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

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."

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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

"Integrated Riot Investigation Team" - hmmmm. An I.R.I.T. to go with an I.H.I.T. Well, "integrated" investigation didn't work in catching and convicting the BURNABY BOMBERS who blew up Air India Flight 182 and butchered 329 passengers and crew. The boffins who botched that glorious investigation are now pensioned-off and kicking it up in the Gulf Islands or beaches of their choice. The bastard bombers in Burnaby didn't take cellphone photos of themselves in front of YVR, so I guess that's why they got away with it. Or was it simply rotten ethno- politics as usual?

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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.

Evan Solomon was in his glory today on CBC TV's Power and Politics, denouncing the U.S. Marines who had the temerity to piss on Taliban dead. Evan thinks it an inappropriate way for combat soldiers to shake it off after the killing is done. I guess he thinks Hollywood does it better... back to the hooch to get fried on whiskey or high on weed, 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.

The famous cartoon by Andy Donato - "The American Dream".

Iwo Jima metaphor updated: Reaming out the Ayatollah.

In bad taste?  I am reminded of Andy Donato's famous editorial cartoon published and syndicated 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 ?

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

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.