Bhutto's Death a Sign of Things to Come

The Bhutto murder has further destabilized and already incendiary region.

This report from Al Jazeera describes only some of the more noticed bloody reactions in the past few hours.

Bhutto was an incredibly complex person and our opinions of her may vary from soul to soul or hour to hour.

But, rightly or wrongly, she was a symbol of hope for democratic governance in a country ruled by feudalisms, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, the military and millionaires. 165 million people, most of them poor.

Lord have mercy on us all. Tough times are ahead.

Bhutto Killed in Attack on Political Rally

The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack at a political rally being held near Islamabad on Thursday, according to Pakistan's statenews agency.

Here is the NY Times update.

THE RETURN OF THE FRONT PAGE

It is wonderful to an old news junkie like me to see actual news stories on the front page again. Santa's made his weary way back to the Pole, the elves are restocking the shelves at Best Buy and those of us who thrive on mayem and outrage can crawl out from under the couch again:

1. FEDS TO HIRE 3000 NEW GRADS. Is that supposed to be good news? Whose cousins and nephews will these tax-suckers be? What paper-pushing will occupy their time between visits to Antigua for intercultural understanding conferences?

2. RCMP CAN'T CLOSE CASE ON TRUCKER. Guy makes his shady living rigging rigs to hide the powdered bling and there's no evidence to prove that he isn't just practicing a magic act bigger than David Copperfield.

3. MONTREALER MAKES MILLIONS IN HONG KONG. And I am supposed to care about his how? Why? I've never been a money guy - evidence the comfortable, but relatively modest circumstance in which I live - but, of late, flying quickly into old age I can declare straight up that I am immensely NOT impressed by rich people. This is not envy. No doubt there are some marvelous rich people who read books and and care about other human beings and even some who do something useful for the world other than increase their net worth every four seconds. But most are junkies - money addicts. Good luck to them.

4. WIKIPEDIA - QUALITY OF QUANTITY. Short discussion. Inclusion.

When Did We Start Turning Against Police?

So many Canadians resent uniforms.

The military and police are largely dissed and discredited, underfunded by years of Liberal and Conservative neglect.

Any notion of the police being helpful in our on-going drug and addiction nightmares is quickly dismissed as jackboot and failing tactics.

Well, NewThinkers, check out New York City, whose crime rate has not only statistically but noticeably, been on the decline for several years now.

The police have been the largest single reason for that encouraging news.

Today, the new announcement is that every new cop will be sent out onto the streets of high risk neighbourhoods.

Read this story and tell me if there isn't a lesson for Vancouver, where I haven't seen a cop walking the beat in 30 years.

LETTER FROM CARNEGIE BOARD MEMBER

Hi, David,

As a board member of Carnegie who has questioned the legitimacy of the barring of my fellow board member, William Simpson, I really appreciate your coverage of this story. It was very gutsy of you to post links to the DTESenquirer blog, and the website NowPublic because now, of course, you are also in violation of the Carnegie guidelines and in serious danger of being barred from the Carnegie Centre.

Having a link was the entirety of William Simpsons transgression that got him barred indefinitely. Perhaps you will be getting a letter from the City soon!

You might not spend much time in the DTES, so maybe you’re not exposing yourself to a big risk, but imagine if you posted a link to a website that was critical of the City’s police or garbage services. With the kind of precedent that the City has set with their handling of the William Simpson case, they could easily start refusing to pick up your garbage or protecting your family. The basic concept the City is operating from is ridiculous. City Services aren't something that the City should be able to use as a carrot or stick to silence a critic.

I find it ironic that on June 21, 2007 the Director of the Carnegie Centre, flanked by security, met William Simpson at the door of the Carnegie with a letter signed by city manager Jacquie Forbes-Roberts accusing William of contravening the Carnegie Centre written guiding principles which “require patrons and staff to treat one another with respect, settle differences and misunderstandings through patience and goodwill…” As an elected Carnegie Board member who has been repeatedly stonewalled by City staff over this issue I would hope the obvious tide of public opinion in this matter prompts them to review their actions.

They could start by reviewing another of the Carnegies written guiding principles;"To ensure that people in our community are supported in finding their own voice, and in participating in the life of the Centre"

Rachel Davis

Member of the Board of Directors,Carnegie Centre

J.S.Bach 'Sinfonia' Swingle Singers

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings @ Southpaw, January 2005

BOXING DAY DOOR CRASHER SPECIALS

Following are Bobby McFerrin, Pablo Casals and Glenn Gould swimming in Bach...

Air. J.S. Bach Bobby Mcferrin

Pablo Casals plays BACH - Suite no 1 for Cello - part 1

Bach - Art of fugue - Contrapunctus01 - Glenn Gould

Now for the Really Bad News

More driving drunk in Canada, poll finds

OMAR EL AKKAD
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
December 26, 2007 at 12:02 AM EST

Canada is no longer making progress in reducing drunk driving, according to a leading traffic research group.

A poll of more than 1,000 Canadians by the Ottawa-based Traffic Injury Research Foundation this month shows the number of Canadians driving drunk has jumped over the past three years.
The percentage of Canadians who drove over the legal limit climbed to 8.2 per cent this year, up from 5.6 per cent in 2004, the foundation said.

“We're no longer seeing a pattern of declines in drinking and driving behaviour,” said Ward Vanlaar, a research scientist at the foundation. “This is very similar to what's occurring in other countries.”

The poll results come in the holiday season, a time when police forces across the country conduct frequent spot checks in the hopes of dissuading partiers from driving.

Repeat drunk drivers were least concerned about the issue, the poll found. They also made up the vast majority of drinking and driving incidents across the country.

“Repeat drinking drivers were responsible for 6.6 million drunk-driving trips in Canada last year; that adds up to about 90 per cent of all drunk-driving activity,” Mr. Vanlaar said. “Clearly this group isn't getting the message.”

So far this year, the number of people caught driving over the legal limit is up in many parts of Canada. In Winnipeg, police have caught about twice as many people driving impaired or refusing a breathalyzer – both in the weeks leading up to Christmas and so far this year – compared with 2006.

In Toronto, officers laid about 60 drinking and driving charges over the past 26 days, compared with 53 charges during the same period last year. However, Toronto police also stopped about 13,000 more vehicles during the holiday season this year than during the same period in 2006, as about 150 more police officers took part in the spot-check program this year.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that, compared to the average driver, those who drink are more often men, and have prior traffic tickets.

More than 80 per cent of those polled supported the use of mandatory ignition interlocks and immediate vehicle impoundment as punishment for those caught driving drunk.

A total of 1,238 Canadians were polled. Results are accurate within plus or minus 2.8 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Tom Waits - Christmas card from... (live)

New News Blogs

Thanks to another comment, we have added a new link to the blog known as "Downtown Eastside Enquirer."

You've got to love a blog that calls Sam Sullivan, Vancouver's "do nothing mayor."

You can find this link on the right hand side of the page scrolling down...or click here.

Also, please note that we have added "NowPublic.com," yet another alternative news source near the top of the page on the right hand side.

Please use and enjoy these 2 new resources.

Great Comment on the DTES

This comment was sent in this evening in response to Elizabeth James' posting and my post, "The Povertarians."

It was so good I felt it deserved a posting of its own:

William Simpson's story with the Carnegie is, sorry to say, not a rare example, they often bar people without due process of any sort. My favorite example is the head of security says "You're barred" the barred man says "what for?"Security explains: " Never mind that! Just get out!"

Power corrupts, and absolute power over an abject population tends to corrupt absolutely. When there is no accountability, no way for the common member to resolve his grievance, let alone get the grievance on a staff person's file, things get out of balance.

There is a "Incident Report Book" at Carnegie in which members can be written up by security. This can be done with out a person's knowledge. Incidents in this book will be automatically entered into the computer and will stay there for three years. All without them even knowing about it! How much sense does that make?

If you want someone to stop doing something, wouldn't you go ahead and tell them when they've crossed the line? Secret write-ups are so iron curtain, how in the world do they help to resolve anything? They are only good for building a case for a punitive strike.And then what happens when a member tries to get something on record and resolve a staff person's behavior? There's no way to get it on paper at all, and in fact, complaints could be dismissed out of hand because it turns out you're cpmplaining to the boss about his girlfriend! But how were you to know, unless you've read the DTESenquirer blog?

I'd like to see more people from outside the DTES write to Judy Bader, she's the boss of Jaquie Forbes Roberts, the woman from the City of Vancouver who wrote the letter that barred William Simpson.

I say from outside because so many inside live in 10x10 rooms without computers, and on the streets and such. The City knows exactly who they are picking on, and they know exactly how little resources they have to protect themselves against egregious abuses of power, like the barring of William Simpson.

At the Movies

Rented 3 movies 3 the other day:

THE HUMAN STAIN

It's often difficult to film a good book. The best movies usually come from not particularly great books. I don't know how many people go out of their way to read "Gone With the Wind." "Casablanca" was being scripted as it was being written, up to the last day.

Any book by Philip Roth is going to be worth reading; he's one of the great American writers. And his books are rich in thought and interior monologue, so simply recording the story line on film isn't always going to be satisfactory.

And in this case, we have Gary Sinise playing Roth's famous alter ego, Nathan Zukerman - an odd piece of casting - and muttering homilies off screen as a narrator.

Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman and Ed Harris are always watchable.

The story itself is rich and fascinating as it deals with the Great American Issue - Race - and love and betrayal.

Not great...but damn good.

MUNICH

After the murder of Israeli athletes at the '72 Olympic Games in Munich, Golda Meir ordered the assassination of the murderers by a very covert cell of Mossad operatives.

Spielberg has made a roller coaster of a film. We follow this band of killers from Rome to Paris, Athens, Lebanon, London and Amsterdam, half cheering them on, half horrified at their efforts.

The film is peculiarly well-balanced in its "sympathies." It neither applauds nor condemns these men, who are in any event condemned to lives of torment and uncertain futures by their own acts.

It is fascinating to see Daniel Craig playing a Jewish South African assassin, only a year before he emerged as James Bond.

Geoffrey Rush is wonderful as the Mossad control agent.

Eric Bana is an odd duck and not my favorite actor, but he does a fine job here as Avner, the central character, who is on screen throughout.

The movie was nominated for dozens of awards, including Best Picture and Best Director honors at the Academy Awards, losing the first to "Crash," and the second to Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountian."

Helluva good movie.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

The first of 2 movies that Clint Eastwood made (simultaneously) about the battle for Iwo Jima during WWII. The second film is "Letters from Iwo Jima," showing the point of view of the Japanese. Both films were nominated and won many honors.

Eastwood is a first-rate consummate film maker, one of the best ever. And this is a powerful and sad and thoughtful movie.

Of course, there are many battle scenes and they are terrifying and bloody and "realistic." We are not presented with gushing spurting blood-for-the-sake-of-blood, but frightening moments that simulate the moment to moment little horrors of war.

The bayoneting of Japanese soldiers is not offered as triumph, but as awful necessity. We realize that these are not the hated enemy as they die, but men.

The full story here, however, is about the aftermath, the lingering of the PR campaign that followed the famous photograph of the men raising the flag on the hill.

And that story belongs largely to Ira Hayes, the Native American, who felt so deeply that he didn't deserve this label of "hero." Hayes is played by the Manitoba Ojibwa actor, Adam Beach, who already has quite a resume, including a dozen episodes of "Law and Order:SVU" this season.

Somewhere in the back of my ancient head, I know that the Ira Hayes story was told before in the movies, but I can't seem to find it this morning.

The battle scenes do go on, but this is a fine movie and it stays with you after you've taken the disc out of the player.

From a Magazine Piece Two years Ago

TONY & ME


“Don’t ask me just how it happened, I wish I knew.
I can’t believe that it happened, and still it’s true…”


Irving Berlin wrote the words and music. Rogers and Hammerstein were producing “Annie Get Your Gun” on Broadway as a vehicle for Ethel Merman. When the movie was made, Howard Keel got the role of Frank Butler, but MGM felt Judy Garland couldn’t cut the mustard, so they threw Betty Hutton into the buckskin.

The song is called “I got lost in Her Arms,” and the crowd at Sam Yehia’s old Plazazz Room in the former Plaza Hotel at the foot of Capilano Road in North Vancouver was not particularly attentive. Couples argued about the daily banalities they thought they had left behind them. The regulars had already seen Ella and Dizzy, so it was going to take a lot to impress them. It was 1983 and the housing market was still in a deep hole.

Tony Bennett had come a long way from “I know I’d Go From Rags to Riches.” But the Beatles, the Stones, and Bob Dylan had just about rung the death knoll for crooners and the interpreters of the Great American Songbook.

It would be another few years before Tony’s son, Danny said, “Dad, I want you to make a video for this MTV thing.”

Of course, Tony thought that was nuts. Of course, it rocketed his fortunes to the moon. The Much crowd saw this totally cool old guy dancing around and they ate him up. His fee multiplied tenfold over the next few years.

But, on this night, in North Vancouver in 1983, Tony Bennett was ignoring it all and doing his thing. When he got to the song’s most important line, Tony did that signature gesture of his. Instead of singing it, Tony declaimed, like he was Marc Antony rousing the rabble at the forum, “I got lost…but look what I found!” And he clapped his right hand across his heart just to nail the point.

Now I was sitting in the second row. When Tony hit this moment, I burst into tears. O.K. I’m a geek. I freely confess it.

The next day we’re up in Tony’s suite, the two-story Ginger Rogers Suite with the winding staircase that Miss Rogers had danced down only a few months earlier. The Great Acts are always gracious. Tony is tripping out on my Sony tape recorder. He’s doing a monologue first on the elegant design of this machine, then, on the particular light in the Vancouver sky that makes this region of the world so paintable.

I tell him how deeply moved I was by his work the night before. Of course, he’s grateful and kind. Then I tell him that I have a theory about why some people just won’t sit still and listen. “You’re so immediate. There’s an emotional impact that you send out that is so direct. I think for many people it’s just too much, too real.”

“You know only one other person ever told me that before, and that was Mable Mercer.”

The next day there’s a message on my home answering machine.

“Hey, David. It’s Tony Bennett. I’m at the hotel. So many people have told me that they heard the interview and they loved it. I’d really like to play tennis. So if you’d like to play tennis, give me a call. This is Tony Bennett. I’m at the hotel.”

We go to a bubble in North Vancouver and we hit some singles for a while. I get him laughing right away. I call him to the net after a few minutes. “You know, Tony, I think you’ll settle down and hit some better balls once you get over the fact that Dave Berner’s on the other side of the net.”

Later, we hit some doubles and then he holds court in the lounge, entertaining a whole gang of us with stories about having dinners with a few down-home folk like George Burns and Rosemary Clooney.

Now, back in June of this year, Tony Bennett opened the Vancouver International Jazz Festival with an extraordinary evening at the Orpheum. The man is a day or two shy of his eightieth birthday. I warned my friend that we might not hear the best he can give. He might cheat on some of the notes; he might not have the pipes. Ha!

After a wonderful, inventive opening set with Brad Turner on piano, Darren Radtke on bass and Bernie Arai on drums, Tony stepped out in a dark blue suit and gold tie. He picked the mike off the piano and killed for more than an hour and a half. He hit every note and then some. He built stories and emotions and crescendos. We howled and screamed. We wouldn’t let the guy go, and when, after four or five encores, he finally disappeared in the wings, we were still on our feet begging for more. The great saloon singer, knocking them dead in a refurbished opera house, and, on two occasions, without a mike. Just stand on the stage and hit the back wall with the stuff The Great Arranger gave you.

My friend, Geoff, on Salt Spring Island is 78 and when he doesn’t answer the phone on the first ring, it’s because he’s up on his roof fiddling with his water reclamation system. Dal Richards is about 270 and he’s booked with gigs into the next century. Jimmy Pattison is getting up there and he only works 26 hours a day, nine days a week.
And you’re thinking about retirement?

Ella sings

Ella and Oscar - There's 3 little words that spell m-u-s-i-c

More Oscar

A few more things about Oscar.

Read Gene Lees bio, "The Will to Swing," and see if you can find the great CBC 2 hour documentary, "In the Key of Oscar." I taped it and still have the VHS.

And get "The Canadiana Suite" on CD. It's gorgeous.

The updated obit from today's NY Times is here.

Oscar Peterson - You Look Good To Me

And again...

How beautiful, how exquisite is this?