $5 Million will come from city tax payers.

Well, guess what, folks?

I don't want to pay for that. And nobody asked me if I wanted to pay for that.

Does anyone remember "democracy?"

The rest of the $23 Million will come from federal government and corporate rentals.

Well, how much from the federal government? And isn't that your money and my money too?

We have abandoned our commitment to governance and we have allowed the bureaucrats and thieves to spend our money with casual disregard.

Victor Channels the Dell-Vikings!

During back to school week, the kids take over the street and we who are not raising kids, become aware of their presence.

Watching the kids this week, it occurred to me that something has been lost. Something our generation treasured. Simply, it was listening to music together.

I watched the kids walk by with their Ipods and other PLDs (personal listening devices) plugged into their ears. Alone in the sound.

Kids listen to music while alone today. Sure, they hear music as a group when 50,000 of them go to a concert, but in truth, in those situations, they hear neither the music nor one another.

We listened to music together. We nattered about it. The record bar, as it was called, was a small corner of a department store, where we could gather as a pubescent group and listen to a record, at no charge, while practicing flirting. Hamburger joints had juke boxes and we would wait, six or more in a group, until some guy fed a quarter for four songs and then we would call out requests. Remember the chant ( Aw c'mon, play D5). We would ride, six of us, in a friend's car ( 52 Studebaker) and a song would come on the radio. Somebody would shout. " I like this song, turn it up!" The driver would say " hey man, you're blowing my speaker! ( Speaker, as in singular, there were no plural speakers in 52 Studs). Or sometimes, in teenage exuberance, we would dole out 85 cents ( a fortune) for a new 45 and call our our friends to come over and listen to our new Ricky Nelson record. We played it 17 times. In the basement. Our parents would finally yell "Turn down that noise!"

That's all gone. Today, music and earwax are all part of the same experience for a 14 year old. Maybe it doesn't matter. But I'm glad I was there then.

Some Small Hope for Addicts

Rob & Susie Ruttan are to be congratulated for their extraordinary work in bringing some new treatment resources for young addicts to B.C.

The Ruttans have been the moving force for many difficult years now behind a group of parents know as "From grief to Action."

While struggling with their own family melodramas and horrors of addictions, the group has consistently pleaded their case for treatment with governments at all levels.

Their efforts were finally rewarded.

Last week, they were able to announce that Portage, a residential treatment program that began in Quebec in 1973, will open a facility for 43 young addicts in Keremeos next year.

This is great news, indeed.

Portage is a long-term program and it works.

The provincial government will kick in $2.5 Million a year to operate the resource. This amounts to around $50,000 per person per annum, which is remarkably cheap. The reason, of course, i s that this is not a "medical" response filled with unnecessary and expensive doctors and nurses.

Like most good residential programs, Portage is run primarily by recovering addicts who know the score.

All of this is good news.

What would be much better news is that the province was providing $25 Million a year for 10 facilities like Portage for 430 people. Not only can we afford it, but we cannot afford NOT to spend this small amount of money.

It is also somewhat sad to see the Ruttans declaring in this morning's Letters to the Editor in the Sun that the young people whom they have been championing did not choose to become addicts.

We understand that these are grieving parents. We understand that they care.

But now their job is to "care" less, get out of the way and let the treatment people who truly understand the dynamics of addictions carry the ball.

The Portage people will make it very clear to their clients that they did, in fact, CHOOSE their addictions. Nobody else chose for them, and nobody else will choose sobriety for them. That concept is the very heart of recovery.

One from Column A, please

To Harrop, the wonderful catroonist of the Sun:

"Shooting or Non-Shooting?" says the maitre d'.

That's my joke. First starting telling it 5 years ago on air about Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsway.

Oh well, they say ideas are "in the air."

The Veils of Politics

The Sun editorial today regarding the chief electoral officer of the land, Marc Mayrand, is spot on.

Like it or not, Mayrand has been reading the law regarding how voters may identify themselves exactly, strictly and accurately as it is written.

Now, you and I may not be happy with men or women voting in Canadian elections from behind masks, veils, sheets, scarves or any other concealing device. I am not happy with this allowance.

But there is clear remedy for this: Either change the law by an act of parliament such that faces must be shown, or, respecting the religious choices of some, provide female adjudicators to whom veiled voters may reveal themselves to be who they claim they are.

The Prime Minister and others should be quiet until they know what the law is.

Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder - For Once in my life live

Tonight you can see a Tony Bennett special biography on PBS TV. It will air here from 6-7:30 on the Detroit station (Cable 43) and from 9-10:30 on KCTS 9 (Cable 27)

Here is my all-tome favorite balladeer with the incomparable Stevie Wonder.

Another Cheated Cambie Line Business Speaks Out

In response to Don Cayo, Vancouver Sun editorial Friday Sept 7/07 “Compensation no answer for Cambie crisis”

I appreciate the apparent complexity of the problem of equitable and realistic compensation. However, not to deal with the topic at all sets an unacceptable precedent that it is ok to push through a public project without regards to private rights to make a living and provide for their families. The businesses in Cambie village, in many cases, have their life savings invested in their businesses and are the only means they have to provide for themselves and their families. That means to survive has been stripped away without regard by the very government bodies they have been paying taxes to. The Cambie merchants are not asking for handouts, they are simply asking for moral and ethical behaviour and the right to continue to be contributors to our economy, through their businesses.

A public project managed with integrity would include, full disclosure of the methodology and impact of the project; communication with the merchants regarding how they are being affected by it and what they need to get through this crisis; acknowledgement and accountability for damages created; and responsibility to compensate for those damages. These principles apply to private construction projects and are enforced by law. Public projects should not be exempt from our most fundamental of laws - being accountable to others for foreseeable damages caused by actions taken.

The management of the Canada Line project is riddled with inconsistency of word and action. It appears that the parties that back the project haven’t done their due diligence re: the cost of the project, which includes the cost of the impact of those in the area, as it relates to the chosen construction methodology. Whether the damages are intentional or unintentional, they should be required to compensate as they are the only ones that have the power to create or prevent financial damages to others.

The construction methods and corresponding impact on the Cambie businesses was grossly misrepresented and the construction schedules change almost daily, leaving the average business person incapable of planning for and managing losses. These losses are simply a cost of construction that should have been allowed for and factored into the funding equation. To allow public projects to go forward without consideration for impact is socially irresponsible. It is our duty to stand up and ensure that this construction model is not repeated anywhere else in Canada.

There is a simple remedy for determining and compensating for losses created by the project. Look at earnings prior to construction and earnings during the construction, the difference is the extent of the business losses created by the project. This could be easily verified by requiring financial statements audited by certified accountants. This formula could be restricted to projects over a specific period of time (say three months or longer), causing unsustainable financial damages that endanger the continued existence of the business.

For those that have left the area, the losses could be limited to the time spent in the area during construction. For those just arrived, they entered into commitments with full knowledge of the impact and should have factored those into their financial plans, therefore not being eligible for compensation. The fact that so many new businesses have entered the area should be testimonial to the “fire sale” nature of the businesses that have been replaced. It should not be considered evidence of healthy commerce in the area.

Asking for responsibility for damages created in the form of compensation is the only action consistent with our democratic political system and our legal justice systems as they are currently defined. To sanction the expropriation of livelihood by the government at will, “for the public good”, is a very dangerous precedent to set.

Dale DubberleyPresident/ Thai Away Enterprises Inc.

Gateway Secrecy

Vaughn Palmer has some fun today with the Gateway plan and the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge.

As he should.

I have invited both Kevin Falcon, the Minister of Transportation, and the CEO of Gateway to participate in a public debate. I gave each of them 3 different dates over the next 3 months, and yet, curiously, neither of them could find the time on a Wednesday night to participate.

Hm....

Kids...Whatsamatter with kids today?

The social psychologists have again discovered what most of us have known for a generation now.

All piano lessons and Nintendo make Markie a dull boy.

What I've seen for many years now is two extremes: The over programmed kid who is SUV'd from ballet to math camp to tennis vs. the abandoned to the TV, playstation cyber-dork.

What we see so little of these days are kids simply running around the neighbourhood, making up their own melodramas as they go.

The technologies which are supposed to aid communication - the cellphone is the worst example - are in fact isolating people.

The so-called "family room" is actually the Anti-Family Room. It is a place for everyone to watch TV and disappear up their own backside.

"Jane Doe" is Out

Like most of you, I have avoided reading a word about the Pickton trial.

But it was impossible to avoid today's headline grabber, "Pickton Judge Throws Out Evidence."

There may, in fact, be good reasons for this, but we'll never really know because the judge has not explained himself.

Let's hope that this in no way impacts the inevitable outcome of this horror show.

Great New Movie - "THIS IS ENGLAND"

There's a new movie playing at the Fifth Avenue called "This Is England."

Go see it.

Powerful, funny and terrifying, it is among the best movies Ive seen in years.

The plotline is described on the IMDB website as follows:

"A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows."

Maggie Thatcher's War in the Falklands in the ever-present background.

All of the actors are spot-on, but the Thomas Turgoose, playing the boy, and Stephen Graham, playing the central bully character, "Combo," are astonishing. Graham in particular is the most captivating screen presence I've seen since Brando. His "This is England" soliloquy early in the film is breathtaking. Later, he tries to express his "love" for a girl he date-rated when she was 16 and drunk. Not many actors can give you this range and complexity.

As often happens with British movies, the actors do not appear to be acting; they seem at once to be merely "found," real people that have been accidently filmed.

Don't miss this one.

City Gall

Except that they are both members of the same political party and both part of the worst City Council in memory, Peter Ladner and Sam Sullivan have little in common.

Except that they both succumb to the temptation to fight in public.

Ladner has written a lengthy and interesting op-ed piece in today's Sun, praising the city and damning CUPE in the strike.

I am sure I speak for thousands when I say this: "Please be quiet, get back to the table and do whatever it takes to end this nonsense asap."

Stevie Wonder ~ Superstition

The Many Reasons & Seasons of Stevie Wonder(ful)

Dav Levitan of mcGill wrote the following for Crooks & Liars about the Stevie Wonder song playing above:

One element that gives “Superstition” its great groove is Stevie Wonder’s drumming. In the opening few seconds of “Superstition,” when Stevie’s high-hat cymbal is playing alone, you can hear part of the secret to the song’s groove. The beat Stevie plays on the high-hat is never exactly the same way twice; he throws in little extra taps, hits, and rests. Moreover, every note that he plays on the cymbal has a slightly different volume– nuances in his performance that add to the sense of tension. The genius of his playing is that he keeps us on our mental toes by changing aspects of the pattern every time he plays it, holding just enough of it the same to keep us grounded and oriented. Here, he plays the same rhythm at the beginning of each line, but changes the rhythm in the second part of the line, in a “call-and-response” pattern. Our brains are giant prediction machines and music offers them a great playground. We like it when musicians sometimes violate our expectations in interesting ways because the brain then learns that there exists a different way to complete the pattern than it thought. And our brains have evolved to like learning.

Don't Take Technology for Granted. So much of Today's World is Truly Astonishing

Yesterday we were sitting in a cafe on the UBC campus in the middle of our bike ride through the Pacific Spirit Park forest.

The room was quiet. Almost everyone was working on his or her computer.

Most of the computers were small and recent models.

I was struck by this amazing fact:

Almost all of human knowledge in available to each and everyone of these young students on a slim "machine" that fits easily into a backpack. Many are being operated by batteries, and all are "on line" (which is to say, plugged into the universal flow of all available human information) by "wireless" commands.

Some things aren't available, of course.

NASA's launch secrets. The FBI's files on you and your cousin, Eddie. The entire genome sequence for Baltimore's East Side.

But Google has been adding total LIBRARIES to the web for several years now. Enter "Harvard" in your search engine and galaxies of light years of info will open up.

I realize that all of this is now taken for granted, as the availability of a fresh loaf of bread is available at your corner store and you no longer have to pound grain on stone and heat recesses in a wall to get bread.

But allow me to catch my breath for a moment and be amazed.

From Our Good Friend Bill

"Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional minority and by the mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Are We All Teenage Girls?

I hate Facebook.

All of a sudden, people who I haven't heard from in 10 years and who now are declaring me their best friend are asking me to recognize the depth and importance of our relationship on Facebook.

Are they nuts? Lonely? Bored?

You want my email address? You want to write me or call to say something, fine.

But I don't want to go through 12 mouse clicks to read the latest cogent thought you've graffitied on my "wall."

I don't care what movies you like or who your other alleged friends are.

I have 7 pending requests. Just watch them pend for the next 100 years.

I am now averaging 3 Facebook email messages a day.

Be warned, oh childish ones, the Delete button is on and it's active.