Let's take a walk

This page started a new job this week, and hasn't really been bothered to address any critical issues. I've been enjoying a lot of the great outdoors, because for the first time in years, my place of work is close enough to my home that I can walk there.

It takes me about half an hour to get to work, which is just enough to get some real exercise. However, the thing I'm really enjoying is the sense of control. A lot of the anxiety that comes with living in Vancouver has to do with the fact it's a city not really built for cars that's surrounded by suburbs that are built that way. The streets are flooded with unnecessary cars, and a government sponsored by auto dealers and oil companies believes they have to keep it that way, so just enough transit service is provided to prevent civil unrest.

I've been released from the inexplicable waits at the bus stop, the buses that go by half-full because other riders can't figure out how to move to the back, the inane vanity ringtones of cellphones, and the gauntlet of free newspaper hawkers. Because I can go where I want (without looking for parking or filling up a gas tank), the time immediately before and after work is mine again, as opposed to my previous job, where commuting added a de facto 2 hours to my work day.

And to think it was only a few decades ago that it was like this for most people...

At least Rodney Dangerfield was funny

A new show polls 60% of Albertans surveyed believe their province doesn't get the respect it deserves from Canada.

In reporting the poll results, CBC viewers and listeners have been treated to testimony from roughnecks and ranchers about how hard it is to get oil out of the ground and cattle to the stockyards. Yes, these people do hard work, but that's not how respect is earned, that's how money is earned. This page was in Calgary at the beginning of the 'Klein Revolution'. As much as people want to say the boom is the result of sound fiscal management and hard work, this page remembers the Tories took away a lot of work from people in the name of 'sound' fiscal management. Did the CBC ask anyone who works (or used to work) in a government office, school, hospital, provincial park, college, city hall or liquor store how much respect they received with their pink slip or their pay cut in the 90's?

Just a few years ago, when Alberta was considering changes to the province's electoral boundaries, there was more than one 'Progressive' Conservative MLA who stated that one's franchise should be relative to the property one owns. In the same vein, Alberta's right-wing activists have been trying to export this neo-feudalistic ideology to neighbouring provinces, be it under-the-table donations to the Saskatchewan Party, or dispatching one-time Ralph Klein guru Rod Love to ride shotgun with Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals. The results have been mixed, largely because of non-Albertans distaste for something that has been a political staple of Alberta life for decades: bullsh*t.

If Alberta wants respect, this page recommends that a province with about 1/10 of the country's population stop trying to tell the rest of us what to do. One of Calgary's own is sitting in 24 Sussex Drive, what else do these people want? It also wouldn't hurt to take care of the little things, like enshrining human rights for all Albertans into law, writing up an actual Labour Code, stop choking on the words "sustainable development", cease and desist the screwing around with the Canada Health Act and...oh yeah...sign off on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Believe it or not, the Conservative regime refused to endorse the Convention because a number of MLAs thought it would interfere with a parent's right to administer corporal punishment.

Being an East Vancouver resident, this page believes British Columbia living next to Alberta is like me living next to the drug dealer's house down the street: the people seem to have a lot of money and look like their having a good time. However, for all the shiny new toys the place looks ugly and abandoned, there are a lot of scary noises coming out of there at night, and what's that gawd-awful smell?

Parking Responsibility

This page was disgusted by the selfish, ignorant, and self-destructive behaviour of several merchants at Metrotown during the Easter weekend. Oblivious to the fact that all of them are located just a few hundred metres from the one of the largest transit hubs in the Lower Mainland, these retailers posted notices encouraging their customers to support their efforts in blocking a critical source of public transit funding.

To the members of the Fair Tax Coalition, or the No Parking Tax coalition, or whatever Kevin Falcon-loving Board of Trade Waste of Skin you are: this one's for you! If the Translink Board rejects the $1.02 per sq. metre parking tax (which was already cut from $25 million to $20 million because of your short-sighted bitching), where is that money going to come from? Increased property taxes? Increased fares? Gee, if property owners and transit riders are further out of pocket because local business refuses to pay their fare share, it may mean the public has less money to....I dunno....GO SHOPPING?!

What about service cuts? Force more people into cars and pay gas prices that cut further into their disposable income? It didn't surprise this page in reading this moronfesto that they wanted me to contact my MLA, and the contact information was only for Lieberal MLA's. Parking tax reactionaries: Don't expect me at your little insurrection at Wednesday's Translink Board meeting in Langley, and until you learn to suck it up and take a long view of transportation planning in the Lower Mainland, don't expect my business either.

Expect Delays

This page received welcome news this morning that I will be returning to gainful employment next week. In addition, Walnut Boat is using part of her signing bonus to purchase a new computer.

These developments plus the upcoming Easter break may lead to sporadic posts this week. In the meantime, feel free to browse the archives at the right of this page.

Eye on Katie on the Eye

It appears that the major U.S. news item this week (give or take an alleged White House leak) concerned the news industry itself. Katie Couric, an announcer on 'Today', a popular morning program aired by the National Broadcasting Company, has agreed to become the lead anchor for the flagship evening newscast of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

By no means does this page watch CBS News on any regular or frequent basis: the last time I saw a CBS newscast, the Iranian hostages were stepping off the plane. However, it is important to note the historic impact that CBS Anchors have gathered over the years in relating the days events. In the 1950's, Edward R. Murrow stood up to Senator Joseph McCarthy and his attempt to smear hundreds of Americans as Communist sympathizers. In the 1960's, Walter Cronkite sent himself to Vietnam to see the war for himself, and upon his return helped turn American public opinion against that war. In the 1980's, Dan Rather had no problems running with stories like Iran-Contra to the point that right-wingers to this day still scream about a 'liberal bias' at CBS.

Will Couric continue this tradition of iconoclastic, firebrand journalism in her new role at the CBS Evening News? Highly unlikely, given her reputation as a 'soft news' specialist. Here's hoping she's seen Good Night and Good Luck, and something stuck, particularly the fact that Murrow could do puffball celebrity interviews just like Katie AND stare down Washington's bullies on the same shift.

Closed Chambers for 2010?

Canadian Olympic Committee President Michael Chambers doesn't want public medal presentation cerememonies at Vancouver's games in 2010. This attitude only serves to further alienate the locals from the so-called 'Spirit of 2010'. A parade of recent controversies and cost overruns are leaving many in Vancouver concerned about the cost of hosting the games, and whether the public will actually be invited to participate.

While Chambers doesn't want to see high-profile recording artists overshadow medal winners at the ceremonies, he fails to understand that for a lot of working people, the medals ceremony is the closest thing they will get to being at the Olympic Games. This page was in Calgary in 1988 as a student working in the Athlete's Village and couldn't afford to see any events. However, people like me gathered 50,000 strong at Olympic Plaza for the celebrations. The entertainment wasn't A-list, but the out-of-towners loved the amazing Indian dancers of the Treaty 7 Nations, and the cowboy sing-alongs of Miss Molly and the Stampede Showband. Even if those kind of acts weren't ones bag, the fireworks at the end made the evening chill worthwhile.

VANOC would be wise to tell Chambers to think again, especially considering who's currently sitting on City Council. This is the same NPA gang who had no problem telling people not to come downtown for New Year's Eve 2000, I'm sure they'll have no problem in adopting Chambers point of view, and pulling the plug on any truly public Olympic events, just to keep the 2010 party among the corporate elite and the Olympic 'family'.

Me and what army?

This page noticed an interesting promotional item while watching the Seattle Mariners 10-8 win over the LA Angels last night: "Thursday, 7:05, vs. Oakland A's - Salute to Armed Forces Night: Military Personnel $10"

Ten dollars? This page thought that those $700 toilet seats and the Iraqi Occupation would eventually catch up to the American Military, but wow! I never realized they'd be getting rid of so many people, maybe it really will be An Army of One. And for ten bucks a troop? Why grab a premium beer at Safeco Field for $8.00 when one could pick up a fighting man or woman for just two dollars more?

At that price, this page can easily afford a decent sized militia. Make no mistake, my neighbours will keep their stereos turned down and their dogs cleaned up after, because I will no longer be afraid of a military solution...

Dumping Dave: how bad does Kingsway want it?

Despite Sunday's 'Walk for Democracy' and yesterday's airplane banner over Parliament Hill, neither the ground troops nor the air forces of the Kingsway Rebellion could shake David Emerson out of his seat at the Conservative cabinet table.

After Emerscum was cleared by the Ethics Commissioner (with a little bullying from the PMO) Those who want to see Emerscum resign are framing this issue in terms of right and wrong rather than legalities. What the Kingsway Rebellion doesn't appear to realize is that using legal means (like petitions, letters to the editor, marches) in a fundamental battle between right and wrong is yet another case of bringing a knife to a gun fight. Actually, it's more like bringing kindergarten safety scissors.

As this page sees it, Emerscum's opponents have two real choices: Go after him the way anti-poverty activists went after Lorne Mayencourt, and be willing to go to jail. Handcuff each other to the doors of Emerscum's constituency office and keep a perpetual vigil out front like Falun Gong does at the Chinese consulate. Don't be afraid to get in the Minister's face whenever he pokes his head out in public, even if it means trying to get past that nice policeman. Scream, yell, use as many expletives as possible, clog up the courts with arrests, and Emerson may decide he doesn't need the constant grief and waddle his way back to Canfor.

The other option is to start buying memberships in the Conservative Party of Canada. Give them a call, bullsh*t them about how you want to 'Stand Up for Canada' (tm), and get everyone else who wants to flush Emerscum to do the same thing. Sooner or later, you'll have enough votes to control the next nomination meeting, and Emerson's future candidacy (or Kanman Wong's, who stepped aside for Emerscum) in the riding is as good as blocked.

This page realizes that going to prison and taking out Conservative memberships are two huge lemons. However, if enough Kingsway voters are willing, that's a hell of a lot of lemonade to be squeezed.

Shoot Alberta's messenger

This anecdote may seriously date this page for some readers, but a few years ago, a regular poster to rec.sport.baseball coined the term 'mediocy' to describe commentators or sportswriters who stated the obvious, or provided observations without any basis in fact.

No, this isn't about opening day. This is about last Friday night, and the weekend of commentary that followed after Ralph Klein's chillingly tepid endorsement by his Alberta Conservatives. Holding the 55% result to keep it off the 11 o' clock news and the front page of the weekend papers couldn't stop a spring snowfall of speculation. However, among the startled talking heads and hurried op-ed pieces, this page was hard-pressed to find a snowflake of objectivity.

I'm not referring to the 'fair and balanced', giving both sides of the issue their say objectivity, this page is referring to giving an audience the overall, big picture of an issue. Unfortunately, with some heroic exceptions, Albertans are routinely treated to the worst media coverage of provincial politics in Canada.

How can this page make such a claim? By pointing out that as a former Alberta resident who monitors the news wires coming out of Calgary and Edmonton, this page has seen no published reaction from either Kevin Taft, leader of the Alberta Liberals and the OFFICIAL OPPOSITION in Edmonton, nor Brian Mason, who leads Alberta's NDP caucus. By contrast, when Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark were on their way out the door as British Columbia premiers, B.C. audiences were never lost for what Gordon Campbell thought about those situations. If the knives came out for Campbell today, I'm sure that anyone outside of this province could readily access Carole James' opinion.

It's one thing for mediots to constantly refer to Alberta as a 'one-party state', it's another to not even bother asking the representatives of parties who polled a combined 40% of Alberta's popular vote in an election less than two years ago. Throw in the righter-than-right wing Alberta Alliance party, and over half of the province didn't back 'Ralph's Team'. Why is a 55% approval rating a surprise?

The mediots can be just as bothered to talk to the opposition as they would be to question Alberta's hyper-gerrymandered electoral system which gives rural voters a franchise 2 to 3 times as powerful a franchise as their counterparts in Calgary or Edmonton. Of course, Ralph Klein was a reporter for CFCN Television before he ran for Mayor in Calgary and went on to become a do-nothing premier. In not bothering to challenge the status quo or ask any hard questions, perhaps the media is just emulating the master.

Apparently, people do read this thing.

This page has noticed some interesting comment traffic with respect to an earlier post this week concerning CAW President Buzz Hargrove. Someone claiming to be one of Hargrove's children takes exception to my comments, and attributes them to a 'blatent' lack of excitement in this page's life.

First of all, Jaime - thanks for dropping by and sticking up for the old man. This page does at times go overboard with the rhetoric, but I've often been left with the impression that it's part of the appeal for a lot of regular readers. I have been throwing around epithets like 'egocentric idiot manchild' for so long they've practically lost all meaning, and nobody has taken a strong enough exception to write in until now.

However, your Dad was acting like an egocentric idiot manchild when he went out of his way to endorse the Liberals while remaining a member of the NDP. In my neck of the woods in East Vancouver, people are still p*ssed about what's happened with David Emerson: one doesn't swear allegiance to one party then start making overtures to another. The 'strategic voting' argument is in mathematical reality, a total crock: every party on the ballot has as much chance of winning as any other if it gathers enough support during a campaign. The Ontario NDP were well within their rights to suspend his membership, and it wasn't a vicious attack on him or the members of the CAW. Being CAW President doesn't put you above the constitution of the party that you formally signed on with.

I don't know what your politics are, or for that matter, what your Dad's are anymore: they seem to have changed quite a bit from when I met him in Calgary six years ago. However, there's a right way to change, and a wrong way to change, and the wrong way is trying to pretend that you're still the same. It's not about engulfing oneself in someone else's life or looking at them like they were a shoe, it's about being p*ssed off that someone couldn't make a choice between keeping his word or quitting honourably.

As for my life not being exciting or constructive, that's all relative. Now, if this page were to say that David Emerson showed at least more dignity than Buzz Hargrove by tearing up his Liberal membership to sit in Stephen Harper's cabinet rather than have the Liberal party tear it up for him, I'm sure Jaime's response would certainly be exciting....

COMMENTS Welcome

As some of you may have noticed, I pulled the comment to yesterday's post, which wasn't a comment as much as it was a plug for some kind of porn somewhere. This page doesn't solicit advertising and doesn't give out advertising for free.

Speaking of soliciting and giving it out for free, this page is happy to see Canada's first human trafficking trial get underway in Vancouver. As locals are aware, the back pages of the West Ender and the Georgia Straight are filled with 'bodycare' and 'massage' ads, often promoting the Asian women who administer these 'services'. Some of these women may be Asian Canadians who work independently and enjoy what they do. However, Many of these women really are Asian, as in being brought here from Asia on a lie and forced to work illegally in the sex trade.

This page lives within walking distance of a number of these establishments, and is disturbed to know that behind the perpetually blacked-out windows, slavery is alive and well.

O Claude, why hast thou forsaken us?

Yesterday the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) released a report that exposes the real reason for B.C.'s declining welfare rates, and Employment Minister Claude Richmond exposed his increasing rate of acting like a prick:

"It's the same report that comes out every year, just a different cover, they are opposed to an employment-based welfare program and we are not." Of course Richmond would argue it's the same report every year, what self-respecting Fraser Institute disciples like the BC Liberals would read anything that comes from the CCPA? As for Richmond advocating an 'employment-based' program, this page realizes that Victoria is a long way from the rest of the country, but I'm pretty sure Canada already has one. In fact, just last week they made their presence very well known to this page.

This page didn't realize it during the Liberals first term, but Richmond's predilection for polarization and callousness probably served him well as Speaker, allowing government MLA's to taunt, harass, and abuse Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan at will. I suppose with 33 Opposition MLA's this time around, Richmond wasn't going to get away with sitting on his hands, so perhaps the role of a poor-bashing cabinet minister is better for him.

What does he say to people signing CAW cards?

Yes, the titles are usually more catchy, but this page is still wrapping around his head around the CAW President's insistence that his entire union be wrapped up in his personal temper tantrum against New Democrats. As you may remember, Hornblower Hargrove came out in support of the Liberals in January's federal election. As a result, his membership was suspended by the Ontario NDP. As a result, Bellicose Buzz leaned on the CAW executive to endorse disaffiliation from the party.

"The action of the Ontario NDP is a direct attack on the CAW and our members," screamed Hargrove last week. No, Buzz it isn't: it's what happens when you sign your name to the membership card of a political party and you blow off the constitutional responsibilities of party membership, like SOLIDARITY during election campaigns. All Hargrove had to do to show some actual leadership and avoid the embarrassment of being suspended from the party was cancel his NDP membership before he started swooning over Paul Martin. This page would have respected such a move, but Hargrove's insistence on perpetual fight-picking with pretty much anyone (except Ford, GM, and Chrysler) leaves me with the same contempt most cognizant unionists have for him.

Last spring this page worked alongside volunteers with the BC Federation of Labour's 'Count Me In' campaign that helped elect a strong NDP opposition in Victoria. At meetings I sat next to CAW members from Coast Mountain Bus Company and across from CAW members who were involved in the agonizing organizing drive at Starbucks. Since the resolution from the CAW Executive calls on CAW members to avoid Federal and Provincial New Democrats, is Buzz Hargrove saying that these workers should try to get a better deal from Gordon Campbell?

Telling union members how to vote is one thing. Telling union members how not to vote because your union's president is an egocentric idiot manchild who can't read the fine print on a membership form is another.

Alberta Bounced

Infrastructure Minister Lyle Oberg has been suspended from Alberta's Conservative caucus.

Oberg offended his colleagues for advising Conservatives in his riding of Strathmore-Brooks (where Don from RevMod twice carried the NDP banner) to vote their conscience when Ralph Klein faces a leadership review at the end of this month. Klein has announced he will be stepping down, but his 2007 expiration date is now stretching into 2008, and it appears that Oberg, a leadership contender himself, is turning the hose on the Great Ralph Love-In.

It's not as if Oberg is any real champion of democracy. When he was Education minister he had no qualms with pulling the plug on the elected school board in Calgary, claiming they were "too dysfunctional", dysfunctional meaning they disagreed with the Conservative agenda of dismantling public education. By comparison, the most Christy Clark could ever get away with was sneering at the BC Teachers Federation.

Still, this turn of events could prove to be an enlightening crack in Alberta's Conservative fortress, and the usually oblivious voters in that province may find out what 'dysfunctional' really means.

Union haters run aground

The rescue of 99 passengers and crew from the sinking of The Queen of the North off Hartley Bay is certainly welcome news. What a lot of right-wing, anti-union British Columbians won't want to hear today is that much of the rescue operation's success can be attributed to the professionalism and safety procedures carried out by the members of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union who worked on the Queen of the North.

Just over two years ago, BCFMWU members went on strike to protect their jobs against CEO David Hahn and his mandate from the BC Liberals: Torpedo the fleet through rollbacks, reckless cost-cutting measures (like delaying replacement of northern ferries...), stabbing BC shipbuilders in the back, and airport-style privatization. For their efforts in fighting Hahn and the Liberals, BCFMWU members were vilified by the media and whichever hotheads pulled up to a TV camera at Tsawwassen or Swartz.

Today, many of those same hotheads are probably praising the courage of the BC Ferries staff, even though it was only a few months ago they were claiming (as read on rabble.ca at the time) that some "lazy, corrupt, incompetent" BC Ferries workers are paid $18 an hour to do nothing but make toast. To those outstanding judges of character, help yourself, and by all means enjoy.

NPA: Now Park Anywhere?

City Council is once again hearing about opening Granville Mall to car traffic.

For those of you from out of town, Granville Mall is a transit-only section of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. It's the major hub for bus traffic, has a Skytrain Station, and allows easy, car-free access to downtown shopping and attractions.

One would think that the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association would appreciate those facts, but they don't. Rather than keep a good thing going, the DVBIA wants to have private vehicles grind public transit to a halt and endanger pedestrians who are used to crossing anywhere on the mall. Of course, this is the same braintrust who brought us the 'Downtown Ambassadors', an elite unit whose apparent mission is to look important in their red uniforms while they harass homeless people.

If I was a member retailer of the DVBIA, I would asking for my membership dues back. Granville Mall has seen a renaissance over the past few years because of its ability to generate serious foot traffic. Why else would Sears eagerly grab the Eatons store at Granville and Robson? Why else would Future Shop and Winners open locations across the street? Why else would Holt Renfrew be expanding its downtown store? Why do the car-crazy idiots on the DVBIA want to strangle their golden asphalt goose?

Of course, the forces of 'progress' believe with an NPA council now running things at 12th & Cambie, they can get their way this time. It already appears they've had their way with councilor Kim Capri, who's reversed her position to now having an "open mind" on Granville Mall car traffic. Obviously, it was good for her. For the record, City of Vancouver staff recommend keeping the Mall car-free. However, this page remembers City staff recommending One Third social housing at False Creek, and we know what happened there.

I for Infuriating

Today this page saw people subjected to lies, bullied, threatened, held for extended periods without charge, tortured, and executed. Mind you, I did go to the movies after the EI 'information' session.

What 'information' did this page discover at the offices of Human Resources Development Canada? I found out, as I alluded to yesterday, that the EI system is a means of social control. Whereas the old Unemployment Insurance system encouraged recipients to look for a job they intend on keeping for a while, the current EI regime expects its subjects to be 'ready and willing to work' at all times. Medical concerns or Recall Rights be damned: take the first thing that comes along and shut up.

EI is also a means to preserve the class system in case those in first class get a little down on their luck. Based on what I heard in the Q&A, the rich don't have to report their earnings on investment incomes or real estate properties, while working people are shaken down for their bingo winnings, birthday money from their aunts, or the few bucks we received for raking a neighbour's leaves. Like that urchin in Oliver, working people (or those who wish they could be working) get slapped back in asking for a little more.

The regime also loves new technologies - when it serves them. This page was made to supplement my claim (and run the risk of an audit) because information that the regime wanted was never asked of me in their much-touted online reporting system. Mobility rights that are guaranteed under the Charter could be exercised by EI recipients if they use the internet to keep in touch with their job searches, but doing so is verboten to the state, who prefer to keep the unemployed under what amounts to house arrest.

Don't go anywhere, don't do anything, don't make waves: one of Stephen Harper or Gordon Campbell's corporate pals might be calling with a Training Wage punch in the dignity just for you, and you know you don't want to miss that!

Should I bring bail money?

This page is usually loathe to discuss personal issues, but depending on tomorrow's events, this may be the final episode of the Bear 604 Show.

This page has been ordered by the Federal Government to attend an 'information session' with respect to my Employment Insurance Claim. Apparently, I have bled the system dry as a result of my being out of work for the past five months, and during most of that period I was medically unable to work. This 'information session' is being conducted by a 'Investigation & Control Officer', which makes as much sense as a Human Rights seminar being led by a Warden from Guantanamo Bay.

As some of you are aware, this page, like 1 in 10 Canadians, suffers from Clinical Depression, and like 1 in 100 Canadians, has a personality disorder. For the past few weeks since being medically cleared to look for work again, I have been working with an Human Resources Officer from an employer where I have recall rights, and a Business Agent from my Union, to place me in a position where I can apply my skills and experience, and in doing so provide taxpayers like you with maximum value.

Unfortunately, this does not appear to be good enough for the right wing, hysterical, poor-bashing, Safe Streets, blame-the-victim apparatus of the State, who are bullying me into their offices tomorrow. While this page is not (yet) officially under investigation, I am expected to respond to a questionnaire that insists on reporting any hitherto unreported earnings, and such personal details as my childcare arrangements, volunteer activities, and any absences from the Vancouver area. The latter infuriates this page, have the Luddites at Human Resources Development Canada not heard of such technological advances as the telephone, fax machines, job search web sites, or e-mailing one's resume?

This page has enough incentive to get back to work soon, about $3,000 worth if I can get back to work by the end of this month. What exactly do the Feds want, and what could they possibly have to offer? Does David Emerscum need slave labour for the speed-skating sinkhole in Richmond? Does Stephen Harper need to fill a few more body bags in Afghanistan?

For the record, this page returned his bottles for a deposit, does not have children, put in 10 hours on Libby Davies campaign, and visited his Mom (and Walnut Boat's) for a week during the Holidays. If that's enough for Ottawa to gain a conviction, well, at least this page will know what he's doing for the next couple of years.

The Clash said it best around 1982 when they said our right to a social safety net is conditional on "a little investigation...humiliation..." Obviously, some introductions have long been in order. Employment Insurance Act, meet The Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Sick Day

This page isn't feeling well, and plans to be back on Monday. No note from a physician is attached.

Amnesty Interrupted

It appears that Allen Abney's (of Kingsgate, BC) unscheduled vacation stop at Camp Pendleton is about to come to an end. Abney was arrested at the Idaho border last week on desertion charges from 37 years ago. While the Carter administration offered a general amnesty to Vietnam War deserters in 1977, Abney did not apply for the required discharge review program. He had become a Canadian citizen that year, and doesn't the definition of the word Amnesty imply 'you're off the hook, free to go, no strings attached?'

Why would the U.S. government detain a Canadian citizen on charges from (at least for this page) a lifetime ago? It's obvious that this isn't about Abney, but rather a message to more than 8,000 U.S. military personnel who have left their units since the start of the current Iraq War, especially those seeking refuge in Canada. Ottawa's response to the de facto abduction of a Canadian citizen is a deafening silence, as the new Stephen Harper government intends to show Washington just how obedient they can be.

Mr. Harper should remember that 'stand on guard for thee' in O Canada means all Canadians, including those our American friends have a bone to pick with.

Moving Day

This page is in the process of switching ISPs, and should be back to regular programming tomorrow.

The Fever Pitch Breaks

After this week's ad hominem attacks, this page is take a break to discuss Canada's performance at the World Baseball Classic. The 9-1 loss to Mexico last night virtually eliminates Canada from the second round, unless South Africa can beat Team USA. Sure, the Americans have recently suffered upsets in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Roger Clemens wasn't pitching for them.

Team Canada, however, did make their presence felt at this tournament by treating fans to the greatest baseball game ever played....in the month of March. While this country has a lot of deeply confused people who don't like baseball, Canada also has a lot of people who just don't like the United States, and easily latch on to any star-spangled comeuppance like the 8-6 victory last Wednesday.

This page, as some of you know, prefers baseball to just about anything, including (gasp!) hockey. Baseball seems to have room for a Carlos Delgado to sit in the clubhouse during 'God Bless America' to protest U.S. military testing in his native Puerto Rico. Baseball seems OK with a David Ortiz snubbing Congress' steroid investigation with a flippant remark like "The only thing I'd test positive for is red beans and rice!" Sports fans have seen what happens in the National Hockey League when someone stops singing from the right-wing Don Cherry songbook: A Ted Lindsay tries to establish a Players Association, and the 'Original Six' owners make like crime bosses to drive him out of the NHL. A Steve Moore insists on legal redress for being assaulted by another player, and all of Hockey turns his back on him.

No, Baseball isn't squeaky clean either. Just ask Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe, Mark McGwire, or anyone who called Jackie Robinson a n***er. Baseball just deals with things out in the open, possibly because the game is played out in the open, when the sun shining on a field of freshly cut grass, and I'm sitting with a frosty cold beer and a sausage hot off the grill, and..........

Hot Wheels Falcon Rides Again

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon wants to take apart Translink, and has no inclination to put it back together again. Falcon has appointed a three member panel to investigate Translink operations, with the findings to certainly come back as legislation within a few months.

Why are Falcon and the Liberals looking to blow up Translink now? They weren't concerned when the Translink board shut down bus service for six months in 2001 because they wanted to hardball CAW Local 111. Did they care that transit fares rose steadily over the past few years so that a return trip from Vancouver to Surrey now costs $8.00? What concerns Falcon is that the Translink Board of Directors almost shut down the Liberals' last pet project, the RAV Line, and they are loathe to see it happen again to their prized concoction of congestion and sprawl, The Gateway Project. Also, Translink passed a $20 million parking tax this week that no doubt upsets Liberal cheerleaders in the business community, particularly your local Deathmobile dealers.

Falcon comes off as an Idiot Manchild if he really believes that a privatized board along the lines of an airport authourity is more accountable than a board made up of elected officials from across the Lower Mainland. The only thing more accountable would be to directly elect the board instead of having them appointed from their respective municipal councils. Unfortunately, democracy doesn't serve Falcon's interest, which appears to be putting as many shiny cars on the road as possible, with no one having to pay the true environmental and social costs of driving them. Perhaps its time to tell little Kevin to stop throwing tantrums, take away his Hot Wheels set, and give him a serious time out.

IWD is DOA with NPA

Last year, the Vancouver Parks Board commemorated International Women's Day by naming a park after longtime social activist and MLA Rosemary Brown. This year the right-wing 'Non Partisan' Association majority on the Board felt it was vitally important to do absolutely nothing to recognize the struggles of women for social and economic justice throughout the world. Call it irony, call it a lapse in awareness on the part of this page, but the NPA's lack of action actually has me thinking much more about IWD than naming the park did last year.

Parks Board Chair Heather Holden and the other NPA commissioners cited the usual financial constraints, which are always the case at City Hall unless it involves the 2010 Olympics or f**king over poor people. The actual motion, which came from Coalition Of Progressive Electors Commissioner Heather Woodcock, called on the board to examine ways in which they could work with City Council to recognize IWD. Talk is cheap, but apparently not cheap enough for the NPA.

The other reason the NPA commissioners wouldn't recognize IWD, despite the fact that many of them are women, is because they're the kind of antifeminists who read the likes of Margaret Wente, and believe that 'women's issues' are fabricated by the left. NPA Commissioner Korina Houghton remarked during Monday's debate that the Parks Board should not be in the business of recognizing 'special interest groups', and equated the Board recognizing IWD to being forced into supporting 'International Dog's Day'. Seriously, who's the real bitch here?

This page considers women to be very special, but a special interest group? How can they be a special interest group? They're everywhere! I'm surrounded by women at work, in the supermarket, on the bus, there's even one living in my house! In fact, back in the late 60's, I think I lived inside of one for about nine months! Women and their contributions to life on this planet are obvious to the point that one would have be struck pretty hard by misogyny or serious denial to refuse a special day for women.

The NPA's refusal to support IWD ranks in stupidity with the Alberta government's rednecked refusal to ratify the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child because they thought it would take away the rights of parents to abuse...er...discipline their kids. Hang you heads in shame, ladies of the NPA.

Greetings from the Coathanger State

South Dakota Governor Michael Rounds (R) yesterday signed a bill that recriminalizes abortion except in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is in jeopardy.

This page believes its important to make a distinction between the life of a woman and the health of a woman. It's bad enough that lawmakers in Pierre have gone beyond their Mississippi counterparts, who at least in their attempt last week to deny women control of their bodies, made allowances for cases of rape and incest. It's worse in South Dakota because no matter how debilitating a pregnancy may eventually be to the physical and/or mental health of a woman, that pregnancy continues as long as it's not immediately fatal.

That being said, this legislation is little more than a crass, opportunistic attempt to pick a fight at the United States Supreme Court, because this time, anti-choice zealots think they can succeed in overturning Roe v. Wade. The recent appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito have begun to tip the scales the anti-choice way at the Supreme Court.

However, these cases could also be played out in the broader Court of Public Opinion, with the Public reaching a verdict at November's congressional elections. The South Dakota bill will undoubtedly disturb moderate Republicans, and in fact has created a rift within the anti-choice movement itself. Activists had achieved some restrictions such as mandatory parental notification and trimester limits. An all-or-nothing showdown could jeopardize those restrictions if Roe v. Wade is upheld. The controversy surrounding the case also creates a wedge issue that bolsters the chances of liberal Democrats gaining in the House and Senate, and in a couple of years, it won't be George W. Bush making the Supreme Court appointments anymore. Be careful what you wish for, Governor Rounds, you just might get it.

A lesson in optics

Yesterday, while killing time downtown, this page spotted BC Teachers Federation President Jinny Sims strolling by, clutching a bright pink shopping bag from Holt Renfrew. This page is not going to take Ms. Sims to task over what she does with her disposable income: a lot of women on the left love a little high-end shopping. In fact, had it not been for Joy McPhail incinerating her credit cards, the NDP may have had absolutely zero visibility in the media up until the last election.

Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that Finance Minister Carole Taylor was met with a barrage of indignation from left-leaning pundits for her purchase of a $600 pair of shoes from Holt Renfrew? Those shoes were a punctuation mark to a budget that offered nothing for working families who send their kids to overcrowded classrooms in BC's public schools. To be fair, the location where this page came across Sims was at Sears on Robson, but the BCTF President is best advised to bring her own shopping bag, lest her opponents brand her a pot calling the kettle a bright Holt Refrew pink.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

Over 20 years ago, this page was on a baseball team that narrowly lost at the city finals. However, our league had a rule that allowed the winning team to select 3 players from the losing team to play in the provincial championship: guess who had good enough bat and the wheels to be one of those three?*

However, to the best of my knowledge, no such rule exists in federal politics, and once again, this page turns its guns at the "honourable" David Emerscum. I'm not impressed by yesterday's "apology" to the voters of Vancouver-Kingsway. There is no apology: Super Dave is just upset by the reaction of his constituents, he's frustrated by the ignorance of the 'little people', and he honestly feels he can defy their democratically expressed wishes because he thinks he's better than them. Nowhere does he say he regrets switching to a party that finished a distant 3rd in the riding with only 19% of the popular vote.

This page is no longer convinced that the biggest pr*ck in the Conservative caucus comes out of the old Reform Party, he comes from the Liberals. Emerscum arrogantly refused to acknowledge the protests at his constituency office, and claimed no one had said "resign" to his face. The people who came to his office and tried to make an appointment to do just that were threatened with arrest.

Emerscum is sorry - the sorriest excuse for a Member of Parliament BC has seen in a long time.

*This page was a slap-hitting, hard-running right fielder long before Ichiro made it cool

Third WHAT?

Yesterday the Alberta Government unveiled its 'Third Way' strategy to increase privatization in that province's health care system. The Klein regime claims the ten-point plan is necessary because health care expenditures take up 40% of the provincial budget. Since taking power in 1994, Klein's Conservatives have privatized everything from parks to liquor stores to government registries, while at the same time slashing funding to education and encouraging a boom in charter (read: private) schools. In Canada's most 'have' province, that 40% doesn't look like much when the other 60% of the budget is really a slush fund to buy Conservative votes.

'Third Way' is a misnomer, unless Klein and Co. are looking over to screw over Albertans in the same way Tony Blair (inventor of the Third Way) screwed over Liverpool Dockers and David Kelly. It also implies a compromise, but when wealthy patients can pay cash to move to the front of the line, and doctors can seamlessly disregard the public system for private profits, Albertans get as much compromise as if they were told to empty their pockets and put their hands up.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruling overturning Quebec's ban on private health care doesn't necessarily open the door to further privatization, the only real judgment was that patients have a right to care in a timely manner, which begs this question: What happens when someone can't get timely care because private health care has eroded the public system, and that patient can't afford private care? Turn that SCOC ruling around, and the right to timely care trumps the right to profit, which could mean Mr. Klein may be looking at a fourth or fifth way sooner than he thinks.

Dash for Cash

This page has had some difficulty lately in being able to contact human resources personnel from major public sector employers for routine business. It appears that most, if not all, are busy with bargaining, as a result of the government's mandate to establish labour peace during the run-up to the 2010 Olympics.

Several contracts with BCGSEU, CUPE, HEU, BCNU, and others will expire on March 31. To accelerate the bargaining process, Employers Associations have been mandated to offer substantial signing bonus to unions in exchange for long-term (i.e. five year) agreements by the end of the month. The response from public sector unions has been mixed: some are putting their own feet on the bargaining gas pedal, while some are applying the brakes with a strike vote.

It's a widely accepted rule for working in the public sector that one takes in a little less money in exchange for a little more job security. Perhaps if Gordon Campbell hadn't tampered with this unwritten social contract through the P3 debacles, beating workers into submission with back-to-work legislation, and arbitrary, mean-spirited attacks like Bill 29, one might actually believe that the large orange stick he's wielding is really a carrot. Really, is there any point to signing a long-term agreement with a government employer when the government has a history of ripping up agreements it no longer finds convenient?

Those Unions who are speeding up to cash in before March 31 are advised by this page to slow down and take a good look at what's happening. A signing bonus is one thing, still having members around to get a signing bonus is another.

Olympic Retort IV: The End is the Beginning

This page attended yesterday's downtown rally to watch the closing ceremonies and the handover of the Olympic flag to Mayor Sam 'The Big Wheel' Sullivan. Italian sausage, pasta and pizza were served to simulate the Torino experience. A couple of bands played. Walnut Boat got to fire off a few rounds from a biathlon rifle. Much cheering, crying, and banging of those inflatable plastic thundersticks.

Now the real fun begins....or ends: If one takes a look at the plans for the entire local and regional public sector, pretty much everything has a 'best before' date of February 12, 2010 stamped on it. Given there will be a provincial election (2009), municipal elections (2008), and three or four federal elections before the torch is lit at BC Place Stadium, won't we be looking for a little more vision beyond the night of February 28 when that flame is extinguished?

We have heard that these are Vancouver's games, BC's games, Canada's games...but will they really be that way? Are these really are 'our' games if some of us can't afford to live here while City Hall takes away social housing? Are these 'our' games when organizers refuse to reach an agreement with local building trade unions and look to cheap foreign labour instead? If the powers that be refuse to answer those kind of questions, the elections that take place before 2010 might be needed to keep Vancouver's Olympic experience from going sour.

Olympic Retort, Part III

The 2-0 loss by Team Canada to the Russians doesn't really say anything more than this: the only league where champions can be assembled on short notice, and repeatedly save the day, is the Justice League. Once the Russians knew that their manager Pavel Bure was not going to let Viktor Tikonhov (who ran the Soviet teams like a gulag) anywhere near them, they were winners already. The Canadians never needed anyone to second-guess, harass, and intimidate them: it's why this country has so many talking heads and sportswriters.

It was brave of Cindy Klassen to come out just before winning the women's 1500m....as a Winnipegger. Remember in 1980 when Gatean Boucher won two gold medals at Lake Placid, and Rene Levesque sniping at Pierre Trudeau, "Quebec 2, Canada 0"? If Ralph Klein ever starts pulling that, the rest of us are screwed. Pretty much the entire Olympic team seems to come from Calgary, and the local media loves to draw little cowboy hats on the ones who just train there.

The Gushue rink's 11-5 win over the U.S. guarantees Canada 19 medals, this country's best ever result in the Winter Games. Don over at RevMod knows waaaaaaaaaay more about Curling than this page, but if there's a sport that deserves its surprising ascent of popularity, this would be it. Much of the U.S. coverage of the Games refers to events like boardercross or short-track speed skating as "NASCAR on snow, or NASCAR on ice". This page enjoys those events, but also has an editorial policy of "F**K NASCAR", and Curling is about as far from NASCAR as one can get.

Chandra Crawford wins a gold medal in the cross-country skiing sprint with a time of 2 minutes, 12.3 seconds. Given that it took over a year for Beckie Scott to get her gold medal from the 2002 games, it's great to see a Canadian athlete shave a few months off that mark.

Olympic Retort, Part II

More notes from (my living room where the TV is tuned into the Games from) Torino:

-This page stands corrected from last week, as women's hockey is now three fingers competitive. NBC's Cammie Granato could barely choke down her bitterness during the Gold Medal game, accusing Canada of winning a "hollow victory" over a surprising Team Sweden. For those of you scoring at home, Granato was the same poor sport on the ice as she is in the broadcast booth. During the U.S. run to the inaugural women's hockey gold medal in 1998, 'Classy' Cammie scored a goal, then trash-talked a Canadian player who had recently lost her father with the words "Dedicate THAT to your Dad!" If Granato plans to be behind the mic for NBC in 2010, she might want to talk the network about getting dental...

-A few years ago, this page had the misfortune of being at the Santa Claus Parade in Calgary, where a mother was persistently chastising her children, Dakota, Nevada, and Sierra, for not behaving. This page is grateful to be long removed from a city where it's acceptable to name your children after sport utility vehicles. However, after the men's Skeleton competition, I'm hoping that Calgary's future parents consider giving their kids a name like 'Duff' - part firefighter, part champion daredevil, and one solid syllable. What's not to like?

-Much has been made about the Norwegian coach who handed a ski pole to Canada's Sara Renner after hers broke during the Women's Cross-Country Skiing Team Spring, in which Renner and Beckie Scott won a silver medal, and how this coach acted in the true Olympic spirit. Anyone who knows anything about the true (read: ancient) Olympic games can't help but snicker at such a notion. The 'true' Olympians tried to win at all costs in events such as the Pankration, where competitors boxed, wrestled, kicked, bit, choked, and killed (yes, killed) each other. By comparison, today's Ultimate Fighting is pretty much a day at the spa with the girls. If this Norwegian ski coach wanted to reflect the 'true' Olympic spirit, he would have used the ski pole to stab Renner enough times to give his team a shot at the podium.

Hacking China

While Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Cisco Systems gutlessly adhere to the dictates of Beijing to gather market share in China, at least one one internet entrepreneur in the Pacific Northwest is working to give the Chinese people real access to the internet.

If Bennett Haselton ever goes public, put this page down for a few shares. Freedom, democracy, and and human rights may not be high-tech stocks, but they are far sounder investments than the deal with the Communist Devils being struck by the high-tech high rollers.

You read it here first

Yesterday's Speech from the Throne showed the BC Lieberals delivering more of the same: more blowing of sunshine up BC's collective ass (complete with new mascot, which this page was using first), more gadget funding for education (without resolving critical issues like class sizes), and more f**king with public health care.

The Lieberals have already sent two very different messages on their plans:
1. Any new legislation will be consistent with the Canada Health Act, and
2. Gordon Campbell wants to lead a national debate about changes to the Canada Health Act

The Premier believes he can have it both ways, because he wants to have a "conversation" with British Columbians about health care. Based on our experience watching frontline care in Vancouver hospitals disintegrate under Bill 29, the P3 misadventures with Fraser Valley Hospitals, and having no idea where St. Paul's Hospital will be in four years, maybe the Liberals should be providing some straight answers before they start asking questions about the future of Medicare in British Columbia.

Based on this page's experience with Bill 11 under the Klein regime in Alberta, I can predict with ample certainty how the 'consultations' will go: Hand-picked mouthpieces from the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Fraser Institute will tell anyone (who managed to make a meeting called on 24 hours notice) that government spending on health care takes up an ever increasing proportion of the budget, and is therefore unsustainable.

These carpetbagging corporate whores will dutifully ignore that reduced spending on education, social services, the environment, etc. increases health care's share of the overall budget. The Canwest/Global media cabal will report their musings as the Gospel Truth, complete with teary-eyed accounts of people on waiting lists to manipulate their audience into demanding privatization. Anyone who points out any points of fact such as increased costs in a private system due to the need to generate profits, higher overhead, and legal/liability issues will be categorically dismissed as a 'special interest' and told to shut the f**k up and go back to the HEU, BCNU, HSA, BC FED, or the NDP.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

That Was Wonderland

CBC Television has announced the cancellation of the critically acclaimed dramas Da Vinci's City Hall and This is Wonderland. For those of you scoring at home, this page never watched Da Vinci. The Art imitates Life element in the series never really grabbed me. The show jumped the shark right after the episode where Da Vinci tells the Bus Riders Union to go f**k themselves and then gets appointed to the Senate.

However, this page very much enjoyed This is Wonderland. Some of you who are regulars to this page know that this page has struggled with mental illness for some time. Those of you who didn't know probably could have guessed by this page's tendency to slide into sarcasm, profanity, and fits of self-righteousness. This is Wonderland is the first TV series I've seen that shows the Mentally Ill as people who need to be understood and assisted, not pitied and patronized. In fact, 'Wonderland' is the only series I've seen that has a practicing psychotherapist among its recurring cast members.

It's also the first TV series that allowed that gave audiences an honest look life in Urban Canada: a world that this country's smug, holier-than-thou baby-boomers see nothing of from the windows of their SUV's as they bitch along in traffic on our overcrowded expressways . The much-revered 'Corner Gas' doesn't talk about things like mental health, addiction, prostitution, poverty, or the lack of grocery stores in the inner city. That's not to say it's bad television: it's damn good, funny television, I'm just not sure that I'm laughing with or at the good people of Dog River. Remember, the show's creator, Brent Butt, is a no-good big city stand-up comic from Vancouver.

There needs to be drama on the small screen that talks about important issues in such remote corners of Canada as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. You know, the people that told Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to go f**k themselves in the election a few weeks ago because we didn't vote for them. The CBC cites low ratings as the reason for canceling 'Wonderland' and 'Da Vinci', but this page calls, to use a popular term in the new government caucus, bullsh*t. The reason these shows were cancelled is because the CBC's new political masters must be soothed for the imminent reckoning over the network's budget, and what is more soothing than making stories and characters that make Myron Thompson and Stockwell Day squirm simply go away?

George F. Walker, Cara Pifko, Michael Riley, Michael Murphy et al...take a bow for saving some of us from commodified crap like Canadian Idol and showing the has-beens with the Royal Canadian Air Farce the true meaning of wit. You will be missed, at least until all the episodes are out on DVD.

Olympic Retort

Highlights from the first few days of competition in Torino:

-PA announcer at women's moguls inadvertently refers to gold medalist Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alberta as "representing the United States of America". Of course, one needed to have the TV turned up pretty loud to hear it, so mouth-breathing nationalists should take a deep one. Don may need to put up the gaffe-o-meter for the next couple of weeks. It could have been worse - someone may have referred to her as a resident of Stony Plain*.

-Baseball gets kicked out of the Olympic program because the IOC believes that only a handful of countries (Japan, Korea, Cuba, the Dominican Republic., the U.S., Canada, Taiwan) are competitive. Women's hockey has been in since 1998, and only two Canadian and American fingers have ever been competitive.

-Given the results of the Men's Downhill, the U.S. Ski Team will be facing a lot of tough questions about not giving Bode Miller enough to drink.

-Dick Cheney is disqualified from the biathlon.

*That's really funny if you know your small town Alberta geography.

Cartoon violence is stupid. So is republishing the cartoons.

The controversy surrounding the reaction to the reprinting of Muhammad cartoons originally published Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall has this page bewildered. It's not so much that Muslims are undeniably upset, I don't think Islam receives the respect it deserves from Western governments and the media, and it's not like there's been any real effort from the West to build an understanding beyond the ignorant post-9/11 bleating of "Why do they hate us?". For what it's worth, I found Tariq Ali's Clash of the Fundamentalisms to be a good starting point.

What I don't get is that publications insist on reprinting these cartoons to prove how committed they are to free speech. It's an important ideal, but it's an ideal which has precipitated the deaths of 15 people and counting. Last year's riots around Paris and this year's violent demonstrations illustrate that Europe is simply not prepared to accommodate new immigrants nor their cultural traditions, and it appears any lessons from North America about building a culturally diverse society are being ignored. The U.S. constitution promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...in that order.

The right of a publisher to deliberately piss off thousands of culturally shocked Muslims is trumped by the right of society in transition to grab a little stability. Anyone who feels that the angry Muslim reaction proves the Danish newspaper right is welcome to join me for a tour of the site of the Winter Olympics........of 2002: Salt Lake City. You will however, be required to wear a T-shirt depicting Joseph Smith as a sodomizing pedophile strung out on crystal meth.

Aw, c'mon...people can't be THAT upset...it's for science...

Hockey lets it ride

New Jersey State Police have charged Phoenix Coyotes Associate Coach Rick Tocchet for financing a gambling ring, and implicated six current NHL players plus Janet Gretzky for wagering in it.

Those of you who follow this page on a regular basis know that my primary sporting allegiance is to Major League Baseball, not the NHL. Baseball invented the gambling scandal in 1919 when Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Pete Rose held the Major League record for career hits, but his spot in the Hall of Fame was rubbed out when it was discovered he was betting on his own team. The actions of Tocchet and Co., from the initial reports, pale by comparison. If the NHL wants to be taken seriously in the U.S. media market, they need to do a better job at sullying their reputation.

That isn't to say that Gary Bettman and the league's Board of Governors should not be taking this incident seriously, and also taking a good look in the mirror. The only hypocrisy sports media has offered is the fact that the charges against Tocchet broke during NHL meetings in Las Vegas. Allow this page to point out that for any 'concerns' about gambling coming out of the league office, the NHL has no problem with having their games on government-run sports lotteries like SportsSelect or SportsAction, allows the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks to run their own lotteries, and thinks Isle of Capri Casino is a good partner for the Pittsburgh Penguins to build an arena with.

Explaining Emerson

Political observers outside of British Columbia may be surprised if not shocked by the defection of Vancouver-Kingsway MP David Emerson to join Stephen Harper's Conservative cabinet. However, this page withholds the right of those within BC to a similar reaction, because it's obvious they haven't been paying close enough attention.

Unlike the rest of Canada (and Alberta's one-party oligarchy) BC has a highly polarized two-party system: one for the rich, and the NDP. This polarization stems from the anti-communist hysteria that old money and the capitalist ruling class used to tarnish organized labour and the emerging Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the 1920's. The first gathering of the right wing clans took place at the civic level in Vancouver in 1925 when Liberals and Conservatives formed the Non-Partisan Association for the sole purpose of stopping the Socialist barbarians at the gates.

Give or take the exercises in pragmatism of a W.A.C. Bennett (like BC Hydro) or a Mike Harcourt (like welfare reform), the history of BC politics is business vs. labour, not Liberals vs. Conservatives. When the NDP reduced Social Credit to smoking cinder in 1991, the bosses grabbed their expense accounts and jumped ship to the resurgent BC Liberals. A palace coup was staged to dump moderate Gordon Wilson and install Vancouver NPA Mayor and Board of Trade mouthpiece Gordon Campbell.

As CEO of Canfor, David Emerson was one of Gordon Campbell's biggest cheerleaders, leading the Premier to appoint him to the Board of Directors at BC Ferries. Emerson's tenure saw failed experiments in privatization, outright hostility towards ferry workers and subsequent labour unrest, plus the betrayal of local shipbuilders when he opted to have the newest additions to the fleet built in Germany. With that kind of record, it's no wonder that Paulie Pockets tagged him as a star candidate for Vancouver-Kingsway in 2004: It takes a lying, corrupt sack o' sh*t to know one.

From Emerson's perspective, there is no difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives because in British Columbia, there is no difference. Conservatives like Kevin Falcon and Liberals like Carole Taylor sit side by side in the caucus room, scheming to keep the unions down and the socialists out, just like their Socred ancestors did. Emerson has no more problem with saying he would be "the Conservative Party's worst nightmare" on January 23 than his political mentor Gordon Campbell had in saying "I don't believe in tearing up collective agreements"" in November of 2000.

That's just wrong.

This page can admit his mistake in picking the Seahawks yesterday. Can Pierce County judge Beverly Grant admit her Super Bowl error in judgment?

Speaking of errors in judgment, how about the 'strategic' voters in Vancouver-Kingsway, who voted for David Emerson instead of Ian Waddel out of fear of being one seat closer to a Conservative majority?

While we're at it, what about Vancouver's 2010 Olympic organizers, who refused to sign a partnership agreement in the belief that shutting out BC unions would keep construction costs down?

Don't shake your head too hard - it hurts after a while. Where's Dan Quayle when you need him?

That's just super.

Super Bowl XL kicks off Sunday afternoon in Detroit, where the Pittsburgh Steelers will be pitted against the Seattle Seahawks. This page finds this year's game a little more interesting in that I've actually bought tickets to see the 'Hawks at Paul Allen's taxpayer-subsidized gargantuan gridiron chapel. Meanwhile, the Alaskan Way Viaduct leading to Qwest Field still hasn't been fixed from the last earthquake, and the Seattle School Board tries to figure out which schools can be closed. One can imagine how the locals in (Dammit, I need some Mo)town, coping with recent layoffs at the big three automakers and continuing urban decay, feel about the parade of corporate 'VIPs' shoving to the front of the line this week.

The NFL likes to refer to the Super Bowl as a world championship. Unlike baseball, basketball, or hockey, all 32 NFL teams are based in the U.S., and unlike the other three major sports where names like Ichiro, Yao, or Jaromir are common, there are virtually no non-Americans in the NFL. However, there was an actual football world championship (i.e. one with teams from outside the U.S.) in the Detroit area this week, and guess who won?

Commercial excess and the most patriotic displays this side of Leni Riefenstahl aside, I'll still be watching on Sunday because dammit, I likes my football. For those of you scoring at home, The Bear 604 Show has successfully predicted the outcome of every Super Bowl in its history (this page's history, not the Super Bowl, which predates the internet and me). Anyway, Seattle proved against the Redskins they're not a one-dimensional team, and Pittsburgh's been punching above their weight for weeks: take the Seahawks against the spread.

It's the driving, Stupid.

Premier Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon re-announced The Gateway Project yesterday, pounding another nail into the GVRD's Liveable Region Strategy. Rather than developing a long-range transportation plan that accounts for social, economic, and environmental factors, Kevin Falcon opted to just keep going down on the BC Trucking Association and the BC Auto Dealers Association, both groups proud supporters of the BC Liberals.

The end result is a $3 billion dollars worth of roads, roads, and more roads, with "room" for transit buses on the new Port Mann Bridge (no dedicated transit lane, just "room"). The RAV Line and Coquitlam LRT were thrown into the package, just to make the car fetish look a little less unseemly. If the Liberals are so concerned about congestion, what about rapid transit along the Broadway Corridor to UBC, easily the busiest transit corridor in the Lower Mainland?

This page could care less that Greater Vancouver only had 900,000 residents when the Port Mann Bridge was built in 1964. Fourty-two years ago, there was a hell of lot more oil and the hole in the ozone layer was a lot smaller. The Transportation Ministry has a responsibility to move people and move goods, not to subsidize suburbanites addiction to fossil fuels. Force these people out of their cars, and a lot more space opens up on the roads to get those trucks moving. For those of you whining "but I need my car", if you have convenient public transit in your area, why do you need your car? If you don't have the transit service you need, neither do your neighbours, so maybe you should get together to elect someone who will provide that service.

Before Gordon Campbell turned into a Pavement Premier, he served on Vancouver City Council with one Gordon Price, who was a strong advocate for public transit and cycling. When it came to balancing those transportation options with driving, Price remarked "Congestion is our friend." Congestion has been enough of a friend to allow for extensive greenways and bikeways throughout the Lower Mainland. Congestion created densely populated and vibrant neighbourhoods in Yaletown and the West End. Congestion gave us the U-Pass and the Employer Transit Program.

Congestion is a friend being stabbed in the back by the Gateway Project. This page won't hide his disappointment that billions of dollars in P3 overruns and our quality of life are going to be flushed for car-driven idiots who refuse to get on the road a little earlier or be bothered to read a bus schedule.