Pam's Ramble About the School System

I am frustrated that we have to pay so much to send our boys to private school in order to get the education that we feel they deserve.

These children are our future.

We are all paying our tax dollars for a system that has slowly declined and deteriorated. Just one item that bothers me - Why is Queen Elizabeth annex still open when the local school Southlands has seen declining enrollment over the last few years? Are the School Board Trustees afraid to deal with parents who like their sons/daughters attending a small school?

I think that when teachers became unionized they did themselves a great disservice. I was part of a union for many years and in the airline industry it was absolutely essential that we have a union.

A good friend of mine does nothing but complain about being a teacher. Yet she enjoys all

the holidays and the summers off. Her days are not even close to being as long as people Iknow who work in the private sector.

I agree with you regarding the teachers.

My younger son was in Grade 7 when I exchanged harsh words with his teacher outside the classroom. I insistedthat she stop yelling at the kids and that I would see to it that she never yelled at my son again.

Three boys, age 12, heard her say the f wordwhen she came back into the classroom. Great role model!

My older son had the same teacher when he was in Grade 7 and he was a nervous wreck. She approached us at sports day and asked us why we wereforcing him to attend a private school the following year. She informed us that he was very stressed out. It was about a year later that our son told us that the only reason he was stressed was because she yelled at the kids all the time.

He wanted to attend X School and he loved it there.I knew that nothing would be done so we chose to send our boys to private school where we can have a say in their education.What I saw over the 12 years of being affiliated with that school was pathetic. We lost the music program, the Christmas concert and by the time I left, the parents were running all but one of the sports programs and doing all the fundraising

Afghanistan War is About Quebec Votes

The only thing you need to know about SNC Lavalin, the company that holds the HALF BILLION contract with your government for services in Afghanistan - is that it comes from Montreal.

So - follow the money - we are wasting Canadian lives and tax dollars in a hopeless campaign to buy votes in French Canada.

Taser Murder - Chapter 4

Politicians - yech!

You think they called for the inquiry into the Taser Murder because they wanted to or because it was the right thing to do or because they thought of it first?

It was only yesterday that we called for the inquiry right here on these pages.

Not that they responded to these pages.

They responded - the damn phony fools - to the WORLD WIDE OUTRAGE.

And as recently as Friday, John Les said there was no need to apologize. Now he's sorry.

Do people who go into politics self-select as phony mindless dorks, or do they just become that way after 2 weeks in office?

Here's a Gold Shovel. So Dig Already

So the prison guard who earns $15/hr. - maybe - and has a job more boring than dentistry - takes a major league bribe to let Mr. Dangerous Criminal escape from the like most secure jail in the world, or BC or Fernie or wherever.

We are...like, amazed, right?

Win Medals, Earn $$$

Huh?

Stones!

Stones, Again!!

More Banking Humour

British Banking Humour

Investigate the RCMP Taser Death NOW

"You expect something like that in America, but not in Canada."

This is a man in Poland speaking of the sickening murder of Robert Dziekanski by the RCMP at YVR.

Equally sickening is the denial by the police and the refusal of either federal or provincial attorneys-general or solicitors-general to demand at once what every reasonable Canadian knows is due - an impartial, citizen panel to investigate this disgrace.

One taser is bad enough; two is more than questionable. But jumping on a man in distress???

These thugs must be out of uniform as fast as possible.

That must be followed immediately by the panel that will ask all the unhappy but necessary questions.

Like many of you, I have always been a supporter of the police in general and the RCMP in particular. Like many of you, my support is like the Force's reputation - in tatters.

He Said, She Said

I saw something strange and disturbing on TV a few nights ago.

That could be practically anything, of course, from "Deal or No Deal" to the NBC News with Brian Williams.

But this was just a moment or two that I could bear of a Muslim man trying to interview a woman who claimed to be a Buddhist.

The woman, in her '60s I would guess, had an almost shaved head of grey stubble. She was wearing the familiar burgundy and orange robes we associate with the Dalai.

As I clicked my way through the channels and landed on this gem, the woman was talking about "males."

She was talking about "males" as she might about rats, vermin, root canal, rapists and radio station managers. What was so shriekingly evident was her total abhorrence of the "man" side of any equations.

But the Muslim man, bent on being "the interviewer," was doing a classic Bill Good and not listening to a word she was saying, intent on his next scripted question. He must have been a graduate of Bill's popular workshop, "How to Never Interact With Your Guests, but Still be a Local Media Star."

The - shriek! - man, asked the woman Buddhist about how she actually practiced her religion. He was very specific. How do you begin your day? What prayers or meditation do you choose? And so on.

Her answer was, "Well, that's a very general question."

His question was extremely specifically specific.

But you see she hates men and therefore whatever he might ask or say will be wrong.

What was so interesting and horrifying was that he didn't notice any of this and she didn't acknowledge anything coming from him.

So here were two people utterly NOT communicating, but doing so on television.

I lasted less than a minute and settled on Bruce Willis shooting everyone is sight.

YOUR GOOD MONEY GOING TO HELL IN AFGHANISTAN

The Vancouver Sun's coverage of the secret and even simply unknown and untalked about sides of the war in Afghanistan is most welcome.

We have known for some time now the hideous corruption and overspending by America in their desperate disaster in Iraq - cement, bullets, oil, rebars, name it - so many overcharged, double-billed and worse.

Now we are seeing the identical story for the Canadian government in Afghanistan.

"There is nothing more Canadian than sipping a double double in Kandahar Airfield while watching a hockey game," says General Rick Hillier by way of explaining how he has spent $4MILLION of your tax money on a Tim Horton's franchise in Afghanistan.

Well, I've got news for the good general and for Mr. Harper.

When I want a dose of really bad amateurish sociology, I don't turn to Mr. Khaki, thanks very much.

And I don't drink double doubles or anything else at Tim Horton's and I don't give a flying frittata about hockey.

And, yes, oddly, enough I am still a Canadian. Is that OK?

And I am not encouraged to learn that SNC Lavalin, the folks who are doing such a good job on the ram-it-down-your-throats-and-to-hell-with-your-mom-&-pop-shops Canada Line, have contracts of over $700 MILLION for various make-do projects in Afghanistan.

Will anybody ever investigate Lavalin's relationship with generations of Ottawa mandarins and parliamentarians?

JACK JONES

Jack Jones, one of the great saloon singers with George Shearing...this is such wonderful stuff...

Say, "Happy Birthday, David!"

I read an entire newspaper from cover to bloated cover and another on the web...and I have found nothing that catches my eye this morning.

This may be because there is nothing much of note.

Or it may be that tomorrow is my 65th Birthday and I just don't want to complain about the world this weekend.

See you all again on Monday.

YVR Taser Death the ONLY Story

The Sun's coverage of the Taser death at YVR is appropriate and first rate. Yes, the pictures belong on the front page.

And Stockwell Day is wrong to dismiss off hand a public enquiry.

And the RCMP are completely wrong to keep these 4 goons at work.

This is Rodney King revisited and the video that has now flown swiftly around the world demonstrates one of the strengths of the "global village."

If the RCMP and the government think that this story will wither and die in the coming few days, they are about to learn how sadly they are mistaken.

The Candian public would like to return to the days of having respect and trust for its police forces.

As long as these atrocities occur, that desire will be an unfulfilled ache.

NOTE: The video was posted below last night.

Torta Me, A-Torta-You

The skyrocking price of pasta is causing panic in the streets of Italy.

This is a curious reflection of the skyrocketing price of maize and tacos and torillas in Mexico.

The reason? Biofuels.

Corn gets more at the pump than the sump and more growers are switching from wheat to corn and other biofuel producers.

Our friend Adrian Mastracci led us by the nose to this tasty morsel from CNN, MoneyNews.

Addiction Recovery in America

Great NY Times article on Recovery Centres and addictions in Florida and other communities around America. It includes a video.

Bravo to all these folks!

And ask the idiot murdering experts here in BC what they know about these centres of hope and recovery.

"No Cell Phones" Catching On

Maybe we'll pick up this trend from Seattle soon. I hope so.

More and more businesses - including Seattle's millions of coffee shops - are banning cell phones outright or forcing users to wait in line while others are served.

This is a great little story from the Seattle PI sent in by our friend, Martin.

RCMP Taser Video & Condemnation

Our friend Robert Werner has written a powerful scathing indictment of the RCMP taser action at YVR. His blog post, shown here, includes the Video of the hideous event. Please watch.

Bonds Indicted

The morning after our LANGARA DIALOGUES public debate about sports & drugs. Barry Bonds has been charged with perjury in a doping case.

Here's the full story from the NY Times late edition.

The photograh was electronically manipulated to fit in his hat.