Who gets the Flu?

If Roche is right that Tamiflu is the only defence against bird flu, if all the fear-mongers are right that bird flu is the next million-dead pandemic, and if the improper use of a drug is the sure fire way to make it useless, why is the use and distribution of the drug not carefully controlled? “Concerned” citizens and “responsible” corporations are stockpiling the drug, often by illegal means, in preparation for the viral apocalypse. We do not know if Tamiflu works but if it does, the current distribution of it will no doubt guarantee its failure in record time. I am not convinced that the bird flu, or SARS for that matter, is going to be the next plague or AIDS; but if it is, we are certainly digging our graves in advance. But then, these “pandemics” are so far only advertisements for all kind of mongers, seller of swampland as cemeteries. It is work out just fine then, never mind.

Environ-What?

People in the first world, particularly those “good intentioned” ones, like to look down at third world people who burnt down forests to make farmland. At least these people are fighting for the livelihoods and survival. The “good intentioned” ones put on the grand altruistic mask of environmentalism to make a few more dollars. We all quite rightly shunt the woman who cut down trees in the part to get a better view for her apartment. But when the same motive is applied towards saving a few trees, then the selfish interest all of a sudden turned into righteous sacrifice. Take the bluff alone the Sea-to-Sky Highway that demonstrators are trying to save for example. They are all saying that expending the road over it destroy a precious unique environment. If this argument holds then it must be the single most micro of environments. But the few trees there do not have enough wood to build half of a house that they live in. They want a tunnel drilled to save the bluff but not one of them say they would pay more taxes themselves to cover the extra cost. This is hypocritical because the real reason is not environmentalism but protection of their property value. The reason is profit, plain and simple. It is not about the environment but their environment, their financial environment. They are in reality asking us all to pay for the improvements to their property value while refusing to do the same for the rest of us. Make no mistake, with better roads their property value will increase. Meanwhile we somehow have to pay more and get less while they are the one who voted in the service cutting government to begin with. It is a pretty wonderful thing: they want better roads, better views, less taxes, more money, others to pull themselves up by their bootstraps while doing their biddings. I am an environmentalist, but not like that!

Profession-no!

Another Canadian Prime Minister made another “pledge” to help immigrants to have their foreign professional credentials recognized in Canada. The problem of this issue is not with the federal or provincial government. It lies with the professional organizations that set the standard and have the authority to recognize credentials. In the heart of this issue, as has been cited often, is a conflict of interest. The professional organizations are made up of working professionals in the field. It is against their interests to have more competition for themselves. Take the College of Physicians for example. If all the medical doctors who are driving taxis right now become doctors again, with what are the practising physicians going to use to squeeze money out of the government? Particularly if these “new” doctors are willing to go to rural area to practise, there will be no complaining patients on TV saying they cannot find a doctor within a hundred miles. The only real way to speed up the process and make it fair is to have a government agency handling the certifications. This clearly is not going to happen and the government will just continue to lie to Canadians and potential Canadians. If the government decides that there are specific needs in professional field they should from now on recruit students in those fields rather than finished professionals. That way by the time they finish school they would be eligible for citizenship and thus do not have to do it all over again.

Prozac Hockey

The CBC is again replaying the women hockey championship game between Canada and Sweden right now. The game is days ago and the men’s Canada-Russia game far more recent. I guess it is like taking Prozac or cocaine to fight the depression resulted from the men’s pitiful performance. You have to admit that someone in the CBC can see into the future when they booked the 72 series mini-series. I was wrong when I complained about the series because we do need to remember that we did, sort of, once beat the Russian in hockey! The sad thing though is that they do not remember that the first high is the greatest and rest of addiction is but a futile chase back to that perfect euphoria. Casey and Haley and Vicky certain dominated and Paul is still suspended in mid-air; but this version of the men’s team still laid claim to the title of the most pathetically uninspired of all time. While the high of watching the wins lessens with each viewing, the depression deepens. If CBC is really trying to do something, they should try to move us along to other steps of the program.

Team? What Team?

Sports fans and commentators can be the most hypocritical people with a voice. Even when the U.S. and Canadian hockey teams were just looking like loser in these Olympics, they were talking on TV questioning whether NHL owners should let their players play in the Olympics anymore. The reason for this line of thinking is that the owners let players play in the Olympics because it would increase interests and thus ticket sales; and if both North American teams had lost, no one would give a damn about buying NHL tickets anymore. This maybe true but it is not for these people to say, after all they are the promoters of traditional masculine ideal—loyalty, teamwork, sacrifice, heterosexuality and the faux rhetoric of war. What is more an example of all these values than going to a faux war for your country? If they were honest, they would admit that they are putting their own interest—their local teams—over that of their country. It is not about the owners. Who care about billionaires who own sport teams for their vanity? If the owners were to pull their players from representing their country, the question, if we were to be upholders of the values sport teaches, should be whether we should have legislation to make national team duties mandatory. They lambasted athletes who beg out of playing in these games for minor injuries. They treated those who would rather not carry the flag at the opening ceremony because their events occur soon afterward. And they sympathize with the owner?! What is next? Bank managers are exempted from all jury and military duties because the banks heavily invested in them by paying for their MBA? What team are they playing for?

Hansen Is Even Less Entertaining Than Hanson

I was invited to a business dinner function where the B.C. Economic Development minister Colin Hansen was the guest speaker. While he was speaking, I, for a split second, felt sorry for him. Granted, I am not a fan of his or his party, I nonetheless felt that no one should be so ignored. Seven hundred people were sitting in a large banquet hall after drinking for a couple of hours. Everyone was fighting futilely the onset of haziness hoping against hope that dinner would come before the growling of their stomachs became too noticeable. Meanwhile, the real reasons for people to go to these functions are to make now business connection and shore up old ones. Most people were diligent in their duties and thus ignored the “feature.” I, for one, was paying more attention to my wine glass than the words of the not-always-Right Honourable Minister. Of course, he was not saying anything revealing in his speech, so there is no loss in not listening. I know from personally experience that speaking to full room of people who are not paying attention is quite a humiliating experience. I therefore propose that, in the future, Colin or whoever should have a recorded speech shown in these event, and the “real” Hansen can spend his time going from table to table doing what he was there to do—to butter up to the participants for future votes. That way he will be able to be less ignored and we can test his drinking abilities. After all, I may vote for him if he can hold his liquor. Call me old fashion, but I still think that is the major measure of a politician. Just think, if his boss were able to hold his liquor, this province would not have been so embarrassed a few years ago. Plus, even if he were no able to hold it liquor, it would be far more entertaining than his speech.

Political Entertainment

I ask myself these days why I moved up to Canada. I thought that formal political back and fore’s in the U.S. is boring. Congressional hearings, from Contras to Lewinsky, were exercises in tedium. By contrasts, the questioning periods of parliamentary proceedings are so much more exciting—it comes with its own laugh track. I thought I would go for the entertainment. Now, we have Gordon Campbell in B.C. refusing to answer question and Stephen Harper looking completely devoid of wits in Ottawa. Questioning periods are going to be the kingdoms of boredom. Down south, however, congressional hearings have become fertile grounds for new use of words and history. First there is Donald Rumsfeld with his inventive use of logic, words and grammar. Lately, they have Alberto Gonzalez’s updated version of history. The entertainment value of these processing is sky high. There is a new level of suspense—what will be said next and where the English language is going next. All I can say is “I want my C-Span!”

Holiday Largess

In every culture I know people like to say that they are particularly generous in major holidays. All the Thanksgivings, Christmases and New Years, we feed almost anyone everyone that crosses our path. In the rest of the time, the normal days, we think of these festive foods with fondness and speak of them with nostalgic love. This begs a question: “why don’t we eat these food in normal times?” Roast turkey, for example, are served once, maybe twice a year. It is not really that difficult to make, no more than making a pie, particularly with some practise. And one turkey will last a small family a whole week. The truth is that these foods are usually not that tasty. The only reason for choosing them is that they are cheap and massive, good to feed a lot of people. So, I guess it is a bit of a balancing act--generosity is tempered by frugality, or maybe the other way around. The lesson is therefore--if you want to be generous, think cheap!

Whose Summit Are We Talking About

The CBC has another movie on the 72 summit series of hockey in the works. Do we need another one? We already have very form of remembrance of this event. I never understand why these eight games are so very remarkable. If it is because of the idiocy of the Cold War, we should in hindsight see the foolishly overblown nature of the whole thing and downgrade it from legend to history. . If it is about hockey, then it is excellent hockey, played with passion, skill, and a healthy dose of dirtiness. But then, many a Stanley Cup series can be described as such. Indeed, in the early eighties, I have even seen many a regular season Islander/Flyer games that were a lot meaner and harder fought. If it is about little Canada beating giant U.S.S.R., it cannot be further from the truth. In hockey the super power was Canada. In this series, the super power sent it very best to play an upstart and barely came out with a victory. I would have been alarmed and slight embarrassed by the result. A super power should be able to beat an upstart with a hand tied behind its back. If the U.S. Dream Team I had to go into overtime, it would have been a complete disappointment. When the Chinese Ping-pong team won only four out of sever events in World Championship, it was a national crisis. Instead of trotting out Phil Esposito to tell us again how tough he was, I would ask why did he not simply dominate like a god that he thinks he was. And I would ask Paul Henderson why it had to come down to his famous goal for the win? Think about it, it is not a great victory. Good hockey, yes. But for the nation, it was the beginning of the end of total dominance. And that is nothing to boast about.

It Is Better To Lose?

The Canadian team won a couple of games by over ten goals and people are saying that they should leave women’s ice hockey out of the Olympics. If that is an acceptable argument then they should simply shut down the whole Winter Olympics. How many sports in the winter games are not dominated by a handful of countries? Indeed the entire Winter Olympics is dominated by a handful of countries. Of two Canadian games, one is against a inexperienced Italian team with two fifteen year olds on defence and who is to say in ten years they will not be dominant blue liners? The other game is against a Russian team that simply gave up after a few goals so the final score is exaggerated. The U.S. barely got by Finland yesterday, and most think the U.S. team is at least as good if not better than the Canadians. No one argued that they should take basketball out of the Summer Olympics when for decades U.S. teams made up of college kids were beating everyone by forty points. Now even when the U.S. sends their very best they can no longer guarantee victory. It is bizarre when the countries that lost by 12 and 16 goals are not complaining and the winner complains. There are some strange people in this country.

Buzz Off

Many in the NDP, including Jack Layton, do not agree with their Ontario executive’s suspension of Buzz Hargrove’s membership. As party leaders this is understandable—after all Buzz still heads a large labour union. It is not a very smart thing to do politically. The Ontario NDP’s action though is understandable. What Buzz did during the election can certainly be considered treason. He, as a member of NDP, told his union members to vote Liberal in Ontario and appeared with Paul Martin as his partner in campaign stops. It is clear that he made a calculation and took his union’s short term interesting over that of his party. This is certainly his right to do as a union leader but not as a NDP member. There should therefore be no reason why his membership should not be suspended. If Jack Layton takes a good look at this he may find that this is also a good opportunity for the NDP to lessen its formal ties to labour unions. They can still get a majority of union members’ votes with their policies and they can win votes from people who think they are overly beholden to labour union interests.

Cold Games

I am trying to watch the Winter Olympics, I really am. Being Canadian, the son of True North, I should love to watch winter sports, shouldn’t I? The truth is most of the winter sports are no good on TV. They all look like fun to do but to watch? It is mostly clock watching. I have clocks at home; I don’t need to watch them on TV. Granted short track can be fun with the high crash rate, but coverage is dominated by the wishful Canadians and the whining choker called Ohno. Why are we told all of Ohno’s very long history of choking but nothing of the Korean and Chinese skater that beat him regularly? Hockey is good to watch but not when the score is 12, 16 to nothing! If I am not mistaken, the even is called “Winter” and not “snow and ice,” maybe they should go look at what people in warmer climates do in winter and add them to the games. Maybe that way these games will get a bit more colour.

Suicidal Cabinet

It is hard to get the reasoning between Harper’s Emerson/Fortier decisions. I can see why Emerson wants to take the opportunity but not why Harper wants to give it to him. If the reason behind selecting Emerson for cabinet is to help get Harper a majority in the next election, it just does not make sense. Emerson himself looks unrelectable in Vancouver/Kingsway; and Fortier certain looks unelectable in this or next election. If anything, the move only further enraged voters in metro Vancouver and Quebec. Harper also loses the “moral high ground” in the eyes of Albertans. It is such an all around loser that it is hard to comprehend. Add to it is the selection of Gordon O’Connor as Defense Minister. Makes one wonder if Harper wants to be Prime Minister at all. At this rate we will have another election in six months.

Sdogholm Syndrome

Few general statements are as sad as the saying “dogs are man’s best friends.” Consider it seriously: is it a good thing to have a dog as your best friend? My answer is of course not! My best friends are human. It is only when a human cannot find another human to be a friend that he or she would look to other species. Humans are men’s best friends, not dogs. Dogs maybe human’s best and original interactive toy, or perhaps the most convenient object for anthropomorphosis. I am not saying that dogs cannot be friends to human; they can be good companions and loyal protectors too. But if ones dog is not only ones friend but best friend, then the owner must be severely lacking in human relations. The only way this “dog’s best friend” can have a best friend is by isolating a pack animal from its kind and making it completely dependent on its “friend” for its every need. If it were human, it would have been diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome.

With Enemy Like This...

I am glad today that I do not live in the Vancouver—Kingsway riding. Poor folks! They voted for David Emerson because they did not want to have a Conservative government. And now, they have a Conservative cabinet minister in the No-So-Honourable David Emerson! How quickly does “Stephen Harper’s worst enemy” become his intimate bedfellow! Doubling the irony, so to speak, is how very anti-Conservative that riding is and has always been. If I were a constituent there, I would try to find a way to recall that liar. Now I feel sorry (well, not really) for Gurmant Grewal. We finally know why Harper bailed on him in 48 hours—Harper is working on buying opposing MPs himself. Adding insult to the Grewal household is that even when Harper is looking to the Liberal bench for B.C. ministers, not a glance was given to Nina, an elected Conservative MP from Surrey!

Young At Heart

Sometimes we say things we do not mean without lying. Take one of the most common birthday wishes/advice: “age does not matter, just remain young at heart.” I have no doubt that a vast majority of this is uttered in perfect sincerity. The problem is when the birthday person at, say, 50 years, starts acting young like a 25-years old, the well-wisher would be shocked and abhorred. This reaction does not automatically mean that it is a lie but rather that the speaker has no comprehension of what he has just said. In a way speaking without comprehension is perhaps worse than lying. Lying requires a certain level of attention. Lack of comprehension betrays a total lack of thought. One means to lie but does not give a damn when uttering clichés. I think the one on the receiving end should immediately take the advice and bum some money off the speaker, use it to buy brews, and hit on his wife. Ah, the beauty of youth.

Commitment problem

I was talking to a friend about city to which I would to retire. It is a strange line of inquiry, when I come to think about it. Ours is perhaps the first generation that cannot only contemplate such thing but evaluate it with personal experience. We make intercontinental travel regularly and acquire taste and habits a little bit here and a little bit there. The strange thing is that I find it harder and harder to think of a place where I would like to spend all my times in. Every city seems to have its beautiful advantages and impossible shortcomings. Take food for example, Vancouver has as great an variety as anywhere but has no truly great restaurants; France has great restaurants but they just cannot take spiciness; Hong Kong has some of the finest Chinese food but other cuisines are more pretending than good. I guess I just have a commitment problem. Good thing I still have at least a couple decades to think about it. Meanwhile, I have not had Japanese food for a while now, time to get some.

We Are # 1!!!!!

Just when all seemed to be lost, when the sun came out just brief enough to hold off the raindrops to deny us the record of the longest spell of rainy days for that one and last day on Jan 15, when our long suffering appeared to be pointless and hopeless when the rain resume with more vigour just as the clock struck midnight, it all came to fruition! Our depression finally brings us something that makes it all worthwhile: our own weather record. It rained 29 of 31 days in January, and 42 of the past 44 days. These number should certainly make ant inhabitants of any rain forest, temperate or not, proud. Now that we have the record, to take pity on people in the future, the rain should stop. Future Vancouverites should have something to look forward to, some tangible goal to sustain them through those long dark months. Meanwhile, a little sun, if you please.

Nettwerk

For the last twenty years we have been told that the Internet will revolutionize the global market and create new ways of doing business. It stands to reason that some old business models will have to go and new models will have to be created. The RIAA is one example of an old model that has to go. The digital age has made the conventional means of music distribution obsolete. What the RIAA is doing with their lawsuits is just an effort to hold on to their backward and exploitative ways at best, and a pathetic way to save face at worst. What their actions betrayed is not so much their righteous position but their complete lack of imagination. They are saying that they are protecting the artists, but since only a small portion of the hard copies goes to the artists, what they are really protecting the record companies—an obsolete distribution system. It is a refreshing and a brave move for Nettwerk to go again the industry. Well done.