The Terrorism Calendar - Yours, Mine and Theirs

How much time should we devote to pondering Islamic radicalism? What will you contribute in the effort to contain, if not defeat the fanatical terrorists of this world? Anything? ... Nothing?

Our family has never shied from the subject before 9/11 or since. Now, as our daughter is about to deploy to Afghanistan with the Canadian Forces, we accept the fact that our interest will be moving to a higher level of concern. The news on Friday that we lost another soldier in A-Stan to a roadside I.E.D. discourages me from my usual topics for Blog articles. Today I feel compelled to pay humble tribute to a few non-combatants who have sacrificed far more than most in the struggle to contain Islamic Fascism, or those who generously work to make life better for the unfortunate.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is a brave man and a Hero. The doctor has shown great courage and generosity of spirit by setting aside time from his lucrative medical practice in order to disseminate the simple truth: Islamic Fascism is relentless and it will never call a halt to the evil campaign to destroy our way of life.

Doctor M. Zuhdi Jasser is an extremely brave man. I read his profile in the current issue of the Jewish Tribune and was persuaded to look him up. Jasser is a Muslim American who disagrees with the Middle East policies of America's first Muslim President, Barack Hussein Obama. Jasser, though an orthodox Sunni, is a fierce and vocal opponent of radical Islamic militants, men he terms "Fascists" and accuses of wrapping their bloody expansionist political agenda with the green cloak of Islam. Jasser decided to distribute his potent warning in the form of a video entitled THE THIRD JIHAD. I encourage you to at least view the free 30 minute preview which on Google Video here.

Dr. Jasser has been vilified by professional apologists for the Jihadist agenda - no surprise there. Frequently their attempts at rebuttal begin by dismissing his message and his research as "a joke" or "humorous" but in every case that is the precursor to a bitter and personal attack. Jasser, though he looks mild in the photo, has great courage. He openly publishes contact information, including where he works, and shares photos of his family online. Compare that with the cowards at MACLEAN'S magazine who worked to suppress the Jyllands Posten editorial cartoons, or AIR CANADA which refused to carry any magazine which did publish them.

The Hapless Victim Card
If your search for meaningful information is confined to the local newspaper or just listening to an "anchor" reading a teleprompter, you're harming your personal interests. The interests of Big Media does not coincide with your right to unfiltered streams of source information and it never will. For example, why in June did ALL of the Canadian news editors allocate acres of podium space for the "Stranded Canadian" story? Why the sickening determination to shape another "victim" story a la Maher Arar travesty? Well now that Abousfian Abdelrazik has parleyed his passport and his media card into celebrity, the untouchable operative is back in Montreal after cooling his heels for six years in Sudan. What are his views on Al-Qaeda today? Ask him some questions... he'll tell you some lies.

GITMO and the braying donkeys of discontent
For several years we Canadians have endured frequent denunciations of the conditions at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the alleged “unlawful” confinement of Islamic militants. Spokesmen for the Islamic resurgence, including publicity addicted parliamentarians and big city politicians brayed like donkeys, demanding that the evil Bush government close GITMO and free the “innocent” detainees. Canadians were fed on little more than recycled ACLU press releases. For a dose of reality, invest five minutes to read this N.Y. Post article published on June 7. It accuses the military, with justification, of allowing GITMO to become "more madrassa than prison camp".

Meanwhile Senator Obama promised voters that he would decommission GITMO if elected President. Well in mid-May we learned (from a leaked document) that many of the released detainees have rejoined the Jihad and are plotting new attacks. The leak made the White House very nervous indeed, and it took the Pentagon several days to confirm what the intelligence breach revealed - “that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terrorist activities after claiming they weren't terrorists.” Why the nervousness? Don’t these ex-detainees confirm by their actions that they are “lying” as well as “murderous” Jihadists? Well yes and no. It turns out that the White House has poured millions of American taxpayer dollars into building a half-way house in Saudi Arabia, where ex-GITMO prisoners might be groomed for release back into the general Saudi population. That high priority program has proven to be an abysmal failure, and as a result a similar facility for Yemen is now on hold. The Obama White House seems no different than its predecessor when it comes to toadying up to the feudal potentates who rule Saudi Arabia. The Saudis will never be held accountable for the mishandling of GITMO detainees released into their custody.

If you can believe it, the critics of counter terror operations are not concerned that tigers have been set loose. They quibble over the news that "only 74" GITMO prisoners seem to have returned to terror cells. "Some argue the alleged 14 percent rate is inflated, as it is based on a definition of "militant activity" so broad as to include merely associating with terrorists." [That's why the Toronto/Montreal media issued Abousfian Abdelrazik a free pass. The suggestion is he merely "associated" with terrorists. He didn't personally blow anyone's legs off.] "Others say the figure compares favorably with the 68 percent recidivism rate for US criminals." Now there's perspective for you!

Which brings me to Said Ali Al Shihri, who was freed from Guantanamo in 2007. This fellow, who denied his crimes and who was provided with an American lawyer, pro-bono, was one of those released into Saudi custody. He and his cohorts then easily slipped away. Al Shihri crossed into Yemen in 2007 to take the post of Deputy Leader of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula. He has already participated in fresh terror operations. To make the point, he posed for a staff photo with other regional commanders, which was released to rub Washington's nose in its failure to dissaude him from committing his life to Jihad. Most recently Al Shihri was implicated in the murder of a group of German Christians and a Korean who were abducted in Yemen in mid-June. (They were all members of a Dutch international medical charity.) The bodies of three nurses were found almost immediately and the German intelligence services announced that they believe the others, including children have been murdered.

Why Al-Qaeda? Why German civilians? Because the Germans have deployed troops to fight militant Islam and are committed to standing with the U.S. and Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. The Taliban has no ability to mount acts of terror in Germany or other NATO countries, but they rely on Al-Qaeda to hit us where we are vulnerable - such as targetting the thousands of Christian lay workers who serve in Muslim territories.

German nurses Rita Stumpp, left, and Anita Gruenwald were kidnapped while returning from an outing to a farm in Yemen. As a warning to Christians who believe they have the right to run projects in Muslim countries, they along with their Korean friend Eom Young-san (above) were executed in a field near the Yemeni capital. Each young woman was shot twice in the head. The photo of the Korean woman is taken from the Blog she kept until the week of her murder. I found it rather troubling to view the happy photos of an obviously giving person, who was oblivious of the fact that evil men were planning to take her life.
Terrorist cell in Yeman pose for a staff photo, 2008. Center-left is Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi; far right and marked with an (X) is Said Ali al Shihri, one of the released Guantanamo P.O.W.s. (Photo source - Nick Grace) The Yemeni newspaper reports I've read attempt to disassociate Al-Qaeda from the abduction and murder of the nine volunteer charity workers. However the two tribesmen offered as scapegoats do not convince. This was not a kidnapping for ransom. It was murder orchestrated to terrorize foreign charities, and it has worked.

DISTRICT 9 - The genesis of Neill Blomkamp's dystopian allegory

I'm old enough now that I can draw circles around genres which once excited publishers and Hollywood agents, but which were just as quickly discarded. Can you recall for instance, the sinister South African gangsters and rogue Apartheid agents who once populated movies like Lethal Weapon 2 and books like VORTEX the Larry Bond thriller?
The genre exploded in the late 1980s when the Soviet Union collapsed and fiction producers were suddenly desperate to find a viable alternative to the KGB. The nemesis for the 90s had to be a viable stereotype, and one which was hated by a broad demographic. Apartheid-era South Africans were perceived as vile villains who fit the Bill. They were after all, sophisticated, cunning, privileged and desperate to survive.

Well sir, our world changed too quickly. The mafia emerged as the new Russian strongmen and Muslim terrorists were a gift to our pop culture, scarier than the KGB ever was. As for the Republic of South Africa, the A.N.C. regime is already into its third president and a couple of million black kids were born under A.N.C. slogans and promises. Those who didn't like "the New South Africa" simply left, and now constitute an extremely tame diaspora in their adoptive countries. That said, a South African born Canadian has just crafted his first feature film, and his unique vision might trigger something akin to a new genre. That would be fun !Where CHARLIE JADE , the Canadian-funded South African television series failed, perhaps DISTRICT 9 the riskier Science Fiction - allegory may just succeed in stirring our imagination.

In 2005 Neill Blomkamp and friends crafted a six minute short called ALIVE IN JOBURG. The server couldn't keep up with the demand and the film became an Internet phenomenon. Peter Jackson was impressed and invited Blomkamp to try the creative atmosphere in New Zealand.

PART ONE: Original Sin

Neill Blomkamp arrived in Vancouver, B.C. with a South African high school diploma and a burgeoning talent for computer graphics. It seems he was not born with "original sin" as his family had avoided the taint of active participation in the organs of "White Rule". Neill never could wash the R.S.A. out of his hair, and so after some training here in computer VFX he secured steady employment and made it a personal priority to return to his native land each summer and discuss creative collaboration with young filmmakers who had stayed behind.

My research into Blomkamp's life shows that he has surprising depth, and that he will not shy from social issues that would crucify less sure men. With this movie, DISTRICT 9, Blomkamp is engaging in political allegory every bit as clever and biting as George Orwell pulled off with ANIMAL FARM several decades ago. We are witnessing a creative concept which is unique and possibly significant.

A production still from DISTRICT 9, a low budget Science Fiction - Allegory produced by Director Peter Jackson. The movie goes into general release on August 14. The INDEPENDENCE DAY type Alien spacecraft of Blomkamp's 2005 short, has been replaced by vessels equally sinister looking.

When SONY announced this project back in November of 2007, I was impressed by Blomkamp's tenacity and skill at getting the "Big Boys" to trust his creative judgement. The Fan Blogs are currently busy scraping up every studio dangle or minute clue needed to assemble a prediction of what this movie will look like. It is clear that the viral marketing campaign for the film has only succeeded in creating confusion, which is never a good thing in marketing. (see for example this site) A few leaked photos from the production show us a small outdoor set representing the entrance gate to DISTRICT 9. They confirm that production money was very tight, as does the Casting which was also very low budget.

We were told that Blomkamp co-wrote the DISTRICT 9 script with "his partner" Terri Tatchell. Now that's rather extraordinary. Blomkamp is certainly a wunderkind, but Ms. Tatchell has no S.F. track record whatsoever, except in her relations with Blomkamp. Tatchell attended the Vancouver Film School in 2001, earning her diploma in Writing for Film, Television & New Media. She then got a job at Rainmaker Studio under the late Bob Scarabelli, and was designated as Rainmaker's "Industry Relations Co-ordinator". At the same time she joined the Board of the Vancouver chapter of Women in Film and Television. (She served one term as its President but is no longer a member.) This thumbnail photo, which dates to 2003, is still archived on the WIFTV web page:It was at Rainmaker that Terri met Neill, who was then employed in VFX. She has no experience with Science Fiction and probably no cultural knowledge of South Africa beyond what she has picked up through Neill. Tatchell's best known creative effort is actually a stage play written for high school students, which is added to the curriculum of some schools because it teaches kids about the legal fight to gain Canadian women the vote. It's called "Woman Idiot Lunatic Criminal" and tells the story of a girl transported back to 1910 to meet her Suffragette great-grandmother. (The story takes its name from the awkward wording of the Canada Elections Act of 1918.) I'm not trying to pick on the lady but the truth is that while Neill was sequestered for most of last year directing the movie, Tatchell was back here in B.C. involved in her own thing. I can't believe she added much to the movie project, but who knows?

In PART TWO of this article I plan to comment on some of the creative aspects of DISTRICT 9.

UPDATE: It seems that the makers of DISTRICT 9 have themselves shill over on Wikipedia. In my naivete (When will I EVER learn?) I decided to contribute a few helpful sentences to the Wiki page that was created for this flic. In FOUR minutes some creepy wiki-guardian had removed my contribution. Some techno-Hobbit down in New Zealand perhaps.

"British Columbia or Columbia?" - THE ECONOMIST

The B.C. drug culture and trigger happy Narco-thugs continue to give our province a sorry-ass reputation in the Global media. The most recent example of ugly headlines is in the current edition of THE ECONOMIST. Here is how it begins:

If you wish to read the entire article, here is the jump: BRITISH COLUMBIA OR COLUMBIA? So if we are being compared to Columbia, what has been happening below the equator this week? Here is a taste:

Actresses perform among a display photos of people allegedly murdered or abducted by Colombia's security forces and paramilitary groups. The event was a part of a protest against state violence held in Bogota, Colombia on May 29, 2009. (AP Photo)

Since our federal police have not seen the need to organize anything resembling a Columbian death squad, and even the looniest of our left-anarchist "activists" have yet to resort to kidnapping, it is obvious that the ECONOMIST is punching below the belt.

S.F.U. Graduate Film Screening 2009

Simon Fraser University has one of the busiest film schools in B.C., and an even more versatile program is in the offing. The January 2010 session will see a legion of very lucky novice filmmakers moving into spanking new digs at the SFU production facility being fitted with state-of-the-art gear, in downtown Vancouver.

On April 30th I had the pleasure of attending the "31st Annual" SFU Grad Film screening at Granville Cinema 7. The event showcased the creative talent of the last crop of students to use the old gear on the Burnaby Mountain campus. The evening offered an entertaining melody of 19 mini-movies which in turn charmed, dazzled and sometimes bemused. SFU Film Instructor Colin Browne admitted up front that they're not exactly sure this was the "31st annual screening" (the department flew by the seat of its pants in the late '70s), but they're pretty sure.

My ticket came courtesy of my son, a third year film student who worked on four of the films I would enjoy - as a sound designer, grip/dolly grip, a cast member or as sound recordist. I enjoyed every film, but I wouldn't be human if I didn't compare and sort my viewing into mental folders. That's part of the fun.

CATECHISM, by Jessica Moorhouse, was an obvious crowd-pleaser. It is the story of a young lass who struggles to reconcile her carnal urges with the dictates her "Catholic" upbringing. (The Ten Commandants are reduced to four ... it's a West Coast thing.) While I was a tad bemused by the mixing of the Catholic confessional with frequent dissolves into a Baptist-style angst over "what the Bible sez", I found CATECHISM a genuine laugh fest. The entire audience loved Jessica's casting of a Bobble-Head Jesus.

SQUADRON 5 was a brave attempt at a Science Fiction epic, and the hard work of Director Barry Liu shows throughout. Squadron 5 was also the only story film not produced in English. It was my first exposure to a Cantonese S.F. movie (with English subtitles) and it is evidence of the multicultural flavour of the Simon Fraser campus, although not enough Chinese youths choose film making. Mr. Google tells me that Al Leung, one of the actors featured in SQUADRON 5, has a webpage.

BOXED IN could have been produced by American International Pictures in the 1970's. Instead the splatter-comedy script had to wait for Kial Natale to be born and to choose film school. The movie a real hoot and the audience loved it. I don't know if the old guy who played Santa Claus was a professional actor or a talented rubby-dub the Director found on Hastings Street, but he was sure fun to watch.

There is a perky trailer posted for the Grad Film Screening. It's found at: http://www.sfufilm.ca/4thyear/ There can be no doubt that several of the 2009 graduate films are going to be entered in film festivals, where I hope you will encounter them.

Kim Bolan exposes a dangerous ex-Mountie

Suddenly Vancouver gang reporting is less boring. I urge you to read Kim Bolan in THE VANCOUVER SUN today: "Ex-cop allegedly pretended to be IHIT member to locate Bacon brothers". We knew that local gangs had infiltrated the real estate industry, that they have lawyers, accountants and even members of the Canadian Border Service on their payroll... but here is something of greater enormity - the precedent of a turned cop begins to make the storyline of local gang wars begin to smell like the legal debacle over the AIR INDIA terrorism case. Once again there is no clear delineation between the good and the bad. Mr. Sidhu needs to get his side of the story before the public, perhaps through a lawyer, because this story has pinned him to the mat.

Ms. Bolan has so thoroughly "outed" Mr. Sidhu today, on the first strafing of her target, that it appears she believes Sidhu is guilty of darker deeds than merely breaching RCMP operational security. That is my impression but you should read the article and form your own conclusions.

This Vancouver SUN graphic accompanies Kim Bolan's hard-hitting page one article. She strips away the official secrecy surrounding the prosecution of disgraced Mountie Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu.

Rapinder (Bob) Sidhu... once an ornament of RCMP "minority hiring"... eleven years an RCMP officer... resigned from the force in July 2003 as a result of domesticate violence complaints... charged with fraud soon thereafter, and known to associate with gang figures... Bolan paints a very murky picture, and then she dismantles Sidhu's front operation - a supposed Private Investigations business called IMAX Investigational Group.

Sidhu posed as a serving officer to successfully breach RCMP security on July 31, 2007 ... was charged in January 2008.... and will finally have his case presented in court on June 17.

Ms. Bolan, while serving a generous dollop of information, including the fact that Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu "had been an undercover operator" while serving in the RCMP, leaves many pertinent questions unanswered. Did Constable Sidhu work undercover here in B.C.? Did Sidhu contribute anything of consequence to the Air India Task Force (acknowledged to be Ms. Bolan's journalistic bailiwick) and if not, what important cases does he carry in his memory? And most important, had any Vancouver Sun reporters ever been briefed by Constable Sidhu or his immediate RCMP coworkers, during those eleven years he served with the Force? Bolan knows virtually every Sikh in Vancouver who has worn a badge, or timed out, so it would be useful to know her earlier impressions of Rapinder Sidhu. Such details have a bearing on how he has been handled to date, and how he will be dealt with in court.

P.M. UPDATE : I thought to take a peak at Ms. Bolan's blog, and I note that she specifies that Sidhu worked on drug cases. Bolan also says, and this is interesting..."I tried to get Sidhu, calling his home and even driving out there Friday evening to knock on his door and leave a note requesting an interview when no one answered. I did finally get a call back from his lawyer Matt Nathanson, who said Sidhu is presumed innocent and will defend the accusations in court. I'll be watching that trial."Mr. Sidhu is now represented by lawyer Matthew Nathanson, a legal beagle frequently mentioned in Bolan crime stories.

The New Mounties and Reefer Madness

Maintiens Le Droit... "Uphold the law". It's the official motto of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and, until recently, the reliable code of constable conduct. They're stern words from a sterner era. Most military and police units in our nation's history preferred to use Latin phrases on their badges but when John A. Macdonald deployed N.W.M.P. troopers to quell the Louis Riel's rebellious Metis, the Mountie motto was French. So it remains, as does the "iconic" red serge tunic.

Here in B.C., with a boring provincial election underway, at least one party is advocating something novel - the cancellation of long standing Federal policing contracts and the reinstatement of the old B.C. Provincial Police. Jane Sterk, leader of the B.C. Green Party added that little gem to the Green plartform, along with a banning of Tasers. The predictable response of Gordon Campbell, Liberal party boss was "The fact of the matter is the RCMP is the provincial police force and it does an extremely good job across the province." Gordo will never discuss any idea which his own policy wonks did not originate. A pity that, because if the gold plated security component of the 2010 Olympics Budget shows us anything, it is that the real cost of federal troopers is unsustainable in the 21st Century.
You'll find a taste of the bitter truth reported in todays SUN: "Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit has announced it will pay $79.8 million for three cruise ships to house about 5,000 security personnel in Vancouver during the 2010 Games."
This doctored image, created by Taylor Rivard for his "Proud Smoke" cannabis webpage , depicts the RCMP insignia modified to reflect the current hiring policy of Canada's national police force.

One of the most popular Vancouver news stories last week was a piece written by Chad Skelton for the SUN [April 13]. It described Mr. Amyn Dharamshi, the inept ex-Mountie who lost his fat wallet back in 2005, which contained his RCMP ID, a baggie of marijuana, a package of Zig Zag cigarette papers and his "RCMP student-loan documents". (Who even knew there was such a thing an RCMP student loan!) The tattling tale, sans photo of course, was the delight of the Internet. Dharamshi was "suspended with pay"and used the appeals process for four years (on salary) before finally resigning. What I found astounding was not that he smoked dope or lied about it, but that he tried to implicate his brother, whom he claimed had "borrowed his wallet for a few days". There was an avalanche of opinion-posting when the story appeared, but the Net-signature is fast evaporating, and soon you will need the Wayback Machine to excavate the bones.

The wretched Dharamshi story must be assessed in combination with a CBC report which was published two weeks earlier, because the two are directly related. I say "published," but hasten to add that it was completely ignored by other media. An internal memo acquired by the CBC has revealed that RCMP recruiters will now "permit consideration of mitigating factors in all cases of criminal activity, which may include drug trafficking, etc." In other words we are living in a country where the heavily armed illegal drug industry has the upper hand, but also where the national police cannot manage to find recruits who have lived a life without illegal substances.

Screen shot of the March 27th CBC story revealing that RCMP recruiters no longer plans to exclude all drug users from serving on the force.


I have a big problem with the current decline in RCMP culture. Watering the vintage to serve a self absorbed population is unacceptable. I for one have never used any illegal drug, including marijuana, and I am proud of having lived my life with no more serious encounter with the police than a few speeding tickets. Quite frankly, we should be able to expect that an officer who approaches the car window has a character equal to, if not exceeding our own. That is not too much to ask. The RCMP and the poll-addicted politicians have to understand that if they lose the trust and cooperation of my generation, it matters not if they regain physical control of the streets. We have a thousand subtle or subversive ways of expressing our dissatisfaction with public employees who have lost their way. All of them legal.

A crowd of 5000 (VPD estimate) gathered in solidarity for National Pot Smoking Day, the "420" protest in Vancouver, held on Monday afternoon. The banner reads "HELP MAKE CANNABIS THE LOWEST POLICE PRIORITY". Clearly that was the case, as uniformed VPD officers politely observed the happy assembly.

TV Video of yesterday's "420 protest" was broadcast at noon today and it was obvious that the happy crowd was dragging extra hard on their cannabis in order to produce an impressive cloud of smoke. Bravo! Perhaps they could be persuaded to re-assemble and perform the feat at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics. Now that is a stunt which would garner their cause some "World Class" media coverage, and for only a half hour of effort. They already know the VPD and RCMP will not intervene. Legal precedent is truly a modern marvel.

Fear and Loathing in Vancouver

Vancouver's gang war, the UN Gang vs Red Scorpions, got boring, so I had stopped commenting on it months ago. The police chief recently admitted on camera that local politicians had been twisting his arm, demanding he not admit what all the bodies in the gutter imply... that it is a war. Many of you get your daily drip of gore from the Vancouver SUN, which gooses each edition with crime news, and links news coverage to Bolan's Blog on the same website. The SUN is now requiring writing staff to participate in building a web-presence for the paper. The inevitable is just over the horizon. The expensive printing and distribution crews will get their pink slips... look for it in 2012, and the paper will go to online subscription.



This morning's SUN story on the Bacon family appearing at the courthouse, featured handsome Jarrod Bacon looking like he wanted to audition for a part in a Bond movie. His photo prompts an anecdote shared with me last week by a Grade 12 student who had just taken his Transitions Exit Interview, a process required by the B.C. curriculum. The student wanted to impress, so he bought a new suit and had his hair cut for the interview. He told me that when he walked into the room the first words out of the teacher's mouth were, "Wow, you look just like a UN gang member!"

I found his story a tad funny because it indicates an apparent shift in local perceptions of criminality. We have a whole new image of what might now be making many local women jittery. Good looking young men... those who keep themselves fit and are well groomed and well dressed, may now be deemed physically threatening.

This begs the question, "What is the investigative profile of the man who killed Wendy Ladner-Beaudry at Pacific Spirit Park last Friday?" The brutal death of Ms. Ladner, who was a member of Vancouver's ruling elite, has shocked fellow residents of the West Side, those who have always believed that money and class insulated them from the more sordid aspects of Vancouver's social evolution. Are the police looking for some bedraggled, long haired transient, or are the looking for some buffed up young bloke, who was seen in expensive runners and designer sunglasses? Ms. Ladner's husband insists that his wife would have met any attacker with a barrage of blows. It was interesting to read that, in spite of their being overtaxed by almost daily gang killings, the V.P.D. was able to deploy 75 officers and 20 vehicles to the scene of Ms. Ladner's murder, and maintain those assignments ever since. Apparently we have more law enforcement capability than we've been told.

And what to make of the recent Paul Rogers story "FROM HEAVEN TO HELL" published in the THE INDEPENDENT ? (Many opinions held by Vancouver residents are posted online under Rogers' article. Have a read.) Rogers, a visiting scholar at SFU, bit into some tender political flesh with that story. Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell offered reporters an identical denunciation - "a cheap shot", apparently annoyed that foreign media are unwilling to fall into lockstep with the local media.

Mr. Beaudry, who is distraught and angry, told the Vancouver Courier "If there's any good in this, it's that we can't give in to terror. We can't fold. Terror is a great tool, but we can't let terror take over."

Linda Lorraine Howe (seen here in Dec. 2008 Xmas party photo) alleges that she was allowed to slip through the mesh of Canada's social safety net.

What are we to make of Linda Howe? This is the woman who recently brandished two weapons inside a nursing home at Gibson's B.C., when attendants tried to evict her from a room she was no longer entitled to. Ms. Howe's response was to barricade herself in the room. After shooting an attendant she had to be taken down by a police tactical unit. I can understand how Ms. Howe managed to conceal a small Argentinian auto pistol in her room, but how did she manage to cache a .303 Enfield Rifle?


Linda Lorraine Howe of Gibsons, B.C. was armed with a 7.65 Bersa auto pistol manufactured in Argentina in the 1970s. Which of her beau's was stupid enough to give this gun to a woman with emotional problems?

Ms. Howe has been alleging for years that our "system" has let her down. Which node of the system in particular? DND, ICBC, BC Health, et al. Howe has told anyone who will listen that she is a Canadian "veteran" of the Gulf War, suffering from "post Traumatic Stress Disorder". Her family have told media that she made up the Gulf War service but I read in today's GLOBE AND MAIL that she enrolled in a Vancouver Reserve Unit for a few months in 1990. On the strength of that abortive attempt to fit in, the GLOBE today dubs Ms. Howe a "Veteran". How does someone who doesn't take enough reserve training to get Trade Qualified, warrant the honour of "Veteran"? Gee whiz !

This screen capture is precious, isn't it? Ms. Howe's crimes are deemed "alleged" but the neophyte reporter confirms her supposed status as a "military veteran". (Based on a few months on the nominal roll of reserve unit.) Ouch. I guess we really did let Linda down.