Did you know?

That we have 14 Canadian corrections officers in Kandahar, Afghanistan working in the prison there? Their mission, as explained by the chief Correctional Operations guy on the radio who is in charge, is to create a 'sustainable corrections service' there. What? Isn't criminality itself self-sustainable?

Is this sort of typical of Canadian everything when it comes to criminals and prisons? Will the residue of this effort be to have an Afghanistan prison system like Canada where we let everyone go because of a bad childhood? Wouldn't that make this whole effort a waste of time? Does any Afghani have a good childhood?

The spokesman who was telling us about it used the term, 'investing' in the Afghani prison system. Doesn't investing imply a return on your investment? Hmm. Does that mean returning bad guys?

Do we know who is paying for this?

Did you know that these guys are teaching those criminal Afghanis carpet weaving? lol, it's true, he actually said that. So these hardened criminals, who consider carpet weaving a women's or children's occupation will exit the prison and take up a new career? Sure they will.

Do you suspect we have naive people working overseas?

Now you know.

Ringo at 70

Beatle Ringo Starr recently celebrated being 70 years-old, and wants only a little peace and love for the world.
Starting in 2008, Starr began asking his fans to say "Peace and Love" at noon on July 7, wherever they were.
This year, the drummer was at New York’s Times Square to continue spreading his message. "We’re just trying to keep the promotion going from the ’60s," said Starr, "There’s a little more peace and love than there was, I think, 40 years ago, and certainly it’s a lot more more peace and love than 70 years ago, when it was crazy," he said.
At 70, Starr is still full of energy, and many people celebrated with him this year ....

We think the world is a better place with Ringo in it, and hope he sticks around for another 70 years, some may even be counting on him.
Peace and Love

Mel bleep Gibson

I wish I knew exactly what he did. I think he said bleep. Not sure when bleep became a bad word. But it is sort of what is happening everywhere these days, someone is TELLING us something is bad, but they won't leave the tape alone long enough for me to decide for myself what is actually being said.
Alas, that is the way of 'reporting' now, especially with so called celebrities. Just keep watching, we'll tell you what is bad or good. But then bad IS good isn't it. Ratings rating ratings.
I am now beginning to wonder what the Roadrunner was actually saying to Wylie Coyote all those years?
Bleep bleep.

HST wows, woos and woes

So we have it now, the dreaded HST. Here to stay and some say only a matter of time before it is increased. Dreaded by the people of course, but not by big business. Some even say that 4 BILLION dollars in taxes have been shifted from big business to the taxpayer. I say those 'some say' people are getting it right.

So what about all this? What can we look forward to as commoners?
Let's see .... I'll consult my list;

Laundry detergent remains the same, only it is (eek!) already 12 percent tax. But if you poor people have to go to Value Village to buy used clothing, you'll now pay lots more for someone else's cast-outs. Under $100. subject to HST, but .... OVER one hundred dollars - no HST! So that Gucci consignment dress in West Van (worn once to the Oscars) at three hundred is a steal without HST. Ah, perks for the nearly rich.
Fix your old shoes? Yep, 12% tax on that. Check the dumpsters for cardboard to put in them, they don't have that on their radar yet. Yet. Mind you, formal wear rentals won't be taxed upwards. You need to dress better.

Of course those evenings when you could go out for a burger are going up too. Restaurant meals are going HST upward so you'll probably stay home more. But you can't stay home and grow your own tomatoes, because food plants are getting taxed now too. You see, you get penalized for growing your own food, and you also get penalized for going out to eat it. I think that's what Carole (Gucci Shoes) Taylor would call 'revenue neutral'. House plants are not taxed, not sure which ones you could eat though. And household pets are okay, you could probably have a rat or two, but don't eat them or you're subject to HST. Speaking of food, basic dairy, meats and vegetables are not hit by the HST, everything else IS, and many are wondering how Safeway et al will differentiate or will they just add the 12% HST to your total bill?

If you want to be conscious of power saving, and buy Energy Star windows which didn't even have PST on them before, they now cost you the 12% HST. Same with insulation and weather stripping. You get taxed for power saving. You might try to stuff old newspapers (yes now HST 12% too) into the cracks in your walls. (The backfire here though, might be the demise of the provincial voices of Gordon Campbell's Liberal Party, the Vancouver Sun and Province.) and if you cut your finger stuffing those cracks, you'll pay 12 % tax for the first aid kit too.

So stay around your house, yes? Watch TV.
Wait, your basic cable is HST 12% taxable but you can get the Playboy add on specialty channels without tax! Smoke detectors are up for residential users, but big businesses don't pay for their smoke detectors, just you 'little' people. But then you are quitting smoking anyway, right? Yes, of course smokes are up too, another 12 %. If you don't choke to death on the smoke you'll choke to death on the cost!

Your computer repair hardware is not going up, but computer repair software is! Who has computer software repaired?
You might want to dump your taxed telephone land line and switch to cell phone only. Because, well, you know.
Maybe you better get out of that house? Nope, you'd have to pay 12% HST to move out of it. Household moving services, you see. And parking goes to HST taxes too. You think they'll probably include 12% for parking in your own driveway soon?

Of course you pay 12% more now if you fly home on a domestic flight or take a bus to Prince George to see your old Gram before she goes, but if you're flitting off on an international flight with your gin and Schwepps to that Bermuda summer home ... no pay!

Now you want to drink yourself to death? Forget it, you can't afford to die. 12% tax on funeral services. I think you can still smoke BC Bud, but don't get the munchies because snack food is up to 12% HST too!

Well, you see now, don't you? There is just no longer hope.
And if I scrutinize that list with a certain frame of mind, I think everything poor people need and do is now HST liable, but things that rich people might need or do seems to have evaded that tax. Works of art? Nope. Rugs? Nope. Same with patio furniture, tux rentals, tanning lotion, (for Hawaii of course) international air travel, hair blowers, watches, jewelry, long distance calls, marine electronics, (for your boat, of course) nail care, perfume, handbags (Gucci of course) golf clubs, etc etc ad nauseous throw up-all-over-my-wornout shoes and cry nauseous! Well there are a hell of a lot more poor people than rich people. How do you spell relief?
U-n-d-e-r-g-r-o-u-n-d e-c-o-n-o-m-y.

The best thing you could do in BC, is sneak out into the night, and start walking to Alberta. But you'll have to get fit along the way because a fitness trainer will cost you 12%.
And don't let them catch you breathing on the side of the roadway either, I hear there's a 12% breath tax coming.

I guess I'll go sit on the toilet for awhile .... oh wait ..... nooo, there can't be ....

Ban the vuvuzela?

No way! These people are dancing, happy and having fun. Shouldn't we encourage that behavior? Even after the World Cup is finished and South Africa resumes its 50 murders a day norm?
Yes. it would be interesting to see how many murders happen during World Cup. Wait, even take it further, how many vuvuzela players even get murdered. Judge for yourself .....



Of course, telling them to please don't blow the vuvuzela is like telling a ten year old boy not to pull his sister's pigtails! And if you transferred all those vuvuzela players to North America OUR murder rate would probably go up!
But is there a choice? South African vuvuzela fans blowing or British rowdies smashing chairs over your head?
I'll get earplugs and take the vuvuzela.

Spinning girl?

Which way is the girl spinning? Clockwise or counter clockwise?
This is nothing but a two dimensional image, a comic book drawing is two dimensional, yet our minds are not programmed to view movement in such a way. So it becomes an illusion. The girl is really not spinning at all.
But in our brain, something decides that the girl is three dimensional, and we 'see' her spinning one way or another.

But don't read anything important into it, like left brain/right brain dominance. It is just fun until you realize that your very own brain lies to you to avoid you thinking it makes mistakes.


However, with some concentration, you might be able to change her direction.

It'll make you smile when you first do it.

Try, don't let your brain lie to you.

Me? I just like looking at a naked girl, even in silhouette. At least my mind is telling me she's naked.

Banks again

Michael Levy, the financial adviser, was on the radio this morning. He had this lilt to his voice. Like he had just gotten the nicest birthday present ever. He was obviously very happy. What about?
He announced that banks had revealed their latest quarterly profits, way up over last year!
The major banks showed their profits for the second QUARTER of 2010:
TD showed a PROFIT for the three month period of 1.17 BILLION dollars! (deserves the exclamation mark, don't you agree?) for a per share value of $1.39.
RBC was up to 1.32 billion at .88 cents per share.

Notice they don't want to use even the word 'bank' anymore. Sort of brings to mind the same image as Darth Vader, or Dick Cheney or .... burglar.

CIBC made 660 million dollars or 1.59 per share.
BOM 745 million, their highest quarterly profit ever, for 1.26 a share.
We can be assured the trend of huge bank profits is going to continue into 2010. Great news huh? People like Michael Levy get positively giddy over this. Good news all around.

But I have a bit of trouble with this. If you can make a billion dollar profit for one quarter of the year, and can't show anything you produced, like a car, or a chair or a potato, I deduce that all that money came from people's bank accounts. Well?

Their Research and Development Department must be little brainy nerds in shadowy basements somewhere thinking up shrewd methods to pilfer your savings while inventing clever tag lines to tell you it will make YOU money .... while creating sly ways to distract you from the fact that they ARE a bank! That is stealth.
I think what they really produce is deception. Sort of like making fog.

This, of course, is wonderful for those who have shares in these (nefarious) businesses. I believe the only other enterprise that makes for this kind of cash is drug dealing. Exactly, this is sort of like meth for the investors. BOM underworld meaning = Barrels Of Meth.
Of course I am one of those millions of struggling workers trying to get a potato on my table, I don't even know people who have shares in banks, unless they are hiding it through embarrassment.
Meanwhile the privileged cadre of moneyed people like Levy get shaking like jelly at the thought of their shares rising again. That is good, isn't it?
Well isn't it?
Don't you feel vicariously rich now too. Aren't you filled with glee too like Michael Levy?
I'm not. I have to wait until payday to get my potato.

Cyber sex

Iceland Volcano - on the bright side

Icelanders, forever optimistic, gather huge marshmallows in preparation for their First Annual Eyjafjallajökul Volcanic Weenie Roast ....

click to enlarge

Fight the HST?

Well there seems to be a groundswell happening here.

The 'Fight the HST' movement, of which former BC premier Bill Vander Zalm is leading, is gaining power daily. Chris Delaney, former leader of the Conservative party is the spokesman. Other parties are participating as well, including the NDP, the Green Party etc. Several ridings have already reached their goal of 10% of the voters. They need the same in 85 ridings.

Do we need the HST?
I am always wary when people who are rich, powerful and connected tell me something is really good for me. It seems that what they are trying to sell ME is particularly good for THEM.
Remember the Free Trade Agreements? NAFTA? Do you know anyone who is doing better for those mysterious contracts? Global competition? Know anyone who cares?
Oh yes, there is that argument that preaches to us that our companies benefit from these agreements and trade deals, trouble is that the companies who get the rewards are all foreign companies or global entities who are simply operating in Canada and have absolutely NO interest, loyalty or connection with us as British Columbians or Canadians.
And everyone of these international agreements seems vague to the people most affected; you and me! We're never sure what was really signed.

So now we can do something about what 'they' want to impose on us. We can sign a petition to force the Provincial Liberals, Gordon Campbell, to listen to us.
Will it succeed? Who knows. Will it be close? Maybe.
Mr. Campbell has already said the deal will go through in spite of what the voters want. If that isn't an arrogant challenge to the people of BC I don't know what is.
What will happen if they are very close but not quite there? Some think that a logical next step is a recall movement.
That could start in Gordon Campbell's own constituency.
And the people only need 40% of the voters in that ONE riding to be successful.

Tired of being like a victim? They' sign things all the time that affect us, now we as taxpayers can make a difference and sign something that will affect 'them'. Go for it, take the power!

Find out about it all here - - - http://fighthst.com

New technology - electronic cigarettes

You could use will power. But that didn't work. Maybe the nicotine patch? Or the fake cigarette. No?
Well, there are now electronic cigarettes to help you get off the terrible vice. Yes Electronic.
Expensive though and all these devices haven't always worked for most.

So here I give you caterwauls' own Home Made Electronic Cigarette Method guaranteed to stop you from ever smoking again:

1. Fill your bathtub.
2. get a piece of rubber hose.
3. get a toaster and plug it in.
4. put the rubber hose into the water, the other end into your mouth.
5. throw the toaster into the bath water.
6. take a deep puff through the rubber hose.
7. you will never smoke cigarettes again.

Sports media cringe

The sports media are cringing. Shuddering with a ba-a-ad anticipation.
The entertainment media company TMZ have a sports section.
TMZ, (thirty mile zone) named one of the year's 50 coolest websites by Time magazine, is a joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL, and has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence by breaking the biggest stories in entertainment.
From Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and subsequent encounter with law enforcement to Michael Richards' ill-fated trip to the Laugh Factory to the breakup of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's marriage, TMZ dominates the entertainment news landscape by changing the way the public gets their news.
Frequently referenced by the media, TMZ is one of the most-cited entertainment news sources, utilized by national network and local newsgathering organizations across the country!

The fear of course is, that TMZ doesn't swallow the spin dictated by the PR departments of major sports teams like the sports media has for years.
Sure, Michael Vick was caught. Mark McGwire found out, and Tiger Woods exposed, but these revelations came from unsportsmanlike sources, neighbors, betrayed friends etc.

Once TMZ is on the lookout we might see the pot come to a boil as they relentlessly follow, harass, dig and photograph their prey. It promises to be a varied and tasty stew.

I can't wait for them to go after Vince McMahon and his steriody gravel voiced hunks of WWE, and the gender challenged T&A titilating terrors they pass off as women. What fun! Is there more to Barry Bonds history? Has Pete Rose appeared on a poker site somewhere? Who will be revealed in the months to come? We might find some delicious scandals once the tracking bloodhounds of TMZ get the scent and their tenacious terriers glom on to an ankle or two.

But do we really care? After all, what effect on the world has Brittney Spears without panties had? None whatsoever, but my oh my, it can be such fun to see some people squirm! And sports personalities squirm and sweat with way more embarrassment than the Lindsay Lohan ilk. We won't have to wait through the whole career of someone like Andre Agasis to find out about crystal meth and hairpieces.

It isn't the fact that TMZ goes after athletes for the ratings, which they will, it is the fact that some sports personalities occupy a position of lofty snobbery. Crowned as Kings, Princes and Queens of their realm. Perhaps a false position, but the public loves scandal and watching the high and mighty untouchables plunge face first into the mud will surely be entertainment for the rest of us.
It's enough to make you tremble in your cleats.

Canadian snapshot

The focus of the 2010 Winter Olympics is on the athletes, the City of Vancouver and Canada.

But starting from snowboarder Johnny Lyall’s spectacular jump inside BC Place Stadium at the opening ceremonies, the positive side effects of these Olympics has been to expose the Canadian personality to the world.

We showed an enticing portrait of our First Nations people, the vastness of this country, our love of nature and sense of history on that first day. A hint that this tapestry of Canadians had something other than sports going on up there in the Great White North.

Sure, the world already knew we were polite, but by being the center of attention for two weeks, something we are usually a little uneasy with, we gave the world a glimpse of what Canadians really are. Polite but not meek. Proud but not arrogant. Confident with modesty. Intriguing yet unpretentious.

What wowed the world was Alexandre Bilodeau’s first gold medal on Canadian soil. Not the athletic feat but the devotion he showed to his cerebral palsy struck older brother. That was a vignette way more important than a physically fit athlete winning an event. And the country shone with pride at Alex’s humility and love of his family in TV interviews. His priorities were correct.

Maelle Ricker’s gold followed and this pretty women seemed like a cake bake-off winner instead of a finely tuned athlete. Nothing dramatic just grateful and appreciative thanks for the efforts of others in helping her to victory. The picture of Canadians was beginning to emerge.

Tears followed when gold favoured Mellisa Hollingsworth finished fifth in her skeleton sliding event. The old attitude of, ‘it just wasn’t my day’ became she felt she had 'let her country down.' Yet all of Canada came to her side in a show of winning isn’t the only thing. Being a real person who cared was. And Devon Kershaw's painful emotion after fifty exhausting kilometers of cross-country skiing and being only 1.6 seconds from a gold medal captured our hearts. But he is now one of the world's best and signaled the new attitude.

Time and time again our athletes appeared in the spotlight, not a harsh glare but more like a bright morning sun, and every one of them showed the personality that makes for great people. Revealing themselves to the world. Sometimes unsophisticated, sometimes worldly but always invigorating our spirits too.

Joannie Rochette’s courageous skate added to the aura of Canadians. The world held its breath and watched a young woman perform what became a private routine for her mother, tragically passed on only a few days before. Joannie allowed a few tears of grief only when the job was done. Fortitude and determination on display along with her graceful skill. Shared with a compassionate audience.

Then Jon Montgomery won the men’s skeleton and revealed yet another facet of the Canadian persona. Clearly enjoying a little glory while retaining his humbleness, grabbing a beer from a well wisher in the crowd and quaffing it before passing it on again. His fresh naturalness was his blessing.

The huge crowds in downtown Vancouver, after a short blip from protesters tolerated only once, embodied a spirit and fun and pride in being Canadian, almost as if no one was watching. Yet the world peeked in through television and learned that we too, can be flag wavers when the occasion demands it. Passion is part of our character and though k.d. lang sang a mellifluous and memorable Hallelueah at the opening, Oh Canada became the choice in the streets.

Even American NBC TV raved about how warm and welcoming we Canadians were to them and featured us in a favourable light.

Our hockey girls came through again, and were caught later still on the ice celebrating. What were they doing? Champagne and cigars! How unique and distant from the decorum others wanted to thrust on them. Canadians can be weird too!

So as our games went on, win or lose, we displayed our skills, our fine athletes, our country, our Canada. Even turned an early malfunction into a joke about ourselves in the closing ceremonies. But most of all, we displayed our Canadians as youthful eager participants on the way through life. A people who can adapt to whatever their needs are.

We gave the world a snapshot of what Canadians are, and can be, and will be and what makes us so great. A country full of proud, hopeful people who need no spotlight, yet can rise to the occasion and shine in their natural northern light, our beautiful aurora borealis.

And it is these many dimensions of character that assure the world that Canada and Canadians will continue to be trusted and respected in the future, in sports and in all aspects of life.

Good going Canada!

Canadians have shown the world that although winning isn’t everything, we still won. We wowed the world and we wowed ourselves too. Put the snapshot in your album, it's going to be there forever now.

Tom and Gary's Decentralized Dance Party

Go here - http://www.decentralizeddanceparty.com/ - look at this and try and tell me Vancouver isn't a fun city!

Tom and Gary will infect you with good clean fun in the streets with Tom and Gary's Dynamic Dance Party Delivery Service!

Hey, Tom and Gary, I saw you down there in Library Square last night. Hooting and hollering and singing and dancing around. You pissed me off ‘cause you were all having way too much fun. And I am old. (pout) I get jealous about stuff like that.
Feb 28. It was midnight.
Then you led those jolly jiggling people off into the night like a pair of Pied Pipers, a cluster of red and white and dance party vibrations going who knows where?
And I was sad when the echoes stopped reverberating through the buildings because I knew it would take way too long to tie my shoe laces and follow you.
Well maybe it is leap year and my wife will ask me to marry her tomorrow.
Oh Canada.

Olympic curling

Flicking around the other night during the Games. No Olympic hockey on the tely. No skiing. No moguls. Flick. Flick.
Wait, what was that? (flick back) Ooo, whooo is she? Nice. Canada's Cheryl Bernard. Wow. What a great looker.
(Steady gaze) Very nice and she seems to be playing some sort of game. Oh yes, curling. My my. Intense too when throwing a rock. And what's that she's shouting? Hard! Hard, harder! OMG. (Of course this is 'dirty old man' think.)

So I watched Cheryl for awhile. And came to the conclusion that maybe curling is actually a good sport.
I used to think it could be improved with body checking. Used to think it was boring. So between ogling Cheryl and watching what she was actually doing, I realized this sweet looking woman is extremely good at her sport. And curling is pretty interesting. Full of strategy and thought. Someone said chess on ice. Later I tuned in the Canada mens games and noted that Kevin Martin was accurate as hell in leading his team to victory too.

So of course I began watching curling at the Olympics. And several friends have found the same thing, that curling is an interesting sport that it is much more complex than I had imagined.
Now I am watching several curling games/matches/contests. And the bonus for a d.o.m. is that the women are so good looking. Can you say that?
So do they care how I got interested in curling? Do they care that I wonder if Cheryl will appear in the Canadian edition of Playboy? The announcer said 'curling is sexy', not me.
Well, I am now a fan, I think they care about that.

And I can say that Cheryl Bernard got me into curling.

adenda - The team won silver medal!

Thanks guys.

I don't know if these men in black were Vancouver City Police, VANOC Integrated Security Unit, or RCMP, but there were 7 of them up there on a rooftop overlooking BC Place yesterday.
They were positioned on each corner of the building and watching the huge crowd coming in for the opening ceremonies.
You might notice the rifle scope sticking out of the bag.

It started raining and got cold as the gray day wore on. But they were vigilant on that rooftop, watching everything below with scopes and binoculars, just popping up their hoods and ignoring the chill.
I watched them into the rainy night. When it got really dark I could barely see them, on that roof, lurking in the shadow. Watchful. Scanning below. The ceremonies ended just after 9 pm and it became a driving rain.

Gretsky, taking the final torch to light the waterfront cauldron, endured it for a few moments, although perhaps warmed by his Olympic torch, and got huge applause. Happy people left BC Place and the street party began, enthusiasm undampened by the cold rain and the night.

I went to bed at 1 am and had a last look through a scope at that black rooftop. I could barely pick them out until my eyes adjusted, but they were still up there, standing darkly on the corners of that roof like ethereal gargoyles.
They were still there looking out for us, folks, you and me.

Over 60 thousand people attended those magical opening ceremonies, most of them proud of Canada and Canadians and unaware they were being looked after so well.

I suggest a huge thanks and a round of applause for them too.
Thanks guys.

Today in History ... February 05

1989 - Radio Moscow announced that the last Soviet soldier had left Kabul, Afghanistan.
Just in time for the first American soldier to arrive.
Meanwhile the Afghanis checked their stockpiles of American weapons, supplied to them by the American CIA to use against the Soviets, now ready for use against the Americans.
Alas. The cycle continues.

Open letter to Rafe Mair

Rafe,
You've no idea how many people miss an investigative reporter with some bristle.
Even though one mellows with age and accepts things one never would have at 20 or 30 or 40, one begins to realize that what we knew and how we lived when younger, will probably never happen again.
It seems today's newspapers, radio and TV news are all in line to simply pass on information designed for us by someone else.
I have quit listening to Bill Good because there are too many times I find myself egging him on and saying, "Ask your guest about this!" But alas, he meekly allows them to escape without insisting on answers. And most of the news outlets simply accept the politician's answers. (Michael Smyth may be a bright spot)

Well, I really wanted to tell you my take on the destruction of BC without much questioning from the general public. I am not blaming that public, only realizing that everyday they are slugging out a living and have no time for blame. Of course, there was a time when we knew Rafe WAS asking those prickly questions in the Jack Webster tradition on behalf of the public.

Many years ago, I worked for a film production company, and we made the film 20 Great Years for WAC Bennett. We were told (in secrecy) about the upcoming election about nine months before it was announced by Premier Bennett. I did a lot of work on that film including editing, directing, filming and writing. I was also involved in researching the many aspects of what the Social Credit Government had done in those twenty great years. That was when I became sold on how great British Columbia was.

But my long winded point of this letter is that starting with WAC Bennett, the intent of the succeeding premiers was always the same, regardless of political party, to continue to build this great province.
Dave Barrett, Bill Bennett, Mike Harcourt, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, et al, in spite of their problems that the press made much controversy about, still had the intent of building our province. And in retrospect, when reviewing what they did, one has to ask how bad was it? They all still placed BC first.
From WAC's taking control of the Pacific Great Eastern railway and making it BC Rail to open up and service BC's interior and north, to the expropriation of the BC Electric and making of BC Hydro, we had British Columbians with guts, talent and smarts who looked after us, were proud to participate in our province, and made our lives better. Our wild salmon fishery was one of the wonders of the world. We got our Knowledge Network etc etc.

With Mr Gordon Campbell, it is almost like we are dealing with a mole spy from another country, who has gotten into power and has now set about to dismantle the province, and turn it over to foreign interests.
Why would anyone put a middle man into our Hydro power system who needs to siphon off profit when BC Hydro's profit went wholly into BC?
What is the true purpose of Run of the River power projects except to extract profit for others?
Why would we allow those foreign owned Atlantic salmon fish farms to destroy that great wild sockeye fishery?
When virtually ALL our liquor profits went into BC's coffers, why would we want to sell out that for some other people's profits?
Why did we need outsiders looking for profits to make BC Gas global? I'm still not sure how our BC Gas became Terasen?
What reasons can be used for sending 430 million dollars to German workers for BC Ferries when British Columbia ship yards are totally capable and already have built enduring ships still in service. And that 430 million would have filtered into BC's economy and workers instead of Germany's. What possible reason would Mr. Campbell have had for trying to shut down the Georgia Straight tabloid? Except to stop free speech? Well, he has effectively curtailed all our news outlets now.

We used to proudly build hospitals, not shut them down. And what premier from this history would have ever separated a husband and wife in their last few years together? None of them, we had human people in charge of our province then. BC people. And virtually all of these premiers trusted British Columbians to run things. No need to import strangers with secret agendas.
The non answers to these questions set conspiracy theorists vibrating with corruption and secret bank account speculations. Which is one result of unanswered questions.

Most of us old timers recall the days of Pat Burns, Jack Webster, Gary Bannerman and Ed Murphy on our radio waves. And especially the days when Rafe Mair, at the risk of making an enemy, refused to accept an evasive answer, and went again and again after the truth.

It is with dismay that anyone born and raised here looks at the state of our province today and contemplates it's future.
The only question I have left to ask is: Are we past the point of no return?

Spidey-Senses

This is about spiders and crickets.
Jonathan Storm, a behavioural ecologist at the University of South Carolina exposed lab-grown female crickets to wolf spiders whose fangs had been immobilised with wax, then studied the behaviour of their subsequent offspring.
Storm found that cricket infants remained motionless for longer in the presence of spider silk or droppings than the offspring of mothers that had not been exposed to spiders. Staying still is one of the ways that crickets avoid becoming spider food.
Great so far.
Exposing the eggs or juvenile crickets themselves to spider cues did not alter their behaviour, suggesting that mothers had influenced this aspect of their young's behaviour during the egg's production.
Ok, then what?
Wild-caught crickets from spider-rich habitats also produce more cautious offspring than mothers from spider-poor habitats, Storm found.
I think I get it, spiders eat noisy crickets. Did we need to give Mr. Storm a government grant for that revelation?
Storm doesn't know whether the cricket mother's warning is transmitted to the egg via maternal hormones or some other mechanism.
But I think he wants another grant to find out.

I have only one question. Mr Storm, have you nothing else to do?

Cricket, watch out, your spidey senses are telling you portent stuff.

Last Olympic post (maybe)

Is this the truth?

Olympic Hero

Mosi Alvand, owner of Olympia Pizza on Denman Street. One takes one's heroes where one finds them.

Gordie Robertson - Golden Boy

Gordie Robertson started to get publicity a few weeks ago because he was a gold medalist in the 1952 Olympic Games in Hockey! Playing forward for the Trail Smoke Eaters in Oslo, Norway.
Gordie is now 83, an entertaining character and still a native of Trail, British Columbia.
After appearing on several radio staitons to express his disappointment of not being able to attend an Olympic event, a caller to a radio show gave him a ticket to a hockey event, the Canada Swiss game, even volunteering to put him up at his home during his stay in Vancouver.

Olympic organizers weren't prodded into seeing their mistake and it took another torch bearer to step aside to allow Gordie to carry an Olympic Torch, (not like the one below) as part of the relay passing through the Kootenays.

Of course, many people are thinking; Why wasn't Gold Medalist Gordie Robertson invited to our Gold Medal game as a special guest in the first place? Here we are fawning over our present day athletes, who have yet to accomplish anything, but forgetting our former glory winners?

Olympic honour is evidently very fragile.

Olympic torch

It's all about BC, Bud.

VANOC's latest embarrassment

The other day, the Scotia Bank started an enthusiastic company endorsement of Canadian athletes, called Show Your Colours Canada.
It was kicked off by two-time Olympic gold medalist, Cassie Campbell. "What it means and feels like to be a proud Canadian is something truly unique and special for every one of us," said Ms. Campbell, Captain of Canada's National Women's Hockey Team from 2001 - 2006, and six-time World Champion gold medalist. "Show Your Colours is a 'call to action' for Canadians to show their pride and encourages them to think about how they can show the world what makes Canada a truly amazing nation - from its environment to its citizens, coast to coast."
This corporate pride and encouragement was seen by many as positive cheer toward competing Canadians.

Not VANOC.
There they were again, threatening to sue Scotia Bank for 'ambush marketing'. Saying that their actions would hurt the Olympic games.
What it seems they want is for no one to participate in their Olympics. No one to write anything about them. No one to talk about them.
No wonder the overwhelming majority of British Columbians I have talked to feel left out of the whole event when we cannot even cheer on our athletes unless it is through buying the privilege with official sponsors.
I don't know about you, but I feel a strong backlash against those 'official' sponsors.
Pride is one thing, greed is another.


addenda eye opener: read this to see how VANOC is shafting our American friends -
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2010276798_olytickets15.html

Don't do this ...

Eh! O', Canada Go!

No Art Allowed - VANOC

Remember this wall?
Beatty Street across from the Armories. It was filled with bright paintings, known as the Beatty Street Murals.
Colourful and vibrant on a very plain street.

But as usual, VANOC didn't want anything that tourists would see as part of Vancouver's multi-faceted identity, even though all of the original 16 paintings were commissioned by the Steve Nash Foundation, so they had them painted over with blue paint. Perhaps they were afraid of secret messages woven into that artwork by Pepsi, or Mastercard, or Telus etc. Ambush Advertising they call it in a feeble attempt to make themselves sound correct.

Just another reason for John Furlong to hang his head over the treatment of the citizens of Vancouver and their exclusion from the Winter Olympics.

Oh, by the way, that's an official Olympic vehicle parked there on Sunday.
I assume standing guard over the blue wall in case someone dares put a happy face on it.

Whoops, someone did dare to make a rather sad statement.

These kinds of attacks on our visual environment need to be followed more closely. WHO actually hired the painters to slosh over the murals? We need to know the actual names of people who follow these directions blindly and stupidly and with no concern for their own city. SOMEONE gave the order.

And it reminds me of all those glorious tall trees that were brutally chopped down on Hamilton street by Concord Pacific to make way for the new CBC studios, none of which would have interfered in any way with the construction or look. And none of which were on Concord Pacific's property.
There IS a law that says if you cut a tree down from city property, it must be replaced by a like tree. Still waiting for that and the name of the person who gave the order.
These people who have so little regard for their own neighborhood couldn't be from Vancouver. Or even live here. Could they?

see my previous post and pictures about the CBC trees - October 2006 - CBC construction, your trees or theirs?
http://caterwauls.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

Roxxxy the Sex Robot - 71 to go

Roxxxy the sex robot made her debut in front of adoring fans at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.
Roxxxy is a life-size, anatomically correct, robotic girlfriend who comes complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin. She stands five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, "has a full C cup and is ready for action," according to Douglas Hines, who was an artificial intelligence engineer at Bell Labs before starting TrueCompanion.
Not sure if that means Douglas has artificial intelligence or Roxxy has.
It says here that she is a companion, she hears you, she listens to you, (note the separate categories) All women hear you, but .... well, you know.

There's more, Roxxxy comes with five personalities. Wild Wendy is outgoing and adventurous, while Frigid Farrah is reserved and shy. Would you pay $9000. for frigid?
I am not really sure I want a personality anyhow. My vacant looking wide-eyed blow up doll, (Mazie) doesn't need any thoughts. And she seems to be saying a perpetual 'Wow!, enough for my simple ego.
And I can deflate her and have a secret companion right there with me, deep in my front pants pocket.

Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11, 2001 attacks, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and Douglas decided to replicate his friend's personality who died in that event. ??? I am not making this up. I promise. But it does cause one to wonder about Doug's friends.
I can't figure this either, but after years of seeing those extremely beautiful Mattel Barbie Dolls I can't figure out why she was made so ... eewww ... ugly! Roxxxy is like Cro-Magnon man with a wig. A rubberized Drag Queen. I only suggest that perhaps she is intended to look like one of the 72 virgins promised to the suicide bombers on 9/11. Anything to put them off.

I wonder if she'll do a balloon fly if you stick a pin in her bum? Oh not .... you can bet she already has a hole in her bum.
Please don't imagine the ... um .... testing of this ... er... product.
Damn now you are, aren't you?

Well no perversions for me.
I am just going to stick to my regular Gentlemens' Club where I can go and get chained upside down to a wall naked and have Madame Merelda beat the hell out of me!

Today in History ... January 6

The Law of Large Numbers.
A theorum advanced by Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705) Swiss mathematician. He was responsible for the rule that the average of a large number of independent measurements of a random quantity tends toward the theoretical average of that quantity. Also called Bernoulli's law.
.
Caterwaul's Law of Large Numbers:
If you have many men in a crowd; Men will start a fight.
If you have many men and women in a crowd; Men will cop a feel.
If you have many women in a crowd at a shoe sale; Women will start a fight.
If you have many women at a shoe sale fighting who won't let go of the same shoe; Women will feel a cop.

Old Adage: If the shoe fits, wear it.

Murphy's Law: When you get it home it won't fit.

Comment: Don't have a hissy fit about it.

BC Place Stadium - goodbye?

This is what I think might happen to our stadium because of secret deals. We just now heard about a secret deal made by VANOC in April, 2009, which was to take 8.3 million dollars from a 'construction' budget ... and use it to build an Olympic flame holder inside the stadium and to make the acoustics better.
Apparently someone sold this to John Furlong on the idea that the athletes, needed to hear well in there so they would compete better out there. And one bozo (Dave Cobb) said, "We like to keep these things secret for the surprise element"! Someone needs to tell ol' Dave, that the public cannot be surprised any more by the Olympics Committee's nefarious deals.
Well, we all know how much the developers want to get their greedy hands on the BC Place property. I think they'll purposely get those construction costs up so high that Gordon Campbell will announce that he is scrapping the whole stadium deal, and is being responsible to the BC taxpayers. Therebye allowing his friends to fly in like vultures to a rotting corpse and feed.
Then it wouldn't surprise me at all, Dave, if Gordon pockets millions more in payoffs from whomever while the condos get built.
Big deals have been canceled before in the name of saving the taxpayer's money, usually after someone already got all the taxpayer's money.
Don't count on watching the Lions or Whitecaps play anywhere near BC Place unless you buy a condo there and have a big screen TV.
Got any more secrets to surprise us with, Dave?

Repost from October 2004 - re Drugs in BC

in the past ....
SOME INFO ABOUT THE 1950S DRUG SCENE. Does it matter today?

(researched because I have written a stage play about drug addiction in the 50s)

In 1952, a Special Committee on Narcotics of the Community Chest and Council of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, recommended after thorough study: "The Federal [Canadian] Government should be urged to modify the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act to permit the provinces to establish narcotic clinics where registered narcotic users could receive their minimum required dosages of drug." - Such dispensing clinics, the committee predicted, would "protect the life of the addict and support him as a useful member of society." It would also "within a reasonable time eliminate the illegal drug trade. . . . The operation of such clinics would not entail any reduction in the vigilance of law enforcement agencies," which would continue to be responsible for keeping narcotics out of reach of non-addicts.

An addict who shifts from black-market heroin to morphine by prescription moves into another world. Suppose, for example, that be has been paying $20 a day for 40 milligrams of heroin mixed with 360 milligrams of hazardous adulterants and contaminants. Armed with a prescription, he can walk into almost any neighborhood pharmacy and secure pure morphine, U.S.P., safely diluted in an appropriate vehicle, and sterilely packaged, at the full retail price of $5 per dram or less. He thus pays about five cents for 40 milligrams of morphine. If heroin were stocked in pharmacies, he could buy 40 milligrams of it, too, on prescription, for about a nickel - as British addicts do.
The question is obvious: Why shouldn't the addict be encouraged to secure his opiates legally, on prescription, in pure form, for a nickel a day, rather than be forced by federal and state laws to spend $20 per day in the heroin black market?
(NOTE* These figures are pre 1960s, it's more like $300. per day now. (conservative) And the addicts get it by breaking into YOUR car, your house or your life, adding huge costs to us all)

In 1954, a California citizens' advisory committee to the Attorney General on crime prevention proposed that an addict certified as incurable by a disposition board should legally receive specified doses of narcotics and thereby remove said addict as a potential market for criminally or illegally secured narcotics.
Also in 1954, Dr. Edward E. Eggston, for the New York state delegation, brought to the annual convention of the American Medical Association a proposal that the AMA go on record as favoring "the establishment of narcotics clinics under the aegis of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics." The resolution did not pass.

In 1955, the Medical Society of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York, recommended the "establishment of narcotic clinics in large centers where the problem is acute." It suggested, "Suitable private physicians can care for the occasional addict in isolated areas .... The addict will receive his narcotics only at the clinic, hospital, or doctor's office so that he cannot resell them elsewhere."
Also in 1955, the New York Academy of Medicine proposed "taking the profit out of the illicit trade by furnishing drugs to addicts at low cost under federal control."
The academy recommended that "clinics be attached to general hospitals, whether federal, municipal, or voluntary, dispensing narcotics to addicts, open 24 hours daily, 7 days a week."

In 1956 the Council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association, while opposing the immediate establishment of substantial numbers of drug-dispensing clinics as urged the previous year by the New York Academy of Medicine, did suggest "the possibility of devising a limited experiment which would test directly the hypothesis that clinics would eliminate the illicit traffic and reduce addiction."
Also in 1956, the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association established a joint Committee on Narcotic Drugs, which recommended in its 1958 Interim Report:
(1) An Outpatient Experimental Clinic for the Treatment of Drug Addicts Although it is clear ... that the so-called clinic approach to drug addiction is the subject of much controversy, the joint Committee feels that the possibilities of trying some such outpatient facility, on a controlled experimental basis, should be explored, since it can make an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of how to deal with drug addicts in a community, rather than on an institutional basis. It has been suggested that the District of Columbia, being an exclusively federal jurisdiction and immediately accessible to both law enforcement and public health agencies, might be an advantageous locus for this experiment.
Have we progressed at all in the so-called War on Drugs?
posted by caterwauler October, 2004
--------------------------------------------
I think we all know what the answer is - and what we have to learn is who is stopping us from progressing? The answer is so simple.

Hike liquor prices

You've probably heard of the so-called study out of Victoria that recommends hiking the price of booze. Some are saying it is because liquor consumption has risen dramatically in BC. Some brain turd thinks making a bottle of booze more expensive will eliminate alcoholism! Well, study people live on sponsored studies don't they. Wonder who sponsored this one?
Alcoholics will drink no matter what the price, the cost just means that guy's kids don't get shoes, or toys, or the wife money to feed them.
Why will they drink despite the cost? Because they're alcoholics! (Studies never consider common sense)
Consumption in BC has gone up because people have no extra money for restaurants, clubs, opera, sporting events etc, because THOSE costs have skyrocketed into the stratosphere! (and I haven't even mentioned HST) But what is still cheap enough to make one feel good for a few nights? A bottle of booze.
Okay, you knew this was coming - - - - Here is the real reason I believe the cost of booze will go up. My opinion only of course.
A few years ago, Gordon Campbell might have made promises to private people wanting to take over BC's booze industry. He tried to sell our whole provincial liquor control to these people and these panting privateers greedily anticipated their millions after having the provincial stores closed. Some would even say Gordon got some payoff for orchestrating it all. And HIS extra bonus was to eliminate another union.
But then the public got involved and the argument that private was better disappeared when they realized how much profit from liquor went directly into the provincial coffers from government liquor stores. We were told this profit would continue from taxes but the public saw right through that specious argument too.
Meanwhile the privateer liquor stores proliferated and the prediction that their booze would be 30% higher came true! However they couldn't push that envelope any higher because of competition from the provincial stores. Those damned Government stores offer a comparison! But do they think Gordon owes them something from his promises of Grand profits? Thus a study that will allow the government, (Gordon Campbell) to rationalize putting the prices up again. Thus allowing even more margin for the privateers. Thus weaseling out of his obligation to hand over the entire industry to 'friends' while getting them more.
Colloquially, a Privateer, although established in the 16th century, is nothing more than a Pirate, plundering something that belongs to others.
Get real people, realize you're being had once again, then get drunk, it's about all you can do.

Top Ten Movie Quotes from 2009 Remakes

The Top Ten Lines from the original memorable movies - with their 2009 remake updates.

10 - Casablanca – Humphrey Bogart character Rick Blaine to Ilsa;
Original – "Here’s lookin’ at you, Kid."
2009 Remake – “Let’s get the hell on that plane, I just killed Paul Henreid!”
.
9 - The Wizard of Oz – Judy Garland character Dorothy to Toto, her dog;
Original – “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
2009 Remake – “Toto, get off my leg and stop that! Oh all right, oh, ooo TOTOOOH!”
.
8 - In the Heat of the Night – Sydney Portier character Tibbs;
Original – “They call me Mister Tibbs.”
2009 Remake – “Sup, Bro?”
.
7 - Sudden Impact – Clint Eastwood character Harry Callahan to Punk;
Original - “Go ahead, Punk, make my day.”
2009 Remake – “Bang! Oops.”
.
6 - Apocalypse Now – Robert Duvall character Colonel Kilgore to troops;
Original – “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like Victory.”
2009 Remake - “I love the smell of my palm in the morning. It smells like my buddy Victor.”
.
5 - Apollo 13 – Tom Hanks character Jim Lovell to ground control;
Original - “Houston, we have a problem.”
2009 Remake – “Ground Control to Major Tom, Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong. Can you hear me, Major Tom?”
.
4 - The Shining – Jack Nicholson character Jack Torrance to anyone;
Original – “Here’s Johnny!”
2009 Remake – “Here’s Conan!”
.
3 - Broke Back Mountain – Jake Gyllenhaal character Jack Twist to Ennis;
Original – “I wish I knew how to quit you.”
2009 Remake – “Sheep? Where?”
.
2 - Citizen Kane – Orson Wells character Charles Foster Kane in dying breath;
Original – (harsh whisper) …“Rosebud.”
2009 Remake – (harsh whisper) …“B.C. Bud.”
.
2a - The Godfather – Marlon Brando character Don Vito Corleone to Tom;
Original – “Make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
2009 Remake – “Godfather Pizza, 2 pepperoni for 1 deal! You can’t refuse!”
.
1 - Gone With the Wind – Clark Gable character Rhett Butler to Scarlet Ohara;
Original – “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
2009 Remake - “Fuck off, Scarlet.”

Quebec - shut up or get out!

You heard about the most recent slap at Canada from Quebec, didn't you? It's about their language again. In which the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the so called language law that blocked children from attending English language schools. All immigrant parents had to do was enroll a child first in an English private school, after that they could send children to English language public schools.
In a 7-0 decision, the court struck down a law known as Bill 104 that, since 2002, has blocked some 8,000 children in Montreal alone from attending English-language schools. Anyone who has traveled already knows that after English, German and Spanish are the dominant languages worldwide outside of China. And English is the second language there! French is but a deviation.
Of course now that we have the misnomer title in Quebec of the "National Assembly" Quebeckers see themselves as independent from Canada, and the latest slap in the face to Canadians is the accusation that Canada is interfering in another nation's business. That "nation" being Quebec.
Are you tired of this too? Isn`t it time Quebec went their own way? Do they really still think as they did before that last referendum?
That even if they separate from their hated oppressors, the Canadians, they will still receive all the benefits of Canadians across Canada. That all those cushy Ottawa jobs will still be theirs? That they will still get huge lucrative contracts from Canada over Albertans or Nova Scotians? That they will still receive equalization payments from Ottawa? That the people way out there in BC will still have bilingual signs? That they will sell those products labelled in French only writing across the US and Canada? That they will still VOTE in Canadian elections and send representatives to Canada's Parliament? That they will still have Canadian passports!
Yes, that is exactly what they believed. And probably still do.
It is such a naive POV that it makes a Westerner or Easterner laugh and feel embarrassed for misinformed and ignorant Quebeckers. I for one would expect a 100 year backlash and a new Canadian government to support Canadians first and consider Quebeckers applying for jobs or entry as immigrants. Look at the politics. Each party wants to woo those 75 seats so they cowtow to Quebec. If they were gone then we could have a fair and democratic Canada and be rid of the whining once and for all. Not to mention the drain of the constant dole to the French crybabies.
And the rest of Canada would have something to be proud of instead of being embarrassed about.

Journalism 2.0

People are talking about Journalism 2.0 lately. It is partly a theory that journalism as we knew it is now dead. It has to do with the modern media, TV news, newspapers, radio news. These sources for your information seem to be unreliable and untrusted. The news you get from newspapers is now almost 3 days old when it is printed. And they often quote news from TV or even weblogs! TV news hours fill up with anything but real news. Looking for 'stories' to tell within a time frame.
A recent study of news information showed that most of the younger generation get their hard news from, of all people, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Walter Cronkite died and news trust died with him. Journalism 1.0 is no longer supported like that old Commodore 64 in a land fill somewhere.
Most hard news outlets are conglomerates owned by a very few powerful people. A little research will often tell you exactly who owns them, and a little more reading will get you the slant of that owner. A little scrutiny will even tell you HOW the affiliated stations will report news. So why do we need to pay attention then? Of course that research is done on the World Wide Web.
Aha. That's it isn't it? The reason people are discussing Journalism 2.0. News now comes from people posting items on the web; in forums, blogs, Youtube, social networking sites like Facebook. Yes, opinionized it may be and there is a lot of chaff and misinformation, but a keen mind can separate that from DISinformation as practiced by certain organized media. Do we believe the antics of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck masquerading as news commentary? Jon Stewart is on the Comedy Network, he goes for the laugh, and yet through the humor we discern truth. Salon.com regularly scoops the major news organizations. Wolf Blitzer fumbles through a program trying for seriousness yet seems to be a victim of news technology! CNN ratings have plummeted. Newspapers can no longer take the time to verify their stories in the competition with a Youtube video of what just happened.
Journalism is freer now that we, the people, can post stories and items and video about what WE saw. Anywhere and anytime in the world! We no longer need the trained reporter who can perhaps write better, or a videographer who gets the better angle and the dropping tear, all edited for the morning edition or the Six O'clock news hour.
The face of journalism has changed and the real eloquence is in the spontaneity of the report, whether it be from a shaky unfocused cell-phone camera or a ungrammatical posting on a blog.
Journalism 2.0 is here and we all have a tremendous new power. And we are reporting to each other.
We need only to tell the truth.

Welfare Bums?

Welfare bums? Lots of vitriol lately about whoever they are. People post on social forums, get a job! Scream about quit drinking and drugs! Why should I pay for them to loaf and get handouts? Etc etc ad nauseum. But who exactly are these welfare bums? What do they look like? Those raggy people climbing into dumpsters looking for cans and bottles?
Are they sports figures? What about athletes full of fitness and fire? Ken Read, once of the famous 'Crazy Canucks' ski team, who got Canadian taxpayer money to send him and others to Argentina to glacier ski for 'training', said, "When your amateur career is over, there's something wrong if you are not a millionaire." And all those other sporties who are supported by Canadian tax money and proudly tell us after placing 35th of 35 that they reached a 'personal best'! Aren't these welfare bums?
And those teflon CEOs of huge companies who were so busy arrogantly managing their own graft and corruption that they mismanaged the companies they were charged with running, and then got bailouts in the millions from taxpayers! They are welfare bums even in a $500. suit!
And what about hundreds of local 'Arts Councils' all across Canada who continually put on Shakespeare plays that no one attends that don't pay for themselves yet who receive huge 'grants' year after year! That is welfare bummery at it's best!
And singer-songwriters like Bruce Cockburn who never laid down a music track without Canadian taxpayer money allowing him to add the mandated 'Canadian content'.
And aren't we tired of CBC harpsichord music yet? Billions in welfare pouring into that snobbery management.
One could go on and on adding people and groups with hands out. THOSE are welfare bums.
But they are NOT that guy who worked most of his life paying taxes and trying to support his family who got laid off after 25 years and was 'overqualified' for any positions and companies wouldn't trust his experience to do a lesser job, so he finally, in chagrin, had to get some welfare relief to hold something of his life together. He is no less a victim that the Tourettes guy swearing on the corner.
Canada is so full of welfare bums and they are not the ones in ragged clothes wandering the streets all night pushing a rattling Safeway Cadillac for bottles, they are the ones with ragged minds driving in the REAL Cadillacs.
Quit screaming.

No BC Place stadium roof?

You heard it here first folks.
I posted at least a year ago that the developers would win out and have BC Place torn down to build condos. Everyone in the 'in' crowd would get rich. I suspected and speculated then that Gordon Campbell would find a way to accommodate his friends and perhaps take his cut somewhere. Which I often do because I cannot personally imagine that anyone could sell off the assets of British Columbians as he has done without some personal graft in there somewhere. No one could be that disloyal.
My own opinion of course.
So now we hear that the new expanding roof is not going on the stadium after all. They are merely readying it for those games. (VANOC says we are not allowed to mention what games)
I predict that after these games, they will discover something so bad about our BC Place Stadium, and tell us that it will not be able to be used anymore and why not sell the land for condos? The greed will take hold and it'll be a done deal - if it isn't already.
Watch for the spin preparation to begin right after the games when those costs start becoming public. Once you get the character and agenda of some people, you can figure out the succeeding actions yourself. And Gordon has shown his disdain for BCers over and over again.
You heard it here first.
They are probably writing the copy right now.

addenda: The very next day Gordon Campbell confirmed no new expanding roof. He was very careful to say 'expanding' and wimpy Bill Good didn't ask the obvious follow up question: Will there be ANY new roof?

Do It Yourself Doctoring

It's coming folks. Huge cuts in hospital staff and access. Doctors moving to the clinic format, no longer having regular patients. Budgets being curtailed. No more elective surgeries.
All designed, some people think, to drive you to the for-profit private clinics that Gordon Campbell has allowed to undermine our own health care system.
So will it result in a Do It Yourself health care explosion?
There are now DIY dentistry kits where you can get the stuff needed to replace the filling you swallowed. You already know what your dentist does to fix a cavity. He drills around in there to clean it up, then mixes the amalgam and fills the hole and polishes it up. So why can't you do the same thing? With the kits, you can. Pliers included please.
Sure it's temporary they say, but if the dentist charges you $800 dollars to fix it, and the kits are only $23 dollars, you can temp it 34 TIMES yourself! Even at a six month replacement schedule that equals 17 YEARS without you spending those big bucks.
So why couldn't you do other stuff yourself too? People have been delivering their own babies for centuries. Someone just needs to write a detailed manual on certain procedures. Step by step instructions on appendix removal, tonsil removal, hip and knee replacement, vaccinations, if you show me where the arteries are I could clean them out too. Stitches? No sweat, I can tie a double half granny knot. Criminals in Asia are already stealing kidneys from tourists so that can't be too hard. How many volunteers would step up for breast implants? Colonoscopy? Rent a fibreoptics tube, only $10 for the weekend, check out your friends too. The DIY hemorrhoid kit might be a slow seller.
Even mental health issues can be resolved at home. In the years past ancient people solved the problem of evil spirits in the head by actually chipping a hole in your skull with an eolith, a flintstone axe, to let the malevolent demons out!It's called trephining. And there's evidence the crazy persons survived! And we have way sharper axes today.
Sure, real doctors spend years learning, but you only need to fix the single thing that's bugging you. A DIY kit could help you to do it.
So, there are hundreds of procedures we could do ourselves. How hard can it be? We only need a DIY Doctor Store, kits for everything, instructions on CD.
Gaul bladder removal - Hospitable price, $30,000. Ops-R-Us price - On Sale, $49.95. Biteable bullet and whiskey included,

Passports of convenience

A Somali woman who is also a Canadian was stranded in Kenya. Recently two Asian "journalists" who were also American citizens were imprisoned in North Korea for violating the border. A Canadian woman activist of Iranian birth was imprisoned in Iran. Many Canadians of Lebanese descent had to be airlifted out of Lebanon when trouble blew up there.
All were super critical of the Canadian government for not working more swiftly to save them from harm.
The problem, of course, is that these 'Nationals' are carrying passports which mean nothing to them except an escape vehicle if things get scary in their own country. I know, I know, their own country is now Canada or America, but many of these landed immigrants have only applied for citizenship and a passport in order to hold the escape documents. They arrive in Canada, get the proper papers, and high tail it right back to wherever they are from!
In the case of the Asian Americans, right back to the North Korean border to pursue stories to discredit the leader. In the case of the Canadian Lebanese, right back to their businesses. One case had only spent a few months in Canada in the ten years since he received his citizenship and passport. The Iranian Canadian woman was known as an activist in Iran.
These people seem to have little interest in their chosen countries, even assuming they pledged some kind of allegience to our flags.
So why should our Canadian Government spend thousands of taxpayers dollars rescuing these 'foreigners' when their intent seems to be to make trouble in their former countries?
I believe that in the 'old' days, one had to apply for Canadian citizenship, remain in our country for five years without incident and show that you were here to become part of the greatest country in the world. THEN you got your citizenship.
There is nothing wrong with having rules and requirements. If you want to be Canadian, hang out here and help build the country and don't expect us to come rescue you when you go back to wherever to rabble rouse.
It is a priviledge to be an American or Canadian, not a right just because you got here somehow.

Ingenious pervert ploy

A man in Florida hired a woman via Craigslist to look after his disabled brother. The disabled one had mental issues, was confined to an apartment and needed to have his diaper changed. He even needed bottle feeding. The woman took the job at $600. per week and did it often.
Then she found out that the man had no disabilities at all.
She 'exposed' the ruse and received emails from five other women who were also going at various times of day to change the man's diaper. The man and the disabled brother were one and the same!
Police said that although she was lied to, no crime had been committed and no one would be charged.
Evidently the guy was paying $3600. a week to satisfy his odd lusts. One assumes the six women came to 'depend' on the income.
Beware of clever rich perverts.

NEWS - itch gene discovered

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system. The researchers, led by Zhou-Feng Chen, Ph.D., found that laboratory mice that lacked this gene scratched much less than their normal cage-mates when given itchy stimuli.
Wonderful. Mice are now sleeping more peacefully.
No mention of cancer research. Or heart disease. Or flesh eating disease. Or bubonic plague. Someone thought itching was paramount. Someone spent money figuring this out. Some aspiring medical student scientists, hoping to go the way of Louis Pasteur, followed Zhou-Feng into scratch free history.
Whoever said scratching was bad thing anyway? It can be a major source of pleasure to scratch with a stiff hair brush. The measurement being the length of your "aahhh" or the placid expression on your face. And the removal of the gene won't get rid of cooties, or mosquito bites, or hives.
Isn't the scratch sensation designed to tell us something? Sort of like, "Scratch here, Buddy, you have that rash again." Get some Blue Ointment.
Well this item was all over the news recently. Like it was a huge medical breakthrough in the fight against itch. It's enough to make old Louis P. drink raw milk.
Meanwhile the major news organizations were hot on the trail of what Paris Hilton was doing next. That alone is enough to make one itchy.