Moved to Vancouver

More on the "Blessed" Season . . . .

2011-12-28T12:47:00.001-08:00

As Rodney King would say: "Why can't we all get along?"

From the CBC and other sources today:

Clergymen brawl at Bethlehem church
Fight erupts at traditional site of Jesus' birth

The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.
_______________

A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.
_______________

Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.

Why is this not at all surprising?

How very moral and upright of them . . . .

bennie Speaks . . . .

2011-12-26T12:18:00.004-08:00

But should anyone listen?

From Global Post yesterday:

Pope Benedict XVI urges faithful to see through "superficial glitter" of Christmas

Pope Benedict XVI lamented the commercialization of Christmas during the traditional Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said, Euronews reported.

He went on to urge worshippers to "see through the superficial glitter of this season" and to discover its true meaning, "the child in the stable in Bethlehem," according to the BBC.

Of course, he was surrounded by the glittering gold in the pic above and in the article itself while making this astute observation.

No doubt wearing the nifty little red numbers to the left, also.

His hypocrisy knows no bounds . . . .

It's Time . . . .

2011-11-25T17:23:00.001-08:00

We're fortunate here north of the 49th - Not the same on the south side, tho . . . .

.

Oh, Come On . . . .

2011-11-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

The name Mullet and bad haircuts?

Someone couldn't have seen this coming?!?

The Toronto Star has more:

The leader of a breakaway Amish group allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to “cleanse them,” federal authorities said Wednesday as they charged him and six others with hate crimes in haircutting attacks against other Amish.

Authorities raided the group’s compound in eastern Ohio earlier in the day and arrested seven men, including group leader Sam Mullet and three of his sons.
_______________

Johnny Mullet told detectives that it was his idea to cut the hair and beards and that he discussed the idea with his father, who gave him the addresses of two victims, the affidavit said.

Lester Mullet told detectives that after two attacks in late September, the men went home and told Sam Mullet what happened. He said his father laughed and called them nuts, the court document said.

Like I said: "Oh, come on . . . ."

.

1% Smackdown . . . .

2011-11-16T12:02:00.004-08:00

Poor hank and condescending.

They don't look happy, do they?

Maybe 'cuz of this bit of news from SocialistWorker.org today?

OCCUPY CHICAGO won a victory on November 14 when the University of Chicago was forced to cancel a scheduled lecture from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ex-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
_______________

The University of Chicago announced on its website that Rice and Paulson's presentations had been canceled "due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict"--but many wondered if the "conflict" actually lay in the university's plans to hold the event, and Occupy Chicago's plans to shut it down.

The truth is this: When threatened with a disruption organized by a movement that rejects the entirety of what they stand for, Paulson and Rice simply threw in the towel.

Even barry's former Chief of Staff, rahm-repuglican-lite gets a shout-out:

The effective derailing of the lecture represents a victory for Occupy Chicago, which has had to struggle for its right to exist. Over the past month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has overseen two mass arrests conducted against Occupy activists involving more than 300 people. Emanuel's administration has also unambiguously denied the movement's right to a permanent space to occupy.
_______________

In May 2012, the NATO/Group of 8 summit is scheduled to come to the Windy City. Shutting down that event won't be so easy, but with this victory under their belt, we can be sure that the voices of Occupy Chicago will echo around the world.

Anyone up for a trip to Chicago next May ? ? ? ?

Robert Scheer Remembers bill clinton . . . .

2011-11-11T09:31:00.002-08:00

In honour of bill clinton's latest book tour, this video of Robert Scheer recalling the "rest of the story" at an Occupy LA event sheds a bit more light on the clinton legacy:

Still wanna buy the book ? ? ? ?

H/T Tiana

Occupy Denver Elects a Leader . . . .

2011-11-09T12:38:00.002-08:00

and our Four-Footed-Child heartily agrees with the choice . . . .

Boris: Who's the speaker at the 8:12 mark ? ? ? ?

Have a koch and a $mile ? ? ? ?

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

The right-wing-billionaire-zealot brother$ koch are about to fully engage their database war on the rest of the civilized world.

Feature article in today's GuardianUK reveals the details:

The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.
_______________

The database will bring together information from a plethora of right-wing groups, tea party organisations and conservative-leaning thinktanks. Each one has valuable data on their membership – including personal email addresses and phone numbers, as well as more general information useful to political campaign strategists such as occupation, income bracket and so on.
_______________

At their most recent billionaires' gathering in Vail, Colorado in June, Charles Koch described next year's presidential contest as "the mother of all wars". A tape of his private speech obtained by Mother Jones said the fight for the White House would be a battle "for the life or death of this country".
Exhorting the 300 guests in attendance to open their sizeable wallets and donate to the Koch election coffers, he went on: "It isn't just your money we need. We need you bringing in new partners, new people. We can't do it alone. We have to multiply ourselves."

"We have to multiply ourselves."

Not unlike rats in a garbage dump . . . .

(Alison has more on how everything really does go better with koch here.)

"The Party of the People . . . ."

2011-11-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Is not that "people friendly" according to this piece from SocialistWorker.org.

A snippet follows, but check out the entire piece here:

More generally, the truth is this: Democratic mayors may talk about how they sympathize with the Occupy movement. They may even try to speak in its name, as Quan has. But their office requires them to keep order and protect the interests of the 1 percent--and so they will turn to repression to try to stop the struggle from disrupting business as usual.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE SAME truth applies further up the chain, in the White House of Barack Obama, the first African American president of the U.S.

Where was Barack Obama, who claimed to understand the "broad-based frustration" of the movement, when Occupy activists in Oakland were reclaiming Oscar Grant Plaza after enduring vicious police violence 24 hours earlier? Answer: He was across the Bay at a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser for his presidential campaign.

Quelle surprise, eh ? ? ? ?

99% Action from Home . . . .

2011-11-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Something we all can do from home to annoy the 1%:

H/T BTO

A Picture Is Worth . . . .

2011-10-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Compliments of the ACLU . . . .

Chris Hedges on Occupy TVNY . . . .

2011-10-18T06:05:00.001-07:00

Embed Code removed. Here's the YouTube link . . . .

'Nuther Day, 'Nuther Protest in Vancouver . . . .

2011-10-15T13:23:00.002-07:00

Only had about an hour and a half to spare, but the Occupy Vancouver facilitators were able to get thru the first side of the "Consensus Decision Making" flyer, anyway.

Lots of discussions, counter-discussions, "are we loud enough?", "where should the translators stand?" kind of stuff.

Guess there's lots of time for patience as they are planning on occupying thru December.

Don't envy them out there in the cool, damp air at that time of the year in Vancouver but "more power to 'em ! ! ! !"

dickhead Comes to Vancouver . . . .

2011-09-26T20:26:00.001-07:00

dickhead cheney came to The Vancouver Club tonight to promote his book.

Of course I participated to see Vancouverites welcome him in style.

To the best of my knowledge, he signed no autographs for the crowd outside the facility . . . .

Daryl Hannah: NJAPF* . . . .

2011-08-31T19:02:00.004-07:00

*Not Just Another Pretty Face

Don't limit your thoughts of Daryl Hannah to her "Steel Magnolias" and "Kill Bill" roles. She is one tough debater as the shill for Big Oil finds out in their debate on CBC's "Power and Politics" today. She handles herself very well, is well-versed on the issues and makes a strong argument for the environmental side of this issue.

At one point a comment made by the Ethical(?!?)oil rep created the same response from Daryl and I at the same moment: "Oh my god!" (I'm not even a believer in imaginary beings, but that's a whole 'nuther story.) The shill brings out Canadian values of "respect for minorities and gays and lesbians" as a reason to support "fair trade" tarsands oil. Amazing thing to see and one wonders how he sleeps at night.

Check out the video here . . . .

Match Made in ? ? ? ?

2011-08-25T17:54:00.007-07:00

Your guess is as good as mine.

From today's Toronto Star:

TRIPOLI, LIBYA—Libyan rebels who took control of Moammar Gadhafi’s sprawling compound made a surprising discovery in one of the buildings: a photo album with pictures of Condoleezza Rice.

_______________

“I support my darling black African woman,” he said. “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. . . . Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. . . . I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.”

Although "condescending" apparently didn't qualify for moammar's "nurse," she can be comforted in being his fantasy babe.

Eeeeewwwwww!

Excuse me while I take a shower . . . .

Ralph Nader Speaks . . . .

2011-05-07T18:19:00.002-07:00

On the Canadian election, U.S. politics, the "security perimeter" and proportional representation.

All in less than 8 minutes.

Concentrated, rational analysis . . . .

Don't Let Life Get You Down . . . .

2011-05-06T13:06:00.004-07:00

Two weeks from tomorrow it'll all be moot, anyway.

Stock up on emergency supplies and offer to take care of your "believing" friends' pets when they are released from their earthly ties . . . .

Too Bad It's a Holiday and Hockey Playoff Season . . . .

2011-04-24T18:20:00.002-07:00

or more people might have tuned in to Dawna Friesen's "One on One" interview with stevie this evening.

Basically, she ripped him a new one and he didn't look at all comfortable about it. Note how he says "The platform we're not running on is real" at the 4:15 mark.

Since Kevin Newman left "Global National" I had been withholding judgment on Ms. Friesen's creds, but she outdid her MSM colleagues on this one.

Good job . . . .

Sorry, I couldn't locate a non-commercial-included copy of the video.

s*%tharperdid . . . .

2011-04-15T08:53:00.002-07:00

The definitive record of stevie in one place.

Spread the word . . . .

H/T "drf"

"Bless Me, Father" - There's an App for That . . . .

2011-02-11T18:45:00.007-08:00

But Bennie and his Jerks don't like it.

Via the New York Daily News:

Officials in Rome have declared that an app available on Apple's iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch cannot serve as a confessional.

"One cannot speak in any way of confessing via iPhone," Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, said in a statement. "This cannot be substituted by any IT application."

_______________

It also keeps track of your sins and the time between confessions, information it keeps locked away via password protection.

Guess the Vatican figured it wouldn't aid in job security for their flock of shepherds* . . . .

*Numerous other descriptive words came to mind, but I opted to not use them. Feel free to enumerate a few in Comments . . . .

Barney & Gomer Coming to Your Neighbourhood Soon . . . .

2011-01-22T16:57:00.005-08:00

As soon as harperco "improves" their citizen's arrest legislation, we can all live like we were in Mayberry, North Carolina.

Yee haw . . . .

Welcome to 2011, Vancouver Style . . . .

2011-01-01T14:58:00.003-08:00

It will be interesting to see the crowd estimates for this year's Polar Bear Plunge into English Bay. Under sunny skies and a "balmy" 3 degrees, the crowd was HUGE.

"Happy New Year," ya'll . . . .

Bennie's Bedazzled . . . .

2010-12-16T21:16:00.003-08:00

Check out Bennie's leer at the 0:56 mark and tell me he's not having impure thoughts . . . .

Coming to Canada Soon ? ? ? ? Part II . . . .

2010-11-04T10:03:00.003-07:00

Thanks to an email "heads up" from good friend Joylene, the following CBC "The Current" broadcast was brought to my attention.

Chris Hedges was interviewed on the November 2nd show and it blew me away. Hedges gives - in a 26-minute interview - the cause, effect and chilling prediction of the "Death of the Liberal Class" - the title of his new book.

With history on the side of what occurs in the Excited States soon creeps across the 49th parallel, the broadcast and Hedges' book are well worth paying attention by Canadians.

Forewarned is forearmed?

Let's hope so . . . .

H/T Joylene

Coming to Canada Soon ? ? ? ?

2010-10-29T07:46:00.003-07:00

Welcome to Crazytown . . . .

H/T: drf

And So It Begins . . . .

2010-10-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

The organized lynching of truth-telling by way of FoxNoise, of course.

From The Guardian this morning:

A Fox News contributor and former state department adviser has accused WikiLeaks of conducting "political warfare against the US" and called for those behind the whistleblowing website to be declared "enemy combatants" so they can be subjected to "non-judicial actions".
_______________

Whiton ends with the following plea: "How much will our information-collection capabilities have to be diminished, and how many of our friends and collaborators around the world must die, (Ed: Never mind that there has been no evidence of that.) before President Obama and his friends on Capitol Hill start caring more about national security?"

Oh sure, call Julian Assange and his tribe of transparency troops "enemy combatants" so they can get the same kind of "deal" Omar Khadr got.

Compare the FoxNoise response with that of Britain's deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who backs an investigation into the torture allegations.

An ocean away and worlds apart . . . .

Be Careful 'Bout Cryin' Wolf . . . .

2010-10-22T19:14:00.009-07:00

With today's release of 400,000+ Department of Defense documents on the Iraq war by WikiLeaks, once again the MSM is playing the Pentagon's mouthpiece quite well.

Reuters: (Lead paragraph.) The Pentagon said on Friday it does not expect big surprises from an imminent release of up to 500,000 Iraq war files by WikiLeaks, but warned that U.S. troops and Iraqis could be endangered by the file dump.

CBC: (Hillary Clinton) "We should condemn in the most clear terms the disclosure of any classified information by individuals and organizations which puts the lives of United States and partner service members and civilians at risk," she said in Washington, D.C.

CNN: "This is all classified secret information never designed to be exposed to the public," Morrell told CNN. "Our greatest fear is that it puts our troops in even greater danger than they inherently are on these battlefields. "

Hmmmmm.

Didn't we hear the same dire warnings back when Wikileaks released the 70,000+ documents on the Afghan war?

Yes, we did.

How'd that come out, you may ask?

Well, to CNN and FoxNoise's (fer krise sake!) credit, buried down in their stories we read this:

CNN: Friday, Lapan said they know of no case where anyone in Afghanistan had been harmed because their name was in the leaked documents, but he made clear that doesn't mean such people couldn't be killed in the future.

FoxNoise: Lapan said that so far no Afghans have been killed as a direct result of WikiLeaks releasing the same type of information over the summer, but he characterized the leak as deplorable.

The Pentagon and State Department crowd might start stocking up on wolf spray and protective gear. Perhaps one day their dire warnings will go unheeded and ignored.

We'll probably have to clue the MSM in, though. It appears they're still drinking the Kool-aid and asking for refills . . . .

Imagine . . . .

2010-10-09T19:03:00.002-07:00

giving peace a chance.

Happy Birthday, John . . . .

Is There a Chiropractor in the House ? ? ? ?

2010-10-04T11:51:00.001-07:00

This vs this.

It appears the current government's spending priorities need a fiscal adjustment . . . .

Bake at 350 Degrees 'til Explosion Occurs . . . .

2010-10-01T10:04:00.007-07:00

Michael Moore gives the definitive review of Bob Woodward's new obama administration novel.

Excerpts:

In fact, after you read Woodward's book, you'll split a gut every time you hear a politician or a government teacher talk about "civilian control over the military." The only people really making the decisions about America's wars are across the river from Washington in the Pentagon. They wear uniforms. They have lots of weapons they bought from the corporations they will work for when they retire.

_______________

It matters not whom we elect. The Pentagon and the military contractors call the shots. The title "Commander in Chief" is ceremonial, like "Employee of the Month" at your local Burger King.

_______________

So here's your assignment for tonight: Watch Eisenhower's famous farewell speech. And then start thinking about how we can tame this beast. The Soviet Union had its own military-industrial complex, which is one reason they got into Afghanistan...which is one reason there's no more Soviet Union. It happened to them.

Don't think it can happen to us?

Here in Canada we've got stevie and petey ginning up the military apparatus to improve Canada's status on the world stage.

Great.

Let's follow the US' lead, that oughta work out just fine.

Here's how to assemble this taste treat:

Take your basic army, navy and air force on hand for defence of your nation. Add in the fact that the corporate-owned media is on the side of spinning conflicts globally to increase ratings. Stir in profits to the bottom line of the media giants plus military contractors and your recipe for disaster is ready to go in the oven.

Follow directions in this post title . . . .

Clean Catholic Cash . . . .

2010-09-21T09:55:00.004-07:00

bennie and his Jerks are the gift that keeps on giving.

Check this out via The Guardian UK today:

Vatican bank chief investigated over money laundering claims

In unprecedented move, judge freezes €23m held in account at financial institution with close church links

* John Hooper in Rome* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010

The head of the Vatican bank has formally been placed under investigation in an inquiry into a suspected violation of Italy's money-laundering laws, judicial sources said today.

At the same time, a judge in Rome ordered a freeze on €23m (£19.5m) held in an account opened by the Vatican bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), at another financial institution in the Italian capital. It was thought to be the first time such action had been authorised against the IOR in Italy.
_______________

The Vatican has a long history of withholding co-operation from Italian investigators seeking access to its bank's books. The IOR was involved in a major scandal in 1982 arising from the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank.

Well.

Maybe now we have the definitive answer as to how bennie affords all those fabulous pumps he struts around in . . . .

Canadian Coup de RCMP . . . .

2010-09-12T16:12:00.003-07:00

*Updated link due to the Lady Alison's astute discovery. (Thanks, Alison!) Apparently the story disappeared off the web 'til it reappeared this morning at the updated link to the Montreal Gazette below . . . .

As "drf" exclaimed when he pointed this* out to me: "WTF?!?"

What the hell has harperco wrought now ? ? ? ?

RCMP warn against threat of coup d’etat

By Ian MacLeod, Postmedia NewsSeptember 12, 2010

OTTAWA — RCMP officials have identified a new threat to national security: a coup d’etat.

The reference to a violent overthrow of the federal government is contained in the RCMP’s plans and priorities report to government for 2010-11. It lists national security as one of five operational priorities for the year.

The document then cites four specific security concerns:

• Espionage and sabotage.

• Foreign-influenced criminal activities detrimental to the interests of Canada.

• Terrorism.

• And . . . “activities aimed at overthrowing, by violence, the Government of Canada.” (Ed: emphasis mine)

RCMP officials were not immediately available Friday to explain the reference, but such language has not appeared in previous RCMP reports.

Just keeps gettin' curiouser and curiouser . . . .

H/T "drf" & the Lady Alison

Keep Your 'Net Neutral . . . .

2010-09-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Corporate USA is doing their damnedest to mess with your Internet for the benefit of their profit structure. You now have another chance to express your displeasure at this prospect.

Via PC World today:

September 02, 2010 6:18 AM

FCC Takes Net Neutrality to Court of Public Opinion (Again)

By Tony Bradley, PC World

The FCC has opened the next chapter in the debate over net neutrality with a new Notice of Inquiry seeking public comments and feedback on specific aspects of the proposed rules. Net neutrality advocates, however, are becoming increasingly frustrated with the FCC dragging its feet rather than implementing change.

The new FCC inquiry is in pursuit of specific feedback to clarify opinion on a couple of "under-developed issues" that came up during the negotiations with the ISPs and broadband industry, and as a result of the controversial Google-Verizon proposal. Specifically, the FCC wants input to get consensus on the concept of "specialized services" and application of net neutrality to wireless broadband service.

The electronic filing process is fairly simple - see page 6 of this PDF.

Here's the link for the e-file. (International comments are accepted.)

Don't let the corporate behemoths control your access to information based on their $hareholder'$ pur$uit of the almighty dollar . . . .

Wanna do a pole trick ? ? ? ?

2010-08-27T08:32:00.008-07:00

This article from the local paper in our former homeland is too good to pass up. Here in it's entirety because as "drf" says, there's too many good lines to single out just a few*:

Bikini-clad strippers protest church in rural Ohio
August 27, 2010

By JEANNIE NUSS
Associated Press Writer

Strippers dressed in bikinis sunbathe in lawn chairs, their backs turned toward the gray clapboard church where men in ties and women in full-length skirts flock to Sunday morning services.

The strippers, fueled by Cheetos and nicotine, are protesting a fundamentalist Christian church whose Bible-brandishing congregants have picketed the club where they work.

The dancers roll up with signs carrying messages adapted from Scripture, such as "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," to counter church members who for four years have photographed license plates of patrons and asked them if their mothers and wives know their whereabouts.

The dueling demonstrations play out in central Ohio, where nine miles of cornfields and Amish-buggy crossing signs separate The Fox Hole strip club from New Beginnings Ministries.

Club owner Tommy George met with the preacher and offered to call off his not-quite-nude crew from their three-month-long protest if the church responds in kind. But pastor Bill Dunfee believes that a higher power has tasked him with shutting down the strip club.

"As a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil," Dunfee said. "Light and darkness cannot exist together, so The Fox Hole has got to go."

New Beginnings is one of four churches in this one-traffic-light village of 900 people, 60 miles outside Columbus. There's one gas station and a sit-down restaurant that serves country staples like mashed potatoes with gravy and Salisbury steak.

On Sunday, four of The Fox Hole's seven strippers and more than a dozen supporters garnered both scorn and compassion from churchgoers — and quite a few honks from pickup trucks and other passing vehicles.

One woman offered her skills as a hair dresser to the dancers: "If you or your kids ever need a haircut, give me a holler." Another woman from the church waited on the protesters with plates of noodles and chocolate cake.

Laura Meske — known as Lola, stage age 36 but really 42 — hid behind a sign proclaiming, "Jesus loves the children of the world!" as the preacher extended his hand for a shake.

Two nights earlier, Dunfee and more than a dozen churchgoers stood outside the club, one of them calling out Meske's stripper name.

"He who casts the first stone ... ," Meske said Sunday.

The pastor cut her off and repeated, "Lola, Lord bless you."

"Everybody has sinned, and that doesn't mean I'm not gonna get into heaven," she said, the stud piercing in her chin shimmering in the sunlight. "I believe in Jesus. I don't believe what they preach. They preach hate."

Debi Durr, who attends the church, disagreed. "You don't stand up there for four years for hate. That's not hate. That's love," she said. Durr left Meske with a copy of Jeremiah 3:13 — a Bible passage that urges sinners to acknowledge their guilt.

Inside the church, voices from the 121 congregants seemed to float to the cedar rafters as they sang lyrics projected on a screen. Outside, a man strummed a guitar and sang, "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes."

Dunfee has offered to help the strippers pay for food, rent, utilities and gas if they leave The Fox Hole. But many of the women say their jobs are only a stopover on the way to work in cosmetology or the medical field — a meal ticket that shelters them from another stigma: welfare.

"No little girl is growing up like, `I wanna do a pole trick,'" said Anny Donewald, a former stripper who lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., and ministers to dancers, prostitutes and porn stars.

She and other Christian groups that work with women in the adult entertainment industry have criticized Dunfee's methods of ministry as a means of putting the strippers on the defensive instead of showing support.

"I never saw Jesus with a picket sign," Donewald said.

Community advocacy groups, including Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, support Dunfee's protests. But the group's president, Phil Burress, said the strip club has a right to be there.

"It's a legal business whether he likes it or I like it or not," Burress said.

The club operates in a white plywood box of a building. Beer cans and a dollar bill peaked out from the grass like Easter eggs last Sunday.

The Fox Hole encourages customers to check out its $30 private dance special, promoting it on the kind of sign convenience stores use to advertise cheap milk and cigarettes. Out back, letters on a bulletin board have faded away so that "No touching" now reads "ouch."

It's here where dancers strip down to panties and pasties for cash. Meske — a tattooed mother of four — said she made $30 instead of a couple hundred dollars last Friday with the protesters outside.

"I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world," she said. "I go out there and I try to make my money."

A few houses and a ribs joint called Peggy Sue's separate the club from another white building, a church where some of the strippers donate blood during drives for the American Red Cross.

"I got a church 900 feet down the street that causes me no problems," club owner George said. "And I got this moron nine miles down the street that causes me more headaches."

Rae Anderson, who heads New Castle Ministries with her husband, says her church believes Dunfee is doing what the Lord called him to do, but her parish takes a different approach.

"You can share the truth, but you can't make anyone believe what you believe."

Life in the Excited States.

Rather nice looking at it from up here north of the 49th . . . .

* Although, this one did give me particular chuckles: But many of the women say their jobs are only a stopover on the way to work in cosmetology

"Praise the Lord" and Pass the Bullets . . . .

2010-08-23T16:16:00.005-07:00

Jeebuz, these people are really whacked.

Bring your gun to church to protect yourself from what, fer cryin' out loud? Disciple gangs? Meth lab zealots?

Get a grip down there, ya'll . . . .

Gay Pride, Vancouver Edition . . . .

2010-08-04T14:54:00.007-07:00

This is the fifth year we've been able to view the Pride Parade in Vancouver. It's also our second Pride Parade of this year, as on our trip to Portland in June we also enjoyed theirs. (More on Portland below.)

The parade included all the usuals:

Political/Civic Figures:
(with the notable exception of the BC LINOs (Liberal in Name Only)
- might have something to do with Premier gordo campbell's
sinking poll numbers due to the unpopular
H(arper)S(ales)T(ax) implementation)

Elizabeth May:

MP Hedy Frye:

BC Civil Liberties Chair David Eby:

Parks Board Chair Aaron Jasper:

Dancing Girls

Buxom Ladies:

Colourful Drag Queens:

Hunky (Yumm!) Hockey Players:

Tall People:

Corporate Sponsors:

And the stephen harper Tribute:

Now for more Gay and happy news: Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker in California has issued his ruling on Proposition 8 there. He found that California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the federal constitutional rights of gay people.

The case will be appealed to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals in Portland (See, I told you there would be more about Portland!) and then on to the Supreme Court. Just happened to snap a couple of pics of the courthouse, as these are typically "The Good Guys" in judicial circles.

Cross your fingers . . . .

Fireworks Finale . . . .

2010-08-02T12:09:00.005-07:00

This year's Celebration of Light finished up Saturday night with a "Tribute to China." The show was actually produced by a Canadian firm but there was some confusion as lots of folks thought it was a Chinese production.

The winner of this year's competition was announced before the show began Saturday night, and our favourite of Spain won - One of the few times we've agreed with the judges . . . .

Could be Worse . . . .

2010-07-30T19:44:00.006-07:00

Guess there could be worse things than being in Vancouver, BC in the summer. Even though we have a crappy Premier and an even crappier Prime Minister it's still better than being in our former homeland - especially at this time of the year.

Check out this report from our former local area newspaper today and you'll get the picture:

County Sheriff’s Office responded to an argument that led to a food fight at a home Thursday night.
The responding deputy found a 42-year-old woman sitting outside her residence on Grant Avenue crying with food particles in her hair. She told the deputy she and her live-in boyfriend had an argument and he threw a pie at her.

The 57-year-old boyfriend, who was also at the residence, said his girlfriend, who is seven months pregnant, was inconsolable about an argument that happened earlier in the day. At some point, someone threw an apple pie at the other person. The man said he couldn’t remember who threw the pie first, but the other person responded by throwing the rest of the pie.

The deputy noted in his report there were remnants of an apple pie and other food items smeared on the floor and cabinets. Neither had any injuries associated with the argument and report notes both were intoxicated at the time.

There were no charges in the incident.

“While both parties threw pie at each other there was no intent to cause harm,” according to the report.

Hard to tell which is more depressing: The story itself or the fact that it made it to print in the local newspaper.

As "drf" and I tell each other on a regular basis:

"We are blissed . . . . "

Mexico Shines . . . .

2010-07-29T17:36:00.006-07:00

Good show by Mexico last night, 2nd only to Spain in our opinion. Lots of big displays, but the whole theme not quite as well executed as Spain's. However, elderly neighbours raved about it and gave them #1 so far.

Different strokes, and all that . . . .

Spain's Turn @ Celebration of Light . . . .

2010-07-26T09:30:00.011-07:00

Spain put on a fantastic and original show on Saturday. Although these pics don't do it justice as I was pre-occupied watching with the naked eye, we decided it was one of the top two shows we've witnessed since 2005 . . . .

Celebration of Light, 2010 Edition . . . .

2010-07-22T13:12:00.009-07:00

The 20th anniversary of the Celebration of Light on English Bay led off with Team USA on deck Wednesday night. (Spain follows Saturday, then Mexico and China next week.)

General consensus from our group: "Boring!" The first half of the show was a definite yawner. They did have an interesting "fountain" effect for quite some time and had a rather strong finish, but overall not very impressive . . . .

The Road to Armageddon . . . .

2010-06-28T18:20:00.022-07:00

This morning I completed "The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada" by Marci McDonald.

Her book is highly recommended as a wake-up call (I hope it's not too late!) for Canadians to avoid the mess religious zealots have ingrained in the US political system. With the short period of time harperco has been in office, the infiltration of "faith-based" radicals is astounding. Some excerpts follow.

On the "Change you can believe in" president:

On both sides of the border, Obama's election was hailed as a tipping point, the moment when a majority of Americans finally revolted against years of overheated piety in favour of an appeal for spiritual tolerance. . . . .

. . . . As it turned out, those elegies were premature. Rather than banishing Bush's faith-based bureaucracy and rhetoric from the White House, Obama has actually outdone him in public religiosity. From the invocation by celebrity pastor Rick Warren at the inauguration to his own address to the Islamic world enunciating his belief in Jesus Christ, he has “embraced faith in a more visible way than any other president in recent memory,” according to Dan Gilgoff, the religion writer for U.S. News & World Report. While Bush was careful, even covert, in his scriptural allusions, Obama opened major presidential rallies with prayers solicited from local pastors, and mentioned Jesus with a frequency his predecessor would never have dared. Instead of scrapping Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, he expanded its mission and named a new twenty-five-member Faith Advisory Council, prompting Gilgoff, the founder of Beliefnet's “God-o-meter,” to dub him the “faithiest” president in American history.

On the "feel-good" methods of the snake oil salesmen:

Waving their bright flags on the lawns of the Parliament Buildings, extolling the country's Christian roots to a compelling soft-rock beat, they might seem to offer a refreshing recipe for morality and national pride, but their agenda – while outwardly inclusive and multi-racial – is ultimately exclusionary. In their idealized Christian nation, non-believers – atheists, non-Christians and even Christian secularists – have no place, and those in violation of biblical law, notably homosexuals and adulterers, would merit severe punishment and the sort of shunning that once characterized a society where suspected witches were burned. Theirs is a dark and dangerous vision, one that brooks no dissent and requires the dismantling of key democratic institutions. A preview is on display south of the border, where decades of religious-right triumphs have left a nation bitterly splintered along lines of faith and ideology, trapped in the hysteria of overcharged rhetoric and resentment.

In her final words, a warning: (Emphasis mine.)

On a visit to Canada in late 2006, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges was alarmed to discover that, in a country he had always regarded as “a bit saner” than the U.S., Harper was putting out the welcome mat for the religious right. The son of a Presbyterian minister and a; graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Hedges warned Canadians against following the lead of those Americans who “stood sleepily by as Pat Robertson and other religious bigots hijacked the Republican Party and moved into the legislative and executive branches of government.” As he made clear, the growth of the U.S. Christian right was a long and insidious process, but one that could only have happened because the media and political moderates watched in passive disbelief or wishful denial. In tracing the influence of that emergent force in this country, I have attempted to sound a wake-up call, but, in the end, it is up to Canadian voters to write the next chapter. Only they can decide the kind of country in which they want to live.

For lack of a better term, Marci, "amen" . . . .

What the media ignored: 25,000 peacefully demonstrate against G20 policies in Toronto

2010-06-27T11:20:00.003-07:00

Spread the word.

Take this viral and maybe the MSM will have to report it . . . .

Don't Worry . . . .

2010-05-01T12:00:00.007-07:00

about "turrerists" from the "axis of evil" nations, Gang.

We can accomplish our own undoing.

All in the name of corporate profits.

Check out pale's and Alison's commentary on the topic.

Once again: Corporatists - 1, The Public - 0 . . . .

Matt Weighs In . . . .

2010-03-27T14:20:00.005-07:00

Matt Taibbi weighs in on the "Vati-scum" - aka, "bennie and the jerks" - in action.

A sample:

That’s all the church is. They’re a giant for-profit company using predatory salesmanship to sell what they themselves know is a defective, outmoded, basically unnecessary product.

The full article here.

As usual, his writing is on-target and verbiage more than entertaining . . . .

IP Nails It . . . .

2010-03-21T12:52:00.006-07:00

Idealistic Pragmatist has the definitive post on the US dems, health care "reform" and the sorry condition of the Excited States here.

Go, read and hope the situation doesn't creep across the 49th . . . .

Six Degrees of . . . .

2010-03-11T13:45:00.006-08:00

Quick!

What do george w.bush, stephen harper and tiger woods have in common?

The Universe indeed works in mysterious ways . . . .

Well Said . . . .

2010-02-28T23:20:00.006-08:00

This accurately describes my take on today's completed "games" in Vancouver.

'Nuff said . . . .

A Dog Named Beau . . . .

2010-02-23T12:07:00.003-08:00

Anyone who has ever had a "Four-Footed-Child" will appreciate this Jimmy Stewart poem:

H/T: Aleta

Have a Coke and a "What" ? ? ? ?

2010-02-09T13:19:00.001-08:00

The Lady Alison posted a few days back about Coca Cola bottlers in Columbia and a documentary on same.

As luck would have it, my friend PC and her Solidarity Notes Choir had a live performance on the same topic at the Granville SkyTrain Station on Sunday. Enjoy, and think about that the next time you enjoy a beverage from an "Owe-lympic" sponsor:

Vancouver City . . . .

2010-01-31T18:39:00.003-08:00

A break from the break, as this vid of our fair city is damn good. Play it in 1080p HD full screen if you want the full effect:

H/T 'Nette

Go . . . .

2009-12-30T11:50:00.000-08:00

Check out pale.

A picture really is worth a thousand words . . . .

"Out of Context" My A_s . . . .

2009-12-28T11:46:00.011-08:00

So, according to the AP, Janet Napolitano is claiming her words on Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" regarding the airport security screening system were "taken out of context." Huh.

Here's the Secretary of Homeland (In)Security on the "Today Show" this morning:

And here on "Morning Joe":

Well, Gang. Here's the transcript:

(Georgie was off this week, so there was actually a decent reporter handling the show - Jake Tapper.)

JANET NAPOLITANO, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning.

TAPPER: I want to get your reaction to a comment from the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who said in a statement: "I am troubled by several aspects of this case, including how the suspect escaped the attention of the State Department and law enforcers when his father apparently reported concerns about his son's extremist behavior to the U.S. embassy in Lagos, how the suspect managed to retain a U.S. visa after such complaints, and why he was not recognized as someone who reportedly was named in the terrorist database."

Madam Secretary, how do you answer Senator Lieberman's questions?

NAPOLITANO: Well, I think, first of all, we are investigating, as always, going backwards to see what happened and when, who knew what and when. But here -- I think it's important for the public to know, there are different types of databases.

And there were simply, throughout the law enforcement community, never information that would put this individual on a no-fly list or a selectee list. So that's number one.

Number two, I think the important thing to recognize here is that once this incident occurred, everything happened that should have. The passengers reacted correctly, the crew reacted correctly, within an hour to 90 minutes, all 128 flights in the air had been notified. And those flights already had taken mitigation measures on the off-chance that there was somebody else also flying with some sort of destructive intent.

So the system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days.

TAPPER: Well, let me ask you a question about intelligence-sharing. When the suspect's father went to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria and said, I'm worried because my son is displaying extremist religious views, how was that information shared with other parts of the U.S. government, or did it just stay at that U.S. embassy?

NAPOLITANO: Well, again, we are going to go back and really do a minute-by-minute, day-by-day scrub of that sort of thing. But when he presented himself to fly, he was on a tide (ph) list. What a tide list simply says is, his name had come up somewhere somehow.

But the no-fly and selectee list require that there be specific, what we call, derogatory information. And that was not available throughout the law enforcement community. He went through screening in Amsterdam as he prepared to board a flight to the United States.

The authorities in Amsterdam are working with us to make sure that screening was properly done. We have no suggestion that it wasn't, but we're actually going through -- going backwards, tracing his route.

But I think important for the traveling public recognize that A, everybody reacted as they should. We trained for this. We planned for this. We exercised for this sort of event should it occur.

And B, we have instituted additional screening in what we call mitigation measures that will be continuing for a while. And so we ask people perhaps to show up a little bit earlier at the airport during this heavy holiday season, and to recognize we're going to be doing different things at different airports.

So don't think somebody at TSA is not on the job if they're not doing exactly at one airport what you saw at another. There will be different things done in different places.

TAPPER: But, Secretary Napolitano, you keep saying everybody acted the way they were supposed to. Clearly the passengers and the crew of that Northwest Airlines flight did.

But I think there are questions about whether everybody in the U.S. government did. And here's a question for you, how many of -- so many of us are subject to random security searches all the time, how come somebody who is not on a terrorist database isn't subject to more stringent security when they check in to a flight to the U.S.? Why does that automatically just happen?

NAPOLITANO: Well, if he had had specific information that would have put him on the selectee list or indeed on the no-fly list, he would not have actually gotten on a plane.

But those numbers pyramid down. And they need to, because again, there is lots of information that flies about this world on a lot of different people. And what we have to do in law enforcement is not only collect and share, but do it in the proper way.

Now once this incident occurred, everything went according to clockwork. Not only sharing throughout the air industry, but also sharing with state and local law enforcement, products were going out on Christmas Day, they went out yesterday, and also to the industry to make sure that the traveling public remains safe.

And I would leave you with that message, the traveling public is safe. We have instituted some additional screening and security measures in light of this incident. But again, everybody reacted as they should, the system -- once the incident occurred, the system worked.

As FoxNoise would say: "We report. You decide." Out of context or not?

(As a sidenote, does anyone else abhor the idea of joe LIE-berman having yet another excuse to have his Droopy Dawg mug in front of a camera? Gag, choke, gasping for fresh air . . . . )

Watch those "revisions," Janet. Might make it a bit difficult opening doors, using a tissue, applying makeup, etc.

Man, this "hope" and "change" stuff is workin' out just great, isn't it ? ? ? ?

Need a Job? Here 'Ya Go . . . .

2009-12-23T00:11:00.004-08:00

Times are tough all over, and folks are in need of gainful employment.

How 'bout a job with lots of pluses?:

Travel opportunities;

Paid benefits;

Stress reduction techniques;

Multiple skill categories.

What more could you ask for?

Well, maybe not having to support the military-industrial-congressional complex for one thing . . . .

Quite an Indictment . . . .

2009-12-21T10:59:00.008-08:00

A friend vacationing in Paris - France, that is - sent me this link he found while surfing the "InterTubes."

The Huffington Post contributor, Drew Westen, is a professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at a university just down the road from where I lived for many years. It appears he has hit the proverbial nail on the head describing my - and a lot of others, no doubt - feelings toward President Obama and his administration. It's long, probably 4,000 words, but the content is worth the read and analysis. One caveat, though: The author made the same mistake Howard Dean and Joe Scarborough made in referencing the insurance industry's "52-year high" on Friday. Obviously, the reference should have been to a "52-week high." That said, here are a few excerpts:

Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator

Drew Westen | Psychologist and neuroscientist; Emory University Professor
Posted: December 20, 2009 09:34 PM

_______________

Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process. It isn't hard for them to see that the winners seem to be the same no matter who the voters select (Wall Street, big oil, big Pharma, the insurance industry).

_______________

What's costing the president are three things: a laissez faire style of leadership that appears weak and removed to everyday Americans, a failure to articulate and defend any coherent ideological position on virtually anything, and a widespread perception that he cares more about special interests like bank, credit card, oil and coal, and health and pharmaceutical companies than he does about the people they are shafting.

_______________

Consider the president's leadership style, which has now become clear: deliver a moving speech, move on, and when push comes to shove, leave it to others to decide what to do if there's a conflict, because if there's a conflict, he doesn't want to be anywhere near it.

_______________

Like most Americans I talk to, when I see the president on television, I now change the channel the same way I did with Bush. With Bush, I couldn't stand his speeches because I knew he meant what he said. I knew he was going to follow through with one ignorant, dangerous, or misguided policy after another. With Obama, I can't stand them because I realize he doesn't mean what he says -- or if he does, he just doesn't have the fire in his belly to follow through. He can't seem to muster the passion to fight for any of what he believes in, whatever that is. He'd make a great queen -- his ceremonial addresses are magnificent -- but he prefers to fly Air Force One at 60,000 feet and "stay above the fray."

_______________

Gays? Virtually all Americans are for repealing don't ask/don't tell (except for conservatives who haven't yet come to terms with their own homosexuality -- but don't tell them that, or at least don't ask). This one's a no-brainer. Tell Congress you want a bill on your desk by January 1, and announce that you have serious questions about the constitutionality of the current policy and won't enforce it until your Justice Department has had time to study it. Don't keep firing gay Arabic interpreters. But that would require not just giving the pretty speech on how we're all equal in the eyes of God and we should all be equal in the eyes of the law (a phrase he might want to try sometime). It would require actually doing something that might anger a small percentage of the population on the right, and that's just too hard for this president to do. It's one thing to acknowledge and respect the positions of people who hold different points of view. It's another to capitulate to them.

_______________

Am I being too hard on the president? He's certainly done many good things. But it would be hard to name a single thing President Obama has done domestically that any other Democrat wouldn't have done if he or she were president following George W. Bush (e.g., signing the children's health insurance bill that Congress is about to gut to pay for worse care for kids under the health insurance exchange, if it ever happens), and there's a lot he hasn't done that every other Democrat who ran for president would have done.

Obama, like so many Democrats in Congress, has fallen prey to the conventional Democratic strategic wisdom: that the way to win the center is to tack to the center.

There's lots more here, and Professor Westen makes a good case.

My biggest disappointment is it appears the huge numbers of youthful voters Obama was successful in bringing into the political process will probably be turned off for years, if not decades.

That does not bode well for any "hope" or "change" . . . .

H/T BTO

UPDATE: Naomi Klein weighs in . . . .

Hollow "Victory," Mr. President . . . .

2009-12-20T14:23:00.008-08:00

Check out Matt Taibbi and Robert Kuttner on Bill Moyers Journal Friday night.

They explain the clusterf_ck in Washington for what it is: a sell-out to Corporate America. What a surprise, eh?

It's about 30 minutes, but well worth it. The dems and the "o-team" need to pay attention. S'pecially the comments regarding rahm.

I knew that guy was gonna be trouble, and guess what ? ? ? ?

Payback's . . . .

2009-12-17T23:23:00.003-08:00

a bitch, ain't it, joe ? ? ? ?

Bullsh_t . . . .

2009-12-16T11:31:00.005-08:00

For lack of a better term, the post title says it all.

The Toronto Star reports from Copenhagen:

U.S. cuts deal with dairy farmers to lower methane gas emission

December 16, 2009 COPENHAGEN – The United States is counting on cows to help save the planet.

U.S. Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an agreement with the American dairy industry Tuesday to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions 25 per cent by 2020, mostly by convincing farmers to capture the methane from cow manure that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere. The plan requires more farmers to buy an anaerobic digester, which essentially converts cow manure into electricity.

"This historic agreement, the first of its kind, will help us achieve the ambitious goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions while benefiting farmers," Vilsack said at the U.N. climate talks. "(The) use of manure technology is a win for everyone."

Leave it to a government official to spread the sh_t around and make it smell like roses . . . .

I'm With Howard . . . .

2009-12-16T09:33:00.005-08:00

"This bill, I think, is more likely to make the crisis worse"

and

"Joe loves the attention and to make Joe the issue I think is a mistake"

Truer words were never spoken . . . .

Big Surprise. Not . . . .

2009-12-14T22:47:00.007-08:00

Huffpo reports:

Rahm Emanuel Personally Pressed Reid To Cut Deal With Lieberman: Sources

Updated: 12-14-09 07:24 PM

Rahm Emanuel visited Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his Capitol office on Sunday evening and personally urged him to cut a deal with recalcitrant Sen. Joe Lieberman, two Democratic sources familiar with the situation told the Huffington Post.

Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff, has long been identified as leading a faction of White House advisers who have been pushing the Senate simply to pass any health care bill, no matter how weak.

His direct message to Reid (D-Nev.), according to a source close to the negotiations: "Get it done. Just get it done."

Politico reported Monday morning that the White House had pressed Reid to cut the deal after Lieberman (I-Conn) insisted the Senate drop a provision, which Lieberman himself has long favored, to allow those 55-64 to buy in to Medicare. Lieberman is threatening to join a Republican filibuster of the bill if the provision isn't dropped.

The White House denied the report. "The report is inaccurate. The White House is not pushing Senator Reid in any direction. We are working hand in hand with the Senate Leadership to work through the various issues and pass health reform as soon as possible," White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer wrote in an e-mail to the Plum Line.

The report, however, according to the two sources, was entirely accurate. "We're long past time for these kinds of games," one source said.

It would be easy to put all the blame for this on the sleaze-bag emanuel, but remember who hired his a_s.

No bill would be a better than the watered-down version they're heading toward. All they have now is a forced payment to insurance companies with nothing in return.

$$$ win over people once again . . . .

You Go, Rachel . . . .

2009-12-09T15:52:00.005-08:00

Check out the definition of "journalist" in Webster's.

Surely there's a picture of Rachel Maddow in the listing.

Watch her destroy this "cure the gay right out of you" charlatan:

Looks like we won that round . . . .

Believing in Change Yet ? ? ? ?

2009-12-09T15:16:00.004-08:00

Matt Taibbi on business as usual in DC and on Wall Street:

Wall Street = 1, Main Street = 0 . . . .

Protecting "Traditional" Marriage . . . .

2009-12-06T13:15:00.004-08:00

Let's put this whole gay marriage thing to bed (so to speak).

"You're not dead yet."

That oughta do it . . . .

Smoke 'Em if You've Got 'Em . . . .

2009-12-05T14:29:00.006-08:00

Quite the interesting contraption, would you not agree?

Used extensively in Ottawa, Victoria and Washington, DC.

(Click to enlarge)

Gives a whole new meaning to "Let's go outside and light up a butt," eh ? ? ? ?

H/T "drf"

Tales from our Former 'Hood . . . .

2009-12-01T15:25:00.007-08:00

More vindication of our decision to vacate our former Florida locale for a somewhat more civilized Vancouver, BC, Canada:

Police: Burglar showers, tells residents ‘Obama let him in'

November 28, 2009

_________ - A man accused of breaking into a ________ home and taking a shower reportedly told residents who showed up “President Obama let him in” the house.

According to a ________ Police Department report, St. Petersbug resident Donald Leon May, 48, entered a home in the 400 block of East Railroad Avenue Nov. 18 through an unlocked back door and took a shower.

While in the shower, two juvenile children who lived at the house entered with a friend. Thinking their dad was home, one of the children entered the bathroom and “saw a male in the shower who was not his father,” the report states.

“The male in the shower stated ‘Obama let him in’” and told the boy to “get out,” the report continues.

The children ran to a neighbor’s house and called police. When they arrived May was still in the house with nothing on but a “towel wrapped around his lower body,” the report states.

May declined to comment when interrogated by police other than to say, “The Yellow Brick Road brought him to __________,” according to the report.

Three days before the incident, May was arrested for trespassing and failure to leave the premises at another property.

He was released from the ___________ County Jail on the trespassing charge two hours before his Nov. 18 arrrest.

May is is charged with felony burglary to an occupied dwelling and petty theft.

Looks like he may have been the Scarecrow without a brain on that Yellow Brick Road.

Counting the ways we are fortunate to have escaped.

Counting the ways . . . .

H/T "drf"

Dying to Look Sexy . . . .

2009-12-01T08:06:00.006-08:00

It's amazing to me how vanity can take over one's life - and death, apparently.

Today's Toronto Star reports:

Beauty queen dies for 'firmer behind'

December 01, 2009

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina–A 38-year-old former Miss Argentina has died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery on her buttocks.

Solange Magnano, a mother of twins who won the crown in 1994, died of a pulmonary embolism Sunday after three days in critical condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.

_______________

Fashion designer and friend Roberto Piazza said the procedure also involved injections, and the liquid "went to her lungs and brain."

"A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind," he said.

_______________

Juan Carlos Seiler, former president of the Buenos Aires Association of plastic surgeons, told the Times of London that the doctor who performed the procedure might not have been "a real professional."

Firm butt and dead.

How's that for a trade-off ? ? ? ?

A Blue Black Friday . . . .

2009-11-29T17:43:00.007-08:00

I don't want to be Scrooge here (well, maybe I do) but personally, I think this is a positive development. People just don't need all the crap they buy!

Per Reuters this afternoon:

Shoppers spent less over Black Friday weekend
Sun Nov 29, 2009 4:53pm EST | By Nicole Maestri

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Consumers spent significantly less at the start of the holiday season this weekend, dimming hopes for a retail comeback that would help propel the economy early in 2010.

While shoppers turned out in force as early as Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, many said they had zeroed in on highly discounted items, would buy only what they needed and would walk out of a store if they did not find a good deal.

_______________

Consumers said they will have spent nearly 8 percent less on average, or about $343 per person, over the weekend that includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday and runs through Sunday, according to the NRF.

_______________

Shoppers interviewed across the country by Reuters over the weekend said they were lured by bargains, but would stick to pared-down budgets.

"If they don't have rebates and sales before Christmas, I don't think people are going to go back shopping after Black Friday," said Joel Wincowski, a higher education consultant shopping at a Best Buy store in Plattsburgh, New York. He bought an Xbox 360 game console for $299.

"We're going to cut back on everybody, even the kids."

As "drf" has advocated for years:

"Simplify your life" . . . .

The Chris and Stephen Show . . . .

2009-11-25T09:20:00.006-08:00

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry fire shots across the bow at the catholic church.

These are two clips from the BBC's Intelligence Squared presentation of "The catholic church is a Force for Good." Hitchens is up first followed by Ann Widdecombe - a recent convert to catholocism - and Fry finishes up.

bennie and the jerks: 0

Our side: 1 . . . .

H/T BTO

Cougar, Hell . . . .

2009-11-24T16:04:00.002-08:00

Tuesday humour . . . .

H/T "The Olde Goat"

Be Careful What You Ask For . . . .

2009-11-18T16:54:00.007-08:00

It appears members of the GLBT community in Texas will be enjoying a bit of schadenfreude in the near future.

You're gonna love this one, gang, via McClatchy today:

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages
Dave Montgomery | Fort Worth Star-Telegram | November 18, 2009

AUSTIN — Texans: Are you really married?

Maybe not.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

_______________

Radnofsky, the Democratic nominee in the Senate race against Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006, said she voted against the amendment but didn’t realize the legal implications until she began poring over the Texas Constitution to prepare for the attorney general’s race. She said she holds Abbott and his office responsible for not catching an "error of massive proportions."

"Whoever vetted the language in B must have been asleep at the wheel," she said.

Was I right?

Do you love it?

Thought you would . . . .

Help! It's Here Now ! ! ! !

2009-11-15T16:44:00.005-08:00

If you think the influence of the US christian ~~right~~ "wrong" is creeping north across the 49th, there's now proof.

On a trip to the US southland last summer I was not surprised to see this ad on television down there. Unfortunately, it is now here.

Two, count 'em two ads for the item within the past hour on "ahem," "choke," "gasp" CTV.

It appears harper is winning, ya'll . . . .

Joya to the World . . . .

2009-11-14T22:16:00.007-08:00

Since my friend was singing in the pre-show choir for Malalai Joya's Vancouver book tour kick-off, I walked up the hill to her performance this evening.

I had previously heard Ms. Joya on a PBS program in the US, but to hear her story live in person was very moving. It is something I would recommend to anyone that has the opportunity to attend one of her appearances on this tour.

Be advised that neither bush, harper nor obama are positively portrayed. The woman knows where the real element of change for her country lies: Within it's people.

In response to a question from and Afghani-Canadian woman in the audience:

"What will happen to Afghanistan if all the foreign troops leave?"

was:

"The Afghani people will work it out. Slowly, they will begin to see that democracy and equal rights for all people, genders, religions is the thing to do. It won't be easy. It won't be fast. But it will happen. Having foreign troops there only more firmly entrenches the Taliban and the war lords in power. Make them leave, and the situation will slowly begin to change."

I'm thinking the military/industrial/congressional complex would not like her answer . . . .

The Lady Alison has the details of the tour . . . .

Gay Eternity . . . .

2009-11-13T21:39:00.008-08:00

The Guardian UK today reveals:

Censored gay sex scenes in From Here to Eternity revealed

Daughter of author James Jones discloses details of cuts insisted upon by the novel's original publisher

* Alison Flood | * guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 November 2009

It is one of the most celebrated images in cinema, an icon of heterosexual romance: Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kissing as the waves crash over them in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. But behind the Hollywood gloss is a tale of censorship and repression, with the author of the award-winning novel on which the film was based forced to remove scenes of gay sex from the manuscript before publication.

Kaylie Jones, a novelist in her own right, says her father, James Jones, was told by his publisher Scribner to eliminate both expletives and homosexual scenes in From Here to Eternity, which was based on his own experiences in Hawaii in the army on the eve of the Pearl Harbour bombing.

The original manuscript of From Here to Eternity went into "great detail" about the kinds of sexual favours soldiers like Private Angelo Maggio, played in the film by Frank Sinatra, would provide to rich gay men for money, Kaylie Jones revealed in an article written for US news website the Daily Beast.

"'I don't like to be blowed [by a man]'," the novel's hero Private Robert E Lee Prewitt tells Maggio in a section cut from the novel. "Angelo shrugged," writes James Jones. "'Oh, all right. I admit it's nothing like a woman. But it's something. Besides, old Hal treats me swell. He's always good for a touch when I'm broke. Five bucks. Ten bucks. Comes in handy the middle of the month ... Only reason I let Hal blow me is because I got a good thing there. If I turned him down I'd blow it sky high. And I want to hang onto that income, buddy.'"

________________

James Jones, she wrote, "believed that homosexuality was as old as mankind itself, and that Achilles, the bravest and most venerated fighter ever described, was gay, and to take a younger lover under your wing was a common practice among the soldiers of the time". "He also believed also that homosexuality was a natural condition of men in close quarters, and that it in no way affected a soldier's capabilities on the battlefield. What would have amazed him is that the discussion still continues to this day, cloaked in the same hypocrisy and silence as it was 60 years ago," she wrote. The US military's current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy allows gay men and lesbians to serve only if they keep quiet about their sexuality. President Obama has previously announced his intention to revoke the rule, but for the moment it remains in force.

It's time for Eternity to be Here, Mr. President.

Let the women and men in the US military "ask" and "tell" . . . .

H/T Penelope ;-)

Grannies Flee to Canada . . . .

2009-11-09T10:56:00.006-08:00

As published today at The Borowitz Report:

Fox News Reports: Millions of Grannies Flee U.S. as Death Panels Loom

Glenn Beck: "Run For Your Lives"

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - With the establishment of government-mandated death panels just days away, grandmothers began fleeing the United States in record numbers today, reports Fox News.

"I am never one to yell ‘Fire' in a crowded theater," said Fox News host Glenn Beck. "But run for your lives!"

Across the country, slow-moving caravans of 1980s-era Cadillacs with turn signals blinking were making the torturous journey to the Canadian border, their back seats laden with cats, knitting projects, and bottles of Ensure.

Fox News may have set off the mass exodus by warning grannies that if they did not flee quickly enough they would face government-mandated organ harvesting.

Elsewhere, anti-healthcare protesters objected to the language of the House bill, saying there were too many polysyllabic words.

Be afraid.

Be very afraid . . . .

Quarrelling Queens . . . .

2009-11-07T10:02:00.006-08:00

Today's Toronto Star has the in-depth account of beauty queens in Great Britain duking it out:

Beauty queen busted for bar brawl with rival
November 07, 2009 | Toronto Star

You might expect pageant queens to demonstrate their talent, beauty and poise, but Miss England has added fisticuffs to her resumé. Rachel Christie, 21, has relinquished her crown after being arrested on suspicion of punching Miss Manchester, 24-year-old Sara Beverly Jones, at a nightclub.

_______________

The dispute arose when the two beauty queens encountered each other at a bar on Monday.

The BBC reported Jones was allegedly punched in the face after an argument said to be about a TV personality from the Gladiators program, which airs in the U.K.

It is believed that Jones is an ex-girlfriend of TV gladiator Tornado, whose real name is David McIntosh.

Christie, McIntosh's current girlfriend, has been released on bail until January 2010.

Someone might want to throw that gladiator into the lion's den . . . .

2 Years . . . .

2009-11-05T00:01:00.003-08:00

Two years ago today Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Services issued our Permanent Resident visas.

Wow, sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. After the two-year wait to get the visas, we were pretty damn excited when they finally came in.

"Yay" for us and for Canada!

We're glad to be here . . . .

Cross Out in Italy . . . .

2009-11-03T22:55:00.006-08:00

Today's BBC notes the Italians are a bit miffed at the European Court of Human Rights:

Italy school crucifixes 'barred'
BBC News | Tuesday, 3 November 2009

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in classrooms in Italy.

It said the practice violated the right of parents to educate their children as they saw fit, and ran counter to the child's right to freedom of religion.

The case was brought by an Italian mother, Soile Lautsi, who wants to give her children a secular education.

The Vatican said it was shocked by the ruling, calling it "wrong and myopic" to exclude the crucifix from education.

The ruling has sparked anger in the largely Catholic country, with one politician calling the move "shameful".

The Strasbourg court found that: "The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities... restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions."

It also restricted the "right of children to believe or not to believe", the seven judges ruling on the case said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency

________________

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the European court had no right intervening in such a profoundly Italian matter, the Associated Press reported.

"It seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential."

He told Italian TV: "The crucifix has always been a sign of God's love, unity and hospitality to all humanity.

"It is unpleasant that it is considered a sign of division, exclusion or a restriction of freedom."

_______________

The government says it will appeal against the decision.

Well, at least little Jewish and Muslim kiddies won't have to stare at "the sign of God's love, unity and hospitality" represented by a guy dying nailed to a couple of boards all day.

Good grief . . . .

H/T Penny

Good Move, Guys . . . .

2009-11-03T21:44:00.001-08:00

Banking Bast_rds . . . .

2009-10-31T22:47:00.008-07:00

McClatchy has released the first report on their five-month investigation into Goldman Sachs' activities during the lead up to the financial fiasco.

You will be amazed to find out that the politically well-connected investment firm has not been exactly squeaky-clean in their activities.

Or maybe not.

How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

November 01, 2009 01:37:11 AM

WASHINGTON — In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.

Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies. Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk.

_______________

McClatchy's inquiry found that Goldman Sachs:

* Bought and converted into high-yield bonds tens of thousands of mortgages from subprime lenders that became the subjects of FBI investigations into whether they'd misled borrowers or exaggerated applicants' incomes to justify making hefty loans.

* Used offshore tax havens to shuffle its mortgage-backed securities to institutions worldwide, including European and Asian banks, often in secret deals run through the Cayman Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean that companies use to bypass U.S. disclosure requirements.

* Has dispatched lawyers across the country to repossess homes from bankrupt or financially struggling individuals, many of whom lacked sufficient credit or income but got subprime mortgages anyway because Wall Street made it easy for them to qualify.

* Was buoyed last fall by key federal bailout decisions, at least two of which involved then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Goldman chief executive whose staff at Treasury included several other Goldman alumni.

The firm benefited when Paulson elected not to save rival Lehman Brothers from collapse, and when he organized a massive rescue of tottering global insurer American International Group while in constant telephone contact with Goldman chief Blankfein. With the Federal Reserve Board's blessing, AIG later used $12.9 billion in taxpayers' dollars to pay off every penny it owed Goldman.

Read the whole article and watch your blood pressure rise while you think about how many Goldman alumni have been and still are in very powerful positions in Washington.

Sleep well . . . .

Citizen Hero Recognized . . . .

2009-10-28T19:30:00.009-07:00

UPDATED: CBC's The Current audio here. (Paul Pritchard, 1st segment)

The citizen hero who filmed Robert Dzianski's violent death was properly recognized for his responsible and commendable actions.

Per the CBC today:

Man who shot Dziekanski video gets journalism award
By CBC News | October 28, 2009

The man who used a digital camera to record the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport says he feels guilty he didn't try to help the Polish immigrant even though others honoured his actions Tuesday with a citizen-journalism award.

The man who used a digital camera to record the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport says he feels guilty he didn't try to help the Polish immigrant even though others honoured his actions Tuesday with a citizen-journalism award.

Dziekanski, 40, died Oct. 14, 2007, following several shocks from a Taser four RCMP officers used to subdue him after he caused a disturbance.

The incident might never have received much attention if Paul Pritchard had not decided to grab his digital camera and start recording the actions of the distraught Dziekanski before police arrived.

_______________

After the incident, Pritchard, who was on his way to his family's home in Victoria and had been waiting in the international arrivals lounge at the time, handed his video over to the RCMP to use in their investigation. The police promised it would be returned in 48 hours.

But when the RCMP's public statements about the incident conflicted with what Pritchard and other witnesses said they saw, Pritchard demanded the RCMP return the video so that he could release it to the public.

When the police refused, saying releasing the video would compromise their investigation, Pritchard hired a lawyer, held a news conference and threatened to use legal action to get it back.

The release of the 10-minute video, which contradicted the police version of the incident, led to widespread public outrage around the world and diplomatic tensions between Canada and Poland. It also resulted in the deepest scrutiny of the RCMP in decades in the form of a special inquiry into the incident, led by retired British Columbia Appeal Court Justice Thomas R. Braidwood.

Citizen journalism award

On Tuesday evening in Toronto, Pritchard's work in documenting what happened and waging a legal battle against the RCMP for the release of his video was honoured by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

The organization gave Pritchard its first-ever award for citizen journalism, which recognizes the contributions of ordinary people in the field of journalism.

_______________

"I don't consider myself a hero, and to be honest, I'm not completely happy with the fact that I did that," said Pritchard. "Maybe instead of grabbing a camera, I could have gone and talked to him.

"If I feel I did something wrong, or feel I didn't do enough, I think the effort I put in afterwards is enough for me to live with that ? I did everything I possibly could do."

Personally, I consider Paul a hero for what he did.

Without his responsible actions, the whole affair would have been swept under the proverbial rug . . . .

Bedpans or Bombs? Decisions, Decisions . . . .

2009-10-26T17:49:00.008-07:00

Wow!

With savings like this nearly 20 more wars could be funded.

Maybe a debate between Big Pharma/Big Insurance and the Military/Industrial Complex is in order.

Let the campaign donations begin . . . .

Inching Forward ? ? ? ?

2009-10-26T14:06:00.005-07:00

At least Harry Reid hasn't erected a road block to a public option.

Per Newsweek this afternoon:

Reid's Public Option: Not Exactly A Shoo-in

Monday, October 26, 2009 4:15 PM
By Katie Connolly

It wasn't long ago when pundits were calling time of death on the public option. But today, in a move that seemed almost inconceivable back in August, Harry Reid has announced that the bill he plans to take to the Senate floor will contain a public option. His version will be an "opt-out" public plan, which allows states to prevent their residents from participating it. It's not a version that entirely satsifies progressives, who'd be happier with a robust, openly accessible plan. But it's a far cry from Max Baucus's plan, which relied on co-ops rather than a public plan to induce the competition President Obama so desires.

It's unclear why Reid decided on this model, over an opt-in model or a trigger, for example. It probably has something to do with pressure from the likes of Chuck Schumer, and assurances from folks like Jay Rockerfeller that liberals would support him. Reid also said at his press conference this afternoon that he has the backing of the White House, quashing rumors (for now....) that the Administration prefers a trigger option. But there are a few key people who don't appear to support the idea. First and foremost, Olympia Snowe, who's had almost unparalleled influence of the Senate bill so far. Without her, Reid needs every single one of his 60 votes and it's far from certain that Blanche Lincoln or Ben Nelson would support it.

You can watch Reid's presser here.

Now let's see if the White House and the rest of the dems step up to the plate and push for it.

Jury's still out on both at this point . . . .

"Hope and Change." Right . . . .

2009-10-25T15:03:00.007-07:00

Stuff like this is really pissing me off.

From The Huffington Post yesterday:

Leaderless: Senate Pushes For Public Option Without Obama's Support
HuffPost | 10-24-09

President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a preference for an alternative policy, favored by the insurance industry, which would see a public plan "triggered" into effect in the future by a failure of the industry to meet certain benchmarks.

The administration retreat runs counter to the letter and the spirit of Obama's presidential campaign. The man who ran on the "Audacity of Hope" has now taken a more conservative stand than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), leaving progressives with a mix of confusion and outrage. Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have battled conservatives in their own party in an effort to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Now tantalizingly close, they are calling for Obama to step up.

_______________

On Thursday evening, after taking the temperature of his caucus, Reid told Obama at a White House meeting that he was pushing a national public option with an opt-out provision. Obama, several sources briefed on the exchange, reacted coolly.

"He certainly didn't embrace it and he seemed to indicate a preference for continuing to work on a strategy that involved Senator Snowe and a trigger," said one aide briefed on the meeting. Several other sources, along with independent media reports, confirmed the exchange.

_______________

It is not philosophical, one White House aide explained, but is a matter of political practicality. If the votes were there to pass a robust public option through the Senate, the president would be leading the charge, the aide said. But after six months of concern that it would be filibustered, the bet among Obama's aides is that Reid is now simply being too optimistic in his whip count. The trigger proposal, said Democratic aides, has long been associated with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

_______________

Advocates of a public option largely consider a "trigger" the equivalent of no public option at all . . . . "The current state of our health system should be trigger enough for anyone who's paying attention," said a congressional aide in the middle of the health care battle. "The American people pulled the 'trigger' in November."

If Obama is going to renege on promises he made in his campaign, what exactly is the "change" he advocated? Change of party, yes, but no substantial change of policies as of yet.

He's the president, fer krissakes! Should he not be the one making the decisions and not his chief of staff?!? Listening to rahm emanuel and "Queen Olympia" is not what the USian voters wanted when they elected the man president. A strong public option in health care legislation should be the minimum he demands his party's Congress do. It's the least he can do since he took the only real reform of Single Payer off the table as soon as he got the office.

If you still vote in the US you might want to contact the White House with your thoughts. Apparently, people in the administration are becoming as much or more a barrier to reform than is Congress. You can email them here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

It may be time to change the slogan from "Hope and Change" to "Despair and M.O.T.S.*" . . . .

* More of the Same

Climate Action on Cambie Bridge . . . .

2009-10-24T19:41:00.018-07:00

Vancouver turned out in force for climate action today.

Yours truly was there with thousands of others.

We looked for you, Lady Alison and RossK - Hope you made it.

Some pics in case you didn't make it:

How embarrassing!
For a moment there I thought I was
in Mississippi or Arkansas . . . .

Let's hope stevie harper is paying attention.

Bets, anyone ? ? ? ?

Step Right Up . . . .

2009-10-23T13:10:00.005-07:00

Need more exercise?

Sweden and Volkswagen have an entertaining way to get it . . . .

M & M . . . .

2009-10-22T14:24:00.010-07:00

Matt and Michael are getting a bit impatient.

Is there a "movement" stirring?

One can only hope . . . .

Fire Up . . . .

2009-10-22T12:02:00.012-07:00

Whoopee!

The torch has been ignited in Greece.

Let the "Owelympics" commence!

What do we have here? A prelude to the "72 Virgins" narrative, perhaps?

Did anyone else get a visual of The Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland"?

OK.

Maybe it was just me.

Well, at least BC's LINO*s will have excellent seats for the big event.

We paid enough for them . . . .

* Liberal in Name Only

What a Guy . . . .

2009-10-21T18:05:00.006-07:00

Pale at A Creative Revolution brought this 86 year old guy from Maine to my attention. He's speaking out on the right for gays and lesbians to marry:

Hard to believe he's a life-long repuglican, isn't it?

Let's take his membership card away.

He doesn't belong there . . . .

You can read the full transcript here.)

repuglican "Must Have" Aps . . . .

2009-10-16T17:03:00.003-07:00

Circum(cised)stantial Evidence ? ? ? ?

2009-10-16T12:49:00.006-07:00

And I thought all the whackos lived in Florida. Look what we've got right here in BC, via CBC News:

Home circumcision of 4-year-old ends in conviction

Friday, October 16, 2009 | CBC News

A Vancouver-area father has been found guilty of negligence causing bodily harm after botching a home-circumcision attempt on his four-year-old son as part of a spiritual quest to make things right with God.

The bizarre case centred on a battle over the religious freedoms of the former Jehovah's Witness, who was trying to follow a literal interpretation of the Bible after a series of misfortunes hit his family.

During the trial, the B.C. Supreme Court heard that after a bad motorcycle accident in 2002 left both the man and his wife with brain injuries, he began the religious quest that eventually led him to believe that both he and son needed to be circumcised to celebrate Passover.

_______________

I'll spare you the graphic details of the attempt as you can view them in the original piece should you be so inclined.

_______________

Religious freedom argued

In court, the man's lawyer, Douglas Christie, argued the man's desire to fulfil his religious duty negated any criminal intent.

And in her ruling issued on Wednesday, Judge Marion Allan found the man not guilty on charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, saying the man did not seriously harm the boy and the razor blade was not used as a weapon.

But the judge also ruled the child could not have consented to the operation and the father should have known he needed a trained professional to perform it — especially given his own first-hand experience — and found him guilty of negligence causing bodily harm.

"Indeed his motivations could be characterized as selfish or even deluded insofar as he believed that he was unable to live in his home at Passover with any uncircumcised male, including his four-year-old son," wrote the judge in her ruling.

The man's lawyer is reportedly considering an appeal on constitutional grounds, and a sentence has yet to be handed down.

Amazing.

Freakin' amazing . . . .

"Take Off the Pajamas," You Lefties . . . .

2009-10-12T12:19:00.003-07:00

Ya'll got all excited 'bout the prez comin' to the HRC dinner and makin' promises, didn't ya'?

Well, since you're part of what one White House advisor refers to as the "internet left fringe" ya' might wanna put the champagne and noisemakers away for a bit:

Partial transcript of Harwood:

Sure but If you look at the polling, Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the “internet left fringe” Lester. And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.

No word as to who the "White House advisor" is, but perhaps he also advises stevie harper on fringe groups . . . . .

Glenn Greenwald has more.

Squid TV Coming to Your Tube ? ? ? ?

2009-10-08T12:58:00.004-07:00

Are there no depths Goldman Sachs - or as Matt Taibbi refers to them: "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money" - will not go in the pursuit of power and $$$?

Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge has the story of GS' involvement in CanWest via financial and programming decisions. Amazing, but true:

Why Is Goldman Advising CanWest On Its Programming Line Up?

_______________

(Quoting from a Globe and Mail article):

Goldman Sachs sees no reason to revisit its arrangement with CanWest, which has been blessed by Canadian regulators, according to several sources close to the investment dealer.

To date, Goldman executives have not been invited into restructuring talks, a subject of considerable frustration at the investment bank, sources say. Financiers working with Goldman said that over the past year, the investment bank put forward programming ideas for the TV networks, and offered strategic advice on restructuring, but was ignored by CanWest management and its creditors.

One concept that’s been tossed around, but couldn’t move forward until CanWest recapitalization was set, would see Goldman Sachs provide programming and financial support to the conventional television network as part of a larger deal that reworks the entire ownership structure to more closely align all the TV holdings.

_______________

Earmuff time: why the fuck is Goldman even considered to provide "programming ideas and support?" Granted this is a case where the firm obviously has extensive and deep tentacle reach, however it is the biggest Canadian media company. And if Goldman can act with impunity to determine what the channel line up and who can and who can't be on TV, does this not raise a huge ethical problem straight out of modern version of "1984"? Although CNBC anchors can rest assured that if the Comcast deal does work out and they all end up jobless, there will be a willing home for them to spin their propaganda.

Also if this is true for CanWest, just where else does Goldman Sachs provide "programming idea" advice? Granted, the gullible audience does not care as it is brainwashed into the next massive paradigm, be it securitization part 2, or "buy, buy, buy any stock on the dips," in fact max out your credit cards just so you can own the next pets.com for the short period of time before even that is worth zero. After all, those fine TV people said so, compliments of Goldman's TV station content line up brigade.

My hope is that the Canadian public will pay attention to this chilling development in broadcasting. A friend of mine here whom I respect greatly in "all things Canadian" (and you know who you are) told me: "Unfortunately, Canadians have lived with media concentration for so long we take it for granted."

I hope that's not the case . . . .

H/T Joylene

The More Things Change . . . .

2009-10-01T12:02:00.007-07:00

Since there is not a whole lot of current television programming that is worth the time to watch, recently I've been checking out DVDs from the local Vancouver Public Library. Yes, one of those "Socialist" organizations - Horrors!

At any rate, this week I've been re-viewing Series #1 of "The West Wing" from 1999. Now that was television - not the crap that passes today. The following audio clip is from an episode entitled "Take Out the Trash Day" in which C.J. Craig - the White House press secretary - is talking to parents of a young gay man who died from a hate crimes attack. C.J. is attempting to enlist the parent's support and presence at President Bartlett's signing of hate crimes legislation.

Ten years later not a whole lot has changed . . . .

bishop Kiddie Porn . . . .

2009-09-30T12:36:00.004-07:00

Another of pope bennie's jerks makes the news.

CBC reports today:

Former N.S. bishop charged with possession of child porn
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - CBC

A former Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia is facing child pornography charges.

Raymond Lahey, the former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is known as the man who oversaw a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese dating back to 1950.

He was returning to Canada from the United States when he was arrested at the Ottawa Airport last week after members of the Canada Border Services Agency performed a random check of his laptop computer.

Lahey has been charged with distributing and selling child pornography. No court date has been set.

_______________

On Saturday, Lahey, 69, announced his resignation as bishop of the Antigonish diocese, which the Vatican accepted.

"We are grateful to him for his dedicated and generous service to the diocese," said Anthony Mancini, archbishop of Halifax, in a statement on Saturday.

In a letter to parishioners, Lahey said he needed time for "personal renewal."

I'm guessing some of that "personal renewal" may be renewing acquaintances with an attorney or two from those settlement days. Those were good times, weren't they, raymond?

Poor bennie.

His jerks just keep messin' up . . . .

Moyers Takes on dickhead armey . . . .

2009-09-27T12:52:00.005-07:00

A Bill Moyers essay last week on the Washington, DC "wrong"-wing protest, and dick armey's involvement in it.

Moyers takes armey to task at 3 minutes into the video, with particular emphasis on armey's own publicly-funded health care.

What is it about repugs named "dick"; armey, cheney, nixon, etc.?

Did their parents have advance knowledge of what their offspring would grow up to be ? ? ? ?

Stealth Public Option . . . .

2009-09-24T14:08:00.005-07:00

This one from SF Gate is too good to edit or trim down:

The menace of the public option

M.C. Blakeman | Saturday, September 19, 2009

Of all the current assaults on our noble republic, perhaps none is more dangerous than the public option - specifically, the public library option.

For far too long, this menace has undermined the very foundations of our economy. While companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble struggle valiantly each day to sell books, these communistic cabals known as libraries undercut the hard work of good corporate citizens by letting people read their books for free. How is the private sector supposed to compete with free? And just what does this public option give us? People can spend hours and hours in these dens of socialism without having to buy so much as a cappuccino. Furthermore, not only can anyone read books for free in the library, they can take them home, too. They get a simple card that can be used at any library in town. No checking on the previous condition of books they've read. No literacy test. Nothing. Yet, do these libertines of literature let you choose any book you want, anytime you want it? No. Have you ever tried to get the latest best-seller at a public library? They put you on a waiting list for that, my friend. And if you do ask these government apparatchiks a question about a book, they start talking your ear off, and pretty soon they're telling you what to read.

Of course, if you break one of their petty rules and return a book late, you have to pay fines that mount grotesquely each day. Even if you die, your overdue fees keep piling up. Is that not a death tax? How long must the elderly live in fear of burdening their children with these unfair sanctions on their estates?

Don't be fooled for a minute. Somebody has to pay for these "free" libraries, and I'll tell you who it is, pal. Those good ol' suckers, the American taxpayers, that's who.

Have you ever wondered who's really behind this public library option? And don't you think it's fishy that they mask their nefarious activities with benign-sounding names, like Friends of the Library? What's their real agenda - and why do they have so many "volunteer" meetings, anyway?

No, my fellow Americans. We cannot wait until we're all goose-stepped into a massive book checkout line. This assault on capitalism and our very way of life has got to end. Be subversive ... burn your library card! Go out and buy a book!

Forewarned is forearmed!

To the gunwales!

Don't let the Socialists get away with this attack on capitalism ! ! ! !

H/T Lloyd

Remembering Robert . . . .

2009-09-21T16:20:00.004-07:00

The Braidwood Inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski resumes tomorrow.

Today's "24 Hours-Vancouver" had an interview with Robert's mother, Zofia Cisowski. Excerpts are below:

Who was Robert Dziekanski?
Polish immigrant killed at YVR remembered as a 'fantastic person'
By MATT KIELTYKA | September 21, 2009

A faint smile crept into Zofia Cisowski's face - but only for a moment.

It's a smile that has appeared far too rarely since her son, Robert Dziekanski, died on the floor of the Vancouver International Airport after being jolted by multiple Taser shots Oct. 14, 2007.

But as much as his death - and ensuing inquiry into the circumstances around it - has shredded Cisowski's life, she can't hide her maternal pride when thinking about her boy.

_______________

She raised Robert on her own in the town of Gliwice in southern Poland and worked long hours to support her lone child.

Late shifts were always risky propositions behind the Iron Curtain. She had to sneak around in the dead of night, taking shelter in the shadows of every building on her way home to avoid being caught breaking curfew.

At the age of 10, Robert may have been too young to understand his mom's stress and fear.

But he knew enough.

"He saw that I was over-worked," Cisowski reminisced, that smile beginning to show itself again. "That's when he made his first meal, crepes.

"He forgot to add eggs, but everything else was right. He added onions and pepper and everything," she said, eyes shimmering. "I was very thankful he would do something for me. That when I came back from work I would have something to eat. I will never forget that."

That was Robert, always willing to help.

"He would give people everything he had," Cisowski said. "He had a good heart."

Iwona Kosowska, a long-time neighbour of Robert, says that picture of Robert needs to endure.

She remembers him as a "fantastic person."

The two would spend hours in the garden together and Robert would play with her daughter.

"That's how he was and it won't change," she told 24 hours. "This is simply the truth."

Kosowska was livid when she was put on the hot seat at Braidwood Inquiry earlier this year as lawyers asked her about Robert's past, health and whether he had drinking and smoking problems.

To her, it was a thinly veiled smear campaign.

"Can we stop this line of questioning?" she pleaded during her testimony March 30. "You are trying to make a bad person out of him, which means that you can kill a bad person but you cannot kill a good person. I'm fed up. I'm not going to answer any more questions. How can you?

_______________

That's why the heart-broken mother speaks of the Robert she knew and loved.

"He had a very good heart, that's the most important thing," she maintains, as determined as ever. "He never did anyone any harm, he was a good person. But in this world, it's the good people that get taken away from us."

Robert, a good person who did no harm, dead for no good reason.

Gives one pause . . . .

Trudeau Inducted into Queer Hall of Fame . . . .

2009-09-20T10:12:00.006-07:00

We owe a lot to this man, and now he's an inaugural inductee into the Queer Hall of Fame.

From today's Star:

'Queer' hall of fame inducts Pierre Trudeau

September 20, 2009 | Terri Theodore | The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER–Pierre Trudeau's flamboyance and tendency to provoke debate often landed him in controversy and those traits have now landed him in the Queer Hall of Fame.

Trudeau is one of five inaugural inductees into the newly established hall, along with Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury and three other long-time activists in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

The former prime minister was a key figure in decriminalizing homosexuality and his famous partial quote – "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation" – helped convince Parliament to pass the law in 1969.

_______________

Vancouver had two of it's own inductees into the Hall:

_______________

Janine Fuller, an author and manager of the Little Sisters Book Store in Vancouver, and Robert Kaiser, also known as drag queen Joan-E, round out the list of this year's inductees.

Fuller has been a long-time activist for freedom of speech and equality.

Kaiser, an entertainer and activist, was the first drag queen ever awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, for his volunteering and fundraising efforts in support of people with HIV and AIDS.

The former Prime Minister was also generous enough to produce his son, Justin.

Thanks for everything . . . .

"No HST" Rally in Vancouver . . . .

2009-09-19T16:11:00.018-07:00

Today was the initial rally in BC for those opposing the HST or Harmonized Sales Tax. There were about 15 rallies taking place today across the province and I attended the Vancouver affair held outside the new convention centre.

Premier gordo campbell and his LINO* party has seen fit to initiate this program next year in the province without having the integrity to advise the voters prior to his re-election in May of this year.

Good job, gordo.

If your're not familiar with the program, you can check the chief economist of TD Bank's review here and here. Here is an anti-HST site of interest, also.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for a protest rally and the organizers put the Vancouver attendance at between 4 - 5,000. It will be interesting to see the MSM's estimates.

One of the great things about this gathering was the "harmony" of opposing viewpoints. Political parties from the Communist Party to the Libertarian Party, and organizations representing senior citizens and students.

I guess gordo has unified something in BC, anyway.

Opposition.

Beautiful day for a protest rally

The crowd

Typical sign

Bill Vander Zalm, former Socred premier

Carole James, NDP Leader

Vicki Huntington, Independent MLA

Our West End MLA, Spencer Herbert

Ellen Woodsworth, COPE City Councillor

Chris Delaney, Deputy Leader, BC Conservatives

My favourite sign:

Don't ya' just love it ? ? ? ?

* Liberal in name only

UPDATE on gordo's popularity.