We are a Charitable Country...Which is a Good Thing for the Arms Sellers

Kim Bolan's feature story on the Canadian charities that fund terrorism is a terrific piece. And a terrifying piece.

While Revenue Canada and CSIS and the RCMP are smoking their hookah's and chasing actors and waiters and taxi drivers for tips and beating up cyclists who aren't wearing helmets, hundreds of millions of dollars are being sent from Canadian "charities" to arm lunatics like the Tamil Tigers.

And all from discrete little offices on Fraser St.

Read the story here.

I get High When I see You Go By, Me Oh My...

So glad that Hookah's will be exempt from the new anti-smoking bylaws. And that coke and crystal meth haven't been considered.

At least that will allow City Council to continue smoking whatever it is that they've been on for the last 2 years.

Dreadful Excuse for a Human Being Gets all the Goodies

So, many of Bruce Allen's musical clients will be highly paid to be a part of the 2010 extravaganzas.

And Bruce will make a small fortune. And Bruce is a part of the production team.

And you and I are paying him.

And one of his stable is helping ("proceeds", like what's left over after we take the rake) with literacy.

And the Sun basically made this the unofficial Bruce Day.

Yech...

Hillary & the Pussy-Cats

Hillary Rodham Clinton's universal health care platform may or not be flawed. It may or may not be an improvement upon her initiative of a decade ago.

BUT SHE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE OF ANY PARTY IN AMERICA THAT HAS HAD THE COURAGE TO EVEN BROACH THE SUBJECT OF 47 MILLION UNINSURED CITIZENS!

More power to her. Specifically the Power of the Presidency.

Bush Robs From Children to Feed Arms Suppliers

In a classic case of psychological projection (blaming the other person for your exact failings), Bush has accused the Democrats of playing politics with children's health care.

This was his way of explaining why he is vetoing a measure to provide health insurance for 10 MILLION uninsured American children.

Can a President be charged with treason?

Cost of War?

The NY Times reports today that $6 BILLION in supplies contracts with the Pentagon are under criminal investigation.

More, that $88 BILLION in supplies for Iraq and Afghanistan wars are being audited for "financial irregularities."

Corruption? Or corruption?

Read the entire mess here.

On the same day, Bush as vetoed health insurance for 10,000,000 American children. See above post.

Total Canada Line Melt Down

Dear Sir/Madam (For the Premier is not answering his email),

Your explanation and outright disregard for the business and residents alongthe Cambie corridor is shit. I am over being polite and probably will notget a response back or even a form letter but I don't care anymore. You sayyou are sorry to hear of the difficulties businesses MAY FEEL they areexperiencing! This is an outrage - it is not 'may feel' - they areexperiencing extreme difficulties! You are so disconnected from theday-to-day operations of small business that you can't see past your nose towhat is really happening here!!!Have you even taken the time to talk with owners and hear their plightand the amount of income lost while theycontinue to try and support their families!! It is clear that the ProvincialGovernment is taking absolutely no responsibility here. You state the Prov.Gov't is not supporting this project - you are a liar! Look at the books andsee for yourself the amount of money that was given and with giving comesresponsibility - absolutely!!And this is your sentence, "The construction,while posing some challenges to local residents and business owners, isexpected to be temporary." Temporary, hah! For many the construction infront of their business or homes has lasted well over 1 year. RAVco promised3 months and all the information circulated stated that timeline. Well, ithas come and gone. You say, "Lower Mainland will benefit from the CanadaLine." I say not! This will create nothing more than less buses on roads andmore cars for people will not drive from the suburbs and park to ride atransit line. The cost does not warrent this lifestyle change. They willcontinue into the city as always - you'll see. Many of the people who livein Richmond will very rarely use this line either, for many are of Asiandecent and will not get out of their cars!As for the residents who arecurrently living along the construction nightmare route, they are sufferingterribly. Many have reported upper respiratory problems, skin rashes, eyeinfections, along with increased stress and anxiety at trying to find newroutes to familiar places. These people, the majority of them seniors oryoung families are fighting to survive this voted down twice and completelyunnecessary project.By all means - just go ahead and delete this but you will have to carry theresult of this horror for life!!

----- Original Message -----From: "OfficeofthePremier, Office PREM:EX"

Thank you for your email regarding the construction of the Canada Line,linking Richmond, the international airport, and Vancouver.We are sorry to hear of the difficulties businesses may feel they areexperiencing as a result of this project. Although the provincialgovernment is one of the many groups funding the creation of the CanadaLine because we feel it will be beneficial to both residents andvisitors, we are not in charge of its contraction or operation. Themanagement of the project is under the authority of Canada Line RapidTransit Inc., which is a subsidiary of TransLink - the body responsiblefor planning, financing, and operating the Lower Mainland'stransportation system.The construction, while posing some challenges to local residents andbusiness owners, is expected to be temporary. In the long term, it ishoped that businesses in the Cambie corridor and across the LowerMainland will benefit from the Canada Line.You may be interested to know that the Canada Line project office has aseries of initiatives underway to help businesses promote themselves andto address their concerns during the Canada Line's construction phase.If you would like more information about these services, please visitthe Canada Line web site: www.canadaline.ca/commBusBusiness.asp.Again, thank you for sending me your thoughts on this matter.

To: Campbell.MLA, GordonSubject: Re: Canada LineGordon Campbell:It is enough already! Find the money and provide compensation to theBussiness owners and home owners that deserve immediate attention.These people have suffered from the onset; from the lies to the lack ofdisclosure or transparancy that surrounds this mega project.If it was not for the threats that came down the pipe from yourgovernment officials to TransLink Board members there never would havebeen a 3rd vote. Your government has royaly screwed up! From you to KenDobell and Kevin Falcon and so many others that demanded thistransportation nightmare must go forward. In spite of the out cry fromthe people and that numbered in the 10,000's you pushed Canada Line(RAV) forward.

Nutty Mayor Struck Again

I don't know anything about Vancouver City Councillor George Chow's record as a steward of public policy, but I know that I LOVED his slamming of Mayor Sammy on the op ed page today.

Best line?

Summing up The Nutty Mayor's contribution to date, Chow closes with, "division, polarization and stalemate - the trademarks of his regime so far."

The Killing Fields of Politics

Politics has been interfering with and dismantling reality for as long as people have been gathering in the town square.

But this latest from America is really unbearable.

The Democrats proposed that troops in Iraq, who are widely acknowledged to be overworked in combat, be given home leave commensurate with their tours of duty.

This motion was defeated yesterday by Republicans.

Thus, for the sake of partisan politics, men and women, who are putting their lives on the line too many hours of the day and too many days and months in a row, will continue to be put in harm's way. Many will die.

These bastard polticians should hang their heads in shame.

Dan Rather Sues the Company that Made him Rich & Famous

For the whole pathetic mess, read this NY Times story.

What a turkey. Always was.

Anatomy of a SCAM - Canada Line Bamboozle

FIRST: The media notice:

Lunch on the Line week from Sept 24 - 28

Media are invited to join Jane Bird, CEO, Canada Line Rapid Transit, Henry Lee, Chairman, The Vancouver Board of Trade and Co-Chair, Spirit of Vancouver and Darcy Rezac, Managing Director, The Vancouver Board of Trade as they announce “Lunch on the Line” week, 11:00 am, Wednesday, September 19 at Tokyo John Sushi in the Cambie Village.

From September 24 – 28, business people are being encouraged to take a client to lunch or treat their staff at a restaurant in the Cambie Village that has been affected by the Canada Line construction.

SECOND: The reply from a Cambie businesswoman:

Attn: Greg Johnson - The Pace Group

I have just been forwarded this press release by several members of our media, looking for comment on this proposal from CLCo and the Board of Trade. As usual, none of the businesses knew anything about it, and have not been consulted about the details.

We, the struggling businesses in the Cambie Village are delighted with this latest initiative from Canada Line.....simply if it finally brings to the neighbourhood the very people that have strongly supported this project, and to see for themselves the level of devastation it has caused in the Cambie Village. The conclusion they will come to is that all the project-promoting attempts at mitigation have obviously failed.

They will see that compensation should have been factored in, and was not, and is most certainly the right thing to immediately implement now.

They will see all the empty shops that were once the sole source of income for the families that operated them, who have now been forced out by this project. This token gesture, so late in the game, is irrelevant as a way to save us from bankruptcy, but may demonstrate to those who take the time to come here, a needed awareness of the level of harm this government driven project has caused. And by the way - I don't think that executives at the TD bank or Best Buy have had to re-mortgage their homes to keep their "small businesses" alive as have many merchants in the village. Our losses are life changing, and businesses unsustainable without financial compensation.

This is a Provincial project. The government's precedent being set here is that small businesses are expendable. Look out, businesses on Broadway. You could be next. We were promised a bored tunnel, too.

The right thing to do is compensate this community for the unjust financial burden we have been forced to bear.

It's much more than "lunch" that we all have on the line.

Susan Heyes
Hazel&Co

THIRD: My email to Susan Heyes:

Susan,

I will gladly publish this on my blog...but certainly you must realize that anything that comes from The Pace Group is an utterly insincere, snow job. The Pace Group is the very worst kind of Public Relations firm, famous for creating exactly these kinds of meaningless public demonstrations that are transparent in their cynicism.

I wish it were otherwise.

David

Kiss Me Once

Love at first bite is a research study at a university.

Well, I guess it keeps these professors off the street where they could do real harm.

CSIS should be sued by the Air India Families

CSIS erased surveillance tapes.

The Justice investigating the Air India case called CSIS and its actions and its refusal to share information "inconceivable, incomprehensible, indefensible incompetence."

I'm sure there's a Sinatra song in there somewhere.

But in the face of this level of bungling and stupidity, what else can you do but laugh.

Or cry.

329 people murdered. $50 Million wasted on a trial with no result.

RCMP is Lost and Defeated

Do the RCMP have no pride?

Two idiot cops get drunk and run around the street looking for people to beat up.

Result?

Lose 10 days pay.

If the RCMP has any sense of justice, or their own worth, or real values or even PR, these two hooligans would be fired on the spot.

How are we supposed to approve and trust the force when it doesn't take itself seriously?

Take a Deep Breath Now...

An 81-year old man in Gordon Head (an appelation soon to take on new meaning) has been living with a catheter in his dick for 85 days now.

Seems there is no urologist around to take this tube out.

Like a nurse in ER couldn't do this.

So much for my occasional day dream about retiring to Victoria.

City Profligate Spenders of Your Money

A few days ago, I wrote about the $23 Million that will be spent to provide 2 so-called Live Sites during the Olympics. I suppose there will be giant TV screens erected on otherwise quiet David Lam Park.

Today we learn that the $5 Million that will come from City Hall is supposed to be drawn from the "Olympic Reserve Fund."

Turns out that this reserve has no money in it.

And you and I are being chastised for spending money we don't have.

A World Full of Justice

While the Nazis were busy gassing women and children at Auschwitz, their senior officers and families were sunning themsleves and enjoying blueberries.

A new series of astonishing photographs have surfaced after all these years. You can see the slide show and read the entire story here.

Note that Karl Hocker, the camp's second in command, was not gassed on his arrival or beaten or even slapped.

He was convicted of war crimes and served seven years before his release in 1970, after which he was rehired by the bank. Höcker died in 2000 at 89.

Come OFF the Bench, Y'r Honor, and Try Reality

In the case cited in the post below (College Continues in Darkness), Dr. Mark Walter Stewart faced 78 counts of sexual assault.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce has declared that ""In my view, the petitioner [Dr. Sex Fiend] is not the type of person Parliament had in mind when it created the Sex Offender Information Registry Act."

This is an interesting comment from a Justice.

What type of person DID Parliament have in mind, You Honour?

Someone who is charged with 79 counts?

Dr. Sex Fiend still denies any culpability and continues to insist that all 64 of the women he assaulted "misinterpreted" his behaviour.

I'm sure that all the women of B.C. feel so much safer with Justice Catherine Bruce on the bench.

Doctors' College gets to Continue in Darkness

BC College of Physicians & Surgeons can breathe easier. But we have been robbed as a citizenry of learning more about the arcane workings of this cabal.

Twenty-two women courageously sued the College for its alleged failure to protect them from the sexual assaults of a Doctor.

Unfortunately, the women have now accepted an out of court settlement, which allows the College to continue to operate in the shadows, often protecting their own at public expense.

The good news is that, when this case first arose some years ago, the College attempted to have it squashed, claiming it (the College) had no legal duty to the care of patients of its members.

The court disagreed and that was what allowed the case to continue.

Now, if we can only get someone to sue Corrections Canada and the National Parole Board for so many of its dreadful, often lethal, bad decisions.

The Runaway Co$t$ of City Hall

Don Cayo rightly reveals the ugly numbers at City Hall:

Vancouver spends $137 per taxpayer each year compared to Surrey's $40 in the cost of general government; $20 in policing compared to $200 in Surrey, Burnaby & Coquitlam; $108 in planning & development compared to less than $50 in Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond & Coquitlam.

He then goes on to point out (blame?) the high cost of unionized workers.

Good info - bad conclusion.

The high cost of City Government is all about very highly paid middle management sitting in meetings all day gabbing about nothing. Like all institutions, City hall is a self-perpetuating organism that grows daily in exactly inverse proportion to any use or common sense. We have entire departments that are questionable in their very existence. We are convinced that we must do everything for everybody.

So far, what that kind of thinking has achieved is bloated non-governance and over-taxed citizens.