Falling From Grace - Michael Vick

10-year, $130 million contract

That's where he was but a few months ago.

Today, he has been sentenced to 23 months in jail. He is pretty much penniless, in debt and horribly disgraced.

His name is Michael Vick and he was an elite athlete, a superb running and throwing quarterback with the NFL Atlanta Falcons.

His reversal of fortune has to do with dog fighting, cruelty to animals and gambling.

To see someone this good expose himself for being this bad is tragic.

Pickton Guilty - Much Still to Consider

Robert Pickton has been found guilty of 6 counts of murder. That's a good thing.

But much remains to consider.

First, he was charged with first-degree murder, but found guilty of second-degree murder, the thinking being that although he intended to kill, the murders were neither planned nor deliberate.

That would suggest the bizarre possibility that serial murderers can be spontaneous.

Next, the equally bizarre possibility exists that, although Pickton will be sentenced to life in prison, the typically unhinged parole board might some day recommend that he be released. This is most unlikely, but given the sorry state of human nature, why allow even the remote option to exist.

Then, we must consider the issue of pursuing a second trial on 20 additional murders. I believe we should do exactly that. But you can certainly have your say both in the comments to this post and in the survey to the right of this entry.

Finally, although it is most likely that Pickton acted alone in his monstrous insanity, he was hardly alone in the atmosphere that proceeded these murders. Many people, including "upstanding" and often well-known and well-placed citizens were known to favor a little fun at the pig farm on a steady basis.

Will these stories and these names ever come to light?

Addicts at St. Paul's? Really?

The news that addicts are stealing the alcohol-based hand sanitizers at St. Paul's Hospital is only the beginning of a much larger story.

Ask anyone who works at St. Paul's and he will tell you that addicts high jacked St. Paul's - particularly the emergency ward - some years ago.

You don't ever want to call an ambulance and have them speed you to St. Paul's. If you have a single breath in you, holler, "VGH!"

Addicts basically use St. Paul's ER as their private rest stop between fixes, overdoses, withdrawals and no-money-for-food-and-pills. They often use the ambulance services as a taxi service, and they do this in every large Canadian city.

I have a friend who has worked in this quagmire for years. In spite of regular attacks on his person, calls for security, and anxiety and sleepless nights, he somehow still manages to love his work. Bless his soul.

As for the rest of us, be warned. Unless you want to sit in pain amongst self-inflicted dope fiends, try another hotel.

Drunk Driving Under Welcome Attacks

We have seat belts and air bags.

Why not steering wheels that measure your blood alcohol level so that you cannot drive drunk?

No doubt there were squeals and shrieks galore from both the public and the manufacturers before seat belts and other safety devices. Even today, there are those who believe that their individual "freedoms" are compromised by having to strap on.

Nevertheless, the technology now exists and it is simple and inexpensive to embed sensors in steering wheels that measure one's blood alcohol levels. Anyone who has ever run on a treadmill is familiar with exactly this technology that gives an immediate and accurate reading of heart rate.

Heart rates are hard to come by when you've been struck by a drunk driver.

MADD is correct, as always, to pursue this worthy goal.

They are also correct to lobby against the motor company that employs Keifer Sutherland, no doing 48 days in jail for drunk driving, as their voice and spokesperson.

In Arizona, one enterprising lawman has gone even further. He is launching billboards and website with the photos of drunk drivers. Why not? I think that is perfectly useful and appropriate?

Read that story here.

Emmylou Harris - Prayer in Open D

Billy Joel Gives His latest to Young Cass Dillon

On the Other Hand

One of about similar 40 emails that I have received since Friday's column:

Finally,someone said it.

Between sanguine SAM and capricious Kim andthe rest of the rot on 12 avenue,it's hard to pick a standout.Sullivan had one good idea and he patents it.Since he and theother j green stole the election I've been dumbfounded.They don't evensee the homeless.

The Olympics were a boondoggle from day one.Some howMr.Furlong & co. have created their own little fiefdom and no-oneseems to care?The only problem we have down town seems to be thedumpsters.

Sullivan is more paranoid than Dick Cheney and seems to haveto prove it monthly.So we watch in awe as Sammy goes from custom wheelchair to custom ski chair and seems to lose them every time hetravels,which he does more often than Al Gore.

At this point evenCarole Taylor seems a better bet.Considering the way she's representedher constituents on Cambie,thats a scary thought.-- terry mckinney vancouver BC

Vanoc has lost all Bearings

Vanoc is going to sell Olympic-logo-stamped school supplies to kids.

Of all the disgraces this Party has been responsible for to date, this is the worst.

Will the millions raised from kids screaming to their struggling single parents go back into education?

Probably not.

Hands off the children, you greedy money-grubbers!

Read the whole story from this morning's Province here.

Kim Wouldn't Know the Truth if She Fell in a Barrel of it

Kim Capri can't tell the truth.

She never for a nono-second spoke about my thoughts on drug addiction. She never asked me a thing about this subject. It never came up.

I did not give her an angry rant.

I quietly told her what I thought after she told me far too many times how disappointed she was in me.

Often when you tell people something unpleasant they remember it as yelling.

Why write to the Province?

She doesn't know when to quit.

Here is her letter published today. It is full of falsehoods.

LetterPublished: Sunday, December 09, 2007

David Berner is fully entitled to his opinions, but it is important that he gets the facts correct.
I do respect some of his ideas about drug treatment, so I decided to call him and invite him to elucidate his thoughts.

I phoned the number on his business card. When he answered, I assumed that he, like myself, was working late.

Instead of a rational conversation about what we need to do to bring civility back to our city, he launched into an angry rant full of personal attacks.

At this point, I realized that my hopes for a reasonable conversation with some helpful feedback from him were futile.

I'm pleased to see he is now writing for The Province. The media loves having politicians to skewer. But Berner's column would have been far more interesting and helpful had he chosen to share some of his good ideas.

Coun. Kim Capri, Vancouver

John Lennon - Imagine Acoustic Live

Victor's Norval Morrisseau

In 1974, when I was even less polished than I am now,(unbelievable but true) an art store owed me $600 for some promotion work I did for them. The guy couldn't pay. So he asked me to give him time (he went bankrupt) and as a gesture of good faith, he gave me a limited Morrisseau print ( number 32 out of 50 made). I took it home, rather indifferently, as I had no idea who the artist was. At the time (this being the 70's) I was a disco lounge lizard wearing hideous clothes made from various petroleum products. My artistic tastes were not quite into the velvet Elvis genre but not that far away either. But I was enough of a philistine to have the print independently validated by an art buyer and she deemed it to be the real thing, limited edition and all.

It has adorned the prominent wall of every place I have inhabited since. Morrisseau's mystical creatures have watched me progress through my polyester John Revolta period in the 70's, then my insatiable Reacher period, Porsche and all, in the greedy 80s, my mellowing and uncoupling from materialism in the 90's and my scary move into self employment as the new century found me well into middle age.

I never had my Morrisseau appraised. It is only a print after all,and I don't care what it would fetch anyway. Those silent creatures have witnessed much of my adult life, watched me celebrate my petty triumphs with mute patience, seen me through divorce, disease and despair.

That is the value of the print.

Morrisseau suffered from many demons. Addiction of course. A debilitating disease. But in my view, the worst demons were the dealers who sold bogus representations of his work and the managers who paid him daily wine money to turn out paintings with his shaking hands. Hell has a special room for them.
He is free of all of those demons now. He is in the spirit world he so often brushed with his majestic paintings, trying to let us glimpse what he knew..

PUBLIC DEBATE - JOIN US

THE LANGARA DIALOGUES are a series of public debates on matters of public policy.

They are held at the Vancouver Public Library, Downtown branch at Homer & Robson, downstairs in the Alice Mackay Room. They always begin sharp at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:15) and end sharp at 9. Free coffee is provided, thanks to Blenz.

Our next event is this coming Wednesday, Dec. 12/07.

RESOLVED: YOU CANNOT LIVE A MORAL LIFE WITHOUT A GOOD BOOK

The Torah, The New Testament, and the Koran have sustained millions of Jews, Christians and Muslims for centuries. On what guides do Humanists. Sceptics and others rely?

Arguing the AFFIRMATIVE: The Reverend Gary Paterson, St. Andrews- Wesley United Church

Arguing the NEGATIVE: Dale Beyerstein, Philosophy Department, Langara College

There will be 2 additonal special guests and lots of time for your questions and comments.

Please join us.

YVR has a Serious Responsibility

"I think it's clear that our systems that we had in place did not serve Robert Dziekanski that evening," This is Larry Berg, YVR CEO speaking of the Taser Murder.

You think?

Now, in fairness, Berg and his people have initiated some significant changes at the airport and we hope that these will help avert this kind of sickening tragedy.

But all the technology and re-design in the world will achieve nothing unless the employees carry within them the sincere desire to serve and help people.

It is difficult, I am sure, in the face of hundreds of thousands of human beings moving past your field of vision every day, to maintain your humanity and remember that each person is important.

Nevertheless, that is their job. Let's hope they do it better from this point on.

Excited States in Full Hysteria Mode

The American elections are always way more fun than our own, if for no other reason than the sheer "bizarro" factors.

Oprah, that arbiter of all things cultural (books, food, sex, fashion, charity), is stumping for Barack Obama.

Why? Because she can and because he is black.

Football fields will now be hardly large enough to hold in the throngs.

No question Obama is an attractive, intelligent and interesting man and candidate. And no doubt it is time for America to elect a woman or a black as President.

But, as always, not because the candidate is a woman or black.

On the other hand, in the Southern eastern Seaboard states, white people have no embarrassment at all about telling the TV cameras that nobody they know will ever vote for a black man. Nice.

Then, there are the Republicans who cannot find a pew or a pulpit fast enough to declare their religious belief systems. Mormon, in; Baptist, out. Today.

No doubt, tomorrow, the Pentecostals will have the glory.

What happened to the separation of church and state? What happened to policy? What are your ideas for government?

No. Just tell us which Jesus you believe in and how deeply and how often.

George Bush, the worst President in history, a complete puppet of the evil men around him, prays all the time. When he isn't sneering, he's genuflecting. And what a wonderful time he's brought us all.

Spurious New Job

The provincial government is advertising for a Manager, Corporate Policy in the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Hahahahaha....

I'm laughing while the children cry and die.

This job would be just fine if the politicians would fund the department or the representative for Children and Youth.

The Sun editorial has confirmed exactly what we have said in this space several times in recent weeks.

The hick backbencher MLA's who have refused Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond's request for money to do her work are cynical petty thugs and if the Premier doesn't fire them, we must fire him in the next election.

Walter Cronkite Calls for US Withdrawal From Iraq

With great thanks to Crooks and Liars and Common Dreams, we reproduce below in its entirety, Walter Cronkite's call for the end to US troops in IraQ:

Published on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

Our Troops Must Leave Iraq

by Walter Cronkite and David Krieger

The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam War, has diminished respect for America. We believe Mr. Bush would like to drag the war on long enough to hand it off to another president.

The war in Iraq reminds us of the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Both wars began with false assertions by the president to the American people and the Congress. Like Vietnam, the Iraq War has introduced a new vocabulary: “shock and awe,” “mission accomplished,” “the surge.” Like Vietnam, we have destroyed cities in order to save them. It is not a strategy for success.
The Bush administration has attempted to forestall ending the war by putting in more troops, but more troops will not solve the problem. We have lost the hearts and minds of most of the Iraqi people, and victory no longer seems to be even a remote possibility. It is time to end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops home.

This war has had only limited body counts. There are reports that more than one million Iraqis have died in the war. These reports cannot be corroborated because the US military does not make public the number of the Iraqi dead and injured. There are also reports that some four million Iraqis have been displaced and are refugees either abroad or within their own country. Iraqis with the resources to leave the country have left. They are frightened. They don’t trust the US, its allies or its mercenaries to protect them and their interests.

We know more about the body counts of American soldiers in Iraq. Some 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in this war, about a third more than the number of people who died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. And some 28,000 American soldiers have suffered debilitating injuries. Many more have been affected by the trauma of war in ways that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives - ways that will have serious effects not only on their lives and the lives of their loved ones, but on society as a whole. Due to woefully inadequate resources being provided, our injured soldiers are not receiving the medical treatment and mental health care that they deserve.

The invasion of Iraq was illegal from the start. Not only was Congress lied to in order to secure its support for the invasion of Iraq, but the war lacked the support of the United Nations Security Council and thus was an aggressive war initiated on the false pretenses of weapons of mass destruction. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Nor has any assertion of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda proven to be true. In the end, democracy has not come to Iraq. Its government is still being forced to bend to the will of the US administration.
What the war has accomplished is the undermining of US credibility throughout the world, the weakening of our military forces, and the erosion of our Bill of Rights. Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz calculates that the war is costing American tax payers more than $1 trillion. This amount could double if we continue the war. Each minute we are spending $500,000 in Iraq. Our losses are incalculable. It is time to remove our military forces from Iraq.

We must ask ourselves whether continuing to pursue this war is benefiting the American people or weakening us. We must ask whether continuing the war is benefiting the Iraqi people or inflicting greater suffering upon them. We believe the answer to these inquiries is that both the American and Iraqi people would benefit by ending the US military presence in Iraq.

Moving forward is not complicated, but it will require courage. Step one is to proceed with the rapid withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and hand over the responsibility for the security of Iraq to Iraqi forces. Step two is to remove our military bases from Iraq and to turn Iraqi oil over to Iraqis. Step three is to provide resources to the Iraqis to rebuild the infrastructure that has been destroyed in the war.

Congress must act. Although Congress never declared war, as required by the Constitution, they did give the president the authority to invade Iraq. Congress must now withdraw that authority and cease its funding of the war.

It is not likely, however, that Congress will act unless the American people make their voices heard with unmistakable clarity. That is the way the Vietnam War was brought to an end. It is the way that the Iraq War will also be brought to an end. The only question is whether it will be now, or whether the war will drag on, with all the suffering that implies, to an even more tragic, costly and degrading defeat. We will be a better, stronger and more decent country to bring the troops home now.

Victor's Road to Religious Understanding

It is illustrative to watch Romney and Huckabee being challenged on their religious beliefs.

Undoubtedly, the Mormons and Evangelical Christians hold beliefs that are a liturgical gold mine for probing reporters. How irresistible it is to ask a Mormon if he truly believes that the next garden of eden will really be in Missouri. What fun!

I have no brief with the obscure rituals of anybody's religion. Long ago, as a 10 year old alter boy, I lost my fascination with religious rituals when the bishop visited our small church. He wore a tall headdress (the mitre) for celebrating mass, and a skullcap, for delivering the sermon. Sweating as I was, among 50 heathen alter boys conscripted for the service, I remember thinking , " I got it. The big hat is to make him look taller and the beanie is to cover his bald spot." To this day, I still believe that my analysis covers all religious headgear, be it bishops' beanies, yarmulkas or Indian feathers. It's all about male vanity. Height and bald spots. Funny, though, most organized religions pressured women to cover their assets. Hmnnn, men are such hypocrites.

All of that said, I don't care if your religion requires you to wear a red rubber nose. I will fight for your right to wear it, but laugh in your face if you claim it makes you pious.

Which brings me back to Romney and Huckabee, two Republican candidates.

It's easy to question the religious rights in terms of their fitness for presidential office. But what would we do if members of other religions sought the same job? How would the media questions go? Some examples.

A Sikh Candidate.

Question: Sir , we know that the 5 symbols of your religion are (1) uncut hair (2) a turban (3) an iron bracelet (4) a dagger (5) loose underwear symbolizing chaste behavior. Sir, my question is, we have video of you riding a motorcycle while wearing tight jeans and we would like to know if your tight jeans nullified the loose underwear rule.

A Hindu Candidate.

Question. Ma'am, we know your religion holds that elephants are gods and many millions of your religions adherents believe that a ceramic statue of your elephant god, Ganesh, can actually produce milk fit for human consumption. My question Ma'am, is " will you be praying to an elephant when you are President and will you have a ceramic elephant to produce milk in the Whitehouse kitchen.

Moslem Candidate.

Question: Sir, we read in the Koran that Mohammed had a horse called Baraq. We also read that this horse had wings and the face of a woman. Most interestingly, we read in the Koran that Mohammed road Baraq 700 miles over night, that's 80 miles an hour, to Jerusalem, dismounted and ascended to Heaven to chat with God. My question sir, is if you are elected President, given our energy crisis, can you help us get some of these horses? And sir, will they look like Angelina Jolie or Margaret Thatcher?

I could go on. Since I was that 10 year old alter boy, I have been fascinated by the monumental idiocy of organized religion. But I still believe that the red nose religionists need all of our protection.

My major point is no journalist would ever ask these kind of questions of other religions because they know they would be shot dead before they reached the parking lot.

So for now, Christians of any stripe make for an easy, spineless media target.

But that can change. The IRA proved that. I bet there weren't a lot of sardonic, dismissive spoofs on Catholicism on Belfast television in the 1970s.

JOG IN THE ROAD

About ten wonderful comments came in this morning about the new Province column, for which I thank you. For reasons known only to the gremlins of cyberspace, these got posted to HUGE NEWS from yesterday's postings.

You can read them all here.

To clarify...the column will appear only once a week on Fridays. And it will only appear as long as the Province is happy with the work.

I have no idea what I will write for next week, but I have already planned a piece about some Hopeful Signs of Things to Come for the 21st, before Christmas.

Stay tuned....

First Column

It's minus the lovely foto, but you can get that by actually buying a paper. Or shnoring one at a coffee shop.

Here's my first Province editorial column.

Bits 'n Bites

- Larry just won't be quiet. So Carole would be a shoo-in. Yes, Lar, we all know that. Go back to your Red Chamber, collect your sinecure and shutenzie up.

- The Judge makes "an error" and has to apologize to the jury in the Pickton trial? Can Canadian jurisprudence, already reeling from the continuing exposure at the Air India hearings, get any more pummeled by its own neglect?

- Rarely have I seen Vaughn Palmer take after this Liberal government with such gusto as he has in the case of these soul-less Liberals hacking away at the budget of the Child Protection office. And he is ever so right to do so. He is also right to point out that it is the premier who is behind this pettiness and politicking, which will ultimately penalize children at risk. Also noted is the amount cut back equals the amount spent by that idiot, Christensen, on office renos. How do these creeps look at themselves in the mirror?

- Gary Lunn, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, has done NOTHING for anyone in all his years in office. But now he has managed the impossible - a tax forgiveness for one special group of people. The group is irrelevant; the issue is why them and not me or you? Can you say, corruption and favoritism, boys and girls?

- "I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from the God who gave us liberty. Nor would I separate us from our religious heritage." This is Mitt Romney, the Mormon Republican presidential candidate, who is being rebuffed by some Christians for his religious beliefs, while other flock (sic!) to Mike Huckabee, the Baptist candidate. So this is what American politics has come down to - My God is Better than Your God!

- It sickens me to see Vanoc crying out for 25,000 volunteers for their 2 week multi-Billion Dollar Frat party. We desperately need volunteers for old folks, for youngsters, for health care, for education. At Langara College, we are currently placing 40 new student volunteers into action with the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Louis Brier Home. To take volunteer time and energy and care away from these quiet and honorable pursuits to enable the public scam known as 2010 is detestable.