Category Archives: In the News

FINALLY!

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I’ve had such a little bee in my bonnet this past week, feverishly reading Captain’s Quarters about the sponsorship scandal. I really wanted to link to him, and say that the level of corruption in government that’s finally being made more transparent is freaking me right the hell out! Not that I was worried about my paltry 1000 or so visitors a month putting me in harm’s way – but I do try to stay on this side of not breaking the law.

Today, Justice Gomery lifted the publication ban, so I can finally do and say those things!

Except I kindof just did. So no more news from me. But keep reading CQ. I can’t wait to see where this goes and how big the shitstorm becomes.

Also, if you’re like me, and tend to tune out 80% of politics until we have to vote on something, this is probably a good time to tune back in. We may have to vote again soon.

Hockey Schmockey

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I predict that Canada will lose very, very badly at the upcoming World Championships.

It makes me wonder how much the current NHL players really play for the love of “Canada’s Game” (55-60% of NHL players are Canadian), and how many have been blinded by their multi-million dollar salaries. We keep hearing heartwrenching sound bites about how the mean ol’ league is ruining Canadian hockey (insert patriotic tear here), yet when these athletes are offered an opportunity to play at home representing their game & their country, many have declined.

Vincent Lecavalier and Jose Theodore are the latest two players to pass on playing for Team Canada.

They both cite injury, but managed to fulfil their duties playing for European teams. Steve Yzerman has also declined to play, however he’s been off hockey since the end of last season with an eye injury. That I can understand. The rest of the guys though? I’m disappointed.

I understand that Canadian athletes aren’t exactly well-compensated for their endeavors and efforts, but have our hockey players become such spoiled brats that they can’t be bothered to play if the compensation isn’t high enough? So much for “the love of the game.”

If that’s the case, then they can drop the patriotic good ol’ boy bullshit, and just be honest about being happy being nothing more than another group of millionaire athletes. They should just take a lesson from the pages of the book of Lebron James, and turn up the pimp juice another notch. At least they’d be keepin’ it real.

Movin’ on Up to the West Side

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It’s just been confirmed that the SFU school of contemporary arts will be one of the tenants in the retrofitted Woodward’s building in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, the School of Contemporary Arts has been a long-standing sore-spot among students at SFU. It’s been housed in mouldy portables for the past far-too-many years, which isn’t exactly an atmosphere conducive to creativity and arts development. The new facility downtown will be both updated to provide necessary resources to students and faculty, and will be an ideal spot to inspire arts as a reflection of society by being integrated into the downtown east side neighbourhood. Which is what contemporary arts should really be all about.

However, this will mark SFU’s fifth campus location. There is already a disparity between the “downtown (SFU Harbour Centre & Morris J. Wosk Center for Dialogue Locations on opposite sides of Hastings at Seymour)” vs. “the hill (aka “the hell” in Burnaby)” crowds. Once the SFU Segal School of Business (on Granville at Pender) and the new Contemporary Arts DTES locations are open, I can only see further factions splitting apart.

Something I never really got a strong feeling for during my time at SFU was any sense of community. It’s very different from UBC students I know, who seem to gather together at the SUB frequently (while the SFU pub sits empty and closes early). I haven’t been up there recently to see if the UniverCity has impacted any significant change, but I’d be surprised if it has.

Do you think the relocation of the School of Contemporary Arts will make a difference to the sense of community? Is SFU simply a commuter campus that should stay that way? Should the campus locations make a difference to the sense of community within the school?

Homosex

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There’s an article in The Tyee today about a different stance on the same-sex marriage debate. The author Stan Persky puts out the position that it’s not an argument about marriage, it’s an argument about validating (or not) same-sex sex. Because we all know that the most important part of a marriage is the consummation thereof – and the notion of two same-sex partners doing that, is just ick as far as the Conservatives are concerned.

I’ve thought long and hard about this – wanting to respect both those who hold their religious beliefs strongly, and the obvious rights of any person to marry any other person. I posted my comments on the issue at the bottom of the article, but figured that since (at least I think) it seems like a cohesive and well-written stance, I’d post it here as well, and see what y’all think about it.
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The only real solution at this point is to do away with the institution of “marriage” entirely as a legal entity. Civil Unions for all – man/woman/transgendered or any combination thereof – who wish to benefit from the legal contract of such an arragement. And have them performed or endorsed only by a public service employee (such as the JPs who do it now).

Once the church is no longer legally ordained to endorse “civil unions” they’ll no longer have a leg to stand on in their discrimination of those who are born homosexual. This leaves the church entirely outside a position of being able to deny performing a “marriage” for those it chooses to discriminate against.

It’s time to move beyond teaching “tolerance” of those who may be of a different race/sex/orientation/etc. (which is what the Conservative position of Civil Union vs. Marriage is) and move to a society of ACCEPTANCE that everyone is equal, and deserves an equal set of rights that have no basis on anything other than our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Discuss.

Helping Hands

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I just received an email from Nick about posting a link to promote all of the local events taking place to raise funds for Tsunami disaster relief. Holy cow are there ever a ton of them. Find the official listings here. There are also many bloggers who are trying to find a way to help – and kudos!

The amazing outpouring of generosity and the show of the human spirit at its very best has been overwhelmingly beautiful. And at the same time, I’ve found it phenomenally sad.

Every single person I know has donated something – whether it’s $1 or $100 or more to the Tsunami relief fund. But only a handful of people in my circle make it a habit to be so generous with their time, capital and spirit during the rest of their lives. I know I’ve been guilty of the same thing. I never donated to charities to help the homeless and destitute here at home until I had to walk through the Downtown East Side of Vancouver to get to work every day.

The phenomenon is easy to explain – it’s the oldest advertising trick in the book. Give the people a personal connection to an event or product, and they’ll fall all over themselves to be involved with it. Use this toothpaste and you’ll have a brighter smile and fresher breath and be more successful. Buy these clothes and you’ll snag a fabulous mate. Donate to this cause, and you’ll save both the friend/family member that was affected, and perhaps the world! With Indonesia being such an international vacation destination and the sheer numbers of those affected by the disaster, it’s hard to find someone who wasn’t directly impacted by the event.

It’s much harder to find people who have been impacted by the trouble in the Sudan (where over 50,000 have been killed), or the hurricaine in Haiti earlier this year. What about the thousands of homeless and struggling families right here in our own city that are so easy to ignore as we float above them on the SkyTrain, or drive past them in our cushy SUVs? How about the kids who could really use a big brother or big sister – when’s the last time you volunteered or donated your time, money or goods to help these causes? Have you ever been inspired to organize a fundraiser for any of them?

MSF (Doctors without Borders) has already released statements that they have more than enough funding for their relief efforts in South East Asia. Will you still donate to them for other important efforts? Red Cross representatives have said that managing the well-intentioned but ultimately useless donations of goods is referred to as “The Second Disaster” in the non-profit relief-aid circle. Have those goods made it out of your house yet to organizations such as the Salvation Army that could really use them as the weather turns for the worse?

I’m not trying to slag anyone for anything they have or haven’t done – it’s still an amazingly powerful and inspiring thing that so many around the world are so inspired to give. I’m just trying to say “keep the flame alive.” Use all of this positive giving energy to keep your fundraisers going, and keep up the efforts to donate your time and capital to not only the Tsunami victims in South East Asia, but those who need your help around the world, and right here at home. Find a cause that matters to you, and do your best to strongly support it, not just in times of extreme (and well-publicized) disaster and peril, but all year.

Helpless

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This is so overwhelming it just doesn’t seem real.

I’ve lived in places with smaller populations than the number of dead. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like.

A note to those who want to help: Please give generously if you can, but do your research. For example, more of your donation dollars will go directly to helping those affected with real solutions (such as food and water, instead of religious literature and administration costs) if you give to the Red Cross instead of World Vision. Doctors Without Borders, who have a presence in the area, will be able to more efficiently use donation dollars for medical care than a smaller organization who may have to use a greater percentage of the dollars in order to mobilize. In times of tragedy, it’s easy to want to give so badly that you do it blindly. Do your research, make the choice, and donate where you believe is best.

HOW TO HELP (from Canada.com)

Canadians considering making a financial donation can contact the following established relief organizations or another preferred charity.

Canadian Red Cross: 1-800-418-1111 or www.redcross.ca

Oxfam Canada: 1-800-466-9326 (1-800-GO-OXFAM) or www.oxfam.ca

World Vision Canada: 1-800-268-5528 or www.worldvision.ca

UNICEF Canada: 1-877-955-3111 or www.unicef.ca

Canadian Tamil Congress: 1-416-751-8777

Canadian Relief Organization for Peace in Sri Lanka 1-416-429-2822

Development and Peace: 1-888-664-3387 or www.devp.org

Christian Children’s Fund of Canada: 1-800-263-5437 or www.ccfcanada.ca

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto: 416-631-5705 or www.jewishtoronto.com

Doctors without Borders Canada: 1-800-982-7903 or http://www.msf.ca/

Night Owl

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Translink has just expanded their Night Bus service. Good news for those of us out in the ‘burbs who aren’t super keen on forking out $20 for a cab every time we party downtown a little past 1:00am.

Unfortunately, and I only speak for myself here, those of us who are perhaps not as good at holding our liquor as we would like, aren’t exactly in any condition to navigate Translink if we’re out partying past 1:00am.

Best PR Ever.

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I just got a letter from my bank (CIBC) stating that since I never use my very high maximums for direct payment and cash withdrawls off my ATM card, they’re lowering my limits for these transactions to make me less susceptible to damages should fraud on my account occur.

I’ve never known a financial institution to restrict one’s access to money (especially since they make a bundle of interest off of me with the overdraft I stupidly go into) for whatever reason. I immediately suspected that they knew something I didn’t about my credit. I was initially worried.

But mere hours after I opened the letter, a news story broke about how CIBC’s customers’ information has been mistakenly being faxed to a junkyard in North Virginia – meaning that my account and personal information is in the hands of someone else. This person, luckily, seems to be a little scrupulous – or at the very least, has realized that by keeping the information safe and in good faith, his lawsuit against the bank for putting a strain on his business by faxing incessantly, is much stronger than if he sold it to some identity thief.

Of course, I’m still pissed at the bank. I’m glad I keep fairly meticulous records, and would know if anything were amiss with any of my account. Though this situation is no worse than that time a couple years ago that Royal Bank left boxes of customer information (not shredded or otherwise protected) out by a dumpster to be picked up at some point.

But now, instead of pure, unadulterated rage at the situation, I’m having the reaction that the bank is taking their fraud management seriously and being proactive (even though they’re obviously not), just because I opened the letter before I heard the story.

I’m also farily well schooled in media and propaganda. I did a damn degree in it, so I really should be. I’m just wondering how many other people will be placated by the “new security measures” rather than being as angry as they should about the blatent abuse of their privacy and security.

Lest We Forget

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In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Have you hugged a veteran or soldier today? I have.

Under my Feet

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As you may or may not know, there have been a few minor earthquakes in my corner of the world over the past weeks.

This is not unusual. But I find some of the headlines and taglines journalists are using to segue into the story highly amusing.

A very popular one: “Today the Earth Moved”

My initial thought upon hearing it: “I’d be more worried if it stopped moving.”

Whoop There It Is

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I am not surprised. I also don’t have any strong feelings either way on the issue. Too much damage has been done in the past four years to be undone by either candidate, and only time will tell where America will stand going forward.

I’m just glad that Americans showed up in droves to vote, and make their choice known. Kudos to those who stood in line upwards of 5 hours just to get their ballot counted. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.

Happy American Election Day!

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Today’s the day – all of our neighbours to the south have the right and duty to vote for a new leader of “the most powerful nation on earth.”

Somehow I think that when it comes down to a “leader of the most powerful nation on earth” being chosen – a choice that affects so many more people than just those that live in his/her nation, the rest of us should maybe have a bit of a say in the matter.

But if any of my fellow Canadians (or anyone else on Earth besides Americans) could actually cast your vote – what would it be? According to Global Vote 2004 the winner is decisively John Kerry. Strangely enough though, as much as we collectively seem to prefer him to GWB, some of his economic policies could be pretty damaging to Canada as a nation.

John Kerry believes in economic protectionism. This means issues such as the softwood lumber crisis, the border closures to Canadian beef, the downturn in the once lucrative Canadian film industry, etc. are likely to get worse, rather than better with Kerry in power.

Kerry is also willing to open opportunities for Americans to travel to Canada to purchase prescription drugs. As nice an idea as it is to help out the “poor senior citizens” in the USA, we do have our own citizens to worry about. When you stop and really consider it, does anyone think that it’s a better idea for them to show up and place a burden on our system, instead of fixing their own? And do we really think the drug companies aren’t going to take advantage of the situation and not start price gouging? With the US$ remaining above the CAN$, drug companies could easily make a tidy profit by raising prices enough so that the “new” US consumers can make up the difference for any Canadians who could no longer afford the drugs they need.

As a global citizen, of course I’d be leaning toward voting for “anything that’s not the current administration.” The sheer volume of misinformation, mis-action, and constant blundering by GWB & crew deserves nothing less than impeachment as far as I’m concerned. However, is Kerry actually a better choice? or just a different one? As far as Canada is concerned, I’m not too sure.

Regardless, I’m hoping all of our friends below the 49th will get out and make their choice known. I’ll be at home watching Jon Stewart’s coverage, and wondering what kind of difference it’ll make in my world once it’s all said and done.