Lakewood Gunman Killed

The NY Times reports early this morning that Maurice Clemmons has been shot and killed.

SEATTLE (AP) -- The man suspected of gunning down four police officers in a suburban coffee shop was shot and killed by a lone patrolman investigating a stolen car early Tuesday. Four people were arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during a massive two-day manhunt.

Here is the full story.

The man was a career criminal, sentenced years ago to 90 + years in prison.

Of course, he had his sentence commuted.

Last week, after more horrific charges, he was released on bail.

Does anyone in the court system anywhere use a computer? Does anyone have a brain?

The people who let this bastard trick out the system have blood on their hands.

I confess that this murder of four police officers has had a strong and awful effect on me.

The idea of a horrible crazy person walking into a cafe and assassinating four people is so utterly repugnant.

What can we do? What can we do?

Not much, I'm afraid.

But paying attention to who we have standing in front of us could be a start. For Governors and parole officers and bail bondsmen.

Cutting the gun lobby off at the knees might be another good move.

And for those who argue Do the Math, I say, No. You do the math.

PER CAPITA, Canada, unlike our neighbours, not a gun-nation, has relatively few deaths from gunfire.

We have, so far, a different culture.

Roundup

Pressed for a bit of time this morning, I offer the following quickies:

1. The Canadian Pavilion at The Games will be built by an American company.

Doesn't that just summarize the entire mental set of an apologetic second-class nation?

Gary Lunn, the Conservative MP for Saanich and The Islands is the Minister of State for Sport and he made this MOnty Pythonesque announcement. He continues to be an embarrassment at the Hedy Fry level.

2. Campbell Land.

The Nelson Arts Council has closed its doors. The group lost $12,000 of its $50,000 budget when the Gaming commish cut its funding.

In CampbellLand we don't support local citizens at the coffee money level when we can spend billions of The Games.

3. O the heels of that dreadful de Havilland crash at Suturna Island yesterday, it is particularly galling to learn that Transport Canada's latest safety initiatives are an unholy mess.

How about an Air Canada plane full of passengers doing a "hot" refuelling? That means they are adding fuel with the engines running. Cute.

The story is terrifying.

And here is the nub of it.

Canada's new airline safety system has turned them into deskbound bureaucrats who no longer conduct hands-on inspections.

“Most inspectors do not even leave the Transport Canada office,” Christine Collins, president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, told the Commons committee Monday.

This, of course, is exactly what has happened to the Parole Service and other government agencies.

Sports

1. That performance by New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was just about the most impressive I have witnessed in a lifetime of watching the NFL.

I have been a deranged fan since the days of black and white TV and Johnny Unitas throwing to Raymond Berry for the Baltimore Colts.

Namath, Marino, Joe Montana, Kenny "The Snake" Stabler...the whole glorious crazy gang of them.

And I'm not sure I've ever seen a guy zip the ball with such accuracy and confidence.

Five touchdowns to five different receivers.

Of course, what this says about the Patriot's defense you don't want to hear.

Some Saints receivers were completely wide open and in the clear.

Anyway...if you missed it, you missed a classic.

And, because their defense was also superb , you have to watch the Saints (11-0) through the playoffs.

2. Oh, Tiger.

Pulleeeze.

Yes, a man has a right to privacy.

But Woods, who has clammed up and dropped out of his own tournament with nary an explanation is shooting himself in the foot every day he maintains his silence.

Woods is no ordinary citizen. He is the richest and most recognizable sports personality on the globe.

His handlers might point out these small distinctions to him soon.

Armed & Dangerous - An Entire Country

Committed to an afternoon of mindless football watching, I was instead jolted back into reality by the horror story from just below the border.

A man walks into a coffee shop and shoots and kills four police officers.

You can find the story and late-minute updates on all your news sources on the web.

Here is the morning version from the New York Times.

I'm not sure why, but I have found this news so disturbing.

If you followed CNN at all throughout the day, yesterday was an almost typical madhouse in the USA in terms of killings, shootings and mayhem.

Family shootings, random shootings, gang shoot-outs and so on.

But the idea of some mad fool walking into a cafe and executing four police officers is particularly frightening and offensive.

Much of America is obsessed with the "right" to carry guns.

And most of America is armed.

Twice over.

Almost anyone can stroll into any gun shop and arm up.

Anyone can go online and buy automatic repeating deadly assault weapons. There are hundreds of websites selling killing machines at bargain prices.

I just Googled "AK-47" and this is what I got:

(Results 1 - 10 of about 1,780,000 for ak-47 for sale. (0.23 seconds)

The Winchester Varmint - albeit not an Uzi or better - is on sale for $499 with telescope.

Now, please, do not write in and use that tired old mistaken piece of shit that passes for folk wisdom - "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

Puleeeezze.

It is the ubiquitous AVAILABLITY of guns that allows people to kill people, using, oddly enough, GUNS.

Did you hear me say outlaw all private guns?

No, you didn't.

But certainly a sane society can figure out how not to sell war machines at the corner grocery.

The picture of that colossal idiot and dreadful actor, Charlton Heston, holding his rifle over his head and yelling at his NRA convention, "Not over my dead body," continues to haunt me.

What might Mr. Heston have to offer the families of these four slain police officers?

Oh, I get it.

They died so that we can have the right to run around shopping malls with guns and kill officers who are defending our right to run around shopping malls and kill officers...

My visits to the USA have become less and less frequent over the years.

I pray they can find a way to become a more civil society.

But I doubt it.

Not when there is so much money and there are so many votes involved in the making and selling of killing machinery.

Coming Clean? Not Necessarily...

Here, taken from his website, is the full statement from Tiger Woods. Make of it what you will:

"As you all know, I had a single-car accident earlier this week, and sustained some injuries. I have some cuts, bruising and right now I'm pretty sore.

This situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again.

This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.

The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.

This incident has been stressful and very difficult for Elin, our family and me. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received. But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be."

New Blood?

The Nostalgia Vote?

The We Don't Know What Else To Do or Where Else to Turn Vote?

The Let's Set the Record for Shooting Ourselves in the Foot Vote?

B.C. NDP choose Moe Sihota as party president

Yikes.

Where are Larry and Curly when you really need them?

Slow Mihota back in the limelight.

Hang on, kids.

It's going to be a bumpy night.

Councillors in the Ring

City hall has gone to the fights.

Read the story for yourself. It's just too, too silly to repeat here.

It is noteworthy however for the quotes and they are great.

This is the best of the lot.

“I agree” Jang chimed in, “I'm actually having a lot more fun then I thought I would.”

That would be psychiatrist and city councillor Kerry Jang.

As we know, psychiatrists don't get out very much or have a lot of fun.

Apparently, this summer, Kerry will be trying the Tilt-a-Whirl at the PNE.

Then, he will ask his mommy if he can catch the pig races.

Le Coupe Grey, Part Deux

Huh?

When I left to make my dinner, Saskatchewan had the game in hand 27-11 with a few minutes on the clock.

That's fine, I figured. I'll be back with my dinner on time to catch the second half of the Steelers-Ravens slugfest and watch the good green prairie folk celebrating.

Instead, I see the Mounties delivering the Cup to a platform on which are standing a host of beaming Montreal players.

In time, I saw what happened.

Yikes!

Of course, they deserved to win.

They put the points on the board and they won. Boo effing hoo.

Chuck Noll, the legendary coach of the Steelers way back when said it best. Something like, "Football is a marvelously simple thing. There's a winner and a loser. Guy who gets more points on the board wins. Life is much more complicated. That's why we love football."

Le Coupe Grey

May the best Saskatchewan team win.

Slow Down & Cross at Crosswalks

Saturday night dangerous for Vancouver pedestrians

Yah? Well, don't forget Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Seven pedestrians were struck by vehicles yesterday.

I'm surprised it wasn't 70.

As all good ghost stories begin, "It was a dark and rainy night..."

Hey, kids, it's been a dark and rainy night every night for the past two months.

Everybody, including me, is in our winter blacks. We are basically invisible.

Which makes it really disconcerting that idiots are crossing in the middle of streets all over the place.

And of course people are relentlessly speeding. Racing. And that's just in the Safeway parking lot.

Flying through crosswalks and past school zones.

Seven?

Consider us lucky.

Get Outta Town

Sometimes you get the feeling that politicians and bureaucrats just make up thoughtless harmful things to do just because...well, say, just because it's Tuesday.

Or for the same reason that dogs lick themselves - because they can.

The latest folly is this:

The Vancouver Park Board, under pressure by City Council to economize, has passed by a narrow 4-3 vote the stupid, stupid, stupid decision to close the Children's Farmyard at Stanley Park and the Bloedel Conservatory atop Queen Elizabeth Park.

They haven't figured out what to do with the plants and animals.

Perhaps they could just send themselves out to pasture and leave a few of Vancouver's best loved small treasures in peace.

Aside from being a stupid decision - Did I mention that this decision is stupid, stupid, stupid? - it is a lazy one.

Instead of carefully going over expenditures and trimming a shard of fat here and there and spreading the bad times out among all the Park Board assets, they have simply said, "What can we kill quickly to get over this unpleasant task?"

You lazy, thoughtless bums.

The Bloedel Conservatory is one of my favorite places in Vancouver.

It is exotic and delightful and fun.

So it needs some roof repairs...so come on, repair the roof!

Find new and innovative partnerships and new and innovative marketing to generate more income.

Ditto the Kids' Farmyard.

Let me promise you this, Dear Park Board Lazy People.

If you do not reverse this decision, I will not vote for one of you in the next election.

May thousands join me in this commitment.

Send your email to: pbcomment@vancouver.ca

I have sent this to the above address.

The foto, by the way, is of the Board Chair, who, when he voted, didn't even know that Bloedel is a designated heritage sight.

Greed is Limitless, apparently

Dubai was always an obscenity.

With all the oil money in the world available and thrown at it, Dubai was a kind of desert Disneyland, able to construct miles and miles of garish hotels and homes and air-conditioned shopping malls and golf courses and tennis courts.

Federer and Woods and Agassiz and Beckham and anyone else with more cash than they know what to do with rushed in to buy, buy, buy.

Why?

What the hell would you do in Dubai?

Gamble? Drink? Play golf? Screw prostitutes?

O.K. I admit it. I'm a hick. I don't get it because I've never been there.

Of course, I've never wanted to be there. Or Las Vegas. Or many places.

I've been to Whistler half a dozen times and I've always enjoyed myself swimming in the hotel pools and riding my bike and eating good food and playing tennis.

But I can't imagine spending a lot of time there or wanting a house there. Too man made. Too instant community. Too gingerbread.

Anyway...

Dubai.

Now, Dubai has close to $60 Billion in debt and it is threatening to flinch on it payments.

It would be fun to giggle and cheer.

But we cannot because the failure of Dubai and all it excrescent excesses now threatens to bring down the entire world with it.

The Globe's cover story in the business section is appropriately titled:

A world awash in debt

and sub-titled:

"The financial crisis provoked a global front to stimulate economies through massive spending. But this was fuelled by a staggering amount of borrowing. Now governments are realizing that a new calamity looms - higher taxes and slashed social programs."

Now, because of the Dubai failure, markets worldwide are shaking.

The Dubai failure is, of course, identical to all of the recent American failures, only more so - greed and greed followed by more greed.

And you thought you could be doing better on your own personal financial management. Ha!

The photo, by the way, is of stupid bored people playing golf at night under the lights in Dubai.

Grill

Can you imagine anything more ludicrous and frightening than the thought of a border guard deciding what kind of speech you are entitled to give?

This, of course, is exactly what happened to American Journalist Amy Goodman the other day on her way to deliver talks in Victoria and Vancouver.

She was detained for over 90 minutes and her car, her notes and her computer were all searched.

The Border Holy Grail?

The Olympics, of course.

Not in the least concerned that Goodman might be here to blow up the Marine Building (She wasn't.) the zealous overseers of our mental health were obsessed with concern that Goodman might say anything negative in public about the 2010 Games.

Here's my worry.

When I attempt to board that flight in early February for Italy, will some uniformed geek ask me why I am leaving Our Town, dare I say, "Because I don't want to be around during the Games?"

Will Geek then say, "Sorry, you MUST stay here and enjoy and cheer and buy red mitties and other useless consumer goods that are only licensed to the few."

The IOC and VANOC, as we have said far too many times in this space already, have proven to be the worst kind of thugs, running wholesale over citizens' rights and freedoms all in the name of some vague international ideal that is denied by their very behaviour.

Trouble in Paradise

Tiger Woods is to sport what Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are to business.

He is also the most carefully guarded and private rich famous man on earth.

Big news therefore when Woods takes off in his SUV at 2:30 in the morning and crashes quickly into a fire hydrant and a tree.

The story broke just before noon and both CNN and BBC News gave it non-stop coverage, BBC oddly enough doing a much more thorough and credible job.

Soon, the "Tiger in hospital in serious condition" report was changed to "Tiger has been released from hospital," for which we can all be thankful. No one I know wishes the man any particular ill will.

Now the questions remain and abound - What the devil was he doing dashing off at 2:30 in the morning?

TMZ, the gossip website, has already conjectured that Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren , were having a marital spat about possible outside liaisons.

Who knows?

The Woods publicity machine will no doubt offer an agreed spin within the coming days.

I know of no marriage that manages to avoid completely a speed bump or two.

If you're the most famous and richest athlete in the world (Woods is already a Billion Dollar Man.), anything you do will be photographed and written about.

Woods is an amazing performer and a joy to watch.

Let's hope that whatever private or public taste of hell this may be, that he and his family may move on in some positive way.

A Little Light, Please

David Mulroney has testified only that there was no direct and specific evidence of torture.

He could not answer that he was certain that none were tortured.

In fact, all that he and others trying to repute the testimony last week of Richard Colvin could offer was that this was an honorable war and that times and conditions were tough and we love our soldiers.

O.K.

All agreed.

But what's that got to do with the issue.

Do we or do we not hand over detainees knowing full well that they will be tortured?

Do we agree to and or condone torture under certain circumstances?

And if we do, what are those conditions and when do we give the green light and how?

I agree with the succinct Globe editorial of this morning.

"The Conservatives' preference for attacking the whistleblowers and deferring to military heroism rather than dealing with the actual charges is deplorable but not surprising.

Beyond what was known, and sat on, in 2006 and 2007, the core question remains: Were people detained by Canadians subsequently tortured by Afghan authorities? Canadians need to know."

We Mispoke

Somebody has to speak to the Boys at 12th & Cambie.

We can forgive them, as we know they are on a steep learning curve.

Even their moms didn't tell them that we can only understand what you say, not what arcane intentions you may secretly harbour.

In re-wording that nutty offensive bylaw that would allow Stasi/Gestapo tactics, including the invasion of your home if you burped during an Olympic moment, Pretty Boy Floyd, a.k.a. Hizz Honor, said, ""Our commitment has always been the protection of people's Charter Rights and Freedoms."

Always? Really?

Geoff Meggs is one of the few Vision councillors who is allowed by the Puppet Masters to speak in public.

His take on this about face was cute.

"Staff have tried to reflect long-standing concerns in the community over rights to expression and free speech during the Olympics," said Councillor Geoff Meggs, who previously charged that worries over the July bylaw were overblown. "I never had any qualms this council would tolerate any violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Good, Geoff.

Now, let's get to the brass tacks.

Ellen Woodsworth, one of only two council members to vote against the controversial bylaw in July, also welcomed the shift. "I am glad to see we have these changes, although they only came about because of public outcry. All the questions we had have been validated."

And Woodsworth is right.

This wording of this bylaw was amended because of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the media and nut bars like me who like to keep tabs on these little constant gnawing threats to democracy by The Smiling Clowns Class.

Appointments

My favorite politician in the whole world is Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy.

Three times over.

In spite of being indicted at least six times on various charges of corruption.

Never, of course, convicted.

He is the second richest man in Italy, with an estimated net worth of $6.8 Billion.

He controls all the media in Italy.

His current and second wife is now suing and asking for a modest settlement - $68 Million a year.

All of that is interesting in the same way that any celebdrek can be called interesting.

But here's the grabber.

I love this.

I didn't know it until today, and, as I often say in this space, you cannot write material this good.

Berlusconi is famously infatuated with young women,

Here is the bit:

Mara Carfagna, one of Silvio's faves, was once a topless model.

He appointed her to the government as...wait for it...

Minister of Equal Opportunities.

WHY?

I have one simple question about Richard Colvin's testimony to Parliament about torture in Afghanistan.

Why?

If he is lying or making this all up, what is his game?

Money? Self-aggrandizement? Amusement?

Sorry, folks.

I believe there is something substantial to Colvin's accusations and that we ought to know more.

Road Signs

Amazing & Beautiful