THE RUNAGATES CLUB

Jon Ferry skewers the B.C. Teachers Federation - It's time to BAN HOLLYWOOD MOVIES and restore the stolen hours of classroom instruction

2012-01-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Jon Ferry had a very important column yesterday in THE PROVINCE. Ferry skewered the $$$ demands and bargaining tactics of the B.C. Teachers Federation (aka BCTF). Since it is a cliche on the Internet to describe an article as a "Must Read", I'll only say that this column be read and understood by those who, in good faith, pay their taxes to fund Public Education in British Columbia.

The whole METRO VIEW with Jon Ferry column (January 23, 2012) on BCTF demands is quite short. It will only take you five minutes to read and ponder it.

There are many comments published under the story. Here is a sample:
I had clipped and saved an earlier piece written by Mr. Ferry. "B.C.'s Education System Broken, Says Expert in Scathing Book" [The Province Oct. 21, 2011]. He was reviewing a book entitled WORLDS APART: B.C. Schools, Politics, and Labour Relations, Before and After 1972 . It was carefully researched and written by University of Victoria professor Thomas Fleming. He uses a globe girdling sub-title, but it sounds like a rather ballsy book. I wonder if the Public Libraries hereabouts will touch it?? Jon Ferry quotes Fleming's opinion that the Public System is totally dysfunctional and of the stakeholders, "All are bureaucratic in nature, anti-visionary and unimaginative in outlook, prescriptive in behaviour, non-cooperative in manner, anti-technological in practice, and committed to the status quo."

Dysfunctional the public system certainly is. Stupid the Teachers and their labour leaders are not. Cowardly the politicians have always been. The days, weeks and months of classroom instruction in B.C. are now so truncated that they scarcely span six months. No two high schools in the Lower Mainland offer the same instruction or even use the same curriculum materials. And worst of all, the majority of High School teachers, including Math, Chemistry and even Gym teachers, burn up countless hours each year showing Hollywood movies. I have spoken to many, many kids who have never watched a Disney film at home, but can list 6-8 Disney movies they've watched at school.

Those parents who have proposed shaking out the dead wood in the public system need only demand that Movies be banned in B.C. Public Schools. That would drive out a thousand or more "teachers" who have been faking it. You can read that OCT. 21 METRO VIEW article here. You can also find Prof. Fleming's book WORLDS APART here.

Vancouver Hockey Riot - the COMPLETE Photo Archive

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is what they call the "Vancouver riot pose". Find a burning hulk or a smashed plate glass window, and stand in front of it. Then upload it to the drool-pool of your choice. Here is a typical shot of our no-name youth, branded by Calvin Klein and the Vancouver Canucks sports franchise, shown reaching up to be embraced by the Gods of Anarchy.

THE PROVINCE newspaper has just web-published the entire collection of Stanley Cup Riot photos. That is 5,481 images, so if you are going to binge, make a pot of coffee first. My favorite is this one. Is that Devlin? Justin? Ryan? Who cares. We don't need to see the face - we just need to isolate the TYPE. Are there no prisons, no workhouses?

To ponder 5,481 Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot photos click on SWEET ANARCHY.

Pissing on the Taliban - some protest far too much.

2012-01-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

Evan Solomon was in his glory today on CBC TV's Power & Politics, denouncing the U.S. Marines who had the temerity to piss on Taliban dead. Evan thinks it an inappropriate way to shake it off after the killing is done. I guess he thinks Hollywood did it better... back to the hooch to get fried or high, acting the fool to the greasy-grind of some good 'ole Rock n' Roll, just like their Daddies did in Vee- et - nahm.

Well Mr. Solomon, many Canadians would like to piss on the ponces in Ottawa who got us into this filthy war that has cost our country hundreds of dead soldiers, and hundreds of maimed and crippled Canadian young men and women. Need I mention the billions of dollars pissed away on a war we have lost?

There is no equivalency between this piss-parade and the breakdown of military conduct which occurred at Abu Ghraib. None whatsoever. "Soldiers urinating on corpses" teased TMZ. Well, they were actually Marines (3rd Battalion, Second Regiment) and due to the promise of mature content ... the infamous video clip "went viral" today. Well let's skip the horse apples of hypocrisy. If you want to watch the clip it's HERE. Be warned. It's boring. Worse, it's meaningless.

Let's get more pertinent. Instead of pontificating about a few Marines pissing on Taliban guerrillas, Mr. Solomon should be grilling the Ottawa dunces who are about to get us into yet another war - GULF WAR THREE. Soon the monkeys in Ottawa will announce our participation in crushing Iran's nuclear ambitions and rubber stamping America's latest intervention. Once again hooting from their benches, the Tories, the NDPee and the Liberals, will be unanimous and very shrill. Support the Troops, Support the Mission, Support their Sacrifice.

In bad taste? I am reminded of Andy Donato's famous editorial cartoon published by the Toronto Sun in 1979. You remember! The one which incorporates the iconic Rosenthal image of U.S. Marines planting Old Glory into the volcanic soil of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. In Donato's version U.S. Marines shove their flag up the ass of a religious fanatic, The Islamic Republic of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. As we are less than two months away from the Israeli air strikes which will entomb all of those scientists and personnel working to enrich uranium in underground bunker complexes, this is perhaps a great time to resurrect the Donato cartoon. Soon it will be the Israeli's shoving their flag up the ass of Iran's scruffy leader. But editorial cartoonists be warned! Do not mock the Iranian's in their hour of humbling defeat at the capable hands of the "Satanic" Zionists.

I didn't buy the "American Dream" T-shirt in 1980. This is the ad from the Windsor Star. I did though buy one of the Donato cartoon colour pins for a buck, and I still have it. 30,000 pins were sold, so I guess it's still just worth a buck. Let's hope the Persians are willing to swallow their pride when the I.A.F. takes out Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites. If Teheran is stupid enough to retaliate with an attack on Israeli territory the United States will then pulverize the Iranian airforce and navy, and then we have another fiasco on our hands. Thousands of Iranians who keep Canadian passports handy (Safe Conduct Coupons) will demand that Ottawa provide Free Flights "home". Any way you look at this, it's going to cost us $$$.

A Skull-full of coral pebbles

I sometimes encounter reference to the "brutality" of war, as if the term "WAR" does not convey sufficiently painful and bloody connotations. I don't need video images to remind me of man's brutality. My mind began registering far too many images of "War" when I was a schoolboy, watching Viet Nam, Bangladesh and Biafra on a B&W television receiver. Recently a good friend gave me the extraordinary HBO series THE PACIFIC as a Christmas gift, and it is about as faithful a rendition of the "brutality" of war as anyone need be exposed to. If the stories do not move you to tears then you are made of stone. One story jolted me more than any other because I realized I had read it long ago and discussed it with students. It is the scene where E.B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge observes another Marine idly tossing coral pebbles into the gaping skull of a Japanese machine gunner. The skull is brimming with rainwater and a perfect toss makes a "plopping" splash. I know that I haven't read Sledge's war memoir WITH THE OLD BREED (1981). I believe I encountered the anecdote in Studs Terkel's oral history of World War Two - THE GOOD WAR (1984). I realize now that I hadn't set the anecdote up properly, so memory does play tricks. I can't help wondering how memory of this silly, and not so horrifying incident, of pissing on the Taliban, will linger and possibly reappear in popular culture - like the Donato cartoon. I'm willing to cut the Marines some slack, and I'm very grateful that I don't have to march in their capable boots.

Band on the Run - How hard is RCMP looking for Jinagh Navas-Rivas, David Le, Willie Truong and Raymond Ma ?

2012-01-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

Where is the Navas-Rivas gang holed up? RCMP doesn't know. VPD doesn't know. So much for tag team police surveillance. Or do we simply have to wait for Gregor Robertson to get back from his Hawaii vacation, and hold HIS press conference... before RCMP, or some other Law Enforcement agency, scoops up the "Wild Bunch" from Richmond? It is for certain that the band of "dial-a-dope" desperadoes did not slip across the Canada - U.S. border. The Americans have a growing reputation for playing rough with "troubled youth" who play with guns and cocaine.

What is most interesting is that it wasn't the Vancouver SUN which connected the dots, or broke the story about Mayor Robertson's "foster son" being linked to a "dial-a-dope" operation in Richmond. It was the tiny RICHMOND REVIEW which put the pieces together. What the SUN has done is publish an editorial praising Gregor Robertson and his family for having taken in Jinagh Navas-Rivas... like Jinagh and Gregor are some Canadian version of the 2009 Hollywood move THE BLIND SIDE.

Recall Mayor Robertson's December 30, 2011 media release:

"Today I learned that the Richmond RCMP are seeking Jinagh Navas Rivas on criminal charges.

My wife and I foster parented Jinagh for two years until 2009. We have always believed that providing support to youth in need is of great importance and that fostering is an important contribution contribution our family can make.

It was in this spirit that we took in Jinagh to live with us. He has been on his own now since June 2009. I am disappointed to hear that Jinagh is wanted by the Richmond RCMP and I urge him to turn himself into the police immediately.

Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, I will refrain from commenting further at this time."

Not quite as short as a Haiku, but the wily Vancouver politician managed to squeeze in TWO references to the fact that his former foster lion cub is wanted by the Richmond RCMP. Too, too bad it has since emerged that Gregor's VPD has aided the investigation, Sooo Gregor's VPD employees know far more than Vancouver taxpayers will ever know about their Mayor's experiment with foster parenting.

Glad now you didn't adopt, Mayor Robertson? Some newspapers are busy helping Mayor Gregor Robertson distance himself from Jinagh Navas-Rivas, but as the RICHMOND REVIEW pointed out... and pointed to... the foster son was still listed as family on the Mayor's personal web page at Vancouver City Hall.

Vancouver's lethal cocaine market and covering some media buttcrack

2012-01-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

One of the B.C. citizens who were gunned down in Mexico in 2009. Note his blood soaked Hockey Hall of Fame shirt. What the pampered people of Metro Vancouver refuse to accept is that their selfish consumption of "recreational drugs" is causing the slaughter of tens of thousands of people in Latin America, many thousands of them women and children. Every "Justin" and "Traci" living here in "The Greatest Place on Earth" who persists in dialling-for-dope from people like Jinagh Navas-Rivas, is complicit in the murders of people at the source of supply. The news media frequently report that an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people have been butchered in Mexico alone, in the wars between drug distribution networks. The narco-business is so pervasive that law enforcement and civil governments of several Mexican states have fallen under the control of the largest drug gangs.

A few hours after I asked the question "Is the RCMP being coy?" I got my answer when a spokesman for the RCMP in B.C. explained why they used a grainy snapshot of Jinagh Navas-Rivas, instead of the HQ photographs available from news media or from Mayor Robertson's VISION Campaign. The RCMP Sergeant acknowledged that the connection between Mayor Gregor Robertson and his foster son was "in the public domain" but neither RCMP or Vancouver PD were going to comment on it. Hence the reversion to the crappy photo. Good news for the bad guy, who remains at large. The story has already (as of noon today) dropped from the Vancouver Sun main page.

If you have the stamina, you can watch the full briefing by the RCMP Sergeant on the CBC Website HERE It's over ten minutes in length. He refers to the cocaine-Meth-steroid selling gang in Richmond, B.C. as a "dial-a-dope" ring, and he pronounced the suspect name Jinagh as "Jinash". Jinagh Farrouch Navis-Rivas is a curious hybrid name, typical of multicultural Vancouver region. Perhaps one birth parent is North African and the other Latino? The SUN tells us they reside in our area.

What I found more interesting was the Vancouver SUN covering it's buttcrack with a staff editorial. The SUN, which receives an enormous amount of $$$ advertising revenue from Vancouver City Hall, has published an editorial congratulating Mayor Robertson for fostering Jinagh Navas-Rivas "Opinion - Kudos to the Robertson's for taking a chance on a troubled boy" - this while the "boy" is still on the run, along with several fellow outlaws - all possibly armed, considering three handguns have already been seized by Richmond RCMP. (Jump to the SUN and read it for yourself.) Hopefully the SUN will offer equally sincere kudos to any police officer who takes a bullet in the head, fired by any such "troubled" youth.

Simpler folk read something sinister in reports of OPINION CONVERGENCE - the media - the politicians- and the police start wearing kid gloves when dealing with armed drug crews. Jinagh Navas-Rivas isn't a buck-toothed Ozark hillbilly running a little moonshine. He's a good looking, self-assured young leader (remember the dapper Bacon brothers?) who has communed with many of Vancouver's financial-political elite. The smile may fool a Crown Prosecutor next week, but it doesn't deceive those of us grown tired of the handsome young gangsters peddling drugs in our province.

The National Post covered the launch of the free-distribution of crack cocaine smoking kits in downtown Vancouver. The Dec. 30/11 story is here - $60,000 Trial Project The news got got world-wide attention. Even the DRUDGE REPORT (two million page visits per day) linked to the story, which describes efforts of the Health Department to reduce disease associated with the slovenly use of narcotic drugs.

RCMP Hunt for Son of Vancouver's Mayor - How hard are they trying?

2011-12-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

Jinagh NAVAS-RIVAS is at large. Law enforcement across Canada and the U.S.A. are on the alert for Navas-Rivas and his partners in crime. This is the photo that accompanies the Canada-wide warrant issued by Richmond Detachment RCMP. Is the RCMP being coy? This man twice shared the stage with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson (2008 and 2011) A wealth of sharp images are available... and RCMP have to cut a corner off a grainy snapshot for their Wanted Poster?? Navas-Rivas and four of his associates are potentially armed and on the run. The RCMP is asking for public assistance in apprehending this group of armed cocaine traffickers but not providing law enforcement across Canada with the best available information. Strange that.

This is a clearer photo of Jinagh NAVAS-RIVAS, age 21, foster son of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. The photo was taken at the Mayor's Victory Celebration on Nov. 19, 2011. Last night the Vancouver Mayor issued a carefully worded statement, from Hawaii, stating that Navas-Rivas left his family in 2009, when he came of legal age.

These are some of Jinagh Navas-Rivas' co-accused. They are also at large, and quite possibly armed with hand guns. Richmond RCMP provided sharper photos for each of these wanted men.

Fort Hood Massacre - "Workplace Violence" Claim seems Bogus

2011-12-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

I usually devote about 30 minutes in the morning to read the overnight news. Starting with the DRUDGE REPORT saves me a lot of time, but it is just a launch pad, not the destination. This morning I was startled by a headline that referred back to the infamous Fort Hood Massacre, claiming that the Obama Administration had dismissed the massacre as an example of "workplace violence". The implication, nay the accusation, was that the Obama regime and its minions in the Defence Department were being painfully politically correct, avoiding the obvious... that the Fort Hood gunman is a cold blooded exponent of Islamic Fascism.

Well, as I often caution my students... check your sources before you quote. The DRUDGE link was to a Fox News piece (see below) and a Google News search indicated that everyone else was quoting the Fox article. Senator Susan Collins (Rep. Maine) yesterday testified in a Washington hearing on terrorism, and "referenced a letter from the Defence Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence". Heinous if true. But not. Collins either lied or misquoted her own report.

The report is called A TICKING TIME BOMB: Counterterrorism Lessons From the U.S. Government's Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack. It is archived HERE. The report is credited to Joseph I Lieberman, Chairman and Susan M. Collins, and dated for the record February 3, 2011. Much of the content is REDACTED, so don't expect to read secrets... just information you will not find reported by the commercial media.

The single reference to "workplace violence" in the Lieberman - Collins report is not a quote at all, but the authors' own characterization of DoD's intent. Further, there is no footnote for the alleged DoD position. What sloppy crap! This is the stripe of distortion all to common in the record keeping during this so-called War on Terror.

Launch of TAI YANG BAO- the VAN SUN publisher needs to lure readers of those pesky Chinese dailies which Hog all the Advertising $$$

2011-12-06T17:08:00.001-08:00

Terribly trendy and eminently endangered, The Vancouver Sun , struggles to remain relevant in the 21st Century. Today Pacific Press launched a Chinese edition edition of the SUN which it is calling TAI YANG BAO. This is a screen capture from Vol. 1, day 1. Local Chinese readers can expect to read lots of puff pieces about real estate and plenty of propaganda from icky, sticky, tricky Vancouver City Hall.
There are many issues the TAI YANG BAO will not cover. It will not, for example, report on the crimes and misdemeanours of the "People's Government" (P.R.C.) or the Party, the C.C.P. The Chinese fleet could be off the coast of Vancouver Island, and you won't get any warning of it in the T.Y.B. For any insight in doing's in Beijing you might want to check out an alternative newspaper, the EPOCH TIMES. Here is a screen capture from today's edition. What! Didn't you know that Tibetans have been self-immolating in protest of Chinese military occupation?

The website for the English language EPOCH TIMES is here.

Chinese security police are shown here dragging out Tibetan resisters. Note the placards around their necks. The EPOCH TIMES regularly reports on Chinese repression in Tibet. The Vancouver Sun does not.

Television Documentaries on YOUTUBE - Taiwan Art Therapy and Cosmetic Surgery in the U.K.

2011-12-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

Guardian Angel Wings, was a feature report broadcast in June, 2011 on the TVBS Taiwan magazine program "Taiwan Step By Step".

I only learned of the story of Taiwanese artist Chen Zirong because a kind friend passed the TVBS link to us. It's a moving story, and you don't have to understand a word of Mandarin to get it. Chen is a 28 year old woman suffering from amnesia due to a car accident at age 3, crash which also badly injured her father. Chen's case was rather hopeless until Prof. Zhao Si-Qiang came into her life. When introduced to Chen, Prof Zhao saw something in her which touched him deeply, and he became determined to try to help Chen regain some of mental function through Art Therapy. At first the protective mother was naturally leery of university professor offering to mentor a mentally challenged woman, but this is a story in which true generosity of spirit produces dazzling results.

When the story begins we assume that this will be another inspirational piece, where a character who was unfairly set back in life, is assisted to the point of learning to function and enjoy life. But it is more than that. Chen's routine became one of daily immersion in art lessons, followed by long hours of trial and error. She was at first a copier, as are all students, and then she progressed to experimenting with classical styles, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. Some of the film recreates outdoor sessions in which Chen was taught to commune with nature, drawing the textures of tree bark, the grain structure of stones and the pattern of clouds as they scudded over the city of Taipei.

Zhao's diligence and Chen's hard work have paid off, and she has now reached the stage where her work is original, interpretive and a genuine insight into the active imagination of a woman coping with lost function in only a portion of her mind. Her work is now exhibited and it is selling. We are privileged to witness the birth of a genuine artistic talent in Taiwan, and also (not incidentally) of the restorative value of Art Therapy when applied by a sensitive and giving instructor.

In the story Guardian Angel Wings (TVBS Taiwan, 2011) we see the artist, coping with memory loss, progress from mere student to become a master of her own style and technique. The video is available only on You Tube. If the story moves you, look for two other videos on Ms. Chen, archived on You Tube.

The Perfect Vagina, a film by Lisa Rogers, uses this latex sculpture by Jamie McCartney as the title card. Rogers gets her "fanny" immortalized for the research.

Strangely enough, this story is not so repelling as it reads, except for the few chilling moments when a teenager gets her labia sliced off. I'm surprised now that it took me a week to get up the nerve to watch The Perfect Vagina, which is one a half dozen CHANNEL 4 TV Docs I had been meaning to view. Total sexual liberation in our time was bound to create casualties, and one of the negative effects was the sick desire to have a photogenic vagina. Lisa Rogers is brave and funny, which means she is admirably suited to tackling a subject which might repel many other filmmakers. More, she is prettier than any of the other women interviewed, so of course she becomes a character in her own film.

The demand for vaginal cosmetic surgery has exploded in England, and she set out to discover why. It's an admirable piece of reportage, and Rogers will certainly have persuaded many thousands of women by now to be satisfied with how they look. Watch for the story of the 19 year old Muslim woman, in the third segment. She has been bartered away in an arranged marriage, and her goal is to have her hymen repaired before the ceremony takes place. What she fears most, is not life with a man she doesn't love, but that her parents might learn that she lost her virginity. (An actress dubs her voice in the film.) "If they find out they will will kill me, and then kill themselves." The fourth segment covers a therapy session which Ms. Rogers believes will be "New Age" or silly, but which surprises her. This is a video in which the horror and the humour are swirling in the same bowl. Well worth the viewing.

The Perfect Vagina - This documentary is served in four parts, so don't panic when the screen goes black. Use your mouse to move the bar past the gaps.

I just found this Doc on VIMEO, and I see it's had over a million plays since 2008. The link to VIMEO feed is here.

Jamie McCartney's completed art work The Great wall of Vagina can be seen here. One panel is on display in the documentary, but the whole is massive.

Beast of Burnaby - the BCA behemoth swallowed its opponents whole

2011-11-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

Official Results, 2011 Municipal Election, City of Burnaby, B.C. There are 146,123 registered voters on the Municipal list. Only 32,953 bothered to vote!! Clearly - No issues, no turnout.

Election Twins - Burnaby's free bi-weekly press - the NEWS LEADER and BURNABY NOW delivered their election editions to every home in the city on November 18, with wrap-around BCA - Corrigan advertisements. Very effective. Congratulations BCA!

BCA Sweep - All Candidates Victorious

Another civic election has come and gone. Results? A total BCA sweep. The BCA took the mayoralty, every council seat and every school board seat. In a democratic society that shouldn't happen... unless an angry electorate is throwing out a hated regime. But in Burnaby the opposite is the case. The electorate has returned a loved regime to power, rewarding BCA with a second total smack-down of the alternative civic party - TEAM Burnaby.

I don't object. I may not care for the council much, but I like Derek Corrigan, respect the job that he's done, and realize that we have the best mayor this side of the Fraser River. Still, democratic dictatorships are dangerous. The integrity of our mayor is the best hope we have of keeping individual councillors clean, and municipal spending within reason. The weekly press is not our watchdog, nor does it have to be. Vigilance is the responsibility of the individual.

TEAM is not a Team

"TEAM Burnaby" bills itself as a "non-partisan civic organization". The sad truth is that it is not a team, and it is not non-partisan, and that is why its candidates were destroyed on November 19th. Since its founding TEAM Burnaby has been hobbled by the fact that its power brokers (those who choose the candidates) don't even like each other. TEAM is composed of TORY and LIBERAL organizers who pummel each other during every Federal and Provincial election, and then make a token attempt at being friendly, in the hope of taking a few seats away from BCA. It's bizarre. Mismatched shoes will never become fashionable. The BCA prevails because it is an effective alliance of the local NDP machine, backed by the financial clout of the important unions. - You don't stalk a beast of that size unless you are packing an elephant gun.

I read in the BURNABY NOW today that "about 20 TEAM candidates and supporters" showed up at their Election Night Rally HQ to watch the results. The TEAM mayoralty candidate, Mr. Tommy TAO, didn't even bother to show up. Shame! Nor did perennial civic candidate Mr. Lee RANKIN. On the TEAM website today I read a promise to regroup and try again in 2014. That's one promise most of us hope they do not bother to keep. What is required, if we are to restore competitive democracy to civic politics in Burnaby, is a clean piece of paper, a new civic party, and hall full of people who stand for community and not tired old political allegiances.

23.3 % Voter turnout in Burnaby

The Burnaby NEWS LEADER, in its election post-mortem, reported today that VOTER TURNOUT on November 19 was 23.3 per cent. Only 34,035 registered voters in Burnaby bothered to cast a ballot on Saturday. The front page story on Friday was "Candidates pull out all the stops in the last days"(BURNABY NOW, Nov. 18) Maybe so, but clearly all of that pipe organ music did not draw much of a crowd. The truth is that there was no campaign to follow or to generate any interest among the electorate. Only some tub thumping among school board candidates created any sound at all. But that was all noise, and nothing resembling a march.

What comes next? You guessed it. Salary increases for mayor and council. The civic employees get their tickets punched. Taxes go up. Municipal fees increase. And TEAM goes back into its cave to hibernate for another three years. Somebody seal that den, while they're sleeping!

BEDBUGS - in Burnaby the vermin are German

2011-11-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

We hit a new low in September when WALMART ran TV ads offering bedbug impervious sheets at its Vancouver area stores. I heard reports of The Bedbug Registry, but I was never curious enough to take a look. Actually I've never seen a bedbug, and I have no hankering to bump into one.

A SIX INCH BED BUG - courtesy of the Burnaby NEWS LEADER, Nov. 9, 2011.

I've been too busy of late to research Blog articles, or read local newspapers, but I couldn't ignore the NEWS LEADER delivered to my door on November 9th. You might have thought that the November 19th Civic Election would be the story worthy of page one.... but those of us who have been around a few years know that not until the protagonists and the antagonists start paying for large election adverts do the papers start narrating THE ELECTION STORY.

On P1 they printed a photo of a bedbug as big as a juvenile trilobite! A warning of such ghastly proportions simply could not be ignored. So I read the article. If you want to read "Avoiding the bedbug bite", its archived HERE.

Infestations at two of Burnaby's public libraries made the news recently, as did a report that BC HOUSING spent over $721,000 in one year fighting bedbugs "at 43 of 49 of its housing complexes" in Greater Vancouver. Lest you try to point a bony finger at "Welfare" tenants, I hasten to add that several were senior citizen buildings. Poverty and vermin don't necessarily go together. I spent much of my childhood on Welfare in Saint John, N.B. and we never once encountered lice, bedbugs or cockroaches. As my mother often said, "We're poor, but we're clean."

What did startle me in the NEWS LEADER report was one loopy comment attributed to a pest-control professional who said "the fall of the Soviet Bloc in the late 1980s and early '90s led to increased travel to and from Eastern Europe which had a nasty bedbug problem... Combined with the ease of travel today, it's led to a worldwide spread of bedbugs." I guess that in Burnaby the vermin are East German.

No, the spread of vermin including the rats which are also plaguing Burnaby, is actually due to the banning of chemicals and poisons which had largely defeated most of those ancient scourges by the mid 20th Century. When Environmentalism became a religion on this continent it lit candles to the Second Coming of Willard the rat and Benny the bedbug. Get used to it. The powers that be will not be arming for this war any time soon.

Finally I Googled the infamous online resource known as THE BEDBUG REGISTRY. I predict it going to become more popular than GAS BUDDY. You better have a look. You'll find that bedbugs are EVERYWHERE!! Feeling itchy?

A couple of typical reports on The Bedbug Registry. For a look at Burnaby Metrotown

infestation patterns go HERE.

UBC PERSONAL PROFILE - Screening the Internet Generation for Coveted Admission

2011-09-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

Among friends, it's no secret that I prefer SFU's compact Burnaby Mountain campus to the sprawling UBC burbclave growing on the shore of Point Grey. It's not because SFU wins any prize for beauty. Most people I speak with agree that the grey concrete SFU campus is butt ugly. And though I live in Burnaby it's not civic loyalty at play. SFU has thrown a satellite campus into both downtown Vancouver and central Surrey, so it's now a stretch to claim SFU as "Burnaby's university". I guess it's really a matter of size and accessibility. Even folks who live in Vancouver find it a pain in the ass to commute into and out of UBC, and once you do get there you need GPS and good muscle tone to get around.

For years I have assisted students in competing for admission into SFU and UBC, as well as popular universities in other provinces and states. This past spring my assistance included helping a half dozen young people to write the new UBC "Personal Profile" online. All they had to was bring their laptop to my office and type what I dictated. (Dictating the profile saves me time.) I didn't think much of it. Just helping out. Imagine my surprise to catch the following story in this morning's Vancouver SUN:

"This year almost every direct-entry program at UBC Vancouver offered applicants the opportunity to submit a personal profile, and in total over 2,500 students were admitted on the strength of their personal profile, not on high school marks alone," James Ridge, UBC's associate vice-president and registrar said in an email.

Next year we expect all faculties will use [personal profiles], and the total number of admission decisions made this way will again grow significantly," he said."

Wow! I think I'm going to get a lot of phone calls next spring. I live near Burnaby's biggest high school. Read Tracy Sherlock's story here - UNIVERSITY ADMISSION. (Reading time - 2 Minutes)

To illustrate what the SUN is talking about, here is the description of the UBC Personal Profile clipped from the university admissions website:

UBC has added a number of other online innovations this year, many of which are an obvious attempt to jump on the "social networking" bandwagon. For example the IT boffins have posted a video on YOUTUBE which was created to help students use the new UBC BLOGS which were "launched" on August 11th. I like the fact that the term "cool" still pops up frequently in UBC campus chatter. The UBC Personal Profile is "cool" too. I'm going to be writing a lot of them.

So this will be our future. Twenty something teachers, raised on a diet of Gerber's and Google, will not teach without a comforting screen of technology between themselves and the demanding mob they face everyday. Smart screens in the high schools, Wiki knowledge at a key stroke, our public school teachers are now lobbying to have the cellphone jammers switched off, so they and their squirming students can Twitter to their hearts content. (If curious, you may read the story HOW TWITTER CAN BE A GOOD THING in the SUN.) Here's a thought - Perhaps next year's crop of Grade 12s might like to invest a Saturday morning in a two hour session of Creative Nonfiction, the sole subject of which will be their UBC Personal Profile. I'm up for it.

Betty's Choice - In Burnaby an email blunder opened a rare breach in a bureaucratic Stone Wall

2011-08-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

After a month of glorious R & R it is time to scratch that itch. George Orwell, a writer whom I idolize, described four reasons for needing to write. His list included (i) Sheer egoism (ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm (iii) Historical impulse (iv) Political purpose. Blog articles must have purpose, and because I am an historian I favour Orwell's number (iii): "Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity."

Tomorrow the B.C. government will release the 2011 HST Referendum Voting Results. The media have already lined up a cadre of well tanned opinion leaders who will tell us what the poll numbers mean. In fact by Friday night we will have heard the opening salvo of a cold blooded campaign to finish off the wounded B.C. Liberal administration. We will start with battles for control of British Columbia's cities in the November 2011 B.C. municipal elections, to be followed by the end game, after the provincial associations have regrouped and rearmed. With so much at stake at home I have decided to ignore the Wide World and focus on local issues and personalities over the coming three months. In the doing, I will point readers to pertinent articles or websites which mainstream media may ignore.

THE PARENTS CRUSADE IN BURNABY

On August 23rd the Vancouver SUN published an interesting story under: ERRANT EMAIL SHOWS BURNABY SCHOOL DISTRICT IS ILLEGALLY WITHHOLDING INFORMATION, FATHER SAYS. The article disclosed news that Betty Choi, executive assistant to the superintendent of schools, [Burnaby SD 41] had accidentally sent a copy of an incriminating email, to the very citizen (George Kovocic) she was in the process of stonewalling. You can read the full SUN article here - "Errant email". The relevant Choi quote is: "I don’t think we should get in a flap over this, we should just let him initiate his complaint to the Privacy Commissioner, and then wait for them to contact us, that will delay him even further, maybe past the [November civic] election. I heard he is running on the new civic team taht (sic) Parents Voice is forming for election of trustees!"

Ms. Choi was asked by the SUN to explain herself, but she stone walled the reporter. Old habits die hard. After a huddle at the School Board offices, Choi's boss told the Sun the email was a purely personal exchange between colleagues. His answer smells.

Betty Choi certainly knows where she stands. After months of resisting George Kovacic, a researcher for a Burnaby group called "The Parents' Voice," the United Front guarding the files at School Board offices have won. By wearing down and wearing out applicants for information, they subvert democratic access to the Public record and control public debate.

A decade ago I was a frequent attendee at meetings of The Canadian Alliance for Social Justice & Family Values Association, an advocacy group spearheaded by lawyer K-John Cheung, his wife, and a band of dedicated workers. I didn't agree with every point on their program but agreed with enough, and I did admire their guts and a dedication to core values, especially as they frequently took abuse for what the Media term "Christian conservatism". I had kids in the public school system, and as an educator myself I appreciated the opportunity to work with folks who believed in ideas which didn't have a dollar value attached. Since then I have noticed that similar groups have formed up, some of which are now taking hits from the Gay press. The local congregation which draws the most heat is the Willingdon Church, which earned television coverage last April when members packed a meeting of the Burnaby School Board which was discussing "anti-homophobia" policies. You can read the story here, which was published April 27th in XTRA! the Gay and Lesbian News. George Kovocic is quoted in the XTRA! article.

Packing a meeting of Burnaby School District 41. Media reports suggest that Christians of Asian descent (Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean) have refused to adhere to the tenets of Canadian political correctness, and that really drives some people wild. The rest of us learned to shut up years ago, for "the greater good" if not for our own.

Now what I find really interesting in my background reading, is that on this single public issue -Values Based Education - the Catholics and the Protestants are finally working together. I don't know how long amity will last, but it is a healthy development. Nobody can say if their political Crusade will really translate into seats at the School Board but it is a noteworthy phenomenon. Gay rights and equality are fully guaranteed by our laws, but the jury is still out on whether adults should be allowed to discuss sex of any stripe with someone else's children, be it in a playground or within the confines of a classroom.

Nothing in our culture is permanent. I sometimes inform students that my ancestors were warrior Celts who took enemy heads as trophies. Then the tribes became subjects of the Holy Roman Empire and the Christian communal sacraments replaced our ancient customs. Who would have thought that in the 21st Century the taking of heads (Mexico, Afghanistan, etc) would make a comeback. In Canada nothing is written in stone. In fact most of what we write, as Betty Choi could attest, is only recorded electronically, and can be made to disappear with a key stroke.

An interesting contribution to the story can be found in the August 19, 2011 edition of the NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER, an American publication with regular Canadian content. Steve Weatherbe covered recent work by B.C. Catholics which clearly dovetails with efforts made by several Protestant denominations over the past decade. The Weatherbe story can be read HERE. One gentleman quoted is Gordon World, a spokesman for The Parents Voice, and a possible candidate for the School Board in the November elections. Also interviewed for the REGISTER was Sean Murphy, who is B.C. director of the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League. [It takes just ten minutes to read the 3 articles I linked to.] The website maintained by THE PARENTS' VOICE is here.

Axe murders in Canada - Yes, but who gets the house?

2011-08-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

In my youth I took courses in Criminology alongside working policemen and at one time I seriously considered taking up the profession. While at university I also did my service in the Militia - in a military police platoon. Since graduation I've conducted research into how crime is perceived and reported, and I recently completed a book on the life of a very clever Canadian criminal. In addition I've filmed a documentary on a prison and am working on a project which will feature some of its most notorious inmates.

With these experiences in my background I feel entitled to comment on the recent news that Statistics Canada have declared Canada's crime rate to be at a 25 year low. You can read a summary of the finding in "Canada's Crime rate lowest in 25 years: StatsCan report" on this CBC webpage. The figures, much hyped by politicians and their parrots in the news media, are a snapshot of where we were in 2006, or five years ago. Those who pay attention, know where we are at today. Gang suppression in B.C. has temporarily reduced the incidence of drug related ambush killings, and engine immobilizers are finally put a dent in epidemic levels of car theft. As to property crime at the retail and residential levels, few are reporting it and as a society we no longer even have an interest in policing it. Being "ripped off" from time to time is simply a condition of living, and how many of us want to compound the loss by lining a lawyers pocket with our remaining cash?

A SAFER SOCIETY?

We are told that as a percentage, violent crime is down in Canada. I have met many young men grown to maturity without having participated in a single fist fight. That's incredible to someone of my generation for whom schoolyard knuckle bruising was the norm, and 'fighting your own battles' was the expected neighborhood etiquette. Of course these days so many anxious parents are delivering and picking up their kids at school that there is no risk they will ever encounter a bully on the field behind the building . And of course adults who have never risked their skin in boyhood, will be afraid to stand up to aggression when they encounter it, or even fail to see it coming. We delegate the safety of our neighborhoods and our nation to a very tiny cadre of trained professionals.

Charles W. Moore is a Nova Scotia based columnist who dismisses the "proof" that falling crime numbers mean we are living in a safer country. In a recent opinion piece he pointed out that because home alarm systems are now the norm in this country, and fewer people venture out on foot after dark, crime stats are dampened. Social engineers jump to take credit for it, yet "Children don't have the same freedom and security outside the home their grandparents enjoyed 40 or 50 years ago."

There are many who claim that the news media over emphasizes crime, playing up the violence and the blood. That's not true. Crime in Canada is in fact under-reported. It is too often sanitized and explained away. Here in B.C. there are many cold blooded murders take place for which we never even see a photograph of the victim or the killer. What the media is guilty of is reporting crime with personal bias. Cherry picking is the norm. Reporters and news editors choose which few criminals they are going to hold up for public examination, and those of the majority whom they will let off the hook. The media's power to decide what goes on the public record and what stories get buried, does more to skew public perception of crime than any StatsCanada report ever could.

"AXE MURDERERS" are not just creatures of urban myth. They are an "inconvenient truth" of Canadian crime. (I had to abuse this Gore-ism.) We have our share of haters and our share of Lizzie Borden's. We had two axe murders in July, on opposite sides of the country. The media doesn't like to report grizzly killings and it pours water on the coals of murders stoked by too much hatred, unless of course it's "right wing" political hatred. (That commodity does sell.)

Consider the case of Richard (Dick) Oland, scion of the brewery clan in Saint John , N.B. Had Mr. Oland simply been shot, every local official from the Mayor and Police Chief to the coroner and Fire Chief would have turned up for the press conference. "Ground Zero- type" media scrums are an annoying reality of a society obsessed with celebrity, but the Pros know when it's best to avoid the podium.

Richard (Dick) Oland was murdered on July 7th, in his office, located in the business district of Saint John, N.B. Friday's edition of MACLEANS magazine offers a few lurid details, while the S.J.P.D. has been very tight lipped: "This week, a professional cleaner specializing in mopping up after suicides, homicides and unattended deaths spent days vigorously scouring the premises..." The suspect? Some point to the son, others to a loan shark, and most hope it was a transient.

All of the news outlets reported that Ravinder Kaur Bhangu had been "stabbed" to death, but THE PROVINCE (temporarily) reported the horrifying truth. The husband went to her office armed with an axe and a meat cleaver and committed a public atrocity.

A MORE HONEST SOCIETY?

If crime statistics sank further off the chart, would that prove anything? What if statisticians are failing to monitor entire swaths of felonious behavior? The federal government employs thousands of trained investigators too detect and prosecute tax cheaters and is exceptionally vigorous in making a public example of many of them each year. But far more Canadians engage in pension fraud - faking and feigning their way to unearned settlements or incremental increases. There is no attempt whatever to take the measure of it, and yet it robs working taxpayers of $$billions that would help sustain their own families. Query a reporter on the subject of pension fraud and you will learn that they don't know enough to engage in a five minute conversation about it.

An even more macabre problem to ponder is the vulnerability of those elderly citizens who happen to own real property. How many accidental deaths of our seniors are not so accidental? And is anyone in law enforcement paying attention? With the average price of a detached home in Vancouver getting closer and closer to a million dollars, how great is the temptation for some impatient heir to arrange a little misfortune in the home or in the park... a fall, an accidental over dosage, an electrocution, an exposure to inclement weather? StatsCanada says that fatal accidents are more common in the north than in urban Canada. I have no reason to dispute their numbers (see chart below) but the agency admits that it is held hostage by the quality of information reported to it by the provinces, and by systemic anomalies. For example, all of our military personnel blown up in Afghanistan are not included in national reporting, because their deaths occurred overseas. Odd, eh?

THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA - Genocide and Literary Glory

2011-07-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

This past week we spent four nights in a splendid corner of America - the coastal cities of Astoria and Portland, Oregon. Our first stop on the Interstate (I-5) was a chance to pick up a cheap paperback to read in the tub. I was anticipating a visit to the stacks of POWELL'S BOOKS in Portland, which is a mecca for devoted bibliophiles. The book I found was THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA , an unusual novel which spans a period of 350 years in the life of a bridge located on the frontier between a Muslim Empire and Christian Europe. The community of Christians, Turks and Jews all depend on it for their existence. There are no continuing characters, but rather a fabulous cast of residents, occupiers and travellers whose lives intertwine with that of the bridge at Visegrad, which was the legacy of an Ottoman noble who never forgot his humble origins.

My Summer reading kicks off with THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA, by Serbian author Ivo Andric. This 51 year old paperback was in pristine (ie. unread) condition, a $2 find in Tacoma, Washington. It provided light reading on my journey through Oregon, and even offered up answers to a few nagging historical questions. If you've ever wondered how those evil torturers of the Middle Ages (like Vlad the Impaler) managed to ram a fence post up a man's bottom and yet keep him alive to suffer, the bloody answer is here.

Since returning home from Oregon I've done a little research on the author and his novel, and it seems he constructed his epic on an immovable foundation of historical fact - the kind of details which are likely to draw me into a story. Consider the motivation of Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic, the Ottoman Sultan who sent his engineers to build the bridge, and paid for the entire project from his own fortune. Though he had wars behind him and a rich sixty year store of memory to draw from, childhood trauma remained - "always the same black pain which cut into his breast with that special well-known childhood pang which was clearly distinguishable from all the ills and pains that life later brought to him." He wanted to rid his kin of a hated ferry on the Drina which operated at the whim of the river men.

A rare postcard, published in Visegrad circa 1900, depicts their beloved bridge, which was completed in 1577 A.D. Frequent flooding, including total immersion, was never able to damage the bridge, but three of its eleven arches were blown up during WW1 and five arches were damaged during WW2.

The Ottoman Empire required a constant supply of manpower for its armies and did not waste time with conscription. It was far easier to send columns of cavalry into mountain valleys to cull young Christian boys from the villages - a "blood tribute" for the Pasha in Constantinople. "The chosen children were laden on to little Bosnian horses in a long convoy. On each horse were two plaited panniers, like those for fruit, one on each side, and in every pannier was put a child, each with a small bundle and a round cake, the last thing they were to take from their parents' homes. From these panniers, which balanced and creaked in unison, peered out the fresh and frightened faces of the kidnapped children." The boys' mothers did, as mothers will do, begging and following the horse column for miles, some falling to exhaustion or the blows of angry soldiers. Most were stopped on the bank of the fast flowing Drina River, where they were not permitted access to the ferry. The Sultan, risen to an exalted human being, never forgot his origins and the experience of being snatched from his native village. He was haunted by the anguished face of a mother he never again embraced. In her memory he built a bridge.

IVO ANDRIC, (1892-1975) was a Yugoslavian diplomat and novelist. He is most widely known for his book THE BRIDGE ON THE DRINA, published in 1945 and made available in English translation in 1959. Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.

No Canadian reader should ever be daunted by a story set in Bosnia. After all, the Canadian Forces fought in Bosnia less than twenty years ago. Our Foreign Policy was fixed on supporting the Bosnian Muslims and our CF18s bombed the hell out of the Serbs. [For a take on the stupid mess the Canadian government invested in, see a 2008 video interview with retired General Lewis Mackenzie - WE BOMBED THE WRONG SIDE.] In fact our government still holds the names of CF18 Hornet crews of the Balkan deployment a secret, lest there be reprisals made against them or their families. The same cloak of secrecy has been invoked for the CF18 crews who are currently bombing the hell out of the Libyans. Ottawa has good reason to anticipate revenge attacks against Canadian fighter jockeys where they eat or sleep or live, as the Libyans have no ability to knock those jet aircraft out of the sky. .A German map of the town, published in 1911, shows the historic stone bridge across the Dvina, on the road to Sarajevo. It also shows the shorter, wooden bridge across Rzava and the "sandy tongue of land between two rivers, the great and the small." Note the presence of "Militar-Lager" or military camps overlooking opposing sides of the bridge, a reminder of its strategic importance. It was the site of a massacre in 1992, fueled by age old racism.

I usually find that when I immerse myself in a book, like I did with this one, a number of coincidences will pop up. 'Connections' are predictable and explicable when the mind is engaged. On Sunday night as I lay reading in a motel room in Astoria, I glanced at my wife who was sitting at the table consulting her iPhone. Behind her head I noticed that the massive Astoria-Megler Bridge which looms over Astoria and connects it to the north bank of the Columbia River. The structure filled the entire window, and I paused to consider how much that bridge contributed to the life of its host community. The next morning, as we drove out of town I spotted a restaurant we had missed in our visit; it is called the DRINA DAISY and sports the famous image of the Mostar Bridge on its signboard. We did enjoy meals at two other Astoria eateries - the SHIP INN and the SILVER SALMON but I will certainly make a point of trying the DRINA DAISY when I return to Astoria. It's a safe bet that the owners know of Ivo Andric's novel. I can't think of a better way to start up a conversation with them.

The Andric novel is still in print and the author would be gratified to know that he still inspires its readership. On June 22 the bridge at Visegrad made the news - BIG news. Construction of a modern town has just begun at the bridge site, to be named "Andricgrad" in honour of the Nobel Prize winning author. In addition, a feature film based on the novel is in development. The Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday Bosnian Novelist has town built in his honour .
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UN Gangster and Game 7 rioter juxtaposed - Which one would make a better neighbour?

2011-06-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

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HAPPY HOOLIGANS
At the risk of being the last person in the world to give an opinion on the Stanley Cup Riot, I will throw in a few observations of my own. Rarely do my views coincide with the "Main Stream" so I will not be repeating what's already been written. The initial riot was staged between the CBC building and the Post Office, and created countless photo opportunities as the V.P.D. dispersed the crowd harbouring small pockets of experienced thugs, who roved the downtown seeking soft targets for vandalism. Not so destructive as North American riots go, this event was rather tame, but it stings local pride because of the premium Vancouverites (and their government) place on "image".

I was born and raised in a much grittier province - New Brunswick, so I saw a few riots in my youth which were not recorded by cameras. I recall black versus white rioting, and recall the happy hell raising when this or that police union walked off the job, effectively surrendering a town to the mob. My home city of Saint John, N.B. has a history of rioting and killing (ethnic hatreds and labour clashes) which extends back to the 1840s. I was thinking of the "bad old days" as I watched on TV a pair of Vancouver policemen permitting a crowd of jubilant jerks in Canucks jerseys burn two new patrol cars. Now, we have all seen what four motivated federal troopers can do to an unarmed Polish immigrant at the YVR airport, so this surrender of authority was disheartening to say the least. Were the cops intimidated by this mob of happy hooligans? Really? NO. Something else was going on.

None of the hate inspired ugliness of historical Canadian riots can compare to the Game 7 Riot in Vancouver. This is a new phenomenon. A handsome crowd of middle and upper middle-class British Columbians trashed a downtown district for fun, and for the benefit of the media which had deployed staff to cover an eruption of emotion - win or lose, and was not to be denied. Healthy, happy and fashionably dressed, the rioters photographed themselves for hours, committing acts of vandalism, arson and theft. The media had a hot story to peddle worldwide.

SUPERLATIVES
Vancouverites are a boastful bunch, seemingly starving for attention. What were the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games if not a recklessly expensive exercise in self-promotion. What my generation fails to recognize is the latent hostility and aggression in their children, which is manifested in wasteful and destructive behaviors. The fact that so many outraged citizens sought to shame the rioters, bu outing them online, was a healthy process. It would be a powerful social trend - IF - it continued. I ask myself who ultimately is the more dangerous, a teenager ("elite athlete") who brazenly tries to ignite the gas tank of a police car in the midst of crowd of people, or a gangster cold blooded enough to shoot a rival in the parking lot of an IGA? Another question might be, "Who would you prefer as a neighbor - a teen arsonist or one of the bosses of the U.N. gang?" I would rather have the gangster next door, and the reasoning is simple. The gangster has no reason to harm me, or destroy my property. But who is safe from a brazen teen who has torched a police car in front of cameras and in front of the policemen?

I am just one of many cynics who knew the Game 7 Riot was going to take place. I know that the police prefer containment over suppression, and no doubt the Blue Wall recognized many nieces and nephews in the crowd. Still, the sight of policemen standing by as Nathan Kotylak and his buddies torched their ride, was jarring. I might have preferred one of the cops pull his pistol and warn him "Back away from the taxpayer's property, lawless youth". But they didn't. Now it is left to the general public to respond to an expensive new phenomenon - anarchy as entertainment.

Both premeditated crimes - a destructive riot and a planned murder, evidence a callous disregard for human life, so it might be hard to choose between the thugs. I watched those two police cars being torched on Live television, as did a half million others. We all knew that riot would occur, just as we know that there are still thousands of bored youths in our city who fantasize of their own opportunity to put one over on Vancouver law enforcement. With the proliferation of video and cellphone cameras, it's only a matter of time before a local TV station gets the "scoop" of broadcasting someone being stomped to death, just as we got to witness Robert Dziekanski being electrocuted by RCMP tasers.

Nathan Kotylak, wearing the uniform of the Vancouver Canucks, went downtown to wage war. We don't know all he carried in that backpack, but the old dress shirt he is stuffing into the gas tank of the police cruiser did not materialize from thin air. The "star athlete" does not smoke yet he carries tools to light up. He is wearing a hoody, standard gear for the urban anarchist, but at the Game 7 Riot he chose not to conceal his identity. [Photo scraped from the Net, but attributed to Gerry Kahrmann] Video taken at the crime scene, showing Kotylak throwing burning newspaper through the window of the $50,000 police car, is available on Youtube, as is the press conference Kotylak gave to express his regrets for his part in the riot.

Nathan Kotylak, of Maple Ridge, B.C. , is once again under parental spervision. He is shown here posing with his mother Josephine Kotylak, (a Nurse), and his father Dr. Greg Kotylak. (a Surgeon) After the teenage arsonist was "outed" by Social media, he lawyered up and contacted the Vancouver Police Department. As these are his first criminal acts of record, Kotylak will not be punished. Dr. Kotylak told a reporter that "Nathan's behavior that night does not reflect his true character."

OUTING THE OUTLAWS IN OUR MIDST
Kim Bolan is the famous Vancouver Sun reporter who specializes in local Asian criminals, violent street gangs and Sikh terrorists. Her reports are particularly interesting when she uncovers linkages to the white bread stakeholders in the drug trade - businessmen, lawyers, accountants, realtors, etc. who (witting or unwitting) provide capital or services to the outlaws. On June 21 she shared some of her knowledge of the visit to Burnaby Metrotown of Conor Vincent D'Monte, who is key figure in the UN Gang. Bolan's article is here: Real Estate Council of B.C. probes gang leader's house transactions.

In brief the story is this. A young, healthy male walks into a law office and requests the lawyer witness documents. He wants to transfer sole ownership of his valuable property (7350 Pandora Street , Burnaby) into the hands of his wife, who was said to be a "house wife". It transpired that Ms. Kong had secured employment as a licensed real estate sales person, for the firm which listed the property which D'Monte had transferred to her. The lawyer told the SUN that he did not know that he was witnessing the signature of a local man wanted for murder, and more - he wasn't curious. The SUN published the document on its web page: Had lawyer Larry Routtenburg simply Googled his client "Conor D'Monte", as I did after reading Bolan's story, he would have found on the first page of results an RCMP WANTED Bulletin, complete with colour photograph. The SUN was not implying that the legal profession should begin to 'rat out' clients to FINTRAC or the RCMP, but as a reader I was struck by one more telling juxtaposition - In the same week of saturation news coverage about a widespread effort by law abiding folks to assist their police in identifying the looters and arsonists of the Game 7 Riot, we also read of a professional man with a trained mind, who was not moved to question the motives of a couple who wanted to swap identities on a property.

Conor D'Monte, of Anglo-Indian ancestry, has a Middle Class background shared by several other UN Gang members. He was raised on the west side of Vancouver and his parents were initially involved in the purchase of the Pandora property in 2006. (Ref - Global TV webpage) It was listed In April for $1.58 million. Conor's late father Vincent D'Monte was a family therapist (registered with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) and his mother Therese is said to be a photographer. Clearly the D'Monte brothers chose the life of a gangster for reasons other than poverty.

AND FINALLY THIS USEFUL LINK TO GAME 7 RIOT IMAGES- A revealing set of photos taken during the Stanley Cup Game 7 Riot was published on CRYPTOME last week. It's worth a look. VANCOUVER RIOT AS PERFORMANCE ART.

BREAKING NEWS- WAS JULY 7th BURNABY ARSON RETALIATION AGAINST U.N. GANG LEADER D'MONTE ? In the early morning hours of July 7th, one or more intruders placed two propane cylinders against the wall of the Burnaby luxury home owned by UN Gang leader Conor D'Monte, and ignited them. There were two people in the home at the time of the attack. They escaped but the property was heavily damaged. Was this just retaliation in the form of an arson, or attempted murder? We'll never know. D'Monte is currently on the run, and no doubt his wife's phones are all tapped. Burning her out, won't smoke him out. The SUN story, with photo is here. A recent Metrotown arson, the penthouse blaze on Grange Street, was definitely an attempted murder by arson. I recall Blogging that fire in March. the story is HERE.

Cyber War - the cuteness factor juxtaposed

2011-06-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Every few months a friend comes over for a "Japanese film night". He is a Taiwanese, very bright, and has a degree from UBC in Film Studies. We enjoy juxtaposing two wildly different films because such pairings are guaranteed to generate ideas and unpredictable conversation. The only "rule" we agree to is viewing films in their original form, with English subtitles. Michael is fluent in Japanese and I rely on him to offer insights as they occur to him during the viewing. This past week we started with a documentary on famous Japanese cannibal (and pop-culture icon) Issei Sagawa, [Sagawa Issei Wikipage] and moved on to an animated film entitled SUMMER WARS [Summer Wars on Wikipedia] directed by Mamoru Hosoda. I have no interest in Hosoda's previous work, but I did find this Anime interesting, and I enjoyed watching the story unfold.

SUMMER WARS starts from two premises. The first is that Social Networks not only stake out a massive territory on the Internet but that members will be persuaded to route most of their daily tasks through the network and become very dependant on the service. The second premise is that such networks (in this instance OZ, a Japanese version of Second Life) can and will be hijacked by malignant entities. In the film a Japanese programmer named Wabisuke, (who is a half blood-member of the family), is implicated, when in fact it is the United States military which decided to hijack the OZ network, perhaps as a tactical exercise.

There is much more to the story, including a teen romance, designed for a teenage market, but nevertheless SUMMER WARS has broader appeal. (A very detailed overview of the movie is on Wikipedia.) What I found most interesting in the script was the treatment of Japanese concepts of family, especially the valuing and sharing of family accomplishments. The story is largely set in the rural home of 90 year old family matriarch Sakae Jinnouchi, where family members have assembled to celebrate her birthday. Simple meals and conversation strengthen the bonds, but several characters have advanced technical skills, and the wired world is ever present. At table there are several discussions of family heroes and clan contributions to the nation during feudal times. Certainly nothing like the conversation heard in most Canadian homes. When the OZ network is hijacked, the family understands that it is a rare opportunity to offer a public service, and in the process strengthen and heal their family, which suffers the wear and tear common to most modern Japanese families. The Cyber-warfare sequences are entertaining and unique to me, but not perhaps, to anyone who enjoys a life in video gaming.

SUMMER WARS was flop at U.S. cinemas. The advertising budget (minuscule) greatly exceeded its box office return. The Anime was never theatrically released in Canada, but was published in Blu-ray and DVD editions on Feb. 15, 2011, and on disc is now outselling many Hollywood clunkers. The cover art of the DVD box shows the girl Natsuki brandishing her family crest or mon, and not the Japanese national flag. In the film the U.S. Department of Defence Pentagon building appears onscreen, but not the U.S. flag.

When we finish watching a film, we do what all film fans do - share our immediate or "gut" responses and then we get into the details of the story and technical aspects of its production. I have an aversion to the "cute" in Japanese Manga and Anime but I didn't find Hosoda relying overmuch on the cuteness factor here. Strangely, one of the odd juxtapositions that popped into mind was triggered by the original premise of a multi-generational family of Cyberwarriors, including children, standing in defence of the nation, was a photograph taken inside the super-secret precincts of Fort Meade, Maryland. It is a group photograph taken in 2010 of General Keith Alexander, and his extended clan, including twelve grandchildren. General Alexander is the Director of the National Security Agency, and also the C.O. of United States Cyber Command. The capability of the N.S.A. is legendary. Its records include for example records of almost two trillion phonecalls made by Americans over the past ten years, and the images of millions of Mexicans and Canadians, duplicated from their motor vehicle licence photos.
The obvious reason for taking the photograph (below) was to allow the General's family to share in his joy of assuming the powerful office of Director of the N.S.A. It is a strategic post which, we recall, can lead the right man to the White House, if he is ambitious enough. The less obvious motive here is to wrap the political moment in the trappings of what are held to be wholesome American values - marriage and child rearing, a career in the Armed Services, and certainly loyalty to country. Another thing which struck me about this photo is that all are intent on the moment, including the children. They look at the camera - but General Alexander is staring at someone offstage. Perhaps his mind was already in Afghanistan, Iraq or Beijing.

General Keith Alexander is both head of the N.S.A. and the C.O. of USCYBERCOM. The general is shown here at the investiture ceremony for USCYBERCOM at Fort Meade, Maryland on May 21, 2010, in which is entire family joined he and Secretary Gates on the podium. John Young, the gutsy investigator and owner of the CRYPTOME website, suggested that the whole WIKILEAKS fiasco was actually CYBERCOMS' "first defeat" and he urged Gen. Alexander to resign. [more Alexander photos here]
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New York Real Estate vs. Vancouver Real Estate, Part 1 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

2011-06-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

New York has gently intruded into many of my conversations of late. Sandy, a girl from Burnaby Central Secondary whom I have worked with, is heading off to a prestigious art school in Manhattan come September. She just gave me a lovely example of her work for my office wall. Over the March Break a group from Burnaby South High School toured New York and returned wildly enthusiastic about their experiences. I got the same-day copy of The Village Voice I had requested, and Chloe, a South student, gave me a very detailed trip report which included video recorded in Times Square and the Jazz band which played in the hotel restaurant. Kids today have got it made!

New York is also in my thoughts because recently we were told that Vancouver has rolled past the Big Apple, taking the dubious position of posting higher real estate prices. It's a good time, I think, to take a peek at a few comparable scenarios. It might do us to start with "Affordable Housing," a favorite topic with municipal politicians here in the urbanized S.W. corner of B.C.

THE MELODY is an eight storey co-op at 853 Macy Place in the Bronx. It has 63 units, including 6 1BDRM, 47 2BDRM and 10 3BDRM apartments. 14 units have been reserved for the New York chapter of Habitat for Humanity, who require their buyers to put in a few weeks of volunteer labour to defray some of the cost.

I have discussed taxpayer-funded housing initiatives before. New York politicians share Vancouver's "vision" of a future where the lion will lay down with the lamb. Both like to mix "market housing" with subsidized housing, although New Yorkers give no thought to protecting forestry jobs by erecting wooden apartment buildings. If you don't catch the reference you might check out a Blog I wrote one month ago INFERNO OBLITERATED CONDO PROJECT IN RICHMOND
The more obvious comparable to THE MELODY is the False Creek Fiasco in Vancouver which saw the Moorlocks of Vancouver City Hall mating their affordable housing concept to the 2010 Olympic Games Athletes Village. The "social housing" component of the billion dollar project was originally estimated to cost 320 per square foot. That ballooned to roughly $400 per square foot, and ultimately the City apportioned (you can't say "paid" with a straight face) $110,000,000 of the debt to 252 social housing units. These apartments are, I hasten to add, far cozier and better located than any apartment I ever put my family into. But then I have never registered with B.C. Housing. I always used the Classifieds.

The New York Times reports that THE MELODY cost just $18 million to develop, the money raised through a bond issue initiated by the Borough Council and the State of New York. Granted, the False Creek behemoth is a more complex site mix, but the New Yorkers have to contend with far more. There land is just as expensive, they deal with far more militant community activism and their unions are far more dangerous. New York planners followed Vancouver's Olympics greed-fest in the pages of the New York Times, and they are doing a better job of assisting the working poor and lower middle class families to revitalize historic neighborhoods.

THE MELODY - A nice touch are the blue window bars in the form of a musical score at sidewalk level. (There is a Vancouver policeman who crafts this type of ornamental security grill. An example of his work is the window of the Community Police Station at Joyce Skytrain Station.)

As of last week THE MELODY was just over 40% sold, with prices ranging from a low of $104,435 for a one bedroom unit, and climbing to $219, 997 for a three bedroom unit. Those prices are bargain basement compared to what working families face in B.C.

For more details on THE MELODY read QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR SOUTH BRONX RESIDENTS, in The Epoch Times.

In Vancouver it is simply impossible for the working poor to ever consider buying a co-op property in the downtown. Even businesses have been evacuating the towers due to ferociously high taxation and gridlock during the sunshine hours. So what do the working poor have to pay for "affordable" units in the former Olympic Village, (now grandly renamed Millennium Water)? According to an article published last year in the National Post, "In Vancouver 'affordable" housing means $1,600 a month" it's $1,601 per month for a 640 sqft 1BDRM and its $1,902 per month for a 902 sqft 2BDRM. What's the criteria for winning the downtown rental lottery? "To be eligible, workers can not earn more than five times their annual rent..."

Here is the view from one of the first "affordable" units rented out at Millennium Water on False Creek. (The Post made a crack about the rent being so high the tenant had reverted to an old typewriter.) In Vancouver the planning goal is to force incoming Chinese condo buyers hungry for short term investments, to live side-side-side with less fortunate locals. In the New York's Bronx, the media made a big deal out of the fact that THE MELODY has design features which encourage tenants to exercise more, but the goal is to revitalize a depressed neighborhood by offering incentives to two classes of local buyers who have inhabited the area for generations, and who were being held back by skyrocketing property values.

The South Bronx is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States and badly in need of projects that offer hope to working parents with small families. Adults living at THE MELODY will have access to the building's fitness centre, and their kids are provided with a playground facility at ground level, behind the eight floor lowrise.

GANGSTER GUN BUST IN BURNABY - silencer fitted weapons may relate to bust at Burnaby EIGHT RINKS in 2006

2011-06-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

A police raid in Burnaby on May 30 uncovered an arsenal of weapons, which included three handguns and a baby Uzi machine pistol equipped with suppressors ("silencers"). Yesterday the Vancouver news media, and today the two Burnaby newspapers, reported on the lucky haul. Well... actually the news media simply published the RCMP handout text, in some cases even adding a reporter's byline. (Hey, it's only plagiarism when students do it.)

What I find strange is their failure to provide any context, as if it is now routine to encounter an armourer living in a middle class B.C. neighborhood. I would like to see local police do what the Federal Police do in Mexico - put the arrested gangsters on display along with the weapons seized. You are never going to see the faces of the hundreds arrested each year in British Columbia for serious crimes, and that is exactly why they live amongst us with impunity.

This photo shows a table dressed with weaponry seized from the 7000 block Curtis Avenue, Burnaby on May 30, 2011. The auto-loading 12 gauge shotgun and the .44 Magnum revolver are the most lethal. Smaller calibre pistols have been threaded for improvised suppressors (silencers) as has the baby Uzi, which looks like it wouldn't have sufficient internal volume to handle the hot gases in auto fire. Note that the ammunition is displayed in the black metal box which comes with the collector edition of Grand Theft Auto 4 for X Box. I guess the 24 year old who was arrested on Curtis Street with the guns and the half pound bag of Marijuana, has a thing for hot video games as well as destructive devices.

Two significant weapons seizures in Burnaby, though five years apart, seem related as both involve crudely fabricated suppressors (silencers) for rifles, pistols and submachine guns. In July 2006 it was revealed that the parking lot at Burnaby EIGHT RINKS, 6501 Sprott, was the favored spot for arms transfers, because it is a high traffic location where muscular men are commonly seen taking bulky hockey bags out of large vehicles and stuffing them into others. Note that EIGHT RINKS is less than ten minutes from where another batch of home-made silencers, of very similar manufacture, was discovered earlier this week.

This crudely made suppressor, fitted to an Uzi SMG, was seized in Burnaby, May 30, 2011. It bears close resemblance to suppressors trading hands in the parking lot of nearby EIGHT RINKS in 2006. I'm convinced that these devices are not properly made. Perhaps the RCMP would arrange a demonstration of these basement built silencers lately turning up in Burnaby? If you would enjoy watching some PRO gunsmiths at work, check out the fascinating new show on Discovery Channel. It's called SONS OF GUNS.

Here we see a wall of weapons confiscated during PROJECT E- PORTAL, and put on display in Abbotsford in July of 2006, for the media. The operation was conducted by twelve Canadian and American agencies, which targeted a network of outlaws whose stock in trade is modified or refurbished weapons. They were selling their skills to drug gangs in Western Canada, most notoriously to the infamous UN Gang which was based in Abottsford, B.C. The weapons included (in one seizure) 27 WW2 era STEN guns seized in Winnipeg and several ex-Canadian Army BREN guns seized in B.C. and assembled in one place for the news conference. Noteworthy in the photo are weapons fitted with sound suppressors (silencers) made from commonly available metal tubing. They are crudely made, with no attempt to apply a non-reflective finish. Essentially these devices are made to impress or intimidate. One STEN has been used in a Surrey murder, but I do not recall the police claiming that a silenced automatic weapon has been used in our area. A badly made suppressor actually risks injury to the shooter and increases the chance of a jamming. Not good if you are a small assassin targeting some behemoth of a drug dealer fresh from the gym.

Professionally manufactured suppressors (this example is used by NAVY SEALS) have screw threaded caps at each end so that the device can be easily disassembled and cleaned out. In addition the suppressor is blued to match the firearm. The gangland armourers of B.C. seem to lack the skills to manufacture military grade suppressors. If you want to know more about these simple devices, read Suppressor.wiki which includes illustrations of several types. Your nearest public library has much more.

HST FOR DUMMIES - The YOUTUBE video, not the yellow covered book!

2011-06-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

I am one of those who is fine with the HST. I didn't sign the petition, and I'm not interested in any referendum unless it guarantee's to lower sales tax by two or three clicks. What has been apparent to me is that a devil's legion of high school and university teachers have been proselytizing on the HST issue. I hear incredible renditions of it when I speak to young people.

Well if you are tired of being lied to, and REALLY want to know what those lies are, the answer is available in an easily digested YOUTUBE video created and narrated by Chris Thompson. Click on FIGHT - FIGHTHST and when it has finished playing you will be better informed than any reporter working in local print or broadcast media.

Chris Thompson puts the Vander Zalm HST lies to rest in a YOUTUBE chalk talk which he brands Fight-FIGHTHST . Try some of Thompson's brain food. It looks good, tastes good, and it's actually quite nutritious.

A tip of the Blogger's cap to film maker Phil Jack, who insisted that I give Thompson's "FightFightHST" a play. I'm glad I did.

DR. NORMAN BETHUNE - "PHOENIX" removes 71 years of clouded varnish, revealing details of a passionate life, boldly lived

2011-05-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

I work with high school and university students and I often obsess over the ideas they are choosing to believe. What they are taught by others, I can do nothing about, but over the past week I found myself ragging on faux memoirs ("Creative non-fiction") and lying documentary films that frequently arise in conversation. Al Gore's prose and Moore's Bowling for Columbine were typical exhibits. Be assured that after I demolish a fraudulent work I follow through, recommending trustworthy examples of a given genre. For an astonishingly candid memoir which avoids contrivance I read passages from J.R. Ackerley's MY FATHER AND MYSELF. For courageous documentary minus the smart-ass gimmickry, I showed clips from DELIVER US FROM EVIL, by Mathew Cooke.

Most students are waiting for the launch of the latest cellular gadget or fresh fodder for their game console. Part of my job is to get them to read good books. Call me 'old school' but my binoculars are trained on publishers, as I wait for important books I need to perfect my knowledge of this great country. These days, the really interesting books are being published by Canada's university presses. A fabulous example of what a tireless pair of biographers can accomplish is PHOENIX: The Life of Norman Bethune, just released by McGill-Queen's University Press. My interest in Bethune is not casual. I have all of the previous biographies and have researched him in archives. Memory convinces me that I first learned of his importance to our national history when, about 30 years ago, I joined a group of friends at U.N.B. in screening an NFB film on Canadian Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. Since then I have collected much of what was published about Bethune. I knew PHOENIX had been completed, and I must thank McGill publicist Jacqui Davis for sending me a review copy.

PHOENIX: The Life of Norman Bethune was published this month by McGill-Queen's University Press. An engaging story and a trustworthy biography, it was written by Roderick Stewart and Sharon Stewart. This book will ennoble your bookshelf many years after lesser possessions have been donated to charity. Its in hard covers, 488 pages with 77 photos. $39.95 [ISBN 978-0-7735-3819-1] It's already available discounted on AMAZON.CA

Why would you enjoy reading this book, and why should you read it? Happily, I deduce that PHOENIX was created with the intention of finding a wide readership. Rod Stewart is a crack researcher who has devoted much of his life to understanding Bethune's ache for adventure, both in bed and on the battlefield. As well he has a deep understanding of the complexities of Bethune's political commitments. Clearly his writing partner, Sharon Stewart, brought energy and polish to the project because this new book is a major improvement on Stewart's first attempt at capturing his subject (BETHUNE, 1973). In an earlier biography Mr. Stewart could only hint at the petty jealousy and careerism inside Canadian Communist circles which clearly sabotaged Dr. Bethune's efforts in Spain and China. In PHOENIX we see the tragedy of each cynical betrayal, closely documented. But more, for the first time we learn how his mind worked, and why he stubbornly made each of the fateful decisions which lead to his lonely and needless death inside China in 1939. He contracted blood poisoning while performing surgery on a badly wounded Red soldier, and when the infection threatened to claim his own life, he refused amputation of his arm. He was assured that there was much work he could do for the Red Army as a one-armed doctor, but still he chose death. Why?

In BETHUNE (1973) Stewart's explanation was very thin: "Bethune refused. He knew he was going to die." But in PHOENIX (2011) the Stewart's are more intimate and help us understand a dying man's motives. For Dr. Norman Bethune "...amputation would have meant that he would never again have been able to function as a battlefield surgeon. And surgery was to him more than just a profession; in its drama and incisiveness it was the expression of his way of life, his mode of being. Despite his passionate commitment to communism and to the Chinese struggle against the Japanese, he refused to consent to becoming less than he wanted to be."

How refreshing to read the work of professional biographers who understand how to tell a great story well without resorting to fraud. While this book can certainly be read quickly and for enjoyment alone, I am one of those who also relies on books for my facts. I read with my thumb squashed by the fold between the story and its documentation - the Notes, Bibliography and Index. I also compare a new book to its predecessors.

Up till now, for good or ill, the most widely read biography of Norman Bethune was Ted Allan's clunker THE SCALPEL, THE SWORD (1952) a work of naked plagiarism, stamped with the dubious hallmarks of "Creative non-fiction" including plenty of fabricated dialogue. Want a comparative taste of Allan? Here is his rendition of the death scene: "Bethune shook his head. "No, Fong," he said in a feeble voice. "I'd give both my arms to live, tungtze. But it is no longer a matter of the arm. It's in the blood. Septicemia. Nothing can help me."

In assessing Allan's half century old book the Stewart's are kinder than they need to be, as Allan had a reputation for suing everyone he thought he could bully. The truth is his book should be weeded from every library in Canada and replaced with this franker, and certainly better written biography. If you are going to read ANY biography this summer, pick up a copy of PHOENIX, and let the Stewart's tell you the story of a Canadian who made a greater impact on this world than most of those in our celebrity obsessed culture dare dream. Hey, only Shatner tops Bethune for a single name Canadian brand!

Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune, a Communist and a hedonist, has been a staple of popular culture since his death in China. Radio dramas, stage plays, movies, postage stamps, coins, a television series, novels, biographies, posters, colouring books and (above) the cover of a vintage war comic book, published in 1943.

Dr. Norman Bethune, like many of our national hero's, was obsessed with ensuring that Canada got "credit" for it's contributions on the world stage. In that respect he was uber-Canadian. He attended Canadian Club luncheons and fully understood the symbolism of VIMY in Canadian affairs. In BETHUNE (1973) Rod Stewart noted that Beth "was always looking for recognition". In the Spanish Civil War he fussed over the image and publicity given to the battlefield blood transfusion service he pioneered. He didn't want to be "sent" to Spain in 1937 like other nameless volunteers, fearing that he "would simply go into a hospital as a surgeon and that would be the end of the Canadian Unit as a Unit! Now it seemed better to emulate England and Scotland and establish ourselves as a definate entity. England has the "English Hospital", Scotland has the "Scottish Ambulance." Dr. Bethune is here delightfully modeled in the blue mono azul overalls he designed for "the unit" and had custom fabricated in London. Missing is the badge "CANADA" which was stitched on a breast pocket. .

PHANTOM FLOORSPACE - Hong Kong Architect transforms a Micro-Condo, creating square footage for free

2011-05-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

As discussed in a previous Blog, the current wave of condo development in the Vancouver region has set imposed new, greatly reduced floor sizes on Buyers. The trade off is that your tenant gets a nicely fitted out pad that is located in a tower near mass-transit, shopping and recreational choices. An example would be a 374 sq foot unit in BOSA's VICEROY in uptown New Westminster, priced at $180,000 plus the usual $$ extras. So far the developers seem to be winning. I do not detect any backlash against the micro-apartments. For the the Investment crowd the micro-apartment creates a ticking time bomb because when bank interest rates start climbing, as they must, you won't be able to get an extra nickle out of the tenant, to help you service the bank loan.

Well, lets try to think positive, shall we?
I saw a fun video feature today which made my heart sing. It's the inspiring tale of a man who made a home out of a rabbit hutch. He is Gary Chang, Architect, and his Hong Kong based firm is the Edge Design Institute. As Gary puts it, Hong Kong's cramped housing conditions made him an expert on space, long before he considered a career in architecture.

If you can ignore the hyperbole of the American presenter, you will enjoy the story of how he created the "Domestic Transformer" - an amazing 344 sqft flat in a Kowloon housing estate which he can easily reconfigure into twenty four practical or useful combinations.

Watch "HONG KONG ARCHITECT TURNS SHOEBOX APARTMENT INTO 24 ROOMS" on YAHOO! News - here. or even better, on YOUTUBE here.

DRUDGE IS THE BIGGEST GUN IN NEWS POINTING - IT'S NOW CONFIRMED

2011-05-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Who watches PBS News Hour? My guess would be the ladies and gents who make those cash contributions which keep the PBS network alive. The News Hour marches with the legion of the credible... the news sources (like the Christian Science Monitor) which are shunned by mass audience which prefers its baloney buffed and blow dried. Well the folks at PBS News Hour have just discovered what I have known for a long time. Matt Drudge's news aggregator site is a vital public service. For several years it it has been my first double click of the day.It is now confirmed. THE DRUDGE REPORT outranks all social media in directing traffic to the top Web sites. Twitter? Forget it! FACEBOOK? Not a chance. They're kid stuff. I've noticed in the past year (from browsing newspaper websites) that reporters at the Vancouver SUN, and all the free distribution paper's ... Burnaby, Richmond, etc are posting to social media (which I admit I've never used) and it made wonder what their motives are. I don't profess to know what makes are local reporters tick.

Read the PBS article for yourself. HERE:

THE DRUDGE REPORT DRIVES MORE TOP NEWS TRAFFIC THAN TWITTER OR FACEBOOK, STUDY FINDS

Inferno obliterated Condo Project in Richmond, B.C. - THE REMY was the stepchild of three levels of Governments and the regions most influential NGO

2011-05-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

9388 Cambie - a very unlucky number

Yesterday's conflagration in Richmond, B.C. produced such dramatic video that it was chosen the lead story on Vancouver evening TV News. Watching an empty building burn is more fun than staring into a fish tank at the dentist's office, isn't it? This particular inferno is probably the biggest chipboard bonfire you're ever going to see, so savour it. Too bad it was also a truckload of taxpayer money going up in smoke.

THE REMY, six floors of B.C. "wood products" consumed in minutes, May 3, 2011. [photo A.M. Lee]

I have mentioned Chinese numbering in an earlier Blog on highrise construction in Burnaby Metrotown. The current mania in development catering to the Chinese market is to change the street address of the building lot, the floor numbers, unit numbers and the sale price to exclude the number "4" and employ the number "8" . Gordon Campbell's Press Release for THE REMY noted that it was to have the street address 9388 Cambie Road and would provide 188 mixed use apartments. Gordo, you're such a silly billy!
A detail I found most interesting in Premier Campbell's June 18, 2010 statement on THE REMY project was role of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. , the Chinese NGO which is the principle power broker in the local Chinese community.
"S.U.C.C.E.S.S. will manage and operate the 33 SRH apartments for seniors. The society will also own and operate 48 affordable apartments for low - to moderate-income families and singles. Incorporated in 1974, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., is a non-profit charitable organization that provides social services to multicultural clientele at all stages of their Canadian experience."
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SUCCESS is more than that. The political clout of its senior staff, their ability to help secure political nominations and to get out the vote for select politicians, rivals what any combination of unions can deliver to a meeting hall. It has been interesting to watch SUCCESS morph into the most important NGO in British Columbia. I have heard it said many times, that if SUCCESS didn't exist, a purely Chinese political party would have been founded in B.C. For the time being, SUCCESS is the unelected Chinese representative body in B.C. Good stuff. Some of what I've heard lately leads me to suspect that within twenty years SUCCESS will be controlling 30 % of medical and educational services in the province. But I digress. That would be a useful subject for a future Blog article.

A photo of the building as it stood over a month ago - many tons of building products neatly bolted to a concrete parking base. Note the scaffolding in place. It remained standing for a time after the chipboard structure was totally consumed. Originally the building was to have wooden elevator shafts, but I saw on TV that a concrete shaft was constructed. It was the only feature left standing by the inferno.

Hail, hail the gangs are all here! The groundbreaking for THE REMY project in 2010 was a photo -op not to be missed. Here we see Gordon Campbell mugging for the camera. The B.C. government kicked in $2,375,000 under the Senior's Rental Housing Initiative, the Federal Government (CMHC) threw in $4,750,000 but demanded public recognition for two separate programs - the Canada-British Columbia Affordable Housing Initiative Agreement and the Tory Canada Economic Action Plan. There was also a daycare facility shoe horned into the REMY project - another $500,000 from Victoria and $900,000 from the City of Richmond.

Those who read the SUN yesterday or watched the TV News, are informed of changes to the Nuilding Code which allowed this 6 storey condo complex to be constructed of wood products, even though the Fire Department of the City of Richmond had sounded the alarm about their inabiulity to deal with a fire in a woodpile of such huge proportions. Below are some of the innovations built into THE REMY in order to allay the fears of the RFD.
No doubt the insurers will pay to rebuild THE REMY, and it will be rebuilt to the same plan. Or maybe they'll add sprinklers. Sprinklers are the remedy most municipal planners prescribe, and that's OK if you live the life of a Chuck Palahniuk character, surrounded by disposable junk. But those who live with books, artwork and Canadiana will never accept the horrible risk of the neighbor's wok triggering an inundation. Live concrete or live disposable! The builders of THE REMY claim they "saved" $12 Million dollars by building out of wood. I guess they never read the story of The Three Little Pigs.

War Porn - the masses cry "Show us the photos of the dead Bin Laden!"

2011-05-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. Step back from news Blogging for two weeks, and the world continues to go ape.
U.S. Special Operators assassinate Bin Laden... (" he was unarmed ...a double tap to the left side of his head") a Danish F16 pilot murders four members of Gaddafi's family, including three of his grandchildren... (How's that for telling the Danish Muslims where they can stick their Jihadist threats? Remember the Jyllands Posten cartoon furor?)

And what to make of the Canadian electorate cancelling the tickets of TWO political leaders with a single blow at the ballot box. Talk about HOLLYWOOD SQUARES - voting to block the Bloc!
We hear that the White House is agonizing over whether to release the death photos of Osama Bin Laden. Why? Just so the conspiracy nuts don't get to create a whole industry around a myth that Bin Laden actually escaped and is now hiding out in a bunker under Berlin. I for one don't enjoy war porn. If I showed you photographs of what Canadian snipers have done to Taliban guerrillas with .50 Calibre sniper rifles, you would be offended. I would hope you could be equally offended by what NATO bombs are doing to children, including (recently) mentally handicapped children in Libya. In another life I am a military historian, and heaven knows it would be easy to illustrate some of my blog articles with atrocity photos. I would rather persuade with words. No, Mr. President. Please do not pass out the photos. We believe. We believe!

For those who are curious about the heated accusation that some Pakistani military officers, MUST have known that Osama Bin Laden has been resident in Abbotobad, here a few photos.

The first, (above) taken on May 2, the day after the U.S. raid, we see Bin Laden's compound with remains of a special op's helicopter, which the SEALS incinerated before exfiltrating Pakistan. Photos show the compound was festooned with electrical wires, (but no telephone) so it is likely the bird got tangled and its tail snapped off in a hard landing. This is a stealth aircraft with advanced sound suppression features, special fibre sheathing and paint.

The second photo shows Bin Laden's compound, [34 10' 09.40"N 73 14' 33.51"E] and the nearby (ie. 1.37 kilometers or less than five minutes away) Pakistan Military Academy. The entire city of Abbotobad is a military zone and civilians are subject to cordon and search activities every time there is a terror alert. How did Bin Laden and his personal security detail live amidst the Pakistani military undetected for six years?

This photo shows the tail section of the helo the American SEALs were forced to abandon inside the compound. It wasn't shot down, but deliberately destroyed with explosives. The Pakistani military removed it from the compound yesterday.

What will happen now? Well, the SEAL mission into Abbotobad was run from U.S. bases in Afghanistan. My guess is that the Taliban will do the honours on behalf of Islamic Fascism worldwide. They will do their best to kill the "puppet-president" of Afghanistan ASAP.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP - The best single-page, but very thorough, analysis of the raid... and with great photos, is on THE DAILY MAIL website. Just click - MAILonline.

UPDATED PHOTOS: a wealth of images is pouring out of Pakistan, much of it concerning the stealth helicopter which the Americans had to leave behind, after destroying as much as they could. This is the best photo available of the tail section. Almost certainly it has already been flown to China and is being poured over by Chinese engineers.

Vancouver's Olympic Village fiasco - the Globe and Mail says the City Government can't handle (or offer) the truth

2011-04-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Gary Mason of The Globe & Mail today fired a broadside into the drifting hulk of Vancouver Olympic Village loss projections. It's a fast read, and very informative. I urge you to invest five minutes, by jumping to the full story and then perhaps even taking advantage of the full City of Vancouver presentation, dated April 8, which the Globe & Mail makes available to us.

You can jump to Gary Mason's full article here: - Olympic Village hidden costs.

Mr. Mason makes pointed reference to an allegedly deceptive Power-Point presentation given to reporters by the Vancouver City Manager, Penny Ballem.

I couldn't recall much about Penny Ballem, beyond recent press coverage of Bob Rennie's efforts to help the new regime at Vancouver City Hall, salvage as much as it can from the Olympic Village development fiasco. For my money, CBC News had some of the most insightful coverage. I assumed Ms. Ballem had a Wikipedia page, and that proved to be the case. BALLEM WIKI

To judge from the tone and personal content, I assume that the creator of the Wiki page does not like Ms. Ballem. At least it was interesting to be reminded that (past tense) served on the VANOC Board of Directors. She was handpicked by the current Vancouver Mayor, for the post she currently enjoys.

The GLOBE & MAIL offers a wonderful interactive graphics page in support of its Vancouver news coverage. For the False Creek graphic go to VANCOUVER INTERACTIVE after reading Gary Mason's article. Several of Mr. Mason's earlier stories are also archived on the GLOBE website.

CHANCELLOR Tower Metrotown - Polygon's strategy averts sidewalk mayhem, but what precedents are being set?

2011-04-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

I chose not to attend Polygon's sneak preview of the CHANCELLOR tower. The event hosted Vancouver area Realtors, and was held yesterday in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Metrotown, Burnaby. As with the previews of SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE, hundreds of Realtors attended. And as with the Super-tower projects, few of those Realtors will be able to compete with the "In-house" sales force of the developers. But hey, you play the cards you're dealt.

In an earlier Blog article I considered Polygon's problem of how to deal with the place-holders who were squatting on the block in front of the building site. I asked the question "Taping your business card to a plastic kitchen stool, and lining them up in front of a major developer's sales center - ONE WEEK BEFORE SALES DATE. Is that all it takes these days to guarantee the chance of writing a contract with condo sales staff?" I got my answer yesterday from May Kam, Sales Manager at CHANCELLOR.

The answer is YES ! - any licenced Realtor who wants a piece of the action with Polygon, Intracorp, Bosa, et al, better be willing to hire a dozen human traffic cones, and get themselves to the nearest Canadian Tire to invest in a dozen plastic stools. The next tower feeding frenzy is just over the horizon. ... But of course there is far more to flash condo marketing than creating buzz or convincing wealthy Chinese to line up at your sales center. "Inside Sales" is also a thorn in the foot of Jesus. Insider trader is illegal on Wall and Bay Streets, but property developers kiting the value of projects, and then permitting internal sales staff to buy choice units and later flip, is an old Vancouver tradition. I'm not pointing fingers at any particular developer, but I could.

We will witness holes shot in the sky all along Metrotown ridge, as new and higher towers are approved. But there will also come a reckoning. And surely the City of Burnaby must ponder the problem and innovate a solution to a problem the municipality is contributing. Does every highrise tower site have to end up looking like a U.N. Feeding Centre, and every licences realtor have to become a part time labour contractor in order to do their jobs for their clients?

UPDATE April 13, 2011 - Here a bit of good news - the elected government of Burnaby (its Council) has asked city legal staff to "develop a policy" to deal with the current phenomenon of flash marketing, which is creating disruptive lines of place holders in front of developer sales centres in Metrotown. A good start! I'll have a few further suggestions as we get closer to the Municipal election.

Polygon's CHANCELLOR development in Burnaby, Metrotown - for the record

2011-04-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

A reader query asks "Why do you put Polygon's CHANCELLOR Tower at 4860 Bennett St., when their Facebook page says "4880" ? Good question. The truth is that of the three major tower developments marketed this year in Burnaby, Metrotown - Bosa's SOVEREIGN, Intracorp's METROPLACE and Polygon's CHANCELLOR, Polygon has run the stealthiest operation. If you look at the photo I took at 3PM today you will see what is posted at the building site behind Metrotown Mall. . Polygon's proposal got third and final reading - officially termed Reconsideration and Final Adoption, at the Burnaby City Council Meeting on Monday, April 4. It was actually just a formality - one of several document sets which were pushed through in two minutes, with a unanimous vote. [For those who don't know Burnaby politics, we have a single municipal party holding all of the municipal seats. Almost all matters are passed unanimously, with little discussion, unless one of the BCA alderman is having a grouchy day.] . Up until the very last, at Monday nights' Council meeting, Polygon's development project has been identified as "Metrotown Tower - Burnaby B.C." and never as Chancellor. Further, the civic addresses for the building site - on all documents reads "4860 Bennett Street and 6535 Nelson Avenue". No doubt Polygon has applied for and will receive the civic number "4880" (a valuable Chinese lucky number) and they feel entitled to call it theirs, but I can't publish it in this Blog until confirmed.

CHANCELLOR Tower, Metrotown - the madness begins. Will POLYGON do as good a job with the queue as BOSA SOVEREIGN ?

2011-04-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

The CHANCELLOR Tower building site, 4860 Bennett Street, Metrotown. It's April 10th, at 3PM. Realtors have hired these placeholders to stand in line in April showers - for the coming week! The City of Burnaby has deployed plastic barriers to keep passing traffic from hitting pedestrians heading for the Mall or Bonsor Community Centre. The sidewalk is fully covered by real estate squatters.

It was 3PM and I was standing in the pouring rain in Metrotown. My camera didn't like the weather so I had to be fast. Approximately 40 Chinese men and women, many middle aged, covered the sidewalk sheltering under umbrellas or barbecue shelters in front of POLYGON's building site at 4860 Bennett Street, Burnaby Metrotown. An elderly gentleman approached to ask why I was taking photos. He had been here awhile, and was a wealth of information. The line he said, began to form on Saturday. He had counted approximately 100 chairs and stools deployed from the front door of the newly constructed CHANCELLOR Sales Centre to the corner, of which 75 or so have Realtor business cards affixed. He had spoken to several umbrella people in the queue, and all had been promised money by Realtors to stand in line. I photographed a few of the business cards.

These are two of the Realtor business cards taped to chairs at 4860 Bennett Street.

Last month I witnessed the chilled lineup of placeholders in front of SOVEREIGN Tower, Metrotown. BOSA did a superb job with crowd control, before the jostling and angry words could turn uglier. POLYGON will have to hustle because this crowd has assembled much earlier, and so many realtors missed out on selling anything at SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE Towers, that there is a great deal of "face" at stake with exasperated clients.

Taping your business card to a plastic kitchen stool, and lining them up in front of a major developer's sales centre - ONE WEEK BEFORE SALE DATE. Is that all it takes these days to guarantee the chance of writing a contract with condo sales staff?

In my opinion, the extraordinary demand for units in these large tower projects in Metrotown, is encouraging a "feeding frenzy" style of marketing which the City of Burnaby should have foreseen, and which certainly is getting out of hand. (Yesterday's frenzy at METROPLACE was nothing short of bizarre! as were the secret sales the night before.) That left many shaking heads. We are in dire need of municipal Bylaws to govern flash condo sales on this scale. The word of mouth around Burnaby is that Developer Tactics and the Municipal responsibility to manage the boom in Metrotown development, will certainly be an ELECTION ISSUE in 2011.

V for Victory. These happy place-holders are close to the front of the line at the CHANCELLOR building site, in Metrotown.

City of Burnaby employees have deployed plastic barriers to create a space for Metrotown pedestrians to walk around the hundred or so place-holders who have taken the sidewalk. This is a very busy block, and the entrance to Metrotown parking is directly across the street from these ladies.

THE TALIBAN SONG and other fun stuff from Afghanistan. Also enjoy the comedy stylings of the Three Stooges in Kevlar

2011-04-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

As Canadian folk songs go, it's not exactly Stan Rogers, but hey! ... I wouldn't want to write song lyrics in a cruddy bunker in Afghanistan. Not with the Taliban bouncing RPGs off the roof! THE TALIBAN SONG is fun stuff, sung to the tune of Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldiers. It's hosted at LIVELEAK for all to enjoy.

THE TALIBAN SONG plays online here.

While you visit LIVELEAK why not also enjoy the comedy stylings of Gypsy, Whiskey and McMuffin, three Canadian soldiers who make the best coffee since BLACKHAWK DOWN:

Making coffee Canadian style - is a fun little video created by Three Stooges in Kevlar. Watch it here.

The Stooges in Kevlar really hate that "Beef Macaroni Chinese Style" but find uses for the efficient heat pack.

Big Brother telescreen for sale in London - expected to fetch more than 5000 pounds at auction.

2011-04-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

An historic piece of television gear is coming up for auction this month in London. The earliest surviving British television set, it has a 12 inch B&W screen and a hardwood table top cabinet. In order to get a true image, the picture was reflected off a mirror set in the top of the wooden lid. In late 1936, when this TV receiver was purchased, there was one channel available in London, and that for only one hour per day. When war was declared in September 1939, BBC television was switched off. Broadcasts only resumed in June 1946. By then George Orwell had pondered the potential of television and how quickly the technology would seep into every home. In his chilling novel Nineteen Eighty-four, automobiles have no role in people's lives and are virtually absent, but the telescreen is ubiquitous and a vital instrument of government repression. This is a 1936 Marconi Model 702. It was purchased new for just under 100 British pounds. It has had two owners, and has been kept repaired and in full working order for 75 years. The set predates George Orwell's two-way, wall mounted telescreens by twelve years. It will be auctioned by Bonhams and is expected to sell for over 5000 pounds.

At the time this television set was sold, George Orwell was involved in the Spanish Civil War, where he learned the true nature of communist and fascist ideology and witnessed their competition for a mass audience. It was also in Spain where Orwell was shot by a sniper; a nasty bit of life experience which few urban wordsmiths manage to pick up. During WW2 Orwell wrote for and read on air for the B.B.C., England's government broadcaster. All of his scripts were filtered by censors, every word and phrase having to be checked for security reasons and for his adherence to official policy. It is no accident that Orwell's literary masterpiece is a story which tells us we are doomed if we let governments mess with our language and set the narrative.

In the grim novel Winston Smith sits in a shallow alcove, to hide his first act of defiance against Big Brother - writing in a diary. Of course he must conceal himself from the telescreen, which is both a viewer and a surveillance camera. Nineteen Eighty-four has been filmed many times, but no director has ever thought it necessary to recreate the alcove, or to illustrate Orwell's point that much can be deduced from body language and posture.

One of the great ironies of modern political literature is that television, as an instrument of repression, is identified with the British, and not with Stalin's Russia or Nazi Germany. This is largely do to the power and worldwide influence of Orwell's dystopian novel. It is also a fact that while the Nazis used television to spread propaganda, they never considered it as a tool of surveillance, as it certainly became and still is used in England. There is no question that television became more advanced in Germany during WW2 while the Brits had their transmitters turned off. The German people were still able to watch television programs in their homes until 1944, at which time the Allies began crossing their borders. Hundreds of hours of Nazi television news and dramas still exist, and a sampling is available on Youtube here.

WIkileaks hints U.S. Planned the War in Libya long before any "popular uprising", and now U.S. Government sources have confirmed it

2011-04-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

It was revealed this week that C.I.A. Special Operators were on the ground in Libya, along with British S.A.S. hit teams, well in advance of B.H. Obama's signing a Presidential Order legalizing the murky covert operation. The C.I.A. station in Tripoli, Libya was of course evacuated before the "uprising". DEVKAfile among others have reported on covert C.I.A. operations in Libya.

Where to start in trying to understand what the Obama administration wants to accomplish in Libya? Perhaps start with a New York Times report (March 30) C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and meet Rebels Then make your way to THE TELEGRAPH which offers a cache of State Department cables furnished by Wikileaks:

The latest Wikileaks on Libya were published on March 31st in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, (DOCUMENTS). The secret cables contribute to the growing evidence that we are witnessing a War on Libya, planned by the C.I.A. for at least two to three years, and carefully staged to make it appear that a popular uprising has taken place.

. A report to State Department January 27, 2010, by Gene A. Cretz, U.S. Ambassador, Tripoli. The Ambassador is "exploring engagement" not with a ranking ("GOL") Government of Libya official, but someone we in Canada would describe as 'a leader of the extra-Parliamentary opposition'. An opposition which has, at its core, a contingent of disaffected Libyans whom the C.I.A. has nurtured for more than two decades.

The "Jibril" mentioned in the State Department cables offered to us by WIKILEAKS, is Mahmoud Jibril, America's pet dog in Libya. For a profile of the fellow turn to this CBC page. Jibril is a cultured academic who meets regularly with Hilary Clinton. He harbours very bitter feelings toward Col. Gaddafi.

The helpful website look4leaks. net allows you to access many more State Department cables which show which reveal how the U.S. government has been working to contain and ultimately overthrow the Gaddafi government. You can JUMP to look4leaks.net and type in the word LIBYA.

Those of us who work for a living scarcely have the time to keep up with events in our own country, much less keep a score card for the wars, revolutions, concocted uprisings and political assassinations taking place at a frenetic pace. Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Iraq.... just in the Middle East, and just since Christmas! NATO, Ottawa and the Obama White House make and break policy statements so often that our media don't even attempt to report or keep up. The UN resolution was (allegedly) intended to keep Gaddafi's Air Force on the ground so he couldn't "murder" innocent civilians. Our pompous P.M. alleged that one of Canada's generals, a senior ranking helicopter pilots was assuming command of the NATO Air-Sea operation in Libya. In fact the Canadian general is dangerously out of his depth, and the Americans have little use NATO now that their secret operation in Libya is exposed. There is now such urgency to strike Gaddafi a fatal blow before he works out a political stalemate, that even as I write this, U.S. Spectre gunships and Warthog antitank jets are flying ground attack missions in support of the rebel offensive.

Now that B.H. Obama has signed a Presidential decree allowing the C.I.A. to plant American "boots on the ground", we are catching glimpses of secret operations in almost twelve countries in the Middle East and Central Asia. It must be said that U.S. planning is astonishing in its complexity and scope. Consider just one recent revelation involving U.S. Army Special Forces - "U.S. Special Forces have permission to enter Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on a 'case-by-case' basis when conducting counter-terrorism operations, US Central Command has confirmed." In fact there are no spots on this planet, including Ottawa or Beijing, which the Americans do not have some political or economic interest at stake, and a willingness to intervene, if necessary. Sooooo, here we are running a national election in Canada. Clearly it is in Washington's interest that Harper's Tories should win this contest. Here is my $100 to the first Runagate reader who can get me a photo of 'Granny in combat boots', skulking at the back of a political rally in your town or city.

FINALLY, SOMETHING INTELLIGENT OUT OF CNN

Among the worst coverage of events in Libya has been that of the American news network CNN. At times it has appeared that they were running a disinformation campaign for the White House, but usually on-air talent, including the incredibly obnoxious Wolf Blitzer, were simply full of themselves. Finally though, we see a CNN report online with some meat in it, concerning the cabal of Libyan emigres which the C.I.A. has been nurturing for many years. Read - CNN REPORT and watch this video report. It's very illuminating.

CNN sources WIKILEAKS - rather amusing this screen. CNN selects and underscores the key point. The American Intelligence behemoth has been preparing this "democratic uprising" in Libya for many years. But just as the puppet regions in Baghdad and Kabul prove to be grotesquely unreliable partners, the coming puppet regime in Libya with bite Barack on the behind, just before he vacates the Oval Office.

METROPLACE 6309 Telford Avenue, Burnaby Metrotown - Intracorp shines with well run Realtor preview

2011-03-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

I attended the Realtor Preview for Intracorp's METROPLACE Tower this afternoon, and I must admit that the event went very well. I think Intracorp learned a great deal from BOSA's experience marketing SOVEREIGN Tower one month ago, and they put that knowledge to good use. These two "super-towers" are a new experience for Burnaby, and it is gratifying to see that every attempt is being made to ensure that sales go smoothly and fairly. There is such incredible interest in METROPLACE that the fear exists that a select few Realtors would be given privileged access, and their colleagues shut out. This has happened in the past but we are seeing a much fairer and more manageable environment of late. The smooth marketing of "skyscrapers" like SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE could do much to foster Buyer confidence in all the other proposed developments in the Metrotown corridor. . At the event I addressed my questions to Brett Anderson, an Intracorp sales rep on the floor. I learned that METROPLACE Tower is up for Third Reading at the next meeting of Burnaby City Council - Monday, April 4th. Coincidentally, the CHANCELLOR Tower, being developed by POLYGON, is also on Council's agenda the same night. There is huge interest in the CHANCELLOR development, located next to Bonsor Community Centre. That building will be family oriented, with nothing smaller than two bedroom units. Realtors are shown lined up in front of the METROPLACE presentation centre on McKay Avenue in Metrotown, at 1PM, March 31, 2011. INTRACORP clearly learned a great deal from how BOSA handled the recent marketing of SOVEREIGN Tower. Hired security did a superb job of managing - a business card and a B.C. drivers licence was required of every entrant. Dozens of gatecrashers were turned away with no fuss at all. (R. Jack photo) The scale model for METROPLACE Tower, 6309 Telford Avenue, Metrotown, was unveiled at the special preview for Realtors held on March 31, 2011. At least 250 Realtors attended the opening, which was very well run and tastefully catered. One of the design features of METROPLACE tower which might leave non-Chinese visitors a tad bemused, is the absence of the number "4" which reminds the Chinese of death. None of the apartment units employ the number four, there is no 14th, 24th or 34th floor, and floors 40-49 also do not exist. The three penthouse units are not on the "47th floor" but rather on the 6oth "level". Western superstition is though, totally ignored. There is a 13th floor. I noticed in the METROPLACE discussion thread over at SKYSCRAPERPAGE.COM that there were plenty of comments on the Chinese numbering system for the building. Here is one of a series of photos I took in the Sales Centre, in case anyone doubts that ten floors disappear in METROPLACE numbering. An expatriate reader noted that even in China the towers retain floors 40 thru 49. The only thing avoided is, for example, an "Apt. 40 -04" or an "Apt 41 - 04". Susan Rutledge, who is the Vice President of Sales for METROPLACE Tower, ran the ever popular prize draw for Realtors.

METROPLACE Tower, 6309 Telford Avenue, Burnaby Metrotown - the scale model shows the town houses and parking ramp at the base of the 47 floor structure. The smallest of the one bedroom units will not have an assigned parking space. The developer, Intracorp, will offer a two year transit pass. (R. Jack photo)

Gaddafi 1, Harper 0 - Canadian Parliament rubber stamps a 2nd WAR and then collapses into another bullshit election

2011-03-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. Harper poses with CF18 pilots. We must assume a flunkie has placed a wooden crate or something equally rigid on the pilot's seat, because Harper is not eight feet tall.

Few Canadians watch Parliamentary Debates on television, and even fewer read. So they only know, because their TV screens told them, that our military has been thrust into the Civil War in Libya. Do you, innocent Blog reader, have any idea what the "leaders" of the four political brands (Tory, Liberal, NDP and BQ) had to get off their chests before rubber stamping their support for "our troops" and then slinking off on yet another soulless federal election? Do you? No you don't.

On Monday, March 21, the Opposition Parties granted the Harper government permission (post facto) to broaden it's involvement in the Libyan Civil War. In gratitude, the Harperites promised to return in three months time to renew the mandate of the House. That satisfied the "Official Opposition". In order to limit and bury the sordid story, on the eve of yet another election, Parliament agreed to the Defence Minister's brilliant dodge - that they end Question Period and the House declare itself to be sitting in "Committee of the whole on Government Business". They could discuss the Libyan civil war and burble to their hearts content, and then proceed to rubber stamp the war on Gaddafi without going on record. Thus if HMCS Charlottetown takes as a silkworm cruise missile in its bowels, none of them can be held accountable by cranky voters. Mackenzie King would be so proud of these despicable cowards.

The Defence Minister, Peter Mackay, opened the friendly forum and put a name on our compassionate aerial assault on Libya - Operation ODYSSEY DAWN. He reminded the committee that Canadians don't start fights, but do retaliate against those who provoke us. "In fact, we have never attacked or invaded another nation in anger or without provocation." Well it is a fact that Canadian politicians expect our soldiers to fight like emotionless cyborgs. Dare any of our troops flash a "V" for victory gesture after a firefight in Afghanistan, or have the gall to take a photo standing over a dead enemy combatant, they will be cashiered. Yes, in many respects we are a childlike nation.

Jack Harris, (a Nfld MP) was second to the microphone, speaking for the NDP. He let the cat out of the bag. "We have already agreed on a motion to be passed later on today." Translation - this is all window dressing Peter. We don't give a shit what you're doing in Libya because we are going to knock you out of your job before the week is out.

Bob Rae (Liberal) reminded his colleagues that Gaddafi "took power illegally by destroying the monarchy in Libya" but thankfully, he fell short of calling for a restoration of the Libyan monarchy. Rae was the only MP to be a little honest and drop the pretense that there had been a spontaneous civilian uprising in Libya. In fact there is a military coup underway. "It was a movement of people that obviously had some military support from an army that was clearly divided..." Exactly. Point out Harper's obvious lie that Gaddafi was oppressing unarmed civilians, and planned to massacre them. Gaddafi knows exactly the kind of rebels he is facing. They are same ruthless fascists who helped him maintain power, but now they have aligned with Al-Qaeda and militant fascist Muslims. If anyone is going to be massacred Stevie, it is Gaddafi's tribesmen, after the Americans and Europeans have disarmed them.

Last week the German government pulled its aircraft and ships out of the NATO task force, pointing to the fact that its European neighbors had no interest in the welfare of the Libyan people, but great interest in safeguarding their supply of Libyan oil. During WW2 Rommel's AFRIKA CORPS controlled all of Libya. Germany is not keen on fresh Libyan adventures.

Mr. Jean Dorion, a Bloq Quebecois Separatist made it clear that his party was in a bind. They don't support the ALLIED + NATO war on Gaddafi, but don't wish to be the only registered political party opposing the Canadian intervention in North Africa. "We support the sending of CF18s because that intervention is consistent with a value that is fundamental to Quebeckers: that military intervention must be carried out in a multinational framework. ... The Bloc is also against the notion of preventive war... of course in the absence of an established and imminent threat, a country cannot go to war against another country merely because it harbours misgivings in respect of that country."

Paul Dewar (NDP) referred to private briefings given by a cadre of government bureaucrats to all MPs, earlier that day. His contribution was to make the plea that "... it is absolutely critical that we do not engage in rhetoric that talks about regime change and getting rid of leaders. ... I urge the government and all ministers to check their rhetoric and to ensure that not only is it not said but that it is not implied." A reasonable request, and one in keeping with the wording of the U.N. Resolution.

So what happened next? Mr. Dewar sat down and Lawrence Cannon, the Tory Minister of Foreign Affairs, stood up in full splendour and majesty. You can almost hear his thoughts about Dewar in words which echo King Henry in the movie THE LION IN WINTER. "I've got you boy! The NDP and Liberals are in my pocket. To these eyes this is what winning looks like boy!" What Cannon actually said was: "Canada's approach... has been to isolate the Gadhafi regime, cut it off from its financial resources, deprive it of its legitimacy and ensure that there will be no impunity for crimes against humanity.... blah. blah, blah." and finally "We sincerely hope that Gadhafi does decide step down." Well now, in a month's time, Canadian voters, in this very limited democracy, will have the opportunity to practice a little "regime change" of their own, and perhaps "deprive [the Tory party] of its legitimacy." Any gang of scoundrels which wages war (in two countries no less), and then has the temerity to insist that health care spending is the primary "issue" facing Canadians, deserves to be executed for gross deceit, contempt of parliament and abuse of power.At a roadblock in the Libyan desert, a group of devoutly-democratic rebels take time out from their daily routine to thank Allah for the support of Stephen Harper's Tory government.

John Baird then spoke for the minority Tories, "Mr. Speaker... I believe you will find consent for the following motion. I move ... [there followed 200 dishonest words which recorded that Canadians forces are now engaged in a legal intervention, in support of a rebel faction left UNNAMED, commanded by leaders left UNNAMED]. And not one single MP registered in HANSARD a shred of doubt about what they were rubber stamping. You can read HANSARD here, for yourself.

The decent, principled thing to do in the coming election is to boycott all of these illegitimate parties, and let the bureaucracy run the machine for a few years. (Canadian Socialism could easily run on autopilot. The cheque writing machines are oblivious to elections.) To do anything other than boycott this election is to rubber stamp a fraud, which we are assured is "democratic choice". It's not democracy when there is nothing offered to us on the ballot beyond the same old buffoonery which extends back to the Canadian Confederation of 1867.

UPDATE - On March 22 the Canadian military brass announced a suitably bilingual, ie. (English/French) name for the "Canadian component" of the N.A.T.O. interdiction in Libya. It is called OPERATION MOBILE. There is already a Wiki Page for it.

Canadian Dogs of War - would the Tories lie about Libya ?

2011-03-20T23:05:00.000-07:00

As war's go, this new one in Libya is not so unique. The preamble involved the usual pattern of lying and doubletalk. While Gaddafi's opponents were winning they were "revolutionaries" and "freedom fighters". When they started losing they became "innocent civilians" who were, according to Stephen Harper, about to be "massacred". By Sunday the British Defense Secretary Liam Fox was boldly talking about a "decapitation strike". He means the assassination of Gaddafi using precision guided munitions. Will a Canadian CF-18 pilot do the dirty work? Probably not, because according to a report by Tom Blackwell in the NATIONAL POST : Canadian "military lawyers will screen all possible targets to lessen civilian deaths and try to ensure international law is obeyed." How surreal is that!? Our lawyers sign off on the strike targets! You can't make this stuff up. Read more in Canada may take on large share of Libya MissionOn Saturday Peter Mackay, Canada's Defence Minister, was interviewed on the street in his Nova Scotia riding. Canada's JTF2 commandos have been made available to the coalition, and he was asked if they would join the British S.A.S. which is already on the ground in Libya calling in air strikes on Gaddafi's tanks and missilie launchers. Mackay never answers questions about our Special Forces of course. He did though mention HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN, which he claimed was holding station off Gibralter, far from Libyan waters.

According to this graphic prepared by the U.S. Military, and available a few days ago, HMCS Charlottetown is just off the coast of Tripoli. [Of course the Yanks managed to misspell her name.] On Sunday Peter Mackay re-asserted the idea that our warship was holding a non-hostile position near Gibraltar. He was being interviewed on CTV's QUESTION PERIOD. Our frigate has a giant Canadian flag painted on each side of its superstructure, making it the easiest ship for Libyan's to identify from a distance.

I don't trust what Canada is doing in Libya, any more than I trust what they are telling us about present and future military operations in Afghanistan.

Russian An-124 landing at McChord field, near Tacoma, Washington on March 20, 2011. Three of the giant transports flew in during the weekend to load cargo for the "Allied" assault on Libya.

It's interesting that Russia didn't use its Security Council veto at the United Nations to stop the "so-called "NO FLY ZONE", but Moscow has now condemned the massive air and sea bombardment. Early Monday media followed Vladimir Putin to a ballistic missile factory where he gave a speech. He said the UN Resolution on Libya is licence for the Allies to do as much as they please... "It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades."

On that first night three U.S. submarines and a half dozen surface vessels fired 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Gaddafi's country. Wow. That's $750,000 Barack bucks per missile! I find Russia to be super-hypocritical in all of this. Moscow condemns America's every military move and yet is a war profiteer, of critical importance to moving vital equipment directly from America to the war zones. American taxpayers are footing an enormous bill for the purchase of Russian machine guns and helicopters being delivered to Kabul, and also to charter huge Russian Antonov transport aircraft which regularly fly into neighboring Washington State. Previous An-124 flights out of McChord AFB carried loads of military helicopters, including UH60s, OH58s and CH47s. The Antonovs regularly fly to the US Superbase at Kandahar, Afghanistan. There are websites where (if interested) you can follow aircraft movements worldwide, and I note that two Antonov's which loaded at McChord today flew directly to an airbase in the U.K. No doubt they were carrying ordnance to be dropped on Libya later this week.

Shooting holes in the sky - METROPLACE - Prices that give local buyers pause, don't scare wealthy Chinese. But should they?

2011-03-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

METROPLACE - PART TWO

"Sustainable" this, "sustainable" that, "sustainable" everything. Sustainability... it's the most annoying catchphrase in B.C. since NDP Premier Glen Clark had EVERYBODY in the province mouthing his pat phrase at every interview, "At the end of the day". Well now, doesn't it begin to look like some of our condo developers and our municipal governments are counting on BIG Chinese money, or rather an endless stream of Chinese real estate Buyers, to become a "sustainable resource"? It seems obvious that the Chinese are becoming a natural resource to be exploited, right up there with mining and forestry.

I don't want to pick on the folks at Intracorp, but their 46 storey METROPLACE Tower will be the next venue for a feeding frenzy. I'm sure they can rationalize their pricing a dozen different ways - "Quality", "Demand", "Location", "Development Fees"...take your pick. But what they can't explain away is the fact that they are squeezing people into ever smaller units, while jacking up the prices. Bottom end units in METROPLACE tower are 491 sq ft and 500 sq ft, with one open room shared as a kitchenette and living room. Townhouses at the base, are another matter. How about putting in one less unit per floor, and giving people some leg room?

METROPLACE Type B - 491 sq ft "All starting from the $250's". Well.... yeah, there will be a dozen of these given away, if only to make the advertising legal. But for most bottom end units, teensy weensy units you can expect to pay a cool $300K when you've covered everything, including your lawyer and other incidentals.

What do super towers like SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE do for us in Metrotown, besides shooting holes in the sky? They offer us fewer chips in the bag, while boasting of the flavour.

I call it the "Cherry Blossom Syndrome". Few immigrants know it, but Canada once used Imperial measurement, as the Americans still do. One of the economic "legacies" of the Trudeau Era was the imposition of the metric system. Canadian children suffered the metric conversion even more than adults, because it allowed the greedy businessman to victimize us. Candy, potato chip and pop makers were very quick to reduce our favorite treats to much smaller sizes (offered in grams) but not one reduced their sell price. My weekly sugar fix was the Lowney Cherry Blossom, a delicious mound of chocolate with a whole cherry in its centre. The metric Cherry Blossom was a pitiful thing, and I never bought another one. With real estate being what it is, an added advantage to current runaway prices is, the kids won't notice you made the candy smaller.

Ten years ago 700 - 730 square foot units were the average sized, one bedroom condos being sold in Metrotown. I do fear the arrival of these 490 -500 sq ft units at SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE are establishing a benchmark low, which will persist. We'll soon see, as new designs for shorter towers will be approved over the next 36 months. This morning I had a look at measurements for the MONARCH, a popular condo tower on Hazel Street. BOSA built it, and it has one of the best reputations in Metrotown. For one thing, it's not a "leaker". The MONARCH was built in 1999 and its one bedroom units averaged 712 -722 square feet. A one bedroom and den usually measured 769 square feet ("All measurements subject to Buyer verification.") The point is, the shaving down of unit size is just a significant factor in repulsing local Buyers as the sky high prices fueled by offshore money. Chinese VIP customers brought in on purchasing junkets may not care, but the rest of us have to. If you are at all curious about Price History to go with the MONARCH floor measurements, you can have a look. [MLS Search result]

I suppose we can consider another time, what government-imposed costs (GICs) are doing to drive up local condo prices. That's also a scary subject. Now on the lighter side...

Here we see Metrotown, Burnaby as depicted in Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. That is Deer Lake down slope, (the redeveloped site of the former Oakalla Prison), and the runway shaped Burnaby Lake in the distance.

Increasing the B.C. Minimum Wage - and twisting that knife which protrudes from the belly of the Provincial NDP

2011-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

The B.C. Minimum Wage goes up on May 1st. Thank gawd! Why has it taken so long for the controllers to face up to the new economic realty? We (or is it they?) have created an urban living-lifestyle mix in the Lower Mainland that only the rich can afford. The despair of those struggling to keep up has scarcely been alleviated by piecemeal subsidies for our working poor which are an insult rather than a hand up. Working families don't want charity. They want an equal chance to make it in this society. If government doesn't start incorporating measures to support our kids, province wide, the young are DEAD! Too much of our attention is focused on attracting the easy money - the offshore mega-dollars looking for a place to park.

It's about time that the people who talk for a living lose some of their power and influence over those who labour for a living. I can't help recalling my first minimum wage job in 1971, which was wiping down cars and cleaning windows in a car wash. I worked after school for $1.25 an hour. That was in the Province of New Brunswick, where the minimum is now $10 per hour. (I preserved my first T4 Slip to serve as a reminder, as I work my way through life.) Our single-parent family didn't even own a car, and there I was washing the cars of "the rich". Certainly our Canada has vastly improved since the 1970s, but there are hundreds of thousands of young workers in B.C. today, who are bloody scared for their futures. Believe it!

It's easy to detect the deep political calculation behind the Minimum Wage announcement made by Christy Clark, B.C.'s unelected Premier. The fact that she is staging it, in three incremental jumps, indicates that she wants it all - the votes of the working poor and the cash contributions of the business community.

When the story broke this morning, news readers began posting their partisan opinions, and many of them were appropriate. I decided to scrape the comments of "Cheryl in Canada" as being most representative of the lot. Long after the YAHOO News and the Vancouver SUN have deleted "Cheryl", her words will be archived here. She doesn't lie. Surveys and commissioned reports frequently do.
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CHERL IN CANADA posted March 17, 2011 in YAHOO NEWS

CHERYL IN CANADA posted March 17, 2011 in the Vancouver SUN

So how high might the Minimum Wage rise, assuming Christy doesn't renege?

MAY 1, 2011 - increase to $8.75 per hour

NOV 1, 2011 - increase to $9.50 per hour

MAY 1, 2012 -increase to $10.75 per hour

Highrise fire in Metrotown Burnaby, Tenants rescued from 27th Floor, 4390 Grange

2011-03-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

In what may have set a height record for Burnaby Fire -Rescue, tenants were rescued last night from the 27th floor of a condo tower in Metrotown. Seven tenants were rescued from a balcony on the 27th floor of the PANARAMA building [sic], 4390 Grange Street, and taken to Burnaby Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. The fire is considered "suspicious"and is under active investigation by Burnaby RCMP.
Windows of the burned out unit on the 27th floor, PANARAMA building on Grange Street, Metrotown. (photo by Curtis Kreklau) Nine Burnaby firetrucks responded to the blaze, but none of the B.F.D. aerial ladders extend to such a height. It is unknown what special provisions are being made to accomodate fire-rescue services for the SOVEREIGN and METRPOPLACE super-towers which will be completed in 2014.

As of this morning arson investigators had blocked off the 24th to 27th floors of the tower. The PANARAMA [sic] is generally considered a family-safe building, where the tenants go to the trouble of organizing annual Christmas parties. Maintenance and rentals are handled by GATEWAY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT and at the 27th floor the three-bedroom penthouse suites list at $2500 per month.
A recurrent problem with Metrotown Condos and high ratio rental towers, besides all the break-ins, is the ongoing presence of members of drug gangs who take up residence. There presence sometimes paralyzes the weaker condo associations. Burnaby Detachment RCMP will not go into buildings with their dogs unless actively chasing suspects. As a consequence, over the last 24 months some condo managers have taken to doing secret sweeps of properties with private security companies who offer canine service. It's an interesting phenomenon and I plan to interview one of the 'sniffer-dog for hire' investigators in the near future.
One thing is for sure - the Burnaby Fire Department will be giving thought to its ability to attempt fire-rescue at even greater heights, now that we have approval for two 45 to 46 storey towers in Metrotown.
Update - This afternoon the B.F.D. released details of the arson. There are four 3-bedroom apartments on the 27th floor of PANARAMA. The attacker ignited combustible material outside a door, and the flames burned through and into the apartment. An attempted multiple murder it would seem. I put in a query to the B.F.D. seeking to confirm this a height record for fire rescue, but did not get a response.

METROPLACE - 46 floor Burnaby skyscraper is intended to spearhead mega-development south of Metrotown Mall

2011-03-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

PART ONE
Is it just me, or have you too noticed that life on the Pacific Coast is getting truly, truly surreal? I don't refer merely to the skyrocketing cost of living, but to all of the little things. The fixation on hand-held electronic gadgets, the mania to be a Facebook "friend", and the high school science teachers who prefer to screen BACK TO THE FUTURE in their classrooms, rather than bore their pupils with the Periodic Table. In Burnaby high schools even the Chemistry teachers show Hollywood feature films.
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Recently I decided on purchasing an investment condo, and suddenly I began to notice plenty which I used to put on ignore. An example is our shared race to adjust to a massive and significant demographic shift in our resident population. I welcome it, but there is no doubt it will be even more consequent than the many social changes we underwent during the "Countdown to Hong Kong 1997". Twenty years ago BCTV News used to impress us with images of quaint Chinese urban lifestyle. Remember those video clips of Beijing streets awash with hordes of commuters on bicycles? Remember those shots of pencil-thin Hong Kong apartment towers where whole families lived like rabbits in less than 500 square feet? Where are we today? The "people's cadres" running Vancouver City Hall are tenaciously tearing up the traffic grid and installing bicycle paths. Utopia demands its concessions. In "suburban" Burnaby in 2011, ALL new towers offer affordable "homes" of less than 500 square feet. Extraordinary! Come to think of it... we are rushing back to the future!
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Last month I had the opportunity to interview Maurice Pez, who is SVP Development at INTRACORP. He is spearheading the development of Burnaby's second new skyscraper - METROPLACE. In my preliminary research I read the Municipal website and the newspaper archives. Only one paper had been covering the project. Wanda Chow of the BURNABY NEWSLEADER attended council meeting and provided a thumbnail history in her story filed on November 4: 46-storey highrise pitched next to Metrotown station Much of the tower site is currently operating as BURNABY STORE - ALL, renting storage lockers. Intracorp has "been in partnership" with the owner of the property for about six years. Big projects have a very long time-line.

Mr. Pez exuded confidence in his project, which has passed Second Reading and was eager to give a great deal of credit for its genesis to City of Burnaby staff. I wanted to know if he felt well received when he presented METROPLACE at a meeting of open council, but he had no impressions to offer. "We were asked not to present." Who then had "pitched" the proposal to the city and the television audience? Basil Lufkin - Burnaby Director of Planning, a man whom Intracorp meets with regularly. Pez was also very generous in his praise of the Planning Committee. They intend that Intracorp's 46-storey tower be the catalyst for a sweeping redevelopment of the entire Maywood neighborhood, south of Metrotown Skytrain station. "It's their vision...their committee has driven this... they told us - 'You have to hit this out of the park - or we won't bring it forward'." This will necessarily entail the demolition of a few older apartment blocks but Pez doesn't see this coming over the horizon for 5 to 6 years. METROPLACE Tower will front on Beresford, and Pez revealed that Intracorp is already working on a second, shorter tower which will also front on Beresford. It's too early to discuss that project, but I predict that if METROPLACE sells out in a day, emulating the success of Bosa's SOVEREIGN, there is no doubt METROPLACE'S little brother will be fast-tracked.
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I asked Pez how they had come up with such a bland name as "Metroplace", and he assured me that it was the result of very careful deliberation. I was reminded of the name "Centrepoint", an earlier Intracorp project in Metrotown, of which I'll have more to say in PART TWO of this Blog article. The architect for METROPLACE tower is Busby Perkins + Will, which is no surprise, as they have been working for the City on planning Maywood's future and other transit-centric proposals. Mr. Pez, who is himself an architect, assured me that METROPLACE is going to turn heads when completed. Pez disdains the "cookie cutter" designs of Intracorp's rivals and wants to present designs which are fresh. [Mr. Pez explains what makes a great building on an Inttracorp video, here.] The municipality he says, has always been self conscious of Burnaby's lack of a pedestrian friendly "High Street" and they envision Beresford after a 2011-2014 growth spurt, as morphing into something akin to Vancouver's Robson Street where "ceremonial events" can be staged. I enjoyed our conversation.

This CGI rendering of MetroPlace Tower shows the building looming over the current Metrotown Skytrain Station. Beresford Street and the station will each be getting a total rebuild. [Image courtesy of Intracorp]

The METROPLACE Tower site is currently hosting the Burnaby Store-All, located at 6541 Telford Avenue (not "Street" as I mis-labeled this photo). In the background squats the Metrotown Skytrain Station. That much criticized station is a pedestrian bottleneck, and also a constant magnet for the drug trade and assorted petty crime. The train station and the adjacent bus loop will be completely rebuilt, in concert with the construction of METROPLACE Tower. Buses will get curbside access on the south side of the station. [Image via Google Street View]

. "M" for Metroplace Tower - in 2007 a much less ambitious tower was proposed for the corner site. The current commercial building at 6541 Telford will be demolished in mid-2011. METROPLACE Tower will front on Beresford Street (address not yet assigned) and some of the townhouses at its base will get numbers on Telford Avenue. "S" in the upper right corner of the photo is the site of Metrotown's other great landmark - SOVEREIGN Tower, soon to rise at 4509 Kingsway.

Muammar Gaddafi - Lion of the Desert

2011-02-27T09:27:00.000-08:00

One of the nice things about Blogging on Google's Blogspot is that your material is never really buried. Events can and do, make old stories relevant again, and Google points to your work. This past week I was surprised to see a surge of readers for a DVD Review I wrote three years ago. [Read Article] The film is a delicious mix of history and filmmakers craft - LION OF THE DESERT. The article is actually a shorter version of a piece which is archived elsewhere on the Net, but serious readers are digging. Though my January 2008 article discusses Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi, I was slow catching the relevance.

Then I saw Matt Drudge's header yesterday. Note the black and white photo pinned to Gaddafi's right breast. There is a wonderful story behind that photo, and it's in my Blog. As it happens Canada's MACLEAN'S magazine features Gaddafi on its cover this week, because he topical. They use this same image without bothering to inform readers of the significance of the photo he chose to wear on his chest. Again, it's in my review of LION OF THE DESERT.

THE SOVEREIGN - Chinese Money fuels the launch of Burnaby's first skyscaper

2011-02-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

Where were you on June 20, 2010? That was day NEWS 1130 flashed the announcement that the ambitious RIVER GREEN development in Richmond had SOLD OUT in a single weekend. Imagine the scale of that accomplishment - pulling in $145 MILLION DOLLARS and breaking a Richmond, B.C. sales record, in a weekend. I remember driving out to the site, after the hoopla had died, and walking across the abandoned parking lot of the Olympic Speed Skating Oval. It looked like lunch-break on the sound stage of a dystopian Science Fiction movie. The Oval is still a sad 'white elephant', but for a few years (I give it 30 max) the glass giant will graze contentedly among some of the wealthiest people in Canada.

A TVNews clip on YOU TUBE. The June 2010 video reports that the RIVER GREEN project in Richmond achieved a monster Sales Record. The clip has had only 1,902 hits in eight months. Surprising, as the Internet is now the primary source of Real Estate news and information in our region. The reference to "ASIAN HOT MONEY" is kind of amusing. FINTRAC knows it as Chinese "Black Money" and certainly RIVER GREEN attracted plenty of it.

THE SOVEREIGN - a post mortem

Metrotown's first skyscraper project took in $98 million, setting a single-day sales record for Burnaby

I was, and still remain, impressed with how the staff at Bosa Properties handled the sale of the SOVEREIGN Tower on February 19th. This is not a paid endorsement. Yes, I ate the free food at the first night Realtor Preview, but I was there as a prospective purchaser. (In the end, I passed on buying a condo at 4509 Kingsway, but that decision is another matter.) In fairness to the helpful comments submitted by readers of this Blog, I think we need to bring some perspective to the issue of how tall buildings are touted in our part of the world.

I began following SOVEREIGN two months before the Sale event, and BOSA staff were always frank in answering my queries. If you reread my second article on SOVEREIGN, in which I raised the issue of the "infamous" marketing of The Crystal Mall one decade ago, you will see that I was broaching the possibility that local Buyers would get the shaft, as they often do, when BIG offshore money buys condos in bulk. When super-scale projects are hustled offshore it is not merely that first-time Buyers get frozen out, but rather that the "lucky" winners, those often ill-informed, pay far too much. I was selling real estate when the residential and retail units at The Crystal were being flogged to the gullible. As a result of how the developer marketed CRYSTAL components, many Buyers were burned and the Mall remained a stagnant embarrassment during its first few years of operation. The only interesting thing that went on at the Crystal residences were the comings and goings of fugitive Chinese billionaire Lai Changxing.

Daryl Simpson, a senior staffer at BOSA PROPERTIES, steps out into the steady Burnaby rain to help erect a tent. BOSA did it's best to stay ahead of a very fluid situation, as the excitement for THE SOVEREIGN project spread over Vancouver.

Many of the readers of this Blog were potential Buyers at the SOVEREIGN event. Two of them were eyewitness to events and submitted helpful comments. The lineups did cause a few to lose their cool, and there were a few bristling encounters with sales staff. The fact that BOSA staff were overwhelmed by the rush of Buyers, is obvious - after installing a prefab Sales Centre on site, the demand became so great that they brought in a tent and heaters to handle the crowd on February 19. Sales Manager Jean Openshaw told me... "we didn't have any idea to expect this kind of response when we started marketing Sovereign. ...We had not even considered that the tower would sell out until we saw the response on our first preview night." I believe her.

More to the point - I detect no bulk sales of units at SOVEREIGN. If there were "insider" sales, they were minor in scale. Too often in Greater Vancouver this is not the case. I can think of several projects where hopeful Buyers never had a chance. Instances in which hard working realtors stood in line, waiting patiently with their pre-registered clients, only to learn that everything was gone. It can get worse when, not long after, large blocks of units are put on the market as ASSIGNS, and many of those assigns are controlled by Sales Persons employed by the project developer.

The reason why so many were willing to line up for so long at SOVEREIGN is obvious. If local market conditions persist, apartment units at 4509 Kingsway will 'flip' at a handsome profit in 2014. The Buyers I met and mixed with are almost exclusively young and well educated Chinese, who are looking for opportunities to make money. A few will opt to take up residence in THE SOVEREIGN, but not many. In fact, when a Strata Council is organized for the building in 2014, it will be nearly impossible to achieve an Owner's quorum at monthly meetings.

I do care that all residents of Burnaby benefit from several large scale projects which are coming to fruition after years of co-operative planning with City Hall. They will change the skyline and boost the mix of goods and services available in Metrotown. It's equally important that newly arrived Chinese Buyers are well informed before they invest in our city, and that some hold their investments for a few years beyond completion of each tower. We have achieved 'proof of concept', that a true residential skyscraper is not only feasible in Metrotown, but that investors are demanding more of them. The Intracorp Management Team, which is bringing a 46 floor METROPLACE Tower to market, is just as forthcoming as BOSA staff, and I will share their comments in my next Blog.

An artist's rendering of the grand residential entrance to the 45 floor SOVEREIGN Tower, soon to begin construction at 4509 Kingsway, Burnaby. Delivery of entry keys to the individual apartment Buyers is expected early in 2014.

And finally, a Bosa Blast from Past... nobody I know can afford to buy dirt in Burnaby in 2011. This is what Bosa offered premium building lots for back in 1979 !!!

Silvano Cicuto convicted in NYC - former builder and contractor was focus of fierce opposition to construction of "Monster Houses" in Burnaby

2011-02-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

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I enjoy reading Kim Bolan's reporting in the Vancouver SUN largely because she has been 'at it' long enough to add a veteran's perspective to crime and court stories, and issues which seem to bemuse younger reporters. Meaning what? Meaning that Bolan can remember a time when illicit drugs were not a hefty component of B.C.s economy, and a career option for many.

Her February 12th story details a case which other local media have not covered - a case which has been hidden from us. It involves B.C. men arrested in a sting in 2010, conducted by American police without the assistance of the RCMP. The DEA raids in Newark, New Jersey and Manhattan smashed a cross-border drug ring trafficking in Ecstasy and another synthetic drug called BZP. The name which caught my attention was that of a well known Burnaby contractor. The other man, a recently suspended Vancouver mortgage broker, was totally unfamiliar to me. Silvano Cicuto is identified by Bolan as residing in the city of New Westminster, but many will remember him as a Burnaby resident, often covered in Burnaby newspapers. Cicuto pled guilty last September to serious charges. The Americans had recorded his aggressive telephone conversations and waited for the Canadians to arrive in New York. His alleged accomplice, Luciano Mannu, is said to be from Vancouver and goes on trial tomorrow (Feb. 22). Two other men, drug couriers used by Cicuto, have also been tried.

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Kim Bolan's original story, "Tale of failing fortunes," is online [HERE]. Her followup piece, "Cicuto's smuggling sentencing delayed," is archived [HERE].

Mr. Cicuto pled guilty to all charges in a Manhattan courtroom, thus avoiding a public trial. He is represented by Manhattan Attorney Stephanie M. Carvlin who, says Bolan, "lays out Cicuto's life story...like an historical novel". His best excuse for organizing a high risk, cross-border drug smuggling ring, is that he was unable to recover from the loss of a million dollars that was owed to him when an Internet company - 360 NETWORKS, went bust. That alleged capital loss was said to have destroyed his contracting business, but his lawyer did not explain how.

Cicuto & Sons Contracting Ltd. , once a booming business in Burnaby, is said to have employed up to 150 people. They still have a yard in South Burnaby. Cicuto is said to have been a great boss, a man who kept a "cantina" in the basement of his business, a man who treated employees like family, on occasion paying for trips to Disneyland. An examination of the Cicuto & Sons bidding history at the City of Burnaby (mostly culvert and waterline projects), shows that in the 1980s and 1990s their firm regularly sought contracts, some of which were in excess of half a million dollars. Sometimes Cicuto won the bidding competition, sometimes he didn't.

Mr. and Mrs. Cicuto shown in a 1989 publicity photo which the SUN obtained from the BURNABY NOW.

The records of the City of Burnaby and the two Burnaby newspapers contain a wealth of information on the Cicuto business and family. More than can shared in a brief Blog article. The Vancouver SUN asserts that Mr. Cicuto is "a complicated criminal" and that is undoubtedly true. From what I pieced together of Mr. Cicuto's open past, (in a few hours with microfilm and old Council Minutes) I surmise that "organized" is only sort of crime he would engage in.

A property owned by Silvano Cicuto, located at 1922 Edinburgh Street, New Westminster, was heavily damaged in an arson fire in 2010. The blaze is still under investigation. The SUN caption notes "Cicuto is currently in New York on organized crime charges."

Luciano Mannu (above) is the unknown in the case, as is his stated profession - the murky world of mortgage brokering. The B.C. Registrar of Mortgage Broker's revoked the licence of Mr. Mannu in May of 2010, when it learned that he was being held in a pre-trail center in New York city, having been arrested in a Drug Enforcement Agency sting. Mr. Mannu was a one-man "corporation," masking his business with a dummy Vancouver address. The details of the suspension of his REHAB CAPITAL CORPORATION are available as a FICOM download, here .

MONSTER HOUSES IN BURNABY
Although the term "Monster House" has fallen out of fashion, it was once a major political and cultural issue in the Vancouver region. The construction of oversized houses, which broke up the staid and leafy profile of many Vancouver streets, was often blamed on newly arrived Hong Kong Chinese. It was claimed they lacked an appreciation for the West Coast aesthetic, and were displaying the arrogant behavior of the nouveau riche. Understandably, the Chinese saw the issue in B&W terms - ie. "racism". That's what it was, and the issue took 20 years to settle out. Meanwhile a legion of urban planners, activists and politicians made careers for themselves.

In Burnaby, the most famous builder of "Monster Houses" was Silvano Cicuto. His chapter of the tale started when he went to the Municipality and negotiated a covenant which would allow him to build a super-house on Burris Street, where he owned a 65,000 sqft lot. The Burnaby NEWS (now the NEWS LEADER) reported that "the rezoning for Cicuto's became one of the most controversial municipal issues of 1990. Neighbors and other residents seized on the proposal as a symbol of the evils of monster houses. Cicuto [Italian born] accused his critics of racism." It got worse. Cicuto overbuilt by 3,000 square feet before city inspectors caught on, and the media became intensely interested.

Dan Hilborn, covered the story for the BURNABY NOW. His report for April 3, 1981 began: "The public will get a chance to vent its anger against a house built more than 3,000 sq. feet larger than allowed under Burnaby zoning regulations. Tuesday night Burnaby aldermen were expected to approve a new public hearing on the 11,984 sq ft.ft. home of contractor Sivano Cicuto at 7347 [sic] Burris. St." In the report Alderman Corrigan is quoted as saying that Cicuto had phoned him and attempted to blame the whole mess on his architect. Corrigan, a lawyer by profession, was not about to be manipulated and indicated he didn't know where the truth lay. The news report added:"Since articles began running in local newspapers, daily media and television news, the family has been forced to call the police to stop window smashing and trespassing on the Burris Street property, Cicuto said." Circuto was particularly incensed with the Vancouver SUN which had ignored his many supporters, choosing to quote "an angry part-time newspaper reporter who lived several blocks away."

In his June 5, 1991 story Mr. Hilborn upped the square footage of the house, but his point was made: "The massive 12,500 square-foot Silvano Cicuto home at 7437 Burris will stand exactly as it was built." Cicuto had defeated his neighbors in Buckingham Heights, and City Council. Alderman Corrigan, for one, was still upset with Cicuto noted that Cicuto had already suffered the "punitive effect" of negative press coverage. (It's an argument his lawyer will also make at his sentencing hearing in New York.)

That didn't end it, because the Federal Fisheries experts had an ongoing interest in rejuvenating salmon s on the slopes around Deer Lake. Circuto's project had disturbed the creek which ran through his property, and he had spent good money to fix the problem. In 1993 a neighbors' redevelopment brought the matter of silting back before Council, and into the press. Cicuto had further plans for his property and he did not relish the attention.

In 1995 he applied for a relaxation of the very covenant which he had negotiated with the City in 1990. Why? His son planned to sub-divide the family's 1.5 acre property and build a 10,000 square foot house at the back of the newly created lot. An outraged neighbor remarked, "The bylaw restrictions in Burnaby are very generous as it is, and it just seems that everyone is pushing and pushing and pushing".

In 1991 Silvano Cicuto mustered a 378 name petition of support, and successfully "swayed" Burnaby Council. His lawyer in Manhattan has assembled a thick file of letters signed by his "passionate defenders," folks who suggest he is the victim of unscrupulous men who took advantage of his good nature. I think the judge in New York may be outmatched. If I had to guess, it would be that Mr. Cicuto will get a very light sentence and be returned to Canada to serve it.

SOVEREIGN Tower - BOSA has a tiger by the tail, but deserves praise for imposing rules to avoid an ugly feeding frenzy

2011-02-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

What a difference just one week and ten kilometers can make in the high-stakes world of condo marketing in Greater Vancouver! Down at Vancouver's False Creek, veteran salesman Bob Rennie is struggling to help the City of Vancouver recoup some cash from the ashes of the ill-starred Olympic Village project. (more below) The trick is to raise price levels, because even with a promised 30% price break on some units, there is still substantial risk. The Millennium Water project will be a political football and lawyer bait for years to come. In contrast to Rennie's agony witness BOSA's euphoria!

In Burnaby Metrotown, the good folks at BOSA Properties are scrambling to get into shark cages, lest they be eaten in the feeding frenzy beginning at their tower site at 4509 Kingsway.

We were alerted just a week ago that BOSA would have tents, heating and and porta-potties on site by 9 a.m. Friday, a full 25 hours before the Sales Centre was scheduled to open - i.e. Saturday at 10a.m. Suddenly matters threatened to get out of hand. Late on Tuesday night, after the final SOVEREIGN preview concluded, over 125 Buyers refused to go home. BOSA staff must be praised for being fast on their feet and putting together a solution. The details are in a Realtor Advisory which went out just after 11 A.M. today:

Bravo ! These measures will certainly deal with queue-jumpers, but it remains to be seen how staff will calm the agitated majority who will take a number but have no chance at all of securing an apartment. My suggestion is that BOSA give each disappointed client a hearty handshake and remind them that Intracorp's METROPLACE will begin marketing in about six weeks time. In addition there are several other mid-size towers coming to the Metrotown corridor. A Chinese language forum I consulted today reported that one less than generous Chinese realtor was offering placeholders $1,000 for three days of work. That is three 24 hour days! Now he can keep his cash in his pocket.

A knot of prospective Buyers wait to enter the SOVEREIGN Tower sales centre on Kingsway. That was before noon on Feb. 10. The final Preview concluded last night (Feb. 15), and more than a 125 Buyers refused to go home. They elected to camp out over night and BOSA staff had to scramble to bring in tents, heating and toilets to keep them comfortable.

I should mention the offer of 1.9% Financing, which has figured prominently in BOSA marketing for SOVEREIGN Tower. For me at least, it was a very attractive proposition, especially in light of the Bank of Canada's firm decision to drive up the rates, over the next three years. Well, in brief, BOSA is offering 1.9 % on the first 80 units sold - and guarantee the rate for 36 months. If you have your own lender, the Buyer could opt for 5% on their purchase deposit. My sense of the situation is that the clientele, almost exclusively Mainland Chinese, are in no need of a break on financing. Pardon my enthusiasm, but that is the glory of this landmark project. The SOVEREIGN tower is a magnet for wealthy Chinese, and will pull in a container load of foreign dollars. Enough to fill the pay-packets of the local building trades and later create jobs in the hotel and the retail stores. The down-side of course is that SOVEREIGN is contributing to raising the ceiling on condo prices in Burnaby, although at 4509 Kingsway "market value" may settle out a tad lower in 2014, when short-term investors begin flipping units.

BOB RENNIE BLOWS A FUSE
If you missed the Vancouver SUN report on the Olympic Village pre-sale, which was conducted in secret over the weekend, you owe it to yourself to have a look. It's not often that pros like Rennie blow a fuse when talking to the press, but then it's also a rare day when condo Sellers force Buyers to sign confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rennie is now on the warpath because one of his confidential Buyer's, whom he termed "some A-hole", violated the agreement before the ink was dry. I don't know how long the Vancouver SUN will keep the article available online, (it's already buried by today's news) so I copied it to file. Jeff Lee's story, Olympic Village condos to go to market - again is worth your time.

CLOVERDALE, where antiques are out, condos in

Yes, Burnaby Metrotown is red hot, but property developers are beavering away in all eight corners of the GVRD. Maybe you read in the SUN recently that the famous Cloverdale Antiques Mall was forced to shut down. Customers were still thronging its many shops, but most of the stalls were run by retirees who could not swallow higher rents. The owner of the property was bent on jacking up rates - allegedly the increase was a near doubling, and the lease holder found himself in an untenable position. I must admit that I do most of my own antique and collectibles shopping in Bellingham, but still, Cloverdale has been a weekend mecca for so many families that it's sad to see an institution disappear.
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A pair of brothers enjoy one of the kiddie rides at the Cloverdale Agricultural Fair. It was August of 1966. These boys are now men in their fifties. Perhaps they are "property millionaires" by now, if they had the foresight to invest in the Canadian Dream of home ownership. If they have not fared as well as others, they may resent the reality of rising costs and surging property values in our region.

The demolition of Cloverdale Mall (a separate location from the Antiques Mall) began on January 8, 2011. The building was a "leaker" in every sense, and looked its age. After SAFEWAY pulled out a few years ago all the other tenants fled, one by one. Cloverdale residents are now served by Surrey mega-malls. When this tired out property is finally cleared, construction begins on Cloverdale West Village, a wood frame complex with above retail condos. The term "Mall" is now so frequently shunned, it seems at risk of becoming another "antique". What is this mania for labeling every cluster of shops and homes a "village"? Will it end? [The Cloverdale Reporter has a story on the fate of the derelict mall: SLIDE SHOW]

Dueling Towers in Metrotown - the race into the sky

2011-02-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

The balloon went up at 12 Noon. On the ground a few necks craned skyward to watch the van-sized yellow blimp swaying in the light breeze. Most attempted to follow the faint white line of tether to its anchor point. What was the promotion? The balloon trailer was parked 4509 Kingsway. Location, location, location!

In front of the SOVEREIGN sales centre on Kingsway, a squirming scrum of prospective condo Buyers waited for the doors to open. All were Asian, all were focused on acquisition and all were oblivious to the yellow blimp. This was the second realtor opening for Bosa Properties' "Estates" in the sky, coming soon to the corner of Kingsway and Willingdon Avenue.

The blimp was intended to punctuate the full structural height of 514.4 feet which the SOVEREIGN tower will top out approximately two years from today, with completion in early 2014.
The handsome 45 story "skyscraper" will rise above Metrotown next door to the Bosa Properties corporate head office, which is at 4555 Kingsway, Burnaby.

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DUELING TOWERS
Something extraordinary is about to happen in Burnaby. The cap on building height has finally been lifted for the Metrotown corridor, and we are about to witness a race to the sky. Two beautiful buildings will be competing for bragging rights.... the tallest, the greater number of floors, the better views ... the better investment. Bosa's SOVEREIGN has the jump on Intracorp's METROPLACE, but we may see a neck-in-race race to complete. That would be fun, and put some overtime $$$ in the pockets of deserving building trades. METROPLACE will be an all-condo building and it is going to harvest a mountain of cash, so they could afford to make it a horse race. The company is hinting at cheaper prices, but nobody gives anything away in a Sellers' Market. You can give a listen to Intracorp President Don Forsgren in a short YOUTUBE spot (here).

The METROPLACE people just assembled a Sales Center (left foreground) next door to the HILTON. It was a bold move, setting up a presence under the windows of the Bosa Properties HQ, which is located in the Staples Building (right background). High above floats the blimp, marking the site of SOVEREIGN Tower. The actual site of the METROPLACE Tower is behind the Metrotown Skytrain Station, but why hide the Sales Centre over there? My fondest wish is that Intracorp had chosen the name "Metropolis" . Bosa has won the naming game, and is first out of the gate with its marketing.

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DUELING HOTELS

Surely the good folks at HILTON cannot be happy with Bosa Properties, which has elected to enter the hotel business. Much more ambitious than the original 2006 proposal, the mating of a 20 floor hotel to a residential tower, and during a period of record setting prices, guarantees that Bosa will make a great deal of money. Ownership of the hotel in the SOVEREIGN Tower will be retained by Bosa and under the titular management of an American hotel chain. SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE are development unleashed, and the appropriate cliche is that we "are sailing into uncharted waters". I can think of a few antiquated, wood frame apartment blocks in Metrotown which must be feeling the chill breath of development. The rising public expectation is that more skyscrapers are coming to Metrotown. I hear that opinion expressed all over town.

The METROPLACE Presentation Centre will not open until March. In the meantime its spiffy new signboard boasts their tower will have 46 Floors... one more than Bosa's SOVEREIGN. Just a month ago they were advertising "45" floors. Perhaps they plan to squeeze a few floors (lower ceilings) as is often done in downtown Vancouver.

SOVEREIGN TOWER - Metrotown, Burnaby - Bosa unveils its landmark project at Realtor Event - February 8, 2011

2011-02-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of attending the unveiling of Bosa Properties landmark project tonight in Metrotown. The SOVEREIGN, soon to be constructed at 4509 Kingsway, can be expected to dominate the Burnaby skyline and offer a prestigious residence for those looking for an alternative to Vancouver's over-regulated downtown core. The first true skyscraper in Burnaby, the SOVEREIGN will mate an ultramodern hotel (167 rooms) to 25 floors of premium condos. Bosa Sales Manager, Jean Openshaw is to be congratulated for hosting an highly effective event. The Realtors I spoke with on the floor are convinced that the residential portion of the tower will sell out in a single day. Bosa is to be further congratulated for the open and fair manner in which this project is being marketed. There will be a total of three "opens," (no pre-selling) and no Offers will be accepted until February 19th. In addition, only one apartment will be sold per client. Offers will be received on a first-come, first-served basis, and security will be on hand to ensure that aggressive Buyers do not rush the door.

The first Realtor-Open for SOVEREIGN, 4509 Kingsway, was held on February 8. These door crashers are evidence of the heightened interest in this landmark project.

Ms. Jean Openshaw is the Sales Manager for the SOVEREIGN tower, at 4509 Kingsway. She has been very open and helpful, assisting in my preparation of two other articles on SOVEREIGN for the Runagates Club blog. I do thank her for that kindness.

The scale model for the SOVEREIGN tower seemed to draw even more interest than the display suites. At 511.4 feet it will be Burnaby's first true skyscraper. I was told that Bosa plans to begin excavation in three months time.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Daryll Simpson, one of the dozen Sales staff Bosa had on hand this evening. Mr. Simpson filled me in on a subject which has been of concern. Could Bosa find a hotel chain of sufficient credibility to match this prestigious project? It could...in New York. Bosa Properties is getting into the hotel business! The Burnaby-based developer will maintain ownership of the new hotel, and is already busy designing its 167 rooms. The name of the chain will be announced in two weeks time. The franchise agreement and further details are yet go under the pen. Mr. Simpson says that Burnaby residents will be pleasantly surprised when they learn which brand-name is coming to town.

Another of my concerns was how the developer and City of Burnaby planners would handle the incredibly high volume of traffic in and out of the SOVEREIGN tower. Simpson had the answer, which is confirmed by my photographs of the scale model, at ground level. All traffic flow around the building will be clockwise - all right turns. Vehicle access to Hotel parking and Retail parking will be confined to a single ramp on Willingdon Avenue.

In keeping with the landmark status of the SOVEREIGN, the tower designer- Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc, have conceived a very dramatic residential entrance coming off of Hazel Street. (corrected) The very wide and open ramp shows up well in these photos of the scale model.

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Maria Santos Gorrostieta - Astonishing HERO of Mexico's Undeclared War

2011-01-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

Early in WW1 Alan Seeger wrote the lines to his immortal poem, I Have a Rendezvous With Death. He then faced up to his fears and remained in the trenches with his comrades. It's not widely admitted, but Mexicans were participant in that war, and northern states like Sonora and Chihuahua had already experienced trench fighting, artillery duels and aerial bombing... this before the Canadian Corps had landed in France. Mexico is today torn by in another internecine war, a blood letting of monstrous proportions which is callously ignored by we selfish Gringos to the north. The undeclared war in Mexico has taken 30,000 lives since 2006. One HERO of that war is Maria Santos Gorriesta, mayor of the small city of Tiquicheo in Michoacan. This astonishing woman has survived two ambushes, the first in which she lost her husband. In spite of the fact that she has children, and has already made enormous sacrifices, the Mayor of Tiquichero stands her ground. Like Alan Seeger (an American who volunteered to stand with France, long before his government did) Maria Santos has a rendezvous with Death.

Maria Santos Gorrostieta, Mayor of Tiquicheo, hands out uniforms to very brave men, the volunteers against the heavily armed Narco-guerrillas who seek to eliminate opposition to their deadly drug network in Michoacan. IF SHE QUIT, WOULD THEY STAND? When she meets Death, will the world mourn a Hero?

In spite of being painfully mutilated, the Mayor has kept up with the duties of public office. Her critics have repeatedly claimed that she was exaggerating the extant of her wounds for publicity. A few days ago Maria Santos Gorrostieta did something characteristically brave. She allowed photographers to record her horrible wounds. The Daily Mail has the story here

If you believe the baloney in the daily press, the "Drug War" in Mexico would blow away if Canadians and Americans would just stop buying Mexican drugs. That is far too simplistic, but more to the point... we have to get our heads around the fact that this is a WAR. The Drug Lords are targeting municipal government and media as well as State Police and national army units. They are seizing control of huge swathes of territory and they intend to hold it. The drug gangs have morphed into heavily armed guerrilla armies and many now openly display banners and uniform insignia such as shoulder badges. You've heard and read the nonsense that they buy all of their weapons in WALMART stores and gunshops in the American border cities. Well you can't purchase cases of fragmentation grenades, finned rifle grenades, landmines and belt-fed machineguns from a WALMART. The bad guys have connections to foreign governments who think that fostering anarchy in our hemisphere is clever politics.

Finally, and this is a point I hammer into students every day of the week. If we rely on TV News editors to decide what is notable and worthy of current interest, and WIKIPEDIA to decide all of the rest, we are well and truly SCREWED. Below is the search prompt for Wikipedia. Note the cultural trash on display. That alone should be enough to dissuade anyone from proceeding further. BUT I did press search... in fact I did it several times, just to be sure. There is no page for MARIA SANTOS GORROSTIETA. God damn that's a bitter pill to swallow! What in the hell has "Lady Gaga" ever done except make an ass of herself?

WIKIPEDIA REDACTS WHOLE EVENTS FROM OUR HISTORY : An even more blatant example of the callousness of Wikipedia mavens was the the so-called "Winchester Atrocity" - an extraordinarily evil domestic atrocity which was ignored by the U.S. media, lest it detract from the public euphoria of electing a president of colour. Prof. Stix wrote a detailed article on how Wikipedia actively redacts entire events from modern history. Read "Invisible Victims" here.

An afterthought: In our Orwellian world, the spoken or written word carries no reliable or concrete meaning. The concept of "Declaring War" on a foreign country or people, the need to apply a coat of legal varnish, has fallen out of fashion. Our "Mission" in Afghanistan was initiated by Jean Chretien and inherited by a lesser Liberal, and is now the toy of a Tory prime minister. In our time, war is only "declared" against undesirable social conditions - the illicit drug trade, child poverty, terrorism, etc. The "War on Drugs" in Mexico was declared by President Felipe Calderon. To symbolize the seriousness of his commitment to the metaphor, his Excellency posed in the uniform of a five star general and toured a military base in Michoacan. Allan Wall has some thoughts on that at MEXIDATA.INFO I am convinced that the wounds on the body of Maria Santos Gorrostieta are far more eloquent symbols of the war on drugs in the State of Michoacan.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon photographed at a military base on Jan. 3, 2007. He wears an army jacket and FIVE stars on his cap... one star more than allowed the officer to his left, the senior ranking officer in the Mexican Forces.

Countdown to Kabul - DND prepares to run a Frankenstein operation out of the Afghan capital

2011-01-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

Canada's "Mission" in Afghanistan quickly became a war. We are allowed to number our dead but not to count our wounded, and the number of enemy our troops have slain is a state secret. By swatting at the pesky Taliban, and failing to neutralize Bin Laden, NATO has created a huge mess. We federal taxpayers will be funding the bloody cleanup for decades to come.

A Crusader army on the move was a cacophonous, colourful collection of men on horses, camp followers bouncing in carts, and weary servants with heavily calloused feet. The Canadians in Kandahar will soon be breaking camp and trailering their massive operation cross country to the Afghan capital - KABUL. Kabul where it's "safer" (Stephen Harper). Kabul where we will "no longer engage in a combat role". If you believe that, you better lay in some headache pills. There will be carnage in Kabul.

The super-base at Kandahar is impregnable. We are told that the new mission in the capital city, the training of Afghan National Police (ANP), will be a major scaling down of our war effort. That's odd, as training the ANP has always been an expensive component of our war in Afghanistan. I was first alerted to the ANP training boondoggle by an article in WALRUS magazine. That was about about eight years ago. More recently another WALRUS article caught my attention. THE ARCHIPELAGO OF FEAR by Charles Montgomery is here. You should find fifteen minutes to read it.

I suggest that in Kabul Canadians will be putting their balls on the block, and our military leaders know it. There is no way they will let Canadian cops run around Kabul naked. They just wouldn't do that. Military doctrine governs actions. Our cops do carry bad-ass weapons, and do pose in bulky body armour with bandoleers of mags, but there is no way they are going to go into firefights with Taliban urban infiltrators. Our policemen will be ambushed and their housing units will be bombed. (The PTSD settlements alone for 900 police trainers are going to put a big dent in our health care budget.)

If DND hasn't secretly promised to put in a few companies of regular soldiers to back up our cops from New Westminster, Edmonton, Regina, Sarnia and Moncton, Canada will contract for their protection to American, British or Australian mercenaries. There's no way Canadian cops will shelter under an Afghan security blanket.

I plan to write more about NATO's gold-plated policing contract in Afghanistan and the thankless role Ottawa has backed itself into. ISAF nations pay 100% of the payroll of the Afghan National Police, (although Japan footed that bill for one six month period) and they will remain a heavy burden on Canadian taxpayers for many years to come.

This is the peaceful image of our embassy published on a Canadian government website. Except for the mesh on the windows, the CCTV cameras and the flood lighting, it looks like it could be Kingston, Jamaica. In fact it is fortified and no Afghani citizens are allowed to go near it. The street is locked down. Concrete barriers block off both ends of the street and razor-tape festoons the perimeter fencing. There is a windowless "Panic Room" in the center of the compound where all civilian staff assemble when the alarm is raised.

The Canadian embassy is located in a wealthy neighborhood where the Afghan leaders keep their families and their property. Ever since the attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon during the Vietnam War, guerrillas have made the hitting of embassies a high priority. If the Canadian embassy is attacked, you will NOT see it on television. You will only hear the well chewed and sweetened statements about "sacrifice" and "commitment". But the symbolism would be dire for a Tory government which has reneged on its solemn promise to get us out of this war by 2011. It is entirely up to us, we who have been lied to, to protest this war. When further Canadian blood is spilled, make it stick to the Tory logo.

The rear of the Canadian embassy has an improvised blast wall which will deflect a bomb blast or absorb RPG rounds. The compound is though, very vulnerable to even the lightest mortar rounds or to any improvised bomb projector. The IRA did it in London. The Taliban guerrillas will do it in Kabul.

THE SOVEREIGN - Burnaby's first Skyscraper

2011-01-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

This is the latest artists rendering of THE SOVEREIGN, under development by BOSA Properties. I think you will agree that it is very handsome design. The architectural pundits are describing this tower as the first true skyscraper in Burnaby, and it will certainly be the first to alter the skyline along the Metrotown ridge. THE SOVEREIGN will definitely tower over all other highrise structures along the Kingsway commercial corridor. Sales next month will be watched very closely by other developers who have projects in the proposal stage.

We have now learned where the Sales Centre is going in. I had been misled by City of Burnaby online records which give the tower location, 4509 Kingsway, as the site for a prefab presentation centre. Not true. I have every intention of purchasing a condo in this landmark building so I will take photographs of the architects model and other interesting details, and provide them in a future Blog.

In the Metrotown Skytrain Station a BOSA display ad has appeared for THE SOVEREIGN. The sales pitch is "SEE AND BE SEEN". Appropriate I think, for strata residences in Burnaby's first true skyscraper. (Photo submitted by Jeff Fan)

It is just as well that friendly BOSA staff NOT invite the curious to meet with them at the corner of Kingsway and Willingdon. That is the location of one of I.C.B.C.'s busiest red light cameras. It is a huge moneymaker! Last month I saw the camera fire at three cars in secession while I waited to proceed at the intersection. $ $ $ (For the information of foreign guests to The Runagates Club Blog, here in British Columbia a government monopoly controls automobile insurance. The government of B.C. made an election promise to get rid of the surveillance cameras at traffic intersections, and then reneged on that promise by handing that lucrative surveillance and trsaffic law enforcement authority over to the insurance corporation.) Below is the updated 2011 list for I.C.B.C. "real time" Laser Cameras in the City of Burnaby, B.C.

A news report on RCMP (Burnaby) - ICBC joint enforcement is here.

BURNABY'S NEW PROPERTY MILLIONAIRES

One of the local newspapers, the Burnaby NEWS LEADER, offered an interesting take on the release of current Property Assessment values. The number of homes valued at a million dollars plus, doubled from 2,248 one year ago to 5,114 today. A few of the new property millionaires may be fretting over higher municipal taxes to come, but Rudy Nielsen, President of LANDCOR Data Corporation urges them to be positive. "Get on your hands and knees and kiss the ground for the fact you live in British Columbia," he suggested. Reporter Jeff Nagel's article is here: Real Estate Rebound makes more Property Millionaires

The SOVEREIGN of Metrotown - getting dressed for his debut

2011-01-14T08:44:00.001-08:00

The promised floor plans for the SOVEREIGN tower are not yet in, but the website has a nifty widget that allows us to admire the view from four different elevations. BOSA is promising a February 2011 launch but as of yesterday there is no activity on site - although a sales centre will appear soon. I admire the design of the building but having recently watched the superb documentary film IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON, my mind keeps juxtaposing the SOVEREIGN tower with the famous gantry and support deck which launched the Saturn V rockets for the Apollo moon landings.

The views from each unit on the upper floors of the SOVEREIGN tower will defy superlatives. Shown here is the line of sight toward downtown Vancouver and the north mountain wall.

In the absence of hard information on the SOVEREIGN tower, speculation is rife among Realtors. Chinese New Year is fast approaching and billions of freshly landed dollars are up for grabs, but don't discount the legion of locals who are desperate to sink their savings into something solid. The only SOVEREIGN secret anyone cares about is how steep the prices will be for individual units. They will sell at any price, but the risk is that Buyers saddled with extortionate prices, will be denied any viable resale potential.

Directly across the street from the tower property is the infamous "Crystal Mall". Why infamous? For a number of reasons including the fact that it's "THE CRYSTAL", not a mall but a marketplace. I well recall the intense speculative interest in the project in the late 1990s. All manner of promises were made - there would be retail anchors and a multi-screen cinema, etc. Never happened! (The major components did open in 2000 but many people averted their eyes as they drove by, for the longest time. It was painful.)

We had lined up a number of buyers for retail and residential units in THE CRYSTAL but whole blocks were sold out (unethically in my opinion) by insiders to pre-assembled buyers from Asia. The "Sold For" prices at the time were ludicrously high because the project was never exposed to the Marketplace. For several years the hapless suckers twisted and squirmed trying to unload bad investments. The complex itself looked sick for the longest time, but fortunately the Goddess of Property sometimes shines on the least of us. Those who didn't dump an impulse purchase, in time saw prices exceed what they had paid for a unit. Today the Crystal thrives and is a happy place to shop or eat.

I have the highest hopes for THE SOVEREIGN, but again everything depends on how the marketing campaign is conducted. Burnaby Metrotown doesn't need another fiasco like THE CRYSTAL. Buyers are being told that a "famous" hotel chain is going into the building and that "retail giants" will take the floors on the ground level. Unfortunately the residential component will be 100% SOLD OUT before any announcements are made for the lower portions of the project. We just have to trust that all will turn out to everyone's satisfaction.

4509 Kingsway - a SOVEREIGN to rule over Metrotown

2011-01-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

In Greater Vancouver the 'greed meter' went up another notch on Monday January 3, 2011. On that day property owners began receiving envelopes from B.C. Assessments, all bearing a late Christmas gift - significantly higher values on what they own. It shouldn't have taken the reasonably alert by surprise, because a company called LANDCOR DATA CORPORATION gave advance notice on December 8. My wife used that 'heads up' to advantage and made money by sharing the info with Buyers who were dithering in December. (Thanks LANDCOR!) But she lost a sale today because, very predictably, a Seller in Coquitlam rejected her close-to-asking-price Offer, and just bumped up the Asking Price, justifying avarice by waving a just received 2011 Assessment.
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Another useful 'Heads Up' arrived yesterday, this one from Jean Openshaw, a residential Sales Manager for Bosa Properties. (I see the Commercial Realtors also launched on this project yesterday.) Openshaw's email is very guarded but did offer a few details for the newest tower in Metrotown, Burnaby - which is guaranteed to sell out very quickly, no matter what they charge per unit. We always knew the $$ prices for the 162 condos at 4509 Kingsway would pinch, but Monday's big news news of steeper property values all across the board, will help Bosa staff justify very high sticker prices for those condos on floors 20 through 45. (Her email says "45-storeys and 511 feet,") Equally important is that while cities like Richmond have too many condos on the market, Burnaby still has room for growth.
This project has been in the works since 2005 but Bosa has finally given it a name other than "4509 Kingsway" It is now dubbed the "SOVEREIGN". I guess that was a no-brainer; the Sovereign will be the tallest tower on Kingsway, after all. In fact it will top out as the tallest tower in Greater Vancouver by virtue of the fact that it is being erected on Metrotown Ridge. To quote Ms. Openshaw- "Simply put, there is no high-rise residence that sits higher above sea level anywhere in Greater Vancouver." Something very cute we noticed in the email is that three bedroom apartments in the SOVEREIGN will be marketed as an "estate". I don't believe I've seen that before.

What I like most about this "landmark" project is that it is entirely "homegrown" - the developer, Bosa Properties is a Burnaby company and they have hired Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc., a firm which is located just five minutes from the project site. I am in fact eager to have a peek when the Sales Centre opens.

The SOVEREIGN, a 45 story landmark tower is now under development opposite Crystal Mall, the Chinese shopping complex in Metrotown, Burnaby. The pre-fab Sales Centre is going in this week, and Bosa sales staff are already chatting up registered buyers. The photo illustrates clearly the bottom ten floors for the hotel, and the upper fifteen floors which will host the 162 residential units.

The 45 floor SOVEREIGN tower (street level retail, a premium hotel, and 25 floors of condos) will soon rise at 4509 Kingsway (V5H 2A1). METROTOWN CENTRE is the second largest shopping complex in Canada. The SOVEREIGN property sits opposite to CRYSTAL MALL , the Chinese shopping centre located at 4500 Kingsway, Metrotown.

2010 was an extremely interesting year in Vancouver property. I saw and heard plenty, and now kick myself that I didn't write a few Blog articles, if only to refute some of the baloney I read in the Vancouver SUN. I've resolved to change my writing habits. Articles on Gang warfare are by far the most popular among Runagates Club readers, but there are many other local issues worth exploring.

UPDATE- Further word from Ms. Openshaw which clarifies notes I had from another source. There will be "a total of 203 homes starting on the 20th floor all the way to the 45th. The first 3 floors are retail, 4 to 19 are hotel." Ms. Openshaw says site line photos will be ready soon. I will add them to this article when I receive them.

Amortizing War - the Mortgage on W.W.1 was just paid off. Canadians will be bled by our Afghan War debts till the end of the 21st C

2010-12-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

World War 1 was Bad Luck for millions of Canadian taxpayers, but a Bonanza for those who perpetuate the legacy of wartime spending.

On Remembrance Day I did some shopping at a very busy Superstore in Vancouver. There I counted just two people, one outside and one inside the store wearing a Legion poppy. For the milling crowd it was just a well deserved day off. It's just the way it is. They are entitled, so criticize at your peril. Most Canadians have lost track of WW1, which is really careless, because they're still paying for it.

No, I don't mean Canadian Federal Income Tax, the grab which was imposed as a measure to pay for that bloody war, and retained by the greedy guts who run the national government. There are several very expensive vestiges of World War 1 still being funded by you, the absent minded Canadian taxpayer. Some of that waste is bureaucratic, such as "Veteran's Affairs" the clunky, cranky cheque writing dragon which should have been slain two decades ago. V.A. is now a Tory pet, pampered and petulant enough to fight on until the day when only robot soldiers are in need of its "service".

The recent rebuild of the VIMY MEMORIAL in France cost taxpayers $20 million dollars and served notice that the Feds will maintain the archipelago of war memorials in perpetuity, as well as continue the expensive annual junkets to European battlefields which our military and political brass, along with carefully selected civilians, enjoy no end.

You may have read of the death of John Babcock, the longest surviving Canadian soldier of the Great War. The old soldier lived a long life of quiet dignity, and was 109 years of age when he died in February 2010. Babcock moved to the U.S. in the 1920s but his Canadian citizenship was reinstated in 2008 in preparation for a (aborted) plan to give him a State Funeral in Ottawa. It has not been reported that Mr. Babcock's death does not mark the end the administration of WW1 pensions as his wife and an undisclosed list of other women are still receiving generous WW1 survivorship benefits. It is a costly precedent which pertains not only to enlistees of W.W. 2, Korea and the current War in Afghanistan, but also to Federal police employees. It is an expenditure that must be financed through taxation till the end of the 21st Century.

John Babcock was only fifteen when he Attested in the 146th Bn. C.E.F. The last surviving Canadian soldier of WW1, Private Babcock died at Spokane, Washington in February 2010. By so graciously refusing Ottawa's repeated offer of a State Funeral, Mr. Babcock saved long suffering Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars. He must have been a Republican.

WORLD WAR 1 (1914 - 2010)

In October I planned to comment on the fiscal lesson given to our jaded world by the mighty German government. Berlin had, on behalf of Europe's most productive taxpayers, diligently made the payments on a massive Reparations load imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. At the time I exiled my research notes to a file up in the right corner of my 23" monitor. The Reparations story got me thinking about Canada's war debt from the 20th Century, most of which is hidden from us.

On October 3, 2010 Germany made its 20th and final interest payment, ($94 million dollars), on bonds which were issued at mid-century to refinance outstanding War Reparations demanded of "the Huns" by the Allied Powers in 1919. So as far as Germans are concerned, the once humiliating "War Debt" is paid in full. You can read the details in this article . It is very interesting that the term "Allies" is in vogue again, for the multi-national forces attempting to defeat the Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan, and that Germany is now one of the "Allies".

We are still punch drunk from the arrogant squandering of $$Billions$$ on the 2010 Winter Olympics, so few Canadians even noticed the October story on German War Reparations. (Nothing less than Ottawa calling in the American FBI to investigate RCMP invoicing for Olympics security, would satisfy me!) Skipping over other wars we are still in debt for, let us ponder the current fiasco in Afghanistan, a "limited" war which has already lasted TWICE as long as the World War in question.

AFGHANISTAN - Canada's Eleventh Province

Canadians have no grasp of just how much our War in Afghanistan has cost them, and how much it will cost over the next 100 years. I am not referring merely to the incredible burden of military expenditure - not limited to heavy transport aircraft, light armoured vehicles and twenty new Main Battle Tanks, but to purchases and institutional costs yet to be disclosed. (The complex shell game of buying, leasing, trading and delivering the Canuck Leopard II tanks from the Dutch and Germans is a story in itself. At least three LEO 2 books are in production.) If we do a rough total of what DND. CIDA and other Federal Agencies have spent or are committed to spending in the future, it is in excess of what we transfer to our Atlantic Provinces.

Why can the President of Afghanistan expect more money out of Ottawa than say, the Premier of Prince Edward Island? Because Ottawa bureaucrats now think in terms of Afghanistan as a dependant territory, a de facto Eleventh Province of Canada. More Afghan men and women are on the Canadian payroll than Ottawa has employees in the Maritime Provinces. We know that if the Afghan National Police managers do not make payroll, the very policemen we trained and equipped will turn on us.

The biggest secret in Ottawa is that we have already accepted the truth of an Afghan collapse. Washington hasn't, but Ottawa has. In Kandahar morale is high, but all sense of accomplishment is tempered by a grudging reality; When the major Allied expeditionary forces pull out, the Taliban will return to power. And taking our historical cue from the chaotic American evacuation of Saigon in 1975, we have an existing plan and designated managers to coordinate the evacuation to Canada of tens of thousands of Afghan government employees, military, police and civilians, those who have worked most closely with Canadians these past eight years. The total movement of Afghan families to Canada will equal the intake of Vietnamese boat people from camps in Southeast Asia decades ago. So far WIKILEAKS has not turned up the code name for the Ottawa's Afghan evacuation plan, but we can hope that an enterprising journalist will turn over that rock before it becomes a redacted rock.

Some Afghan-Canadians have already assumed lucrative positions in our Eleventh Province.

WIKILEAKS - is only playing catchup to CRYPTOME and the NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE

2010-12-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

Julian Assange is less a "renegade" and more of a Hero than the editorialists will ever admit. Unlike most of those who cultivate celebrity or notoriety, Assange reads books, and literature informs his private thoughts as well as the essential work he does as the Editor-in-Chief of WIKILEAKS. He read Kafka and was ready for arrest and isolation in a London dungeon. He's read Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTYFOUR and because he also reads history he fears for human destiny. His self-described mission is save us from the daily avalanche of deception which is burying us all. Assange and his cohorts cry out to any who still have ears, guiding us as we struggle and claw our way to blue sky and the promise of pure air.

Julian Assange as Guy Fawkes - this demo was in Madrid. His Spanish supporters did understand the Gunpowder Plot metaphor and the significance of the British Crown throwing an Australian into solitary confinement, while U.S. government prosecutors scramble to concoct excuses for a legal lynching.

Not long before Assange began the controlled release of U.S. State Departments documents in November, he teased an interviewer playfully with the old rhyme "Remember , remember the 5th of November" which refers to Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. [Read the well written and illustrated account of it HERE. ] Assange knows very well that Fawkes failed 400 years ago. The plotters were crushed by the Crown, and then mocked by generations of pressmen more loyal to Parliament than to their paying readers.

The Crown constantly sought to deny information to the public by controlling media, and that tradition never died out. (CRTC for you and me!) Modern censorship has deep roots. For example, in 1663 Sir Roger L'Estrange became the King's Surveyor of the Press and he relished the work. What he wrote about the riff raff of his own time still applies to you and I. Sir Roger on newspaper publishing: "I think it makes the Multitude too familiar with the actions and counsels of their superiors, too pragmatic and censorious, and gives them not only an itch but a kind of colorable right and license to be meddling with the government." As newspapers disappear, and are replaced by news and information websites, we must decide the level of control and manipulation we will tolerate in our lives. If Julian Assange was a Canadian passport holder the chorus of Opposition MPs and TV network Allstars would rival the din of a pack of lovesick coyotes.

All of this invites the obvious question - Where are Canada's Info-Anarchists? Do they even exist? We have legions of Winston Smith's in Ottawa "weeding" and "redacting" federal records, but probably not a one who has the gumption to do what U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning did. Not one.

Long before the conception of WIKILEAKS there were plenty of courageous Americans and Europeans willing to web-publish secret government files, some of them won through ATIP research and others delivered by anonymous email. The campus based National Security Archive is a prime example. I've been following NSA since 1994, the year I first surfed the Net on dialup. One of the books NSA published in the 1990s was WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL (1995). It contained the emails of two American Presidents, which are in fact a PUBLIC RECORD. Sadly, we may never read its Canadian equivalent PARLIAMENTARY E-MAIL. (The office emails of a Prime Minister, a Premier and a Mayor, are PUBLIC PROPERTY but who in this country has read any?) John Young's CRYPTOME site in New York also performs heroic service and I am a devoted fan of his excellent work. Young was asked to participate in setting up Wikileaks but his own projects occupy most of his day.

Of course there are NO CANADIAN WEBSITES offering purloined federal or provincial files. The National Archives of Canada is mandated to decide what is retained for the permanent collection, but the bitter truth is that Ottawa bureaucracy destroys much before the juiciest file groups are perused by archivists. That is one reason Canadian Parliamentarians can make self-serving claims about being vigilant in safeguarding of our democratic system. Their confidence derives from our utter inability to monitor what they get up to. Canada is the only "democracy" which tampers with its citizens private mail, running mail opening operations 24/7. Our "democracy" tolerates the strong arming of Internet Service Providers, requiring them to assist the police by providing surveillance of citizens without a search warrant, and in real time. Our "democracy" requires bank employees, accountants and real estate sales persons to act as a clandestine informant, and rat out any client who offers "suspicious" cash. Muslim terrorism certainly angers Canadians but we don't really fear it. We suppress our anger because government tells us who to like, and punishes the expression of "hate". Actually our greatest fear should be that the American Democracy, its commitment to openness, might degenerate to the level of our own. If that should happen, the so called "Free World" would be doomed.

WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL, a 254 page book compiled by the NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE in 1995, revealed the secrets of two Republican administrations. If a President's personal email is public property, and has been for fifteen years, why should Hilary Clinton's State Department get special treatment?

The only Canadian secret pertaining to this book is why I had to pay BOLLUM'S BOOKS $21.95 for it in Vancouver, when the cover price in 1995 was $14.95. I'm being facetious of course. We all know why the Canadian dollar was kept artificially low. But hey, making pesky U.S. books unaffordable did keep Pierre Berton and his crack platoon of researchers employed.

JULIAN ASSANGE - sex charges unique to Sweden, ANNA ARDIN -a character assassin unique to our era, and NAOMI WOLF puts the boots to blonde policemen

2010-12-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's so very appropriate that the decade is ending with this whole WIKILEAKS fiasco. For nine years, ever since the 9/11 Attack on New York and Washington, we have witnessed the construction of Fortress America, which has turned every U.S. city into a para-military bastion, and every airport into a neo-Checkpoint Charlie. How appropriate that a stereotypical "90 pound weakling," who's job title is "Editor-in-Chief", should put the Fear of God into the super-secret puppet masters of the world capitals. Well Assange is an Australian, so for all the salacious details of the sex smear, how about letting the Sydney Morning News explain? Guy Rundle's article "DID HE OR DIDN'T HE " is here. If you are as sick as I am of the TV networks hashing the story, you will give Rundle a few minutes of your time.

And what of Mr. Assange's brief bed partner and principle accuser, the political activist and tragi-feminist ANNA ARDIN ? She turns out to be an incredibly complex 21st century mutant, and very likely the prototype character assassin of our era. If there is a Wiki page for her (and I haven't bothered to look) she probably wrote it herself.

Sweden.... the rape capital of the world, has the gall to accuse Julian Assange of ... what? "Sex by surprise"!? Naomi Wolf, in a scathing essay kicks the Swedish legal system in the balls. It's only a five minute read. Treat yourself to some potent prose. It's posted here.

"...I knew this position taken by the male dominated U.S. British and Swedish media was, basically, horseshit. But none of the media outlets hyperventilate now about how this global-manhunt/Bourne-identity-chase-scene-level treatment of a sex crime allegation originating in Sweden must be 'normative' has bothered to do any actual reporting of how rape -- let alone the far more ambiguous charges of Assange's accusers, which are not charges of rape but of a category called 'sex by surprise,' which has no analog elsewhere -- is actually prosecuted in Sweden."

Ten are gunned down in Vancouver, but "There were no innocent people who were struck by bullets." say's Vancouver Deputy Chief

2010-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

The masthead of the Vancouver SUN newspaper says it all... "Gangs, Weather, Traffic Cams". Ah, the petty preoccupations of life here in "The Best Place on Earth [sic]".

Ten gangsters and guests shot at a birthday part underway at the BEST NEIGHBOURS RESTAURANT in Vancouver. Was it the ultimate payback or just a warning salvo? Hard to say, but when a man opens fire with an assault rifle and nobody is killed, but ten are wounded, it seems to indicate that the gunman was pulling some of his shots. Still, all of the wounded have buddies or boyfriends, so this is certainly has great potential for an escalation in violence. (Warning **to Vancouver municipal taxpayers - the boys in blue will be running the ass off of the VPD overtime clock this Holiday Season.)

The recovered Kalashnikov rifle used in the restaurant shooting. Note it is a folding stock variant, which explains why none of the ten victims were killed. The inexperienced shooter could not control the bucking weapon and most of his shots went wild.

This morning we learn that a Kalashnikov assault rifle has been recovered from a stately home in Vancouver, and the residents of the multi-million dollar property have lawyered up. More intriguing is that this shooting is somehow related to the murder of Gurmit Singh Dhak, who was shot at Metrotown Mall in Burnaby on October 17. Dhak was sitting in an SUV with his wife and daughter, neither of who were hit when the shooter emptied his whole clip through the windshield.
The NATIONAL POST, which has many subscribers here in Vancouver, provided this graphic in today's edition. The detail provided for the BEST NEIGHBOURS RESTAURANT crime site more than satisfies my curiosity.

As I mentioned in a previous Blog article, the crime graphics used by the VANCOUVER SUN suck, blurring rather than revealing information. So it was refreshing to find a very helpful graphic of our Vancouver mass-shooting, in a Toronto based newspaper. I think I'll start checking the NATIONAL POST website for continued coverage of gangland shootings here in Vancouver. The most startling thing I read were comments of Deputy Chief Warren Lemke, who suggested that because "the bulk of the people", (ie. the ten who were shot), have known gang affiliations, "no innocent people ... were struck by bullets". Wow !!! Now if we can just get the mealy mouthed media to stop referring to shooters as "alleged gangsters" UNTIL they are convicted in court, then boys and girls, we will really have made progress. For my money, if a women dates or marries a gangster it shouldn't add her to the target list.

Comments attributed to Deputy Chief Lemke and to Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver. Robertson forgets that when a man is scooping a municipal executive salary and the pension points... the whole damned city is supposed to be his neighborhood.

Retribution for the execution style killing of a gangster in front of SEARS at Burnaby's Metrotown Mall is alleged to be a contributing factor in the weekend attack on a birthday part in Vancouver - ten hit by a vengeful shooter.

CBC News traffics in illicit U.S. documents, and not a peep from the U.S. Embassy

2010-12-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, well.... Tom Flanagan has apologized for his outburst on a CBC News panel discussion. He admits he's still pissed off at Julian Assange, but he doesn't really want him dead. It sounds like the mea culpa hastily offered by the Muslim clerics who put out a hit on film director Theo van Gogh in 2004, when he ended up literally butchered in downtown Amsterdam. Of course all Flanagan really wants is Assange muzzled for good. That way we get to listen to Flanagan shovel shit on CBC till the cows come home, but are denied knowledge of how the elites of this world con and manipulate the taxpayers who fund their vapid careers and plush retirements. WIKILEAKS style anarchy doesn't threaten our economic stability or U.S. national security. It destabilizes confident careerists.

Julian Assange as he appears on the banner of WIKILEAKS. Not one of the unflattering photos his detractors enjoy distributing. The site and its mirrors are under constant attack. As of today it can be accessed here: (Read Wikileaks)

Of course the majority of Canadians have never heard of WIKILEAKS and have no interest in Hilary Clinton's confidential email. What frightens the puppet masters this week is easy to see. If Mr. Assange is not turned into road kill fast, really fast, there is every likelihood that other disaffected drones with access to data-links, will dump juicier files onto the Internet.

I am not the only Canadian who has noticed that Mothercorp is having it both ways on this WIKILEAKS. Prior to last Sundays bulk release by WIKILEAKS , CBC News decided to traffic in illicit U.S. government documents. CBC set up a handy search widget so dummies like me (and Professor Tom Flanagan) could search and download U.S. State Department cables. I did and he did, but I am grateful for the free lunch from WIKILEAKS and Tommy is not.

This search widget has been featured on the main CBC News website for over a week. Many Canadians, including Tom Flanagan used it to access and download WIKILEAKS files. Why is that CBC traffics in illicit data provided by WIKILEAKS, but doesn't go to Julian Assanges defence? Why should he be in the crosshairs of public opinion while all of the pundits get to play it safe?

Wow... the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation even has the brass to claim copyright on "stolen" WIKILEAKS content. Has the American Embassy nothing to say on this matter? So what type of con is the U.S. government and the media establishment really trying to pull here?

Here are questions from a CBC viewer named DAMON which I read on the CBC News WIKILEAKS search page. He comments on what is bloody obvious - Mothercorp traffics in WIKILEAKS content, and yet one of its less inhibited panelists calls for Assange's assassination. He asks "How crazy is that?"

The point I made in an earlier Blog article is that Assange is an anarchist, but he is doing us a valuable service. For example he is helping us understand what the Chinese government is up to, and he champions the potential for China's citizens to reach out to us in spite of the firewall erected by the Communist Party. TIME magazine conducted an interview with Assange on that very subject. It's (here).