What's a Day Without a Little Bocelli In the Night?

Good Old Ecclesiastes

The Byrds hypnotic turn on some ancient wisdom...this is one of my all-time rock faves...

Victor's Prize Winning Olympic Coinage

For 60 years, the governments of Korea and China have requested an apology from Japan for the forced prostitution imposed by the Japanese army during WW2. These enslaved girls were called "comfort women".

Now, it appears we will have our own comfort women in Vancouver to provide relief for the army of tourists coming to our city in 2010.

It is rumoured that Mayor Sam has proposed issuing special tokens that may be redeemed for these services. These will bear the Olympic logo and be called "Inukchukfuckbucks".

VANOC has pressed for assurance that in the interests of equality, both genders will be available for Inukchukfuckbucks. Accordingly, a special contingent of male prostitutes to be known as "Furlong's Footlongs" will be created.

Cambie St.- The Legalities of Compensation

Jonathan Baker is a well-known Vancouver Lawyer and former City Councillor.

He writes:

"Dave,

I have been following your comments regarding compensation of the Cambie Street merchants.

Actually, the government is being more miserable than you give them credit for. The existing legislation gave them a right to compensation? However that right was taken away by various legislative amendments to the Vancouver Charter, the Local Government Act and the Community Charter.

Section 312 of the Local Government Act provides for compensation for injurious affection if a regional district injuriously affects property by the exercise of _any of its powers_. Section 33 of the /Community Charter/ does the same for actions by municipalities, and Section 541 of the Vancouver Charter applies to actions by the City of Vancouver.

However, the British Columbia Transit Act excludes the applicability of these provisions with respect to land affected by the planning, acquisition, construction, maintenance or operation of a rail transit system under the Transit Act, or in respect of any actions by a municipality that in any way relates to the rail transit system.

Relevant Legislation British Columbia Transit Act 8(7) Despite any other Act, section 33 of the /Community Charter,/ section 312 of the /Local Government Act/ and section 541 of the /Vancouver Charter/ do not apply in respect of land affected by the planning, acquisition, construction, maintenance or operation of a rail transit system under this Act or in respect of the exercise of any power of a municipality that in any way relates to the rail transit system.

Vancouver Charter Compensation for injurious affection *541.* Where real property is injuriously affected by the exercise on the part of the city of any of its powers, the city shall, unless it is otherwise provided in this or some other Act, make due compensation to the owner for any damage necessarily resulting therefrom beyond any advantage which the owner may derive from any work in connection with which the real property is so affected.

Local Government Act Compensation for expropriation and other actions *312* (2_) If a regional district_ (a) exercises a power to enter on, break up, alter, take or enter into possession of and use any property, or _injuriously affects property by the exercise of any of its powers, /and/ _ _(b) exercises a power referred to in paragraph (a) that does not constitute an expropriation within the meaning of the /Expropriation Act,/_ _compensation is payable for any loss or damages caused by the exercise of the power._ "

2010 the Machinery for Social Policy

We've had years and years to consider major issues of social policy, such as the legalization of prostitution or pot and the need for more social housing.

Little to nothing was done.

But now - ecco! behold! the new Millennium has arrived.

Suddenly the City Fathers and Mothers are alive with suggestions and plans and initiatives.

Co-op brothels, legal grass, thousands of housing units! Ta-Da!!!

And why? What has engendered all this outflowing of human kindness and community creativity?

Why, the Olympic Games, of course.

Allow me to not be happy and impressed.

First of all, we wrote (Calling Something Good Doesn't make it So) about the ugly idea for co-op brothels only 2 days ago.

But once again this is headline news.

Libby Davies and The Nutty Mayor and a prostitute are all pushing for co-op brothels. The mayor and Davies are motivated, not by compassion or reason or care, but by ...you know...The Olympics.

The mayor keeps talking about somebody called "survival sex workers." Who is that? What is that? I am very far out of the official loops these days and I don't know what that means.

Please explain.

Of course, look at the other clever souls who support this madness: Hedy Fry, The Worst MP in the History of Canadian Parliament (Does she see Burning Condoms on the Lawns of the Brothels?) and Senator Larry Campbell, until the Arrival of Sam, the Worst Mayor in the History of Vancouver, and the living poster boy for the Abolition of the Red Chamber.

Fortunately there are some who are willing to speak out against this atrociously bad idea.

A woman from Rape Relief speaks against having "disposable women" made available for the Olympics. Vancouver Police Constable Tim Fanning points out that prostitution is "just a breath short of slavery."

Unfortunately, the minute you identify yourself as against this notion, you are called names and branded as "a moralist, uptight, backward, etc..."

So before all the highly superior name-calling happens, let me say again...

Prostitution is slavery. This is not some idle dream that visited me. I worked with hundreds of women who were prostitutes and I know that they all hated themselves and every minute of what they did.

Not because there is something wrong with sex or even sex for money.

But because you cannot turn sexual activity into a business without destroying yourself.

And to consider this very bad idea all in the name of putting on a Happy Face for 2010 is the ultimate obscenity.

Thanks to various City Governments

Clearly it's a slow news day.

Two stories from days ago have re-surfaced this morning.

On Thursday, I wrote about the comically named "Granville Entertainment District."

Now we learn that 10,000 people come to "party" (read, drink cheap beer) and fight.

How attractive, how "world class."

In 15 visits to Venice, Italy in the past 12 years, I have seen people drinking from morning till night and back to the morning again...and I have seen ONE drunk.

Oh, yes, we're very mature, very grown-up.

Mildew's Entirely Self-Centred Agenda

Mildew wants to legalize pot.

From an avowed pothead, we should be surprised?

Seal

Here is a strange and powerful and sometime dramatic, sometime frivolous and silly video from a marvelous pop singer.

Betty Carter - Original Jazz Genius

They just killed a man and drove away

You might think this is quote from Chicago in the '20s or Vancouver in '07.

But no, it's another saver from Bush's war in Iraq, where, once again, a private American "security" company has killed an Iraqi citizen - a cab driver - with no provocation.

How is it possible that so many millions of Americans - and Canadians for that matter - cannot see the fundamental corruption that lies at the core of this dreadful battle?

Merchants & Musqueam - 2 Different Worlds

This is an excellent piece by Michael Smyth in today's Province.

But he could have gone even farther.

The point about the Musqueam deal is that it was entirely a story of 2 Campbell's - the Preem and the Musqueam Chief, Ernie Campbell.

Almost no other human being was in on this agreement, and few would have signed on if they were asked - including the Musqueam people.

As for the Cambie Merchant's plight, how many times can we point out this civic atrocity?

Libs' priorities: My, how they have changed
The 'new' premier fights small biz, courts Musqueam
Â
Michael Smyth
The Province
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Any politician's priorities can turn upside down to suit the times and circumstances.
But when it comes to Premier Gordon Campbell's agenda, two days last week showed just how dramatically things can change.
On Wednesday, the Campbell government's lawyers lost their attempt to quash a compensation lawsuit by one of the dozens of Cambie Street merchants whose businesses have been devastated by Canada Line construction.
On Friday, Campbell announced a land deal to give the Musqueam Indian Band the UBC Golf Club and part of Pacific Spirit Park in a "reconciliation agreement."
If you'd told me a few years ago these would be Campbell's priorities today, I'd have wondered what your were smoking.
Consider the irony of Campbell fighting small businesses impacted by a public megaproject. Cambie Street merchants have lost an average of $112,000 each because of Canada Line construction chaos and the Campbell government has refused to compensate them.
It was a different story when the Liberals were in Opposition.
When the NDP government built the Millennium Line SkyTrain extension, many impacted businesses complained -- and the Liberals stood up for them.
"These people have invested their life's dreams and all their money in these places," said then-Liberal-MLA Christy Clark.
But the NDP refused to compensate the Millennium Line businesses -- something Liberal Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon wasn't afraid to point out on Thursday.
"They did nothing when they were in government," Falcon lectured.
So two wrongs make a right, eh? Now the Liberals spend your tax dollars on lawyers to fight the very businesses they supported in the past.
At least Clark hasn't betrayed her principles, and now supports compensating the Cambie merchants. Campbell should take a look in the mirror and do the same.
The premier's change is even more stark on the First Nations file.
In 2002, Campbell held a "legally binding" referendum in which 95 per cent of voters said public parks should not be ceded to First Nations in treaty settlements.
Now he's given portions of Pacific Spirit Park to the Musqueam -- a First Nation Campbell fought fiercely when they imposed 7,000-per-cent rent hikes on non-native leaseholders in the 1990s.
"Here the Musqueam have gone ahead and done something without any representation from any of the people," Campbell fumed back then.
Now the same criticism could be levelled at his surrender of the golf course and parkland without public input -- decisions, like the betrayal of the Cambie businesses, the "old Campbell" would have scorned.
© The Vancouver Province 2007

Feminist Agenda or Higher Principals?

A Reform Synagogue in St. Louis has offered its sanctuary to two women who wish to be ordained into the Catholic Church as priests.

The local Archdiocese is angry.

The Rabbi of the Synagogue is a woman.

Read the whole story here, and then tell me where your sympathies fall.

A good argument in favor of this action might be that this is a kind and loving and open and accepting thing for the schul to do. That sanctuary is sanctuary.

And I will understand that argument.

But I don't accept it.

I think instead that this is meddling of the silliest order. That this is looking for a fight and finding it with delight. That Synagogues need not have much interest in the afffairs of Catholic Churches and vice versa. That this is Feminism gone mental.

Will I be surprised to learn that Lesbianism is it at the core of this story and that there is considerable winking and chortling behind the altars and that none of this will ever emerge lest it be called politically incorrect and various abominations and discriminatory and witch hunting? No.

You Want an Elected Senate. Be careful What You Wish For

I must tell you honestly that I have been surprised by my survey on the question of The Canadian Senate.

The largest majority of respondents have said that the senate should be elected, rather than abolished.

I have believed for may years the Senate should be abolished. It is expensive and redundant.

We have an elected body of governors in Parliament.

If the Senate truly represented a serious body of "sober second thought," it might be worth salvation. But it is nothing remotely like that. It is a sinecure for party loyalists. A major salary, secretary, expenses, privileges and pension for doing absolutely nothing of redeeming value.

For example, take Larry Campbell, please!

Do you really believe that more elected officials will bring breaths of fresh air to a political scene that for many years now has been peopled by charlatans, fools and the chronically inept?

Money spent on this charade, elected or appointed, is money taken from health care, education, housing, agriculture, research and infrastructure.

Cambie St. Law Suit Update - More Good Citizenship

Court fight brewing over Cambie Street
By DHARM MAKWANA, 24 HOURS




A group of Cambie Street small-business owners are building momentum, on the back of a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, to launch a class-action lawsuit against the province for financial losses caused by Canada Line construction.

Susan Heyes, maternity clothes designer and head of Hazel & Co., is leading the litigation charge after the province's attorneys failed to quash her case for compensation before the court Wednesday.

"I'm appalled that I even have to be talking about suing my own government for damage caused by a project that they insisted on building," she said.

Vancouver-Fairview MLA Gregor Robertson, a staunch small-business supporter, took the fight to Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon yesterday in the Legislature, only to be told the province will not comment on the Cambie Street quagmire until a judge rules on Heyes' complaint.

"They've already destroyed these small businesses and now they're going to fight them in court," Robertson said. "It's abominable."

Heyes, who claims to have lost $400,000 in net revenue since November 2005, said a year-long wait for her case to be heard should do nothing to diminish her cause.

Suing the Bad Guys

A huge congratulations and a badge of courage to Laurie Tinga, who is suing the 6 criminals who shot her.

The criminals are known to have shot her, but, as usual, the police and the courts can't prove it, so, as usual, they are at large.

But, Tinga, a completely innocent bystander, who has survived being shot in the head, has launched a civil suit against these crooks.

I have long advocated exactly this kind of action from aggrieved citizens. Sue the National Parole Board for their refusal to see danger and releasing madmen back into the community. Sue anybody in a position of authority who costs you loss of life or limb or property by their inadequate performance of their duties.

Tinga is a brave woman and a true citizen.

Watch the Vancouver Sun video interview with her here.

Calling Something GOOD doesn't Make it So

There is a demented leap of logic that has pervaded what passes for thinking in North America in recent years.

People ripe for stupidity have noticed the phenomenon of "owning" you true self/happiness/affliction.character/disease, etc.

Blacks claimed "black power" and chanted "Black is beautiful," and helped for good reason to change the mindset of an entire generation.

Gays took up the challenge, embraced their reality, chanted "Gay Pride," and did the same for their subset of citizens.

Now, every dog wants his day. And often, it is not even the "maligned" group itself that is trumpeting its worth, but some sympathetic booby-hatched do-gooder.

VANDU is the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. This gang of crazies has convinced the mandarins of Officialdumb that being a dope fiend is a legitimate "lifestyle," when we all know it is a life of misery, hopelessness, degradation of no accomplishment (without which man cannot survive.)

Now, I learn today, reading Daphne Bramham's excellent column ("2010 will make city a magnet for human trafficking") in the Sun , that Libby Davies wants to open a brothel in vancouver in time for the Olympics and that this wonderful addition to our cultural landscape will be run as a cooperative by the women.

I must pause to laugh long...hahahahahaha....or I will collapse in tears of despair.

Davies is a Member of Parliament. People keep electing her to govern.

The completely rogue BC Teachers' Federation also believes in prostitution.

What part of misery, degradation, self-hatred, hopelessness, violence, disrespect and danger do these fools not understand?

For those are but some of the handmaidens of prostitution.

I spent 10 years working with addicts. Every one of the female addicts had been a prostitute. Evey single last one of these women were drowning in misery, degradation, self-hatred, hopelessness, violence, disrespect and danger.

Sullivan wants to further enslave young girls by giving them drugs so they can continue to be human sex slaves.

Davies wants to "legitimize" prostitution.

Vandu claims legitimacy for being a dope fiend.

These vile mistaken fools confuse these vile mistaken ideas with black power and gay rights and other small triumphs of "ownership."

And in doing so they diminish the real accomplishments of legitimate achievement.

Norman Mailer Dead at 84

There is a an appropriately thorough biography and tribute to this modern titan in this morning's NY Times.

Please read it and cherish the memory of a noisy, bold man, full of faults and blessings, who lived passionately to the full.

Remembrance Day - Billy Joel/Leningrad

It's another war; it's another place.

It's the same story of sons and fathers, mothers and daughters, lovers, sweethearts, and madness, madness...

BIrthday Suits in Surrey - Or, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top

Now, I've been doing this blog since last December, and I discovered Surveys about 5 or 6 months ago.

But I've got to tell you that nobody made me laugh so hard as the wag who answered today's survey on THE SENATE with this "other" contribution:

The senate should .......swim nude in Surrey!

Murder on 5th Avenue - New York. that is

You can't write material like this.

If the writers for "Law and Order" were still at work, they would be screaming for the rights to this story.

What makes it perfect is the coda that Elton John is preparing a memorial for the victim.