Jim though he would ride into office and Larry's shirt tails, vision abandoned they supporters and disenfranchised allot of people hence the low voter turnout. I think their was just to many ego's in the room with the biggest being Larry Campbell's. He even called the Bus Riders Union a bunch of losers because they were upset about a fare increase.
I also blame COPE, sorry David but this was to important to lose, someone should have stepped up and swallowed a little pride, I am sure NPA members don't agree on every issue but they would never air their differences out in public. Divided we fall folks.

This is a good example of what I consider a challenging trend. In the battle of left vs. right, there is a natural tendency for multiple parties to slowly converge to just two parties in order to consolidate power and have a good shot at winning. Unfortunately what this does is take away the options for the voters.

Maybe with some limitations on campaign spending, we could achieve a system where there are lots of options, and our elected officers work together for the electorate as opposed to just keeping their party happy.

Actually COPE has a platform written down, the NPA just kind of wings it and has no platform and is very vague, this is because their beholden to developers etc, I say we will have the Wal Mart approval in place no later
than April . COPE was elected by a strong majority of blue collar workers, activists , students , socialist in Kits, basically the main support came from the east end , downtown and kits. The abandoned their core values by supporting certain projects, it would be like the federal NPD supporting BUSH in Iraq, their would be a fall out supporters. COPE should have had many meetings and worked this thing out, I blame them all of them, this election was to important for ego's. They
should have wished Larry well and got to the hard work of reconciliation. Jim thought he could get broad support in the arts community and around Van and forgot his base. He must have been such a joke in places like South Van or Kerrisdale, whatever Jim just lower our taxes and make our life better, you want peace or equality go join the peace corp.

The arrogance, stupidity and cluelessness of Campbell and Green was revealed perfectly in their post-election night aghast-ness at having lost. They clearly COULD NOT UNDERSTAND why they did not succeed. Not a SHRED of self-doubt or acceptance that *they* and their behaviour may have been the problem. Its funny that people like that - and their supporters - attribute that kind of attitude to the likes of Gordo while refusing to see that they are peas in the same blinkered, self-satisfied pod.

As for Greens support of the arts, did anyone else notice how Jamie Hamilton was the only one to bring up revival of the old 1907 Pantages Theatre? Its right across from the safe injection site and the Balmoral on Hastings. She recognized that it would be a great project to revitalize the area and offer a much needed new arts and performance venue. Where was Green on that? Nowhere. Some Vision.

Let's face it 'Judas' Campbell was paid very well to destroy COPE and if Green can't understand it, he's stupider than I thought!

What did I miss? It was COPE incumbents, representing the COPE Classic faction that got wiped out in the recent election. VISION went 4 for 5, which is better even than the NPA's 5 for 10. Bass, who, seemed like a very good councilor, got wiped out and the only reason I can see for that is that he was the first off the mark, and the most vocal, in precipiting the split between COPE Classic and COPE Lite.

The Ant and the Grasshopper- Canadian Style

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter the ant is warm and well fed. So far, so good, eh?

The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like him, are cold and starving.

The CBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper, with cuts to a video of the ant in his comfortable warm home with a table laden with food.

Canadians are stunned that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty.

The NDP, the CAW and the Coalition Against Poverty demonstrate in front of the ant's house. The CBC, interrupting an Inuit cultural festival special from Nunavut with breaking news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."

Svend Robinson rants in an interview with Pamela Wallin that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax
hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share".

In response to polls, the Liberal Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the
summer.

The ant's taxes are reassessed, and he is also fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as helpers.

Without enough money to pay both the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

The ant moves to the US, and starts a successful agribiz company. The CBC later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of the ant's food, though Spring is still months away, while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain it.

Inadequate government funding is blamed, Roy Romanow is appointed to head a commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000.

The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug overdose, the Toronto Star blames it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity.

The abandoned house is taken over by a gang of immigrant spiders, praised by the government for enriching Canada's multicultural diversity, who promptly set up a marijuana grow op and terrorize the community.

THE END

speaking of social inequity.

http://www.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/bc_child-povertyy20051124.html

so fredethal are you still in this country or have you packed up the ants stash and carried it off to the states with you, along with your free education!

damn immigrant spiders!! - to guantonomo with them all i sez!!

Fed and Ethel,

You are a very sad person, you story would make great science fiction and appeal to the lowest common denominator, aka Ron Erwin and others, Gordo etc,

Let me explain the real story,

The self righteous fat entitled ant considers himself a free market hero and lives in a huge home with just him and his wife. He enjoys all the fruits of life and has no guilt whatsoever, every now and then he considers the huge inequity of life as he steps across homeless grasshopper's in the street less
fortunate than him. He is usually able to turn on CKNW or read CANWEST articles to justify his in action but sometimes that's not enough. He than has to visit his local church of other bloated fat ants who need forgiveness and to feel justified. Oh life is good

Meanwhile many grasshoppers gather in the street and unite, they know the fat ant's wealth is due to relaxed labor laws by an ant friendly government and out sourcing and privatization, the know the ant's entire wealth is built on the backs of poor Grasshoppers, they know the Ants feel themselves hero's and have no remorse, the atmosphere becomes tense, the Ant hires private security firms to harass poor grasshoppers in the area, the Ant friendly government passes repressive laws to protect the inequity of the system. The ants know about the numbed down population watching Ant
friendly media and don't worry.

But the Grasshoppers know that under the current system the top 10% or earners make 2 thirds of all wealth made, that leaves only 1/3 for the poor Grasshoppers, the Grasshoppers unite and fight to keep vital programs and resources public, they fight for better benefits, and more equality. The ants in raged by this show of defiance move to the US which is a more repressive regime for grasshoppers, 44 million without health care and good tax breaks for even more bloated ants.

But the markets take a turn , Enron go's broke and the Ant finds himself amount grasshoppers and not liked. He is then drafted to Iraq to kill Grasshoppers in the name of freedom.

The end.

And we wonder why the BC political landscape is so sharply divided. With simplistic, warring views like these we will continue to get the leadership we deserve...on both sides.

One correction Stuart, they go off to Iraq to kill spider becasue they all belong to gangs.

Good Story Fred & Ethel, it tells it how it is. Unfortunately we have a disproportionate amount of communist morons in this province like Stuart who are too busy concentrating on being a victim to contribute anything productive to BC. But thankfully the NDP isn't in power so we should be ok for awhile.

"Unfortunately we have a disproportionate amount of communist morons"

Such shocking ignorance of the most basic concepts of political ideology. Communists in BC could hold meetings in a phone booth. You don't know enough to realize that the people you hate are in reality social democrats. Please take a 100 level polysci course!

As for communists being "morons". In 40 years of political involvement I have encountered more than a few marxist-leninists of various stripes. Few, if any, would I classify as stupid, in fact the majority would be probably above average in intelligence. Their problem is that they get caught up in an all-explaining ideology - much like neocons and religious fundies, not all of whom I should add are stupid either. Calling people you disagree with morons only shows what a pathetic wretch you are.

goodness. I feel terrible. I'll be sure to refer to them as "socialist idiots" from now on. You shouldn't take everything too literally Anarcho, being that up tight will have the coal up your as* a diamond in no time.

...they just don't get it. They think conflict resolution starts with invasion and declaration of war. They don't even need to go abroad to start something. They can find enough flaws with their neighbours to start a feud. They support the NRA and sit around polishing their guns hoping that one day the drug crazed "grasshopper" breaks into the house so they can blow him away. A scenario played over and over in their minds.... No, they're not sick...... Some contribution to society eh, poindexter? In most revolutions after the government is overthrown, those who stood in the way were beheaded. Fitting end for those who thought they were entitled. Watch yer top knot!
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I spoil your vision of the passive peacenik/commie victim?

whats really sad is the poindexters want war but they never fight it, they sit at home with their families and make the money! One of their hero's bush went awol for a while and daddy kept him out of harms way, to bad I would have put him in a foxhole!

I like the point about the markets turning, real estate is slowing down in Victoria and will probably continue to do so for a while, since this is a real estate driven economy we may be heading into some interesting times once again.

"Calling people you disagree with morons only shows what a pathetic wretch you are."

Well stated. But, you must admit, this has not been a stellar week for judging the intellect of the left. You have a mayoralty candidate in Vancouver who swears that the only reason he lost was because his constituency in not smart enough to figure out which Jim Green he is on the ballot.

Then you have the Telus union giving up the fight months after it started with not a single improvement to the CA than that which was imposed on day one.

I do not think that all left leaning individuals are stupid or morons, but I do think a certain amount of atrophy does occur in these minds due to lack of use.

excellent point by mr cadman. if green couldn't run cope how in the heck could he run a city. i like mr green but i think he started to get pretty swell headed the last few years and started to believe his own press clippings.

that being said, he is superior to mr sullivan.

Mouseland – A Political Allegory by Clare Gillis, recited by Tommy C. Douglas (CBC, 1961)

It's the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too (loud crowd laughter). Just like you and me. And every time on Election Day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats (crowd laughter).

Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for the last 90 years and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are (crowd laughter, cheering and clapping).

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats (crowd laughter). They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats (a little laughter from the crowd). But the laws that were good for cats (laughter by Douglas) weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouse holes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in (crowd laughter). Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds (crowd laughter)--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort (crowd laughter).

All the laws were good laws for cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats (crowd laughter, cheering, whistling and applause).

Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said: "The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouse holes we’ve got (crowd laughter). If you put us in we'll establish square mouse holes" (crowd laughter). And they did (More crowd laughter). And the square mouse holes were twice as big as the round mouse holes (loud crowd laughter), and now the cat could get both his paws in (crowd laughter). And life was tougher than ever (crowd laughter).

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again (crowd laughter). Then they went back to the white cats and then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats (crowd laughter, cheering, and applause). And they called that coalition (crowd laughter). They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them (crowd laughter): they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but they ate like a cat (crowd laughter).

You see, my friends, the trouble was not the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats (crowd laughter). And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" (very loud laughter from the crowd). So they put him in jail (crowd laughter).

But I want to remind you that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea.

The problem with Jim was he pretended to be a cat and abandoned all the mice and the cats ate him alive.
The cast know who the cats are,

The Cats know who the cats are.

COPE's loss was sealed over a year ago. Vision Vancouver (a.k.a. Civic NDP) sold COPE down the river with 'Judas' larry Campbell at the helm. Now he has a senate seat, to hell with COPE, Vision and Vancouver.

The NPA, a sort of right wing facist movement, akin to the provincial Liberals, is back in power because of the vacuum created by the COPE Vision split.

Jim Green can take full resposibility for this debacle as he was way too focused on his pet projet > Woodward's!.

COPE suffered from delusions of grandeur, they forgot the basics of civic politics, serve your constituents. Example: Ellen Woodsworth, did she even spen 2 minutes concerning herself with Vancouver proplems? No, she was too busy thinking herself some sort of international diplomat, concerning herself with others problems. Locals take a dim view of this!

Can COPE learn from their mistakes? We will know in 3 years.

There is a simple lesson to be learned from all of this. When the left is divided, the right shall prevail. When the right is dived; the left shall prevail. As for the so called centre that the left and right try to court ? It does not exist. This is always the group of voters that simply does not come out to vote. How many times does this cycle need to repeat iteself before we catch on ?

The sadness with plurality systems, is that you need coalitions of the unwilling to claim victory. Rather that choosing representatives, we choose leaders and followers.

The COPE classic morons were the ones who were defeated. Vision did surprisingly well for a first time party. COPE will never get elected until they bring their policies into the line with mainstream Vancouver voters, which is what Campbell was trying to do.

and we voted for the NPA slate because the biggest COPE moron - Tim Louis thought it was sooo kewl to get a new Che Guevera shirt when he won last time.

Imagine being so stupid, so arrogant as to honour a sadistic mass murdering thug like Guevera.

We all vote for different reasons,

Ours was payback for Timmy the Moron.

na na na na na naaaaaaaaaaaa

hey fredethall hope you like developers!

Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Mertz. Synchronicity has it that I've been thinking about Che Guevera a bit lately too, so I wonder if you'd bring me up to speed on his "sadistic mass murders." I don't seem to recall that. Thanks in advance. Pardon me, but until I can get a more specific account, I'll have to assume you're inventing it for effect.

Fred and Ethyl, you guys really got some 'splaining to do now.

Re-Guevaras alleged mass murders. He was involved in the Cuban revolutionary government (pre-Stalinist)which executed some 600 people. Most of these were Batista torturers and murderers, though some non-criminal political opponants might well have gotten included. Even if all 600 were innocent - which most plainly weren't, this would be a mere morning exercise for a US president, so lets not get too hyped up over the "wickedness" of Che!

This kind of attitude is why people from more sophisticated jurisdictions often see Vancouverites as hopeless, intellectually lazy children when it comes to political discourse.

OK everybody, let's do the Lotusland march: Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right....about FACE!

Anaracho, thanks for the perspective on Che Guevera. Castro's war was a revolution against the American Mafia and the American fruit growers and other capitalists, who kept Batista in power during his entire disgusting reign. As you say, some of the 600 were probably innocent, but most were torturers and thieves. To call Che a "sadistic mass murderer, as Fred and Ethyl did, seems, at best, a very dishonest rewriting of history.

I think Fred and Elthyl need to get some history books. That comment was very ignorant and very disturbing.

Furthermore I like Tim Louie.I think hes a honest respectable man. And if you want to insult someone you should do it with a little more intelegence next time!

Skip Tracer, excellent comments. Again we have a failure of the left to take some responsibilty for their defeats. Look at people like Jim Green and Tim Louis, both of whom have been milking the public trough for years. Neither has ever had a real job. The antics of these two is why COPE got destroyed. Further, socialists are so inward focused they cannot for one minute identify the changing demographics of our great city, which, by the way, is not centred in a 10 block radius of city hall.

Demographics are what is all about? In my office, I make sure that there is someone that at all times that can speak Cantonese, Punjabi and Mandarin and I am looking for a Korean speaker. Why? Because at least half my clients do not speak English as a first language. My crews reflect this change in demographics, too. I have realised this.

Why cannot socialists do the same?

Tim Louis, I believe, runs a very active law firm. Not sure who the splendidly monikered "Brain" was referring to with "Tim Louie."

Yes. Lets just react to changing demographics and the market and enrich ourselves. Very Vancouver.

Business people are the most inwardly focused people I've ever met. Generally, you do not have time or a broad enough view to consider the long run on issues outside of your immediate interests.

Working Man, you've fallen into the trap I was referring to. If you want to find slippery people who evade responsibility, try big business...on a daily basis.

I deal with government far more than I have to and believe me, if there was ever an organisation that tries evade responsibility of mistakes it is government. Just try to get any government agency to admit "we made a mistake."

My point was (and remains) that people are slippery no matter what their stripe and that using "socialist" in the perjorative while apparently extolling the virtues of the heroic, realist businessman is lazy and thoughtless. Ask Lord Black, or any other "titan" of business to admit their mistakes.

There aren't enough prison cells for all the evasive corporate criminals we've produced in this society.

I've had a 50/50 year with the govt. Half the time I got admissions of mistakes, the other half was stonewalling.

I think you meant something else here...or you really love dealing with the govt!

Well, skip, when it comes down to who takes the responsibility in my firm, it is me, myself and I.

Being in the building trades you get very familiar with red tape. It has actually gotten a little better recently at the provincial level. GVRD and Vancovuer city are another mattter...

Excellent. Me too. What area of building trades are you in this boom time? Do you aprise yourself of city planning issues in general? What are your feelings about construction quality?

I work in specialty concrete, for example embossing designs in a wall. It has become a good gig but we will do any job that we can get. These days I turn tons of work down because I do not want to hire people and then have to lay them off when the bust comes (and it will come). All the training I provide is lost if I hire too many people.

Constuction quality? It varies like it always has. It seems to have improved since the leaky condo debacale. Concrete has to be of high quality or the inspectors will not pass it.

Well the forest of green tarps is aready spreading to highrises. We are just repeating the same old mistakes. Unless you are paying a mint, most buildings, I find, are shoddier than hell. Bad concrete still makes its way into many high profile buildings. But we digress..!

Well the forest of green tarps is aready spreading to highrises. We are just repeating the same old mistakes. Unless you are paying a mint, most buildings, I find, are shoddier than hell. Bad concrete still makes its way into many high profile buildings. But we digress..!

probably the same guys fixing the mistakes as made them in the first place once again.

I am not really qualified to comment on carpentry. Just causally looking at some of the small potato spec houses being built there is a lot of crappy work in them.

Shoddy is relative. When I was in Northeast Asia, I saw concrete work so bad I would not set foot in the buildings When doing big pours I find the big operations like Ocean have the best quality. It is easier for me because most of the stuff we do is poured in a temperature controlled envionment and then assembled on site.

This from a Slate Review of The Motorcycle Diaries: "The modern-day cult of Che blinds us not just to the past but also to the present. Right now a tremendous social struggle is taking place in Cuba. Dissident liberals have demanded fundamental human rights, and the dictatorship has rounded up all but one or two of the dissident leaders and sentenced them to many years in prison. Among those imprisoned leaders is an important Cuban poet and journalist, Raúl Rivero, who is serving a 20-year sentence. In the last couple of years the dissident movement has sprung up in yet another form in Cuba, as a campaign to establish independent libraries, free of state control; and state repression has fallen on this campaign, too.

Search Order
by Raúl Rivero

What are these gentlemen looking for
in my house?

What is this officer doing
reading the sheet of paper
on which I've written
the words "ambition," "lightness," and "brittle"?

What hint of conspiracy
speaks to him from the photo without a dedication
of my father in a guayabera (black tie)
in the fields of the National Capitol?

How does he interpret my certificates of divorce?

Where will his techniques of harassment lead him
when he reads the ten-line poems
and discovers the war wounds
of my great-grandfather?

Eight policemen
are examining the texts and drawings of my daughters,
and are infiltrating themselves into my emotional networks
and want to know where little Andrea sleeps
and what does her asthma have to do
with my carpets.

They want the code of a message from Zucu
in the upper part
of a cryptic text (here a light triumphal smile
of the comrade):
"Castles with music box. I won't let the boy
hang out with the boogeyman. Jennie."

A specialist in aporia came,
a literary critic with the rank of interim corporal
who examined at the point of a gun
the hills of poetry books.

Eight policemen
in my house
with a search order,
a clean operation,
a full victory
for the vanguard of the proletariat
who confiscated my Consul typewriter,
one hundred forty-two blank pages
and a sad and personal heap of papers
—the most perishable of the perishable
from this summer."

Careful what you wish for...