RCMP Investigator Exchange Program

A young man who was threatening suicide was shot by the Vernon RCMP after he brandished a knife at them when they went to arrest him on a mental health warrant. The RCMP's major crime section is investigating, as is the B.C. Coroners Service and the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP. And to avoid the feeling of a tainted investigation while police investigate themselves, the RCMP have asked an 'independent' investigator from Calgary police to conduct an investigation into Thursday's shooting.
Meanwhile in Calgary, police are baffled about why a 36-year-old woman died while in custody at an RCMP detachment north of Calgary early Thursday morning.
It is rumoured that Vernon RCMP may send an 'independent' investigator to Calgary to avoid the feeling of a tainted investigation while police investigate themselves.
Hmmmm.

Frozen Woolly Mammoth sent to Japan

The body of a frozen woolly mammoth has been discovered by a reindeer herder in a subarctic region of Siberia. It has its trunk and eyes virtually intact and even some fur remaining, said Alexei Tikhonov, deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Zoological Institute. Wooly mammoths are thought to have existed between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The Ice Age beast has been sent to Japan for study by scientists. Bi-ig mistake. The Japanese said they thought it would taste very good and were preparing vats of whale soup to go with it.

BC Lotteries - butt out, you players

BC Lotteries refuses to release the names of the retailers with lottery terminals who won prizes over 10,000 dollars!
The winning ticket switch in Ontario is in the news right now because the Ontario Lottery Corporation went after someone who did it, taking a four million dollar prize for himself. The rightful holders of the winning numbers are getting their money and the OLC is suing the man to return the money. This is not because their lottery corporation did anything at all, it is because of an investigative TV program!
Switching tickets is a pretty easy thing to do. You go to your ticket retailer and ask him to check your numbers, he has already checked some numbers that he knows are not winners and keeps those slips near his cash register, he punches in your numbers, sees that it is a winning combination, then hands you the slip with the non-winning numbers and you walk away disappointed. He now pockets your ticket with the winning numbers, waits a few weeks and then claims the prize! YOUR prize. in the Ontario scam it was four million tax free dollars!
Here in BC a similar investigation took place. However, our trusty BCLC won't tell us who cheated us. Or how many. Of how much. They won't even state a reason. Privacy concerns? They tell us they can't tell you who might have cheated you out of your winnings, because those retailers might suffer business losses if it became known they cheated! What? Oh my gawd! Hardship! People might not want to buy lotto tickets from a cheater. No one at our BCLC seems to have even thought to take away their lotto business! Even if we cannot prove they cheated we still need to know what retailers won large amounts of cash.
It's time the BC Lottery Corporation showed us they are honest and policing their business. And willing to deal out harsh punishment. And we might ask how a corporation can prevent us from knowing the truth of the situation anyway? BC Government needs to step forward and fire someone for their arrogance at the BCLC.
But then it's a blind eye isn't it? They won't even call it gambling though that's what it is. Where is Tony Soprano when we need him? I'll gladly give him his cut if he gives me mine.
At least the Mafia would be fair and they know how to handle cheaters.

Gunpoint Medicine

It's coming folks. World slavery. They are starting in Maryland on the children, forcing parents to subject their children to state mandated vaccinations, saying the immunization would be for chicken pox and Hepatitus B. Many do not trust the health system spin.
In a scenario reminiscent of cattle round-ups, the state’s attorney has issued summons to more than 1600 parents of children who have not provided certificates of immunization for their children. Glen Ivey, the Attorney General said, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it's gonna have to be done." Didn't I hear that line in a prison movie?
Many parents fear vaccinations because of the growing suspicions about autism and other problems. Even presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul, whose campaign is about taking government back to the people, believes in choice in the matter.
Others have dark suspicions that these immunizations are a forerunner of world domination by certain elite groups to gain control over the populace. Others believe that the new RDIF microchips could be implanted with vaccines. It's only a matter of public 'education'. And every new US passport has an RDIF chip in it. They'll know exactly where every single US citizen is when he's traveling. If they can get those under your skin ...
Scary? You bet it is.

Educate yourself here - - -

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f74xvtRijMc&feature=related

http://www.newstarget.com/022267.html

http://www.newsrx.com/health-articles/797682.html

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HxOw2dzjLc8

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vrl9dASQ1gY&feature=related

The Big Game

Karlheinz Schreiber has testified. He told us some things. Brian Mulroney comes up soon. He'll deny everything. In all probability, Eddy Greenspan is advising Schreiber to slant left, let Mulroney counter to the right, then go back up the middle with the devastating tackle. Schreiber is playing to stay here. But he is only part of the Big Game. Mulroney wants him in the permanent German penalty box.
Normally Schreiber could enlist the Liberals for help in attacking Conservative Mulroney. But Conservative Harper has already threatened the unintelligible Dion: You tell things about me and I'll investigate Chretien, Martin and the Sponsorship Scandal. Which seems to have been swept under the astro-turf in the game among participants. The players are all dirty.
To the Liberals the game is strategy not truth. The NDP have a shrill voice but the other two fend off any attempt by them to appear the 'honest' party. The Green Party doesn't seem to pay attention to mind pollution. And without an active truth seeking media, we can't expect any revelations or resolutions. Investigative journalism is out indefinitely with an upper body injury. Likely concussion.
It might end up a tie game with no shoot-out. And no matter how much we spectators hiss, boo or cheer, we won't influence the outcome.
Too bad, we lose.

UPDATE: The latest polls show that most Canadians believe Schreiber over Mulroney.

Exxon Valdez - years later

After all these years. On March 24, 1989, one of the most devastating man-made disasters occured in Alaskan waters. The Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of unrefined Alaskan crude oil into the sea. The wildlife deaths included Sea Otters, river otters, sea birds, ocras, bald eagles and anything else living in the coastal wilderness. Today, 18 years later, the once pristine area has still not recovered.
Litigation by Alaska resulted in damages and punative damages of up to 5 billion dollars. To date, Exxon has paid nothing. Constantly appealing all court decisions. Exxon's 2006 profit was $39.5 billion dollars, the most ever for a U.S. company.

This year, Exxon gave their CEO, Rex Tillerson a cash bonus and stock currently valued at close to $20 million! A nice reward for avoiding payment and looking after shareholders while sticking it to the citizens of the world.

The environment is of huge concern in 2007. It is time that North Americans began to punish the shareholders and these arrogant corporations themselves. By not buying their product.
You CAN make a difference. Don't buy Exxon or Esso gas. Start now. Change your gas credit card.
Corporations are now running the world, overruling sovereign nations and the public well being is at risk. If someone sailed a tanker into New York harbour and opened the valves it would have forced immediate punitive action. It could be argued that spilling oil in Prince William Sound's remote location has a far greater effect on our environment and future.
Do something.

http://www.lieffcabraser.com/wbh_exxart.htm

Tasering is better than ...

A woman is recovering in hospital after being tasered in the latest event of electronic warfare by police. She allegedly held knives and advanced toward the officers.
But that was better than turning around and backing toward the police. That action might have resulted in a shot in the head as the police defended themselves.

More expensive?

Making those awful little Japanese character Olympic mascots in China is yet another mistake by the Vancouver Olympic committee. A cold shouldered affront to BC talent. It's like the Campbell government's internal policy is, 'never BC'. (resulting in that Mexican designer company coming to town and thinking the Northwest Territories inukshuk at English Bay was a BC emblem for our Olympics) Of course we can't show you those horrid lil critters because of the Olympic police who prevent that kind of thing.
VANNOC want everyone to get on board our Olympic program and support it, yet it's hard to do with British Columbians being constantly excluded from the process.
Would it really have been more expensive to produce them here? Jim Sinclair of the BC Federation of labour in honesty says yes, they would cost a little more by being produced here. He knows there are many aspects of that cost that actually make them cheaper.
Chinese toys are under fire right now because of the toxicity of many of their plastics. Every week we find another recall and even Mattel is reflecting that in sales. A recent poll showed that most parents are shying away en mass from buying Chinese toys this year. We know that the standards in Canadian production are very high. We know that they are very low in China and indeed, we have no way of monitoring them, let alone policing them. For all we know, those mascots are stuffed with rat fur.
But like the contract for the new BC ferries, ALL the money is going offshore. And now British Columbians won't share one dollar of the manufacture of those little oriental dolls. Had they been produced here, BC workers would have been paid, and spent some of that Canadian money on other things, patronizing local restaurants, buying fridges, home improvements, etc etc. The money would have dispersed back into OUR local economy for the benefit of British Columbians instead of into some Chinese company's pockets.
That is where the cost is truly assessed. How money filters through to you and me from major projects must be considered in the cost analysis.
Wouldn't it have been better to have a sticker on a British Columbia representative mascot that said, 'Proudly Made in Canada'?

And besides, those so called mascots are downright UGLY!

Had enough of crime affecting you?

Steve Brown, the brother-in-law, business partner and friend of Ed Schellenberg, the gas fireplace serviceman murdered in Surrey, BC, in October, has started a blog. Steve is asking for your voice to join his in crying out against the inadequacies of the justice system in combating the crime wave sweeping across Canada.
Ed, was simply doing his job fixing a gas fireplace. He was an innocent victim of a drug killing. This should not happen to law abiding citizens yet IS happening again and again. The power of the web is emerging in our society.
You CAN make a difference. Support Steve Brown's blog here ...

http://weveseenenough.blogspot.com/2007/11/we-have-had-enough.html

Be part of the groundswell.

Jurist's decision

The Robert Willie Picton trial is winding down. The prosecution has finished their final statements, the defense finished their closing arguments. The jury now considers everything they've heard over the last months. It would be hard not to find Picton guilty with the mound of evidence at his pig farm.
But the consequences of a verdict remain to be seen.
The six women met their horrible end on that farm, there is little doubt about that, but it is hard to believe that even a detestable character like Picton could have carried it all out, time after time, alone. Will finding him guilty result in a closed case? All done, neatly tied up? If Willie Picton is found guilty because the evidence was found on the farm, then could it be that others could be guilty as well? Circumstantial evidence has one problem, it can point to others too.
One wonders if the jury could find Robert Picton guilty, and still make a recommendation that the investigation continue to find others involved. Or does everyone want to get it out of the headlines and into fading history, even if other murderers go free?

Sleazy negative billing?

We got our phone bill this week.
We're with Telus. Used to be an honorable company called BC Tel. Been with them for like 40 years. This month's bill had an extra charge on it for $2.95 saying it was "LD network access." Did London Drugs start a phone company? Nope, Telus was billing us for access to a long distance network somewhere.
We never call long distance. We never asked to have a separate charge for access to long distance. They just slipped the charge onto our account. Sort of like those sleazy used car dealers used to do when they told you the fenders weren't included at the original price.
So we called customer service. Got a Chinese guy Erin, he began an argument that we had agreed to pay this access charge. He was hard to understand so we asked that he repeat it, thinking we missed something. There was no mention of such an addition on our previous Telus bill. So after a long dissertation that we had to pay it and it would be monthly = $35.40 a year! We asked for a supervisor.
Erin argued longer about how we had to pay the bill. Asked for the supervisor again. The supervisor isn't here right now. We asked that he transfer the phone to the person sitting next to him. He told us to call in again and repeat the whole procedure of answering metallic questions from a virtual voice. We asked again for a supervisor.
Well you know the procedure, he put us on hold hoping we'd give up in disgust. We stayed. Blood pressure rising over the poor service and frustration so far. Bad music.
Then Erin hung up.
After a repeat call-in with mounting aggravation, a nice man Sasha, arrives and explains that the 'other' telephone companies don't pay for long distance service for their customers and Telus is making their own customers pay. So I see it as Telus customers subsidizing Telus' competition. Why ever would Telus want to stick it to their own?
Easy, slipping another $2.95 onto everyone's bill would be a huge windfall profit to pay all those management bonuses for thinking up this one! Then they wouldn't have the hassle of dealing with their own competition. These guys must be ex bank employees!
So now I am blocked from calling long distance on my land-line but don't have the charge. Don't forget I had to call THEM to have it removed. And why can't Telus stop those telemarketting jerks from Toronto and Michigan from calling ME long distance every night at dinnertime?

Hmm, I am thinking that as I have two cell phones, internet service and a landline with Telus, I might have something to offer that competition myself. I never got a thing from Telus in appreciation of my patronage over the years. I probably would get a new computer or a car by changing all this business to someone else.
Sleazy negative billing has a way of catching up with you.
I think Erin lied about his name too.

Welcome to Canada 2010

Welcome to British Columbia 2010, bring your taser deflector.
Anyone I have talked to about the tragic death of Robert Dziekanski is furious about it. They rant about the RCMP, their training and competence. They're incensed about the 27 second tasering of a confused man. Some are saying that the police just wanted to play with a new exciting weapon. Others that they didn't have any idea how to handle the situation. Four burly officers had to resort to lethal action to subdue him?
In my humble opinion, the officer who put all the weight of his leg against Dziekanski's neck during the scuffle should be charged with manslaughter at the least. In effect a death grip. That is a police matter, not a public inquiry matter. But did you know that the Vancouver Airport 'Authority' doesn't report to anybody? Like BC Ferries they are an entity unto themselves. Answering for their actions to no one.
All the four policemen who partook in this event should be fired in dishonor because none of them had the wit to understand the danger to the victim.
RCMP training should be reviewed to alert new constables to a fact that my young niece mentioned to me, that cutting off the blood circulation to the brain can cause death within 18 seconds. She said she learned that in high school!
Airport security on duty at the time should be fired because one man lingered for hours and hours without alerting suspicion or investigation! He could have been there to blow up a plane! What were they looking at if anything?
And the airport official who allegedly was talking to Robert's mother 5 hours after he was dead and told her he was fine should be fired in disgrace as well.
This is a catastrophic event when we are trying to invite the world to our coming Olympic event. It shows that we are incapable of handling alarming situations that require immediate thought and quick competent action. Do we want the world to think our RCMP are thugs? Very strong and prompt action is required here, or are we going to get another 'inquiry' that starts sometime years ahead when they hope we have all forgotton Robert Dziekanski? Why isn't someone available next week to conduct this while it is fresh in witnesses' minds and most of all, the public mind!
Tourist beware.

addenda: tasers work by firing a small pair of needles on a wire into your skin. The needles do not pull out. If they shot an AIDS or Hep C carrier before you, do they sterilize those needles? Do the needles carry diseases and transfer it from one victim to another? There might be more risk than falling on the ground here.

Christmas Shopping

So it's upon us. Tis the season to be jolly. Hmmm, but ... Well I tried to start Christmas shopping. Really. The first place we went was SportChek in Pacific Center. Quite a few employees in there. They didn't have the Adidas wear I wanted, but the pleasant young man was helpful. So my wife picked up an item from UnderArmor and went to pay at the checkout. Another young man was already there, taking the phone. We had our money out ready to pay. He called for a cashier. We waited. Other employees were about, looking important and knowledgeable about sports. Casual, fit, young people. The man called again for a cashier.
I began to get nervous about waiting when I saw that no one appeared to notice. I sidled slowly toward the entrance. Hearing again a call for a cashier. My wife waited. I finally left the store and waited in the mall.
Then after the fourth call, a young girl came running from another store to answer the call for a cashier!
My wife thinks I am impatient. We argue lightly for a minute about customer service. She says it's never going to be like it used to be. We are just too old now. We remember stuff.
But I said, why offer a store your money if they're so lax the cashier isn't even IN the store? Was she the only one who could work the machine?
Wife said again that's the way it'll be this year. I said those Americans at Bellis Faire want my money, they're at the cash register smiling at me when I am there. That's customer service.
I might try a few more stores this year for my Christmas shopping. Give Canadians a chance. Maybe. But my list isn't about who I'm getting gifts for, it's a list of stores I was intending to shop at this year.
I've already crossed one off that list.
Maybe I'll just get everyone a pound of Humbugs.

Earthquake jolts Northern California

(CNN) -- A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 struck Northern California on Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake's epicenter was about nine miles northeast of San Jose. It hit at 8:04 p.m.

Catherine Kilkenny gets under a table during the earthquake in San Jose, California.













Mr Kilkenney seems to have his own earthquake in mind.

Price gouging for Canadians?

Lots of publicity right now about what Canadian retailers think of Canadian consumers. With our high Canadian dollar pressure to match US prices is strong. Yet their attitude seems to be that the Canadian market is cream and they charge what they can for extreme profits. I see this as a disdain for their own customers.
Recently I began looking to buy a few things, among them cameras and computer peripherals.
I looked at London Drugs for a Canon S5 IS. A great little camera. London Drugs' price was $499. Canadian. If I drive a few miles to Bellingham, my price would be $337. US! Note that the Canadian dollar is right now at 104 over the US dollar. I have not bought the camera in Vancouver.
Then I went to Future Shop to buy a Lacie 500 gb external hard drive for my computer. The manufacturers suggested list price is $119. Future shop had this item at $274.! Anywhere in Blaine or Bellingham I could change my Canadian dollars for American money and make these two deals at regular US prices. And I have not looked for sales yet in Bellis Faire, for instance.
If you're a Canadian consumer. They are preying on you folks. You represent extra profits for retailers here. Gouge profits. They cry about their costs by that is not our concern. They can drive whatever bargain they like with the manufacturers, it takes strong management to do it but it can be done. As a chain store you just remove their product from your shelves for a week and see what deal they'll give you to get your retail prices in line.
If I buy these two products across the border, I will SAVE $317 DOLLARS over buying them in Canada. That is HUGE and pays for my lunch and the bonus is cheap gas. Three Hundred and seventeen dollars!
And it shows that Canadian retailers have gotten soft and have nothing but disdain for their customers.
Besides, those Americans are WAY more friendly too.

Further interest - Went to buy a magazine, 12.95 Canadian dollars - 9.95 American dollars. So if I go to the bank and change my Canadian into American dollars, it will cost me 9.68 to get 9.95 American. So I save $3.27 on a simple magazine!
Oh yes, I looked at another 500 gig external hard drive - Manufacturers suggested list price, or if I buy it from the web, (free shipping by manufacturer) was $119.00. London Drugs price = $149.00. CostCo price - $179.00.
Sure, I know there are other variables, like travel and effort, but it DOES give you an idea that Canadian retailers are grabbing everything they can out of your pocket. If I am going to pay more, then I'll be supporting the small independant retailer thanks, NOT the chains.

Give yourself some time

Take a quiet hour for yourself. Open your mind. Throw off your preconceived thoughts, and your innate resistance to volatile and disturbing ideas about our world. Be objective, don't argue until you see it all first. Give yourself a chance. Suspend your disbelief for just a while. Don't judge until you see it. Watch the video here ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yx9NRX37SM

Sometimes the evilness of humanity needs to be assimilated to allow hope to emerge for the goodness of humanity.
Just think for yourself .... ask questions.

Death among the criminals - 2 ???

Last night in Surrey, well not actually at night-time, it was apparently around 5:30 pm, supper hour at a MacDonalds restaurant, two groups started shooting at each other in the parking lot. No one was killed among the criminals.
A police spokesman, reassuring the public that it was not a random shooting said, "It was between two groups in the parking lot, the public was not in danger at all, unless it would be from a stray bullet."
Is that supposed to be reassuring? We are supposed to just relax and continue our Big Macs? Maybe just watch the bad guy show outside? Tell our kids, "It's okay, just don't stand in the way of a stray bullet?" Is that an asinine statement by the police or what?
The stray bullets are exactly what we're worried about! Don't the cops understand?
A lot of these criminal gang types are stupid. How many drive-by shootings have sprayed bullets into the wrong house because these a**holes didn't know what street they were on? What about the girl in Gastown who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone pulled a gun and shot at someone else? Killing her. What about that Toronto street shooting? A woman across the street lost her life in a flail of bullets.
The public IS in danger, quit trying to lie for a job poorly done protecting us.
Cruel and unusual punishment is dying simply for being an innocent passer-by. Twenty years in jail for shooting a gun in public is not.
It's justice.

Hydro power in BC. For America?

The plans to build hundreds of Run-of-the-River power projects in BC need to have guidelines placed on these projects before allowing any contracts. Although the attitude of the present government is that it is private enterprise and we never dare put restrictions on what private business can do. What I mean is that allowing private power companies to bypass BC Hydro without rules for the benefit of British Columbians should be a no go. My alarm signals begin to flash when I am told that it is all good for BC people. And that we are presently importing power. My concern is that we are again being told lies by omission, a trademark of Gordon Campbell. We always find out much later that the BC Liberals were scheming against us. We haven’t been told much about selling the power generated by these new projects, except that they will, after a certain time period of selling to BC Hydro, be free to then sell to whoever they like. Read that as America. And at that time, my assumption is that we will have NO authority over our own BC river projects to reclaim that power for ourselves if need be.
Nigel Protter, in a recent Georgia Straight article said, ‘... why should we care where the electricity goes?’ Well wouldn’t we care if we are facing a brown-out in Vancouver and our own rivers are generating power to keep Las Vegas alight? Or that they will provide us with electricity made from our own rivers, but at an ‘American’ price.
Just fine with Environment Minister Barry Penner too. His side-mouth-talking asserted that we would avoid importing power from coal burning or gas burning etc. Ba-ad for us all. Carefully omitting the point, of course, of why we would import any power at all from other sources than our very own rivers. (As an aside, did California EVER pay us that 600 million they owe us for power?)
We need to implement rules to whatever power projects are built, in that WE can reclaim that power back to us without a penalty at any time. That should simply be the cost of private enterprise doing business using BC resources, supposedly owned by the people of BC.
Of course not much of BC is run by British Columbians anymore is it? And one needs to have suspicion with every announcement from this devious government. BC Rail is no longer. Now CN DErail is run out of New York. BC Gas has become Terasen so we won’t even think of it as ours, now run out of Texas. We sent 350 million dollars to Germany to build ships that could have been built here by British Columbians. Not a dime going to a BC worker!
We were once proud of the accomplishments of British Columbians for British Columbia, I wonder if we’ll begin to feel like dupes when we are told to stay away from our own rivers?

Death among the criminals

So now they're hollering for more police to combat the shootings in the crime community as yet another person, 'known to the police', was killed in his car. Gang activity, they say. Disputes over drug territory.
I'm wondering why these criminals killing each other is a BAD thing?

Hire that Judge!

A man convicted of a carjacking in New Westminster has been sentenced to nine years. This 29 year old criminal, of no fixed address committed the crime in December 2006 in New Westminster. He hid in the garage until the car owner and her son came out in the morning. He then pulled a gun and stole the vehicle. He was arrested later that day after crashing the stolen car.
What happened to the usual slap on the wrist because the perp had a bad childhood? Where's the usual lenient sentence because his momma didn't love him? What about rehabilitating him on his own recognizance? Maybe give him some money to buy his own car?

Where is that judge! We need more like him! Hire the guy, put him in charge of the drug dealer sentencing for the creeps who sell to children! Maybe the addict car thieves who try to run down cops. And the illegal immigrant street racers who kill innocent passers by.
Thank you Judge, for being brave and protecting law abiding citizens. Maybe he heard the public outcry. Maybe it's a start. Keep up the good work.

Elections Canada new poster

Elections Canada, in defiance of Parliament, say people CAN be masked when they vote.
So far, The Lone Ranger, Darth Vader, Batman and Robin, The Masked Marvel, The Phantom of the Opera, Zorro, Spiderman and several bank robbers have endorsed this policy.
One thief was heard to say, "Why should I lose my vote just 'cause I'm a criminal?"
Another SuperHero commented, "If you want the world safe you can't expect me to take off all my Supersuit just to vote."
A burglar whispered, "I voted twelve times for Louie."
The Man in the Iron Mask echoed, "At least now I can leave the rust on."
One Election Officer said, "If you've got nothing to hide, then you won't mind keeping your mask on."
A new Elections Canada poster was being readied for use ......

















... and there is no truth to the rumor that raccoons have been voting for Tammy Faye Bakker.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/10/elections-veils.html?ref=rss

Mulroney vs Trudeau

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in a new book, criticizes former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as having a lack of moral fiber to lead. He slams Trudeau for his teenage years as an activist. No mention in his book about the Airbus scandal or his own moral fiber while in office as an adult.
This from the man who many consider the biggest crook Canada ever had. Who thousands wonder where he is getting the money to live like a billionaire. Who the RCMP may be STILL investigating for bribery in the Airbus scandal. Who was the first Prime Minister in Canadian history to be the subject of a criminal probe. Who even tried to steal the furniture from 24 Sussex Drive.
Who threatens to sue anyone who looks into his background at the drop of a secret paper.

Except: Stevie Cameron, who wrote the book, On The Take, an investigative report on the scandalous Mulroney and a bombshell exposé of crime, corruption and greed on his watch. For some obscure reason he hasn't sued Ms Cameron. Hmmm.
"I am not a crook."
Where have we heard that phrase before?

Today in History . . . Sept 1

1914. The last known passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati zoo.
There were an estimated 5 billion birds prior to the mid 1800s in North America. Hunters shot them out of the sky for 'sport' and they were also used for food for slaves, restaurants and even agricultural fertilizer. In order to catch them easily, hunters would light smoky fires under the nesting trees, with as many as 100 nests. The young would jump out of their nests and into hunters' bags! One hunter alone shipped 3 million pigeons in a single year. They'd soak grain with alcohol to intoxicate them and make them easier to kill.
The term 'stool pigeon' comes from the times too. Hunters would capture a live pigeon, sew his eyelids shut, and use him as a decoy tied to a stool!
Sort of makes a macho guy wanta go hunting, doesn't it?

Scientific experiment - folding paper 7 times

Osoyoos under attack ...

er ... "development" they call it. Lots of new condo "development" going on up there. They are pushing it every day on the radio in Vancouver. I bet they get their very own Wallmart soon. All those new city people need their city services! That's "development."
"Developers" (if that isn't a misnomer, nothing is) are feverishly promoting their "developments," wanting all you rich people to get there now and buy buy buy!
It was way too quiet and serene in Osoyoos. No one was getting rich. That's not "development". Too much water. Too many birds tweeting. There was no reason Canada's only arid biotic zone, desert, can't be just like Reno. That finger of the Sonoran desert needed "development." So now there are going to be condos everywhere!
They're going to "develop" the shit out of it!

Here's a likely map of what "they", are planning ...













click to throw up ... er, I mean enlarge.

Space Shuttle Dangers

The Shuttle went up. And once again a piece of "foam" fell off something and damaged the underside of the shuttle. How many times has this happened before? What IS this "foam" stuff?
Why does it cause such damage? Why is it always falling off? Anyone ever phone up the Foam company to see what's wrong? How can they fix that? Don't they have glue? Now they need to try and repair it in space?
Do you imagine, like me, that a Dixie Cup piece is going to cause the shuttle to come flaming to Earth? Chewing a peanut butter cookie with gum will fix anything. But I suppose they don't have any peanut butter up there either.
Now we learn that the shuttles have encountered over 15,000 hits in space causing damage of an inch or more! No wonder these guys and gals need a drink out there. I bet the Russians have a bottle of Stolichnaya hidden somewhere in that space station.
NASA, smarten up, try foam rubber or something, at least it'll bounce off.
The space walk pic sorta reminds me of Dustin Hoffman lying at the bottom of the pool in "The Graduate", to get away from it all.

Skateboarders

Check out the seats, even in ancient times skateboarders and graffiti were a problem ...



Sappho and Alcaeus, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1881, oil on canvas, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

ICBC huge profits

I think I know why.
A couple of years ago I bought a motorcycle. When it was time to insure I was shocked at ICBC rates. The particular rate for my new bike was $2700.00 a year! I got a 40% discount as an accident free DRIVER (not a rider) which brought the motorcycle rate down to $1600.00. No other discounts to apply. Like it or don't ride or drive a vehicle in BC.
Well I happened to have access to information from Washington State insurances. I was again shocked, but at their enlightened attitude toward motorcycles.
I would qualify for a 'Mature Rider' discount because I was unlikely to race around at my age. I also would get a discount for being a non smoker, I suppose meaning that I was less likely to cause the insurance company a cost because I fell off while trying to light up. Although I think it was really for being unlikely to die while riding. Another discount for the type of bike I bought, pure sport bikes cost more because they're likely to be driven faster and perhaps more recklessly. There was also a huge discount in Washington State for taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider training course.
I took two courses before getting my bike, the BC Motorcycle Safety Foundation Rider Skills course, AND the Traffic Skills course, both expensive but highly recommended for avoiding a disaster on your bike. Then a refresher course too.
Didn't mean a thing to ICBC.
The bottom line is that for comparable insurance to what ICBC covers me for here, at $1600.00, would have only cost me $300.00 across the border! $1300.00 cheaper for the same coverage! And although my bike is aging every year, the insurance rate stays the same!
ICBC say they don't compile statistics or profiles on who causes more accidents. Private insurance companies do. Maybe it should be considered.
But ripping us all off is a sure way to pack in the profits.

Home Alarm Systems

A company in my town constantly advertises their home alarm system and warns you about other 'inferior' systems. It is a voice system where a real guy talks to you if you're broken into.
I looked at their website for a few niggling things that were bothering me.
However they seem to omit things in their blurb.
Like for the price they advertise, you get ONE DOOR alarm and NO window alarms. You then hope the burglar picks that door? Additional coverage is where they get you. I guess you at least know which door to run out of.
It's a voice system, if the alarm goes off a guy flips a switch and listens to you screaming. OR, can he flip that switch anytime to listen to you breathing hard? Do they mic every room? If you are in the basement when the voice guy calls, does the burglar just say, "Everything's okay?"
Even then, where IS that 'central' voice guy? In your town or in New York, Bombay or Taiwan? He evidently calls the police (authorities) for you if needed but does he just dial 911 and try to explain to that operator that he's calling on your behalf? Then SHE contacts the police? Does he have to call your town first?
Why can't you just call 911 yourself? Much faster and safer. Just tell the cops that the guy has a gun and see how fast they respond.
Way cheaper to just get a mean dog, leave him inside and don't feed him. Maybe give Michael Vick a call to find out where to buy one.
Meanwhile, whisper.

The State of Sport

In one word - Sad.
Barry Bonds about to break a home run record while under investigation for cheating with strength enhancing steroids. The hated hero. NFL Football's Michael Vick attending illegal disgusting dogfights. Tour-de-France contender Alexandre Vinokourov having blood transfusions between stages. Hockey coaches running gambling rings. NBA basketball referees betting on games they control. Multi-million dollar professional players arrested constantly for drugs, or weapons, violence and woman abuse. Irreverence for anyone but themselves. Oblivious to the law or common sense rules of behavior. Sounds like Hollywood starlets, doesn't it?
Sport?
Perhaps we need to differentiate 'sport' from entertainment? TV Wrestling makes no attempt to be sport. We all know it is theatre, nothing else. Maybe we should allow the Mark McGuires of sport to have their own realm, where anything goes. Take all the drugs you like, go as fast as you can, be the strongest in your world. Put those events on the Adult channels for the mentality that'll watch them. Like truck pull events but with freaky-humans. The kind that grisly guys burp and fart at while watching.
But Money runs the leagues. They SHOULD bar anyone from all games forever who does drugs. The money will still flow into the league coffers. Because there's always another player who IS clean. Return sport to being the best you can be without enhancements.
Sports that children can emulate. Like all those black kids who wanted to be Hank Aaron once. And the white kids who wanted to be Ted Williams.
What freaky kid wants to be Barry Bonds?

Bonds hit run No. 756 on Tuesday night, breaking the record Hank Aaron set in 1976 with the Milwaukee Brewers. Let the freak show begin.

2010 - Northwest Territories

We're seeing this Northwest Territories logo everywhere these days.
Inukshuk it's called, there's a fine example right on English Bay beach, given to us by the Northwest Territories after Expo 86. There are other events using their logo but we cannot mention them anymore.
You see, the organizing committee of that 'event' now is hiring a "branding cop", who's going to police every mention and come down on you for using anything resembling that event's logos, pictures, wording etc.
Everything will be monitored, including TV, radio, home business, billboards, even cyberspace on the internet!
You won't be able to use words like "Games City," "Medals," "Vancouver," "Whistler," or even "Sponsor!"

Ok.
Maybe we'll just promote our kind northern Canadians then.

http://www.gov.nt.ca/research/tourism/index.html

John Ferguson - a small memory

As the accolades and remembrances begin pouring in about former Montreal Canadian winger John Ferguson, most of the memories are about hockey and his illustrious career. However, mine is a small one from a distant past. Way back in the fifties at Vancouver Tech High School.
I didn't even know he played hockey until a few years later. But I was a sort of 'team-mate' in the class called Notorious Nine-E. It was different and the boys were different, East side kids mostly. But even then Fergie stood out, but not as the tough guy he became in hockey, but as the guy most of us liked to be around. He was fun, maybe not quite the class clown, but always ready for a laugh, or to instigate one at the expense of the teachers mostly. It was the most fun of my youth at school.
One time the principal was coming to class to address the students because of our irreverent behavior. The home room teacher's desk was up a step on a platform. Before the principal arrived, John edged the front legs of that desk to the very edge of that step up, within an eighth of an inch. The principal arrived, long faced, glum, and coined the phrase we all became proud of, saying, "So this is notorious nine E," to a tumult of cheers and clapping. He then began a serious reprimand of our pranks and conduct while our young home room teacher stood gravely in the corner. At one point he remarked that so far that year, not one of us had been absent a day. A reply from someone called back, "Hell we're havin' too much fun here!" which elicited another roar of laughter. The principal, trying to look more threatening, leaned forward on the desk, and sternly began talking when his weight made the shift we were all waiting for. He ended up sprawled across the desk and sliding off it head first like a crushed ant while everyone leaped up to shake Fergie's hand.
Our teacher and the principal left the room and we happily shared one more moment of what John Ferguson was all about to us of that era; full of life and fun.
A small memory but a nice one to have.
RIP #22.

Cellphone study ... er revelation

The Maritz Research company, one of the world's largest marketing research firms, recently conducted a study regarding cell phone use in mid-flight and customers' attitude towards it. The results of the study are not important for this post, the reason for the study is: that the technology is becoming available to make cell phone use in mid-flight possible.
Does this mean the 9-11 Truthers are right? That those mysterious calls from United Airlines Flight 93 and American Airlines Flight 77 could NOT have happened? And were faked? Hmmm.

It actually makes this call even more unbelievable -
Caller: “Mom? This is Mark Bingham. I want you to know that I love you. I’m on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb.”
Alice: “Who are these guys?
Caller: (after a pause) “You believe me, don’t you?"
Caller: “Yes, Mark. I believe you. But who are these guys?"
There were 14 other alleged cell phone calls made from Flight 93.

After years of many pilots, aircraft designers, cell phone and telephone company technicians saying cell calls from aircraft at speed and altitude could not be made on September 11, 2001, we just now are welcoming the technology to make them possible.

Hmm again. Does this mean the 9-11 Truthers are right?

http://physics911.net/cellphoneflight93

NOTE: Don't confuse cell phones with AIRPHONES or Satellite phones which were installed on some aircraft. However American Airlines Flight 77 was a 757. Airphones were installed on American Airlines 777 and 767 aircraft, NOT on 757s. Reference the case of Barbara Olson on Flight 77 which supposedly crashed into the Pentagon. Note also that NO cell call telephone bills ever appeared for United Flight 93 or American Flight 77 passengers. Indeed, the passenger lists don't even show any mysterious travelers.

Food quality and your health

As it seems more apparent that imported Chinese food doesn't undergo much if any quality testing or safety inspections, it is becoming dangerous to eat whatever you buy at your supermarket.
Some of these problems may be caused by international agreements like the NAFTA treaty. Where we may have strict safety requirements in Canada for what we grow to eat, Mexico may not follow our rules, yet under NAFTA they are free to export their food products to us. So what about South American food exporting countries? Who is inspecting and testing this imported food product? No one. Who knows what toxic fertilizers or chemicals are added to food produced in foreign lands?
In many cases you just KNOW the quality of the imported product is far inferior. We always look for a Dole label on fresh pineapple, having been stung too many times by South American pineapple that simply rots before it ripens! Hawaii has been growing pineapple too long and guards their industry closely. And what about those lovely red strawberries from somewhere that are all white and woody inside? They produce them to LOOK wonderful, unconcerned about quality. This is only a taste issue, but it could become downright sickening. The recent pet food problem is an example.
It's hard enough within the US and Canada to monitor quality. The spinach ecoli problem last year. Salmonella in peanut butter. Botulism in carrot juice. Four children died and hundreds more got sick from eating undercooked hamburgers infected with a dangerous form of ecoli bacteria four years ago. Are we being told the truth about mad cow disease?
If food monitoring is out of control in our own countries, how can we expect safe food produce coming from foreign shores?
In the US less than 1% of imported food is tested or inspected. And people are clamoring for a label stating the country of origin. None of this has happened [yet] in the States because of special interest groups and lobbyists! Always the scourge of the consumer.
And did you know that in Canada, if you import tomatoes, for instance, and simply package them here, they can be labeled as 'Product of Canada'. Whoever got that deception through?
The European Union just announced ambitious plans for an EU-wide food safety program to include a new watchdog agency with more than 80 possible changes to food safety laws. And spurred by deadly outbreaks of E. coli and other food-borne pathogens, a group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing to put all food safety oversight under a single federal agency.

Time we Canadians started taking our food consumption seriously too, maybe using the Chinese method to jerk the chain of the food industry; they simply executed the guy in charge of food exports for not doing his job properly. Dereliction of duty.
Heads need to roll, maybe literally.

hunting

The BC Government Environment Ministry is targeting women and children in a campaign for more hunters in BC.
It is unfair to them that only men are going into the forest to kill our bear, deer, mountain sheep, goats and elk etc. We need more women hunters, and kids too! Give 'em guns because our hunting industry is suffering a serious downturn in animals killed. Ba-ad for the economy. Not fair that more BCers can't kill something.
Hmm? Is that the reason or is it the fact that hunting outfitters have always had a strong lobby with right wing governments here to allow more American trophy hunters into BC? Bravado guys who'll pay up to $50,000. to pull the trigger on one of our big grizzly bears.
Maybe the downturn in the hunting business is because more people are becoming aware of the precarious position wildlife is in worldwide? Maybe camera hunting is better? Maybe women and children are disgusted with the government's idea of them becoming brave macho hunters too?
Maybe out of province hunters are content to stay at home now and hunt in those penned-off reserves being set up in many American states?
And they can stay at home, literally - read our previous post of 05/01/5005 titled California bans internet hunting to see how totally ludicrous hunting has become in some states!
http://caterwauls.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_archive.html
Maybe it is time those outfitters in northern BC learned some photography or looked for a new profession. The killing of wild animals for pleasure is a dying pastime but BC Government greed doesn't know that yet.

But wait, bringing along the wife and kids might be a surer way to kill hunting than banning it? Maybe take it one step further and require it. Pass me my beer, cigar and gun, Honey, and bring me my boots, kid, we're all going hunting!
Sure we are.

Stanley Park cleanup - where?

A walk to Stanley Park last week left me dismayed with the state of the so called cleanup efforts.
I mean in areas that are regularly accessed by visitors; around Second Beach and the Pitch and Putt golf course. There are trees and tree branches everywhere. Brown with rot. Trails are still closed near the Greig Rhododendron gardens. In that creek that leads into Lost Lagoon from Second Beach there are willow branches and junk. Some trees have been cut and the debris is left to litter the trailside. The little wooden bridge that crosses the creek has two rails missing and is simply closed. They keep saying they need heavy equipment to get into the park. But what would that take to fix the areas within view of tourists? A couple of hours by some guys wanting a little cash and firewood?
What is the Parks Board spending the money on? Letting their regular employees get the overtime instead of tackling it head on? Isn't there enough labour available on day rates? It seems to me that a couple of guys with chain saws and a pickup truck could clean up a lot of that mess in no time. What's the delay? Should tourists see a big mess like this?
It seems to me that the maintenance of Stanley Park has been deteriorating over several years now. Banks of grass that were once available to sit on to view English Bay are now overgrown with blackberry bushes. they seem to hire only about two gardners for the summer who can't keep up anyway, they need LOTS of simple labour in there. And NOW! It's time they started spending some of that money on recovery instead of administration. Stanley Park is a jewel in our city. Mismanagement is going on there somewhere.
The Parks Board should be ashamed of their efforts so far.

This response from Park Board spokesperson Yuna Flewen :

Scheduled timeline for the park clean-up is well within the mark, and we are also on track financially. A progress report is currently prepared for public distribution. After the storm we have invited experts from forestry, ecology and geotechnical fields and park stakeholders and prepared the official restoration plan, conducted public opinion polling on major issues that affect the operation, identified ecologically sensitive areas, took inventory of species at risk, assessed hazard trees and adjusted the trees that were deemed as dangerous for public safety. We have also conducted initial geotechnical assessment of the Prospect Point slope area and prepared a fire risk assessment and preparedness strategy.
Unfortunately, the open and visible blowdown area near Lost Lagoon has been identified as one of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the park for restoration. We have hired a consultant to work on a site specific restoration prescription, and we will begin debris removal process shortly.

The problem is simply one of somebody taking charge. It doesn't need studies, committees or strategies to remove dead branches. Again, TOO MANY ADMINISTRATORS!
Get on with it.

You may find information on our restoration website helpful in answering your queries. http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/stanley/restoration/index.htm

Fish Farm Salmon - Ugh

Did you NEED another reason NOT to eat fish farm salmon? Now they are suggesting that human urine would be good to add to their feed! You can bet the fish farmers will embrace this idea. Probably hook up with local beer pub outlets!
It's true.
The ISME Journal, a Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, reports that Bara Bihari Jana and his colleagues at the University of Kalyani, India, mixed ground water with human urine from the university's urinals and added the zooplankton Moina micrura, which is often fed to hatchling fish in commercial fisheries.
They also tried rearing the plankton in various cocktails of cow urine, vermin compost, (dead rats folks) poultry droppings and cow dung, all of which are commonly used in fish farming. All treatments used half a litre of urine, or half a kilo of dung, to every 4,500 litres of water.
Nice.
Aside from the fact that the fish farms are said to be destroying the the REAL Pacific salmon runs because the young salmon passing near the pens acquire masses of sea lice which kill them, there is the point that they are Atlantic salmon anyway. They ADD colouring to make them red! Respectable restaurants here in BC are specific about advertising wild salmon on their menus. Scientists have advised that adults eat it only occasionally and never give it to children. And it has also been said that even dead fish are scooped from the bottom of the pens and sold!
Most of the product is marketed into America anyway and no one is telling our friends across the border. Too bad.
But now that pissing into their pens is an option, we think BC Fish Farm salmon should go into that same category as that contaminated food from China.
UGH!
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070625/full/070625-13.html

Guess I'll stick to my fish oil capsules.

Previous comment on BC Fish farm salmon here ;
http://caterwauls.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_archive.html

Drug smuggling in Dubai?

There are several odd aspects to the case of a BC man convicted of smuggling drugs into Dubai from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Bert Tatham was caught at the Dubai airport while stopped for a 'layover' on his way back to Canada.
The actual 'drugs' themselves, apparently miniscule amounts of hashish were found on his clothing ... the question of course is how did it get there? He was involved as a United Nations consultant on Drugs and Crime to the Afghan government, hashish comes from the marijuana plant, not poppies. Traces were also found in his urine which he claimed were second hand smoke acquired. Well, it worked for the Olympics. Was he dumb enough to smoke hash before heading to Dubai?
He also had two poppy bulbs in his possession which he was bringing back to Canada for 'study and research'. No one would believe he intended to make heroin to shoot from two bulbs, but if his reason is true, why didn't he seal a package and declare that he had it? He had the credentials to do that. Was he dumb enough to just toss them into his suitcase?
Why was he flagged in the first place? Wouldn't he KNOW that anyone coming from Afghanistan would be checked thoroughly for drugs? But even on a layover at the airport?
Then there is the idea of Mr Tatham being an advisor to the United Nations in the first place? What background qualified him for that job? His father wants the Canadian Government to step in to aid his release? Why should we pay for this? Shouldn't the UN give him help? Or not. This could be a simple case of a very intelligent man doing an honest job but having a lack of common sense, as is often the truth among smart people. Or not.

Maybe Tathams advice on behalf of the UN to the Afghan government on the poppy elimination program was spurious anyway ... poppy production in the world's largest heroin producing nation, in spite of the so called war against the Taliban going on, is now up to record levels!
It is another lost battle in the global war on drugs.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/06/19/canadian-dubai-drugs.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101654.html

Woodwards building

When someone first came up with the idea to use the vacant Woodwards department store building to make lower cost housing for people, didn't you think it would simply be changing those huge open floor spaces into small apartments suitable for the less fortunate to have a place called home? Hmmm, I did too.
And yet looking at it the other day, they have left only about 30 feet of the facade of one corner of the building standing and there's a huge big hole in the ground there where they are building a totally new building on the site. And the apartments/condos being built seem to be tailored to the rich all over again.
Whatever happened to that original idea?

One law for you - one law for the rich (4)

Do you believe it? Paris Hilton is out of jail after serving only 3 days of her 23 (reduced from 45) day sentence! She was evidently upset about not being able to partAY while in there.
Paris Hilton has come to our attention on One law for you before, when she stole a video from a news-stand while screaming foul language at the newsie the whole time! She received NO sentence for the theft even though the whole incident was on camera! The video she stole was that of her own performance of oral sex!
Whitney Huston made our list also for crashing her car into the back of a bus with no repercussions, and also for being caught while boarding a plane in Hawaii with drugs in her luggage and being able to simply fly away!
NBA player Sebestion Telfair made it when he smuggled guns on board a plane and was caught but not charged! Homeland Security was mysteriously quiet.
There will be a news conference today from the L.A. County Sheriffs telling why they have allowed Paris to go free. (notice I didn't say 'explaining') I bet they don't announce that they're all going on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii later though.

(Inquiring news reporters might want to check names of guests in the Hawaii Hilton with sheriff's names?)

Measles from Japan?

So what's the deal with this?
These Japanese tourists come to Canada .... they bring measles with them. 130 of them were heading back to Japan. They were about to board their plane. Instead of letting them go back to their own country with their own measles, we quarantine them here, put them up in hotels and pay their medical costs.
Canadian taxpayers are so rich now that we simply go looking for medical problems to pay for?


The way I see it Japanese tourists are no advantage to Canada even if they are healthy. They book a tour of BC from Japan, fly here on Japan Airlines, ride around in Japanese buses with kanji written all over them, stay in Japanese owned hotels in Whistler, and patronize those Japanese owned and speaking stores on Alberni street by buying little wooden Mountie figures that actually say 'made in Japan' on the bottom. Then they're gone. And all the money they spent goes back to Japan. I'm thinking they'll be importing Japanese whale flavoured ice cream soon to eat when they get here.
They only thing they're leaving with us this time is measles and a big bill to pay.


http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/212242.htm

Dr. John Blatherwick

Our Vancouver Coastal Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Blatherwick has announced his retirement. We have been extremely lucky to have had him looking after us. And many in Vancouver felt he WAS looking after them. He was totally honest, straightforward and we could trust what he said, and he always told it so we could understand and paid no heed to outside influence.

I, for one, look forward to his replacement with trepidation because so many of these kinds of positions have become political in recent years. I hope we don't step backward after his fine leadership.
Docter Blatherwick is irreplaceable.

Today in history . . . May 23rd

1994 - Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was laid to rest next to her first husband, President John F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
On her deathbed, she summoned John Kennedy Jr and Caroline to her side.
It is speculated by some that she then told them the truth about who killed their father. John became prominent as a high profile magazine publisher when in 1995, he founded George, a glossy politics-as-lifestyle monthly. Kennedy was seen to have possible political aspirations but died in a plane crash in 1999. The magazine ceased publication shortly thereafter.
Caroline Kennedy is an attorney, editor, and writer.

Lines I'd like to hear . . .

- From a judge . . . "Mr. Smith, for your cruel act of hurting that dog by tying it and dragging it behind your car, I'm sentencing you to a psychiatric examination and then ten years without parole in a mental institution no matter what the conclusion is, because if you could do that to a defenseless animal you are a danger to humans. "
- From a defense attorney . . . "Your Honour, I am withdrawing from this case because the young man I am defending is just too frigging evil for defending. In spite of his rich family money. He did it, we all know it so lets get on with locking him up."
- From a politician . . . "We're going to build a new prison on Baffin Island. If you deal dangerous street drugs and induce teenaged girls to become prostitutes and young men to become tragic shells, you'll be going there. There'll be no walls or fences. If you break your toilet you'll have to go outside to poop, even when it gets down to sixty below. And if you want to escape, you're welcome to try to cross the tundra and get past the polar bears to freedom. But we won't come look for you. Five years for first offense, twenty years for second."
- From another judge . . . "Mr Doe, I cannot take into account your poor childhood to excuse you from robbing that store and shooting the clerk. I am obligated to take into account the thousands of OTHER people who have had poor childhoods and risen above it to become productive citizens of society. You are just plain bad, the sentence is twenty-five years. No parole. No TV. No pool table. No shit."
- From a baseball player . . . "Those pills I took were to make me have more muscle and enhance my strength so I could hit those homers, but you have to take my name off any record books because I cheated."
- From a CEO . . . "My company made those millions for our shareholders. We don't really give a crap about the public and my bonus of three million dollars was on the line. Of course we knew the pills didn't work, but we hushed that up and bought our own scientists to lie for us."
- From an Immigration hearing . . . "You Sir, are being deported back to your own country. You're a proven criminal here in Canada and we're not giving you citizenship. Or any legal rights or aid in this country. You'll be on a plane this afternoon for your homeland. If you want to sue us you can get a lawyer in your own country. If you say they'll be bad to you when you go back there, tough shit, you're outa here!"
- From a cigarette company executive . . . "We knew cigarettes caused cancer. We (cough) sold 'em anyway. Targetted (cough) young girls mostly. "
- From a doctor . . . "I'm sorry Mrs. Doe, we can't cover your medical costs for your lung cancer treatment. You knew many years ago what cigarettes did to you but chose to smoke them anyway. And it's not fair to even let you have a bed to die in when other real patients have need of them."
- From a policeman . . . "Sure I knew what I was doing, beating the hell out of that little jerk. His parents should have done it years ago. So he got a couple of black eyes, if I catch him on my beat I'm gonna do it again. So what's the big deal?"
- From a brothel Madam . . . "Yes, I'm releasing the names from my black book right now. I have video tape evidence also that will be on TV news at 6, three minutes from now. You'll be shocked who they are. You reporters got pens, I'll start reading them now ..."
- From George Bush . . . "It had nothing to do with WMDs, Saddam embarrassed my Dad because he stayed in power after the '91 war and Dad was a one timer president. I got him for Daddy and started all this new war just for vengeance. So we might as well steal their oil while were at it, right? Heh heh heh."
- From my lil' Granddaughter . . . "Yes, I do know what happened to those Timbits. I ate 'em."

Stuff for sale

I was perusing the local papers the other morning, things for sale, browsing the Trucks list ... there were only two. There was nothing to do but read on.
I inadvertently came onto Services for Sale, um ... er... Adult Services, and pictures of women offering wares, perhaps I should say bewares.

Here you can get massages, body rubs, domination, coddling, escorts and perhaps anything that your particular fetish lusts for. One girl at Versace had clamshells over her breasts, but it didn't say if they had a lunch bar selling chowder. One wonders about the flavour. Chantal offers exotic, erotic NEW 40DDDs. Did the old 40DDDs wear out? Did she upgrade from 39DDDs? Another shouts Hot HOTT GFE. Ok sorry, but I never did find out what GFE is, or what the FS is that she does also. There's DATY and SOG too. My sicko little mind tried hundreds of combinations but to no avail, the best I came up with was Saggy Old Grandmother. At least Hooter Haven is clear, and everything is so, er ... round there. I see some of the older ladies are regenerating their careers by applying the Cougar idea. Cougar Country she says, with a pic like Mrs. Robinson's legs. Maybe, but Bear Country scares the hell out of me! Apple Pie caught my eye and was 36DD, but all I could think of as how many apples it took to make a pie that big? One was Royal Lavender Massage, but I don't want to smell like my Grandma. Maybe if it was thyme or oregano. The Transgender ads make you look twice. Those are GUYS? But at least you KNOW you're getting store bought boobs there. Wet Vancouver has this girl sitting sexily in the surf, but it's a little cold for the beach yet. Maybe she was just rinsing, I don't know. I think of fish and chips at the beach anyway.
The Fox girls have enough cleavage to hide a full side of beef roasts. And the Greek Girls say they have toys and strap-ons but they don't say who's going to have the fun? Lots of 900 numbers for hot chat but if you hear a 'click click', that's probably the knitting needles as Grandma finishes her shawl. Mistress Onyx in the black mask offers domination, BDSM, fetish and diaper, which you're going to need if she ever cracks you with that friggin' whip! Lots of Thais, but none with a peanut sauce. The Swedish Touch doesn't seem to come with meatballs either. One girl squirts while she works and I'm not following that any further.
There's a sexy Spanish Italian Dish that was hot and spicy, maybe like a salsa pizza paella? And a Chocolate and Vanilla pair who taste good together. Now there's something I've never been able to do, I always just go for the two scoops of chocolate. I wonder if their names are Miss Baskin and Miss Robbins?
The China Doll only made me think of Lemon Chicken with chow mein and won ton.
Well, after scrutinizing the adult services ads, they did get to me, I had to raid the fridge for a snack. I guess I'm too far along to appreciate these 'Adult' services, food has taken over my sex life.
I'm turned on by my wife's Angel Food cake. I'm afraid to take Viagra, maybe I'll just get some blue jelly beans instead and head on over to Burger King.

Canadian TV brought to you by ...

The CRTC has just relaxed the rules on advertising during prime time on Canadian TV. They have thrown out the 12 minute rule. You can expect more minutes of advertising now. Great.
This idea, they say, of removing the restrictions on advertising is designed to boost the networks' revenue and allow them to compete more effectively. Who paid off who here? If the same rule applies to all, then how does that work? Compete against who? And what exactly does this mean to you the viewer?
Let's say your favorite prime time TV show is now 47 minutes long, but they'll be adding two minutes of a Fabreeze commercial or a Cialis message, trying to reach those old stinky buggers in the CRTC. How will they do this? The networks will be shaving dialogue or lopping off a shot here and there.
CSI Miami will have David Caruso doing one less angled pose and going straight to the criminal through brilliant thinking. No time for analysis of evidence. ER will go right to the post operative recovery ... take 47 pills and call us in a year for your residuals. Canadian Idol will always end in a three-way tie. Bridge on the River Kwai will have Alec Guinness unrepentant and the Japanese will go on to win the war! and On the Waterfront you'll hear . . . "I coulda been a somebody, Charlie, instead of [insert] - your Car City Salesman with a hot deal on a brand - new - FORD!] - ... a contendah." We might never know if Ilsa gets on that plane or if Bogey and Rains form any friendship at all. We'll miss the Final Jeopardy question. Who shot JR? What? I didn't know he'd been shot? It'll be the demise of the cliff-hanger ending.
Of course the CRTC didn't do a thing to stimulate Canadian programming in Canada. So all those stories of growing up in Newfoundland will just cut to the grown-up in Toronto. Little Mosque on the Prairie will have all those fun loving moslems doing 4 minute stand-up on Just For Laughs, and Corner Gas will be just a quick fart.
And all those great idea scripts by starving Canadian writers will go back into the bottom drawer.
Now if we could only get them to shorten the 6 O'Clock news so we'd have less than 40 minutes of weather with Tamara and Wayne, pretty though they are.
That would be a good thing.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965340.html?categoryId=19&cs=1

Holidays - Hawaii vs Mexico

Hawaii versus Mexico for a holiday.

Water - Hawaii - lots of water and beaches - vs - Mexico - you can't drink the water.
Food - Hawaii - lots of chain restaurants - vs - Mexico - you can't eat the food.
Country - Hawaii - rent a car, drive anywhere - vs - Mexico - don't leave your hotel.
Law - Hawaii - the police are on your side - vs - Mexico - the police rob you.
Life - Hawaii - Hawaiians don't kill you - vs - Mexico - Mexicans kill you.

Hawaii 5 - Mexico 0

Joints equivilant to what?

Police raided a warehouse in Burnaby last week that was a marijuana grow-op. In trying to make the import of their bust larger than ever, they are now starting to quote the value of drugs in actual joints. In this case they say 182, 952 of them. They didn't indicate how big those rolled joints might be.
Leaving us calculating people to figure it all out on our own.

Well, for starters we all know that 182 thousand police joints might only add up to a few hundred Big Bob Marleys.
And there's a happiness factor. This amount of BC Bud probably makes 182 thousand people a little more pleasant about their position in life, bleak though it may be in reality, at least for a half hour per. Leading to a total of 5 million four hundred and sixty thousand minutes or 910, 000 person-hours of bliss. That's 3791 mellow DAYS. 10.22 Years! How bad can it be? Do we really want to shut down these places?
Those 3700 mellow nights might be having a puff and playing crib at the kitchen table with your wife instead of being angry at her because you are a failure. Like so what if you want to just sit on the floor and listen to Pink Floyd?
And there's the munchie quotient too. Chips, pretzels, Dilly Bars, corn dogs, Cheezies eaten during a floating hour of meditation. So does a bust like this one result in decreased sales of those products? Damn, is this bad? Right? Er ... or good. What IS it anyway?

Well I suppose there are many variations expressing how big the grow-op bust was, but it goes beyond a hundred Bob Marleys doesn't it? One wonders if busting grow-ops is causing more misery in the streets than the product? One could even think with recent studies in the news, that Big Macs are causing more health problems than grow-ops. And we think way more than 182,952 are served at McDonalds.
Maybe the police need to bust Ronald.

Rosie O'Donnell's view

I kind of think Rosie O'Donnell is sometimes a bit crass in the way she talks and behaves. Not a big fan. BUT ... if you notice her detractors seem to concentrate personal attacks on her; she's fat, she's loud, she's a lesbian etc ad nauseam, rather than debating her actual point of view.
And one has to consider politics in anything to do with media today, because in the USA there are fewer companies controlling all media news. The key word of course is 'controlling'.
You only need to look at Rosie's tirade against the American media, George Bush, Haliburton et al to suspect that more is afoot here than is obvious.
If you're not afraid of free speech go here - - - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiIyI6ugmUM

- - - then consider this: Rosie O'Donnell was booted off the TV show The View because - - -
A. She couldn't agree to a new contract with her network.
B. She is a crass person who is loud and a lesbian.
C. She spoke out about 9-11.



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Isle of Man TT racing

Some things are incomprehensible to human people ... witness a flash of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle race in Britain ... now in it's 100th year. A 37 mile two lap race through winding mountains and stone villages at speeds of 300 kph!



Insanity to those light of heart, yet exhilaration for the foolhardy? And a vicarious experience for less daring souls.

Today in history . . . May 5

1915 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit his first major league home run in a game against the New York Yankees in New York.
Had he known the likes of Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds would mock baseball with their drug induced batting, he might have gone into shoe sales.

Caterwauls - the band

Here's a band who's not afraid to post their music on the web! Check out their website to hear some of their original songs, buy a CD or a T shirt and download some cool wallpaper pics.

http://www.caterwauls.com/fla/

Cambie Street merchants

Kevin Falcon, refusing to give the Cambie Street merchants a break during the dust, noise and construction devastation of their small businesses, says they'll reap huge rewards once the Canada Line gets going because a hundred thousand people a day will be going past their shops.

I guess Kevin doesn't know those people will be flashing by the merchants UNDERGROUND!

Politically correct hockey

The French-Quebeckers are hollaring foul over the selection of Shane Doan to the Canadian World Championship hockey team. It is bound to cause controversy because of the politicians' lust for media space. Doan was said to have murmured a slur against French Canadians several years ago during a game in Montreal, as reported by a French Canadian referee. Doan was cleared by the NHL at the time.

Giles Duceppe, in his vehemence about Doan's inclusion in the team,
says Shane Doan insulted French people. French people are in France, aren't they? Oh wait, I forgot, Giles is talking about his COUNTRY of Quebec. And he is hurt by Shane's ALLEGED remark. Anything to advance the cause, Gilles, got any idea what it's gonna be like when you tear Canada apart?

Stephane Dion is mimicking his 'countryman' in calling out for something or other. But even when crybaby Dion speaks English he needs a translator and we have to remember that Dion is a citizen of France. Jack Layton, the jackal following the big dogs, and seeing a moment of political gain, is crying but no one ever hears him anymore, so we don't know what he is yelping about. Harper says team officials need to discuss why Doan is captain of the team.
We all know that these French Canadians, and I use the term Canadians advisedly, are ALWAYS hurt over this or that. They want real Canadians to do whatever it is they want them to do. (Usually interpreted as giving Quebec more money) However real Canadians simply want Canada to win the World Hockey Championship.
But will these opportunistic politicians get ice time in the media? Will they get their spoiled way? Will anybody listen to their misguided message?
We're not sure but if hockey becomes political, we all know the game is doomed, at least in Canada.
Oh, and speaking of hurt feelings, you might ask a few WWII veterans if they were hurt by Quebec's refusal to participate in the war when Canada was in a grave situation.
Shane Doan should pack up and go home to enjoy his summer and take the rest of the World Cup team with him.
Then we should ask the politicians what's next?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070501.wsptdoan1/BNStory/Front

For a copy of the Proud Duceppe pic, just Right click it and choose save as ... feel free to add it to your website or post it anywhere. Maybe we can change Gilles' disgruntledness to pride in our wonderful country. Fier être Canadien.

PS: Shane Doan had more class than all the politicians in the country and stuck with the team to lead them to a gold medal for Canada!

Kyoto, the Government and you

I always thought Lou Dobbs, the host of CNN news and financial shows was a business toady, there to promote the money line and help the rich become richer as these guys usually do. But there's a change in his attitude lately, he has concluded several times in the last few months, that the business corporations in America are forming American policy and deciding it. Companies are running the world for the profit of their shareholders.
Here in Canada, it is becoming equally obvious and true.
When Environment Minister David Baird was questioned a few weeks ago, he professed that pollution control and Kyoto agreements would only be applied if it didn't hurt 'business' in Canada. Now he has announced some plan cooked up by himself and his cronies to use the polluted smoke-screen of business and government (same thing) to initiate a new way to diminish pollution in Canada. A plan that no one seems to know how will work or what baseline they are using. The Kyoto agreements have been tossed. Business has won again.
You are expected to conserve and save the world from your home, while corporations continue to account to no one but shareholders when they should be considering our grandchildren's future. They focus on the individual to draw attention away from business. All the scientists and planet watchers have been critical of the weak effort of lip service announced by Baird. David Suzuki said it wasn't enough and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said it was a “complete and total fraud designed to mislead the Canadian people.”
Stephen Hawking has said that we humans need to get off this planet because we are surely going to destroy it. I trust Hawking way more than David Baird.
It's almost too late and they are still not serious.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070426/baird_climate_070427/20070427?hub=Canada

BC Hydro and Private power

My scenario - - -
Government Guy - "So here's the deal, guys; We give you the right to produce private hydro power in British Columbia, and you make billions after your original contract expires."
Private Corporation Guy - "You're saying we can build private dams on your public rivers?"
Gov'ment Guy - "That's it, you build, then you sell the power to our old BC Hydro first, for a while, but then you end up selling it to power hungry Americans. "
Private Guy - "And we have free range to do that?"
Gov'ment Guy - "So it's a global thing. That's what we tell the public anyway. And we're keeping our promise not to touch BC Hydro, who everyone used to trust, we're just bypassing them."
Private Guy - "Sneaky. So what about these NDP people? They're always screaming, aren't they?"
Gov'ment Guy- "I don't hear anything."
Private Guy - "You won't be interfering with our profits?"
Gov'ment Guy - "Pshaw, nooo, we won't have any say in it. It'll all be in your contract."
Private Guy - "And the people of BC won't see this? That they'll be paying more because Las Vegas wants more lights?"
Gov'ment Guy - "No, it's all part of our private public partnerships. P3s we call them, to obfuscate what we're really doing. We use them a lot, it's how we sold off the BC people's railroad too. BC Rail. And other stuff. Like the gas industry that used to be called BC Gas. You change the name first and the people forget they actually used to own it."
Private Guy - "Ha ha, so, you CAN fool all of the people all of the time."
Gov'ment Guy - "Ha ha, Lincoln's wrong, look at his gas guzzler cars!"
Private Guy - "So where do we sign?"
Gov'ment Guy - "We told you the whole deal, right? You know the stuff we need. Can't write it down of course. We're being watched by the RCMP right now."
Private Guy - "Sure. Where do you want us to set up your secret bank accounts? Bahamas? Switzerland? Pakistan?"
Gov'ment Guy - "We'll let you know exactly. There's a lot of us involved in this. The boss gets first divvies. When the money goes into our accounts, you get the contracts."
Private Guy - "Sheeze, this is how we deal in South America and Russia. A little cash spread around in the right places."
Gov'ment Guy - Deal?"
Private Guy - "Heh heh. Deal."
Gov'ment Guy - "Done."



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