Another Difference For Us Now

When we left the US, it was partly because we felt that the country was going in a direction that we did not agree with, and that the country was continuing its slide into an uglier and more negative culture.

Little did we know that it would also continue move toward a more violent and deadly culture.

All around the world, Newspaper Editorials, some from countries that have now lost citizens to the killer of 32 students and teachers, have chastised the US for making the purchase of a gun about as easy as a gallon of milk. The State of Virginia in particular has some of the most lax gun laws in America, with no background check at gun shows, no waiting period before getting a gun, no safety training before buying a gun and particularly horrifying: no restrictions on the sale or possession of military-style semi-automatic weapons. In Virginia, you can buy an AK47 or an Uzi with the same ease as a hunting rifle.

Apparently the Columbine High School massacre (which happened 8 years ago this coming Friday) was not enough. Italy’s leading daily newspaper, the Corriere della Sera summed it up well:

The latest attack on a U.S. campus will shake up America, maybe it will provoke more vigorous reactions than in the past, but it won’t change the culture of a country that has the notion of self-defense imprinted on its DNA and which considers the right of having guns inalienable.

I’d like to say that this would never happen in Canada, but we also had a shooting at Dawson College in Montreal last September. However, even though Kimveer Gill, another 20-something, opened fire last September, killing a young woman and wounding 19 others before he turned the gun on himself, police responded far more quickly. Maybe this was just luck; It’s hard to say.

What I do know for certain, is that I don’t know a single person here who owns a handgun. It’s simply not something that normal, law-abiding citizens consider. However, when we lived in the US, I knew several people who had them, and this was in one of the most ‘Liberal’ areas of the whole country.

Common sense has always told me that if you have guns around, the likelihood of someone using them to kill someone else is far greater than if they simply aren’t there. I don’t buy the argument that if you make guns harder to get, ‘then only criminals will have guns’. Here in Canada and throughout the rest of the civilized world, that has not been the result. While we can’t claim a perfect record here, we feel safer, that this is a more peaceful and less violent place. Maybe that’s what we have to settle for these days.

Some Run

Even though it was a Sunday and even though I didn’t get enough sleep the night before (When will I ever learn?!), we did get up fairly early, and a little after 9:15 I went down to the edge the nearby park that’s just above 4th Avenue. Sure enough, the steel band was playing and a few runners had already run by. The Vancouver 2007 Sun Run was under way!
While I’m sure there are many here who can offer comments and/or criticism of this annual event, I have a somewhat unique perspective as someone who has had a lot history — as a spectator — at another annual run, The Boston Marathon (which takes place, today, back in the city that I left when we moved here).

I think it might be good to lay out my comparisons on the table, or rather, in a table:

As you can see, there are a lot of differences. In the end, I like both events, and have even given thought (because 10k is a lot more reasonable sounding than 40k) to perhaps running in the Sun Run next year. Or maybe, walking (or as it’s called ‘striding’). But don’t hold me to it.

Update: I fear that this year’s Marathon will be overshadowed in the news by the terrible shootings at Virginia Tech. I’m just too shocked to comment now, other than to express my horror, and sympathy for so many people who have lost so many loved-ones to senseless violence this April morning.

More Livable for Ducks

A short while ago, Vancouver was once again named one of the most livable cities in the world (It came in third, behind Geneva and Zurich, and tied with Vienna, out of 215, just like last time).

And once again, it’s raining like crazy.

It reminded me of a Mercer Report video that MJ (Urbanista) also pointed to:

For readers not in Canada, The Mercer Report is a is a comedy show seen throughout Canada which, like Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, satirizes News Shows, etc.

Yes, it is livable here in Vancouver, and this week I’ve been able to enjoy a bit more of it . I had a tasty pizza-for-one by the fire for lunch with a colleague down by Coal Harbour at The Mill, a spirited farewell party for another co-worker at 6 Acres in Gastown a decent Vietnamese dinner with Pam, last night, downtown (too new to have a listing or web site), and that’s not even counting last week’s outing at the VanDusen Gardens. Tonight, we will hopefully catch some more of our Canucks’ winning ways (the last game was their looongest ever, but they still came out on top!)

Still, sometimes I think some of those scenes in the video are not that far off.

On the other hand, I’m not too upset about Toronto-based Mercer kidding us about our high real estate prices and heavy rainfall. It’s just as well the ‘Most Livable’ moniker didn’t encourage too many more to move here and spoil it all. So let’s not try to talk them out of these caricatures, shall we?

Easter Weekend

Since Pam had Friday off (which makes it Good indeed, in my book, at least), we took a little trip some 25 blocks or so south of us to the VanDusen Botanical Garden, where we met up with Bob, whose comments can be found on this blog, and his postings on Moving to Vancouver. It was a beautiful day, and warm enough to take our jackets off while we all snapped pictures of the surprisingly peaceful refuge in the midst of the city (or at least, one of it’s closer residential areas). By the time we had walked through most of it, I was starving, so we had a big lunch at the Memphis Grill (Pulled-Pork sandwiches, cole slaw, beans and beer – Mmm, Tasty!)
The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We went to one of MJ Ankenman’s Open Houses (a very sophisticated condo that had a nice view, and an even better location: near Smithe and Thurlow, 13th floor). Pam did some shopping and we both did some other errands. As the weekend progressed, the weather got darker, wetter and colder, but those few hours spent in the sunshine on Friday made all of the difference.
In the meantime, we were cheered that the Canucks clinched their division by beating the San Jose Sharks, so they’ll be in the playoffs. Is it possible to imagine a Stanley Cup in this city again? And not a replica either, which their web site shows you how to make…

When CSPAN Looks Like Monty Python

It’s been nearly a week since it aired, and there have been so many other scandals, disasters and idiocies since then, because that is what a typical week with the Bush Administration in power is in the US, but I just had to show this clip.

Here’s the context: There was a ‘Brown Bag Lunch’ at the Federal Offices of the GSA, the General Services Administration. The Wikipedia entry for the GSA is this:

The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government-wide cost-minimizing policies, among other management tasks. Its stated mission is to “help federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies.”

Back in December of last year, Lurita Doan, (a loyal Republican supporter to the tune of $226,000 in campaign contributions) the GSA’s Inspector General, proposed cutting $5 million from the budget of GSA’s Office of the Inspector General for reviewing government contracts for fraud and waste. In other words, remove oversight. One wonders where the pressure for doing such a thing may have come from (dare I say, Lobbyists for Government Contractors like Haliburton, perhaps?). When other Inspectors wouldn’t go along with her plan, (like GSA Inspector General Brian D. Miller) she said: “There are two kinds of terrorism in the US: the external kind; and internally, the IGs have terrorized the Regional Administrators.”

That’s right, going against her plan was likened to ‘Terrorism’. So the ‘You’re either with us or against us’ slogan applies to the awarding of government contracts, too.

But that’s not what this video is about. As I mentioned earlier, this is about a lunchtime presentation about a week ago at the GSA’s offices in Washington. It seems that the Powerpoint slides that were shown during the lunch somehow found their way to the desk of Congressman Bruce Braley (Representative from Iowa). The author of that Powerpoint was none other than the center of so many other scandals and skulduggery in Washington, Karl Rove.

The clip is a little long (about 10 minutes), but some of it is so unintentionally hilarious that I almost have to remind myself that this is real testimony, not a comedy sketch. If you’ve already seen it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, and you have a few minutes, take a look; Rarely do you see someone caught in such outright lies. Ms. Doan was clearly instructed by legal counsel to pull the ‘Reagan Defense’ (I don’t remember anything), but I’m not convinced, and I suspect that most people aren’t either.

Oh, and by the way, The Hatch Act of 1939 makes it clear that this sort of thing is illegal. Ms. Doan should not only be fired, but she should serve jail time. But that probably won’t happen in the slow motion train wreck that is the USA these days.