Visualizing Density

September 22, 2020

Here is a wonderful map of how the US population has grown from 1790 to 2010.

 

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

BC Election – Mail-In Voting

September 22, 2020

I know that many people are concerned about gathering in crowds at a polling station. However, it is perfectly legal and easy to vote by mail.

Here is the Elections BC page with all the information.

Stay safe!


Grandview 22nd September 1920

September 22, 2020

Vancouver World</> 19200922, p.9

All previous Grandview 1920 clippings


The Election of Broken Promises

September 21, 2020

It is less than one full day since Horgan called a Provincial election, and already we know that the NDP are not a party to be trusted.

In calling for an early election, they have decided that the law (which fixes the date of the next election) does not apply to them. And their signature on the Confidence and Supply Agreement they signed with the Green Party (in which Horgan agreed not to call an early election) also means nothing when it seems better for the NDP to ignore it.

This is naked power-grabbing,

During the last election, the NDP campaigned against Site C, against fracking, and in favour of treating indigenous peoples with full respect. In the last three years they have broken all of those promises in spades!

Fool me once, shame on you. But I am not fool enough to fall for the same BS again.


Image: Street Art #1

September 21, 2020


Grandview 21st September 1920

September 21, 2020

Vancouver Sun</> 19200921 p.11

All previous Grandview 1920 clippings


Poem: Last Playboy of the West End

September 21, 2020

 

He stands erect

his jacket checked at the door.

Surveys the floor

where dancers more or less perform

to an MTV norm

writhing and circling by.

With his casual clothes

and his casual attitude

to casual sex

he is already a casualty

rushing headlong for an accident

and it meets him tonight in the form of

Barbara

a Barbie-doll beauty with C-cup breasts

and a heart full of

barbarous revenge.

She picks him

she tricks him

she licks

his ego

until he stands tall and hopeful.

He buys her a drink and engages in chat

while he makes sure that

he doesn’t smell too bad.

“Come back to my pad

and fuck me,” she croons

He swoons and tries to play it cool

but his head bobs up and down

like a fat man on a trampoline.

She drives

he strives to keep it in his pants

tries to make small talk

but just kind of rants

about nothing in particular,

his cock bent reticular in anticipation.

She parks and barks,

“We’re here.”

In the condo

he tries to fondle her charms,

but she wriggles from his arms.

“Show me what you got to arouse us.”

So he drops his trousers.

 

His flagpole slowly wanes in the breeze of her

obvious indifference.

Less than impressed

she refuses to divest

the clothes from her blessed

body.

Instead, like a cat, she screeches,

“Whaddya call that?

Some kind of bonsai?

I’ve had 12 year olds bigger than you, boy,

and 70 year old royals making me come.

So I’m not gonna sleep

with some self-absorbed creep

with a prick the size of my thumb.”

 

He went home by bus

didn’t make a fuss

just pulled the trigger

gave a small shiver

like the third orgasm of the night

It was the first thing he’d done right

all day.

 

 


Landskrona Foto 200

September 20, 2020

Every year or so, Landskrona in Sweden hosts a photographic festival.  This year was no exception.  The following are a few of my favourites.

Image: Britta Jaschinski

 

Image: Roger Eberhard

 

Image: Anais Lopez

 


Night Music: I Wanna Love Him So Bad

September 20, 2020


The Overthrow of Salvador Allende

September 20, 2020

Every year on 9/11, I publish a short piece on the American-inspired overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende which took place on 11th September, 1973 (the most recent post was here).

For years we have known that the Americans were behind the coup led by the fascist Pinochet which caused the death of thousands of Chileans in the military action and in the violent repression that followed for years thereafter. It is the primary reason — along with the destruction of Cambodia and Laos — that I consider Henry Kissinger to be a major war criminal.

Now, 50 years after Nixon declared Allende’s overthrow to be national US policy, the National Security Archive (NSA) has released a raft of documents showing the detailed development of the coup from before that fateful CIA meeting in September 1970 to the event itself three years later.  The documents have been analyzed in an article entitled Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende on the NSA website.

““These documents provide a roadmap of U.S. coup-plotting and regime change,” notes Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Archive’s Chile project and is the author of The Pinochet File. “The September 15, 1970, Oval Office meeting marked the first major step in undermining Chilean democracy and supporting the advent of a military dictatorship.”

The documents show that the US had begun planning for a coup earlier in the summer and had hoped to engage then-President Frei to cancel the elections that would bring Allende to power. That maneuver failed, Six days before Nixon’s pronouncement::

“William Broe, the head of the CIA’s Western Hemisphere division, instructed Santiago station chief Henry Hecksher to initiate “the operational task of establishing those direct contacts with the Chilean military which … could be used to stimulate a golpe if and when a decision were made to do so.”  And “within days of Nixon’s September 15 directive, CIA headquarters began transmitting instructions for the “creation of coup climate” through “economic warfare,” “political warfare” and “psychological warfare.”

The documents show clearly that most seasoned observers — CIA, State Department, embassy, and NSC personnel — opposed the coup as too risky to America’s reputation.

“Most courageously, [Kissinger’s deputy at NSC Viron] Vaky questioned whether the threat of an Allende government really outweighed the dangers and risks of the chain of events U.S. intervention could set in motion. He advised Kissinger on the answer: What we propose is patently a violation of our own principles and policy tenets .… If these principles have any meaning, we normally depart from them only to meet the gravest threat to us, e.g. to our survival. Is Allende a mortal threat to the U.S.? It is hard to argue this.”

Kissinger rejected all the arguments, and the murderous trail continued.

“To instigate a coup CIA soon focused on providing guns, funds, and even life insurance policies for Chilean military operatives to remove the commander-in-chief of the Chilean armed forces, General Rene Schneider, who opposed a golpe. On October 22, 1970, Schneider was intercepted and shot on his way to work; he died the next day.”

Less than three years later, Allende himself was dead, and the Chilean Army had taken control of the country.  The coup leader Auguste Pinochet would be a favoured client of the US for many years to come.


Grandview 20th September 1920

September 20, 2020

Vancouver World</> 19200920, p.9

All previous Grandview 1920 clippings


Wise Words

September 19, 2020

 

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear”

 

— Baba Ram Dass


Image: Wave 2

September 19, 2020


Grandview 19th September 1920

September 19, 2020

Vancouver Sun</> 19200919, p.2

All previous Grandview 1920 clippings


City Staff Fail Again — Looks Deliberate

September 19, 2020

In May, I wrote about Colleen Hardwick’s motion to Vancouver City Council regarding re-calibrating and correcting Vancouver’s Housing Policy.

On May 27th, Council voted unanimously to accept a slightly amended version of the motion, even though Mayor Stewart tried on several occasions to have the motion shelved. The  approved motion required City staff to answer a number of important questions and required that they provide significant amounts of data required for Councilors and the general public to amend the current housing strategies. They were required to provide this information by July.

On the last day of July, the Planning Department quietly released a 59-page report signed by General Manager Gil Kelley. It was, to say the least, an unsatisfactory response to Council’s unanimous motion, failing to address a number of important issues.  In the middle of August, Councilor Hardwick responded with a detailed 16-page critique of Kelley’s memo, demanding that staff answer the questions as directed by Council.

The conclusion to the Housing Strategy story is yet to be written.

This is one of the latest examples of how City staff appear to act as if they believe themselves superior to our elected officials, reluctant to submit to even light oversight.  This is a hangover from the old Vision-driven politicization of City staff and we can only hope that the imminent departure of City Manager Sadhu Johnson improves efficiency and helps create a proper respect for the electorate.

 

Thanks to CityHallWatch for the heads up.

 


Trumpeting His Own Stupidity

September 18, 2020

I just received another email from President Donald Trump. It says, in part:

“The FIRST Presidential Debate is coming up soon and I could really use the help of one of my BEST supporters, like YOU, to prepare. I’m inviting YOU to meet in the Nation’s capital so we can discuss what my debate strategy will be.

I am only reaching out to a few Patriots that I trust with this information, so please, do not share this email, Jak.”

Apparently a Canadian anarchist is a “Patriot” he thinks he can trust.  I wonder how many Russians got this email?


Sometimes A Chore

September 18, 2020

After five full days of work, I have finally completed the index to my new book, “Battleground: Grandview“.

Ten years after I did the index to “The Drive“, I had forgotten just what a tedious chore indexing can be. But I do think that indexes are an important addition to a non-fiction work, and so I hope it is worth the effort.


Night Music: Jimi Hendrix

September 18, 2020

Hard to believe it is 50 years today since Hendrix died. Such a loss.


Community Policing Office is Hiring

September 18, 2020

 

The Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Center is looking for a part-time volunteer coordinator.

The Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre is dedicated to providing crime prevention assistance and education to the Commercial Drive corridor and surrounding area.  Reporting to the Executive Director, the primary role of a volunteer coordinator is to recruit, train, and schedule and oversee the work for our volunteers.  Do you have a passion for helping others, enjoy working in a team environment, and looking for a flexible schedule?

Email us your resume today at recruitment@gwcpc.ca


Grandview 18th September 1920

September 18, 2020

Province</> 19200918, p.7

All previous Grandview 1920 clippings