Gordon Campbell’s Free Ride. Leave the guy alone, he's giving BC Place a retractable roof by 2011.

Maker of HPV Vaccine Under Fire. Ow. That burns. That is itchy and it burns.

Tyee does a piece on bed bugs, about 6 months after mine. Owch. You couldn't have linked? That really bites.

Peak-oil spike reshapes the suburbs. Peak oil was on my list of top underreported news of 2007. Just saying.

"Why is a Crown corporation investing in tobacco stocks when the B.C. government is suing tobacco companies?" "Well, I mean, we also invest in the Iraq war, the search for Osama, the US Dollar, sub-prime mortgages, oil, wheat, Hells Angels. So, we really just like to keep our portfolio diversified. Not too many hedge funds, not to many bonds, a couple of lofts in Gastown...

Woodward's redevelopment project came very close to collapsing. Unfortunately, they weren't talking about that massive 42 floor condo that is blocking my morning sun. Not that I want it to collapse or anything...

The future for Insite doesn't look so bright, a fact made all the more obvious as the Feds beef up their funding for alternatives (i.e hospital beds). A trans-Canada convoy just started to raise awareness for the organization, with the first attention-grabbing stop taking place tomorrow in Calgary.

People want more public art, but the jury is still out on that upside-down church named "A Device to Root Out Evil". I'm willing to try anything at this point.

Apparently, the police have been instructed that candidacy for tasering is a state of "excited delirium". I can't wait for the inevitable mass taserings at the Madonna concert (best mental picture ever). Aside: I keep getting stuck on this: do you tase someone, or taser someone?

In the wake of growing ridership and rising gas prices, Translink cuts all advertising and begins encouraging people to carpool, cycle, and 'telecommute.' Wheres Scotty? And I thought they already encouraged this every time the #99 pulls away with someone's arm lodged in the door. Meanwhile, part two of "Make Transit Free" gets the re: post.

Screw gas costs, this one's for the bikers: have you thought about the cost of the fuel it takes for all that pedaling? I hope you're not buying 'organic' you selfish, selfish hipsters. Okay, to make up for it: cycling makes you a better lover, great Euro bike propaganda.

Thanks to Jon for filling in, and now for doing Tuesdays and Thursdays. Good to see Vancouver's still as absurd as ever.

Why I do Morning Brew: Media makes promise to Tourism Vancouver.

BC Liberals set to three peat. How much was that flat in Parkdale again?

What do the Gateway Program and Iraqi reconstruction have in common? Other than the collusion of government and private contractors? Or is that one just assumed?

Bill 42 to Stop Homeless People from Voting in BC Elections. What? They were allowed to vote? Disgusting.

Credit Check:
With all this talk and bullshit about being green, it’s appropriate and timely for the BC Government to use more wood to make slightly taller condos. They’ve just brought so much to our communities, condos. We owe it to them.

Sorry about the lack of a Monday Morning Brew -- with Sean's return from Toronto, the wires got a little crossed. He told me he'd write it, but that was over beers (jet lagged beers, no less)... and the man had a weekend of birthdays and mothers to celebrate. For the time being, we'll be switching it up; I'll be giving you the Tuesday/Thursday lowdown while Sean will keep the sarcasm flowing on all those weekdays surrounding mine.

So the VPD are catching criminals via CrookTube, promoting via Facebook and have tried to round up recruits via Second Life. What's next... viral videos? "The Vancouver Police Department is fucking Matt Damon?" I totally see a Robert Downey Jr. cameo... And what ever came of that Second Life-VPD thing? I find it hard to believe they're still paying some of their men in blue to lurk around a virtual world avoiding item-spam from 12 year olds and unemployed graphic designers. Or do the recruits they picked up in Second Life last year merely explain the force's new love of Facebook? I have too many jokes.

On a more serious note, the RCMP have heavily censored their report on the Dziekanski incident. Meanwhile, on Friday a cardiologist testified that tasers were potentially fatal, while on Monday the chair of Taser International... the guy who probably makes the most money off the damn things... defended them. Maybe the cops just needs to develop a Facebook app to check their agression: "You've just been tased by the Vancouver Police Department! Would you like to install the Vancity-Taser application so you can join in the fun and tase your friends too?"

I'm not gonna link to it, but why is half our media devoted to a dead monkey? I hope these monkey-killers weren't looking for lots of attention/media-celebrity status, cause boy did they get it...

Whalley to be designated Metro Vancouver's second downtown core. Looks like they're well on their way... Whats their dog boutique and "dollar" pizza count? I know they got Starbucks. (Thx to miss604 for those second two links.)

People in Vancouver would choose more transit over more roads, and apparently they want that transit free. Re:place re-posts this well written, in depth article, which includes a list of 17 reasons why transit fees should be covered by taxation. The Tyee originally published this series in 2007, but I missed it the first time around; kudos to re:place for resurrecting an idea that deserves renewed attention. Any thoughts in the wake of climbing fees and taserings?

How about a footbridge underneath Burrard instead of that expensive expansion?

The press is all over Salvia Divinorum lately. An extremely intense and mysterious psychoactive herb that's evaded criminalization. This was some seriously hot stuff five years ago at UBC, when people were picking it up from the (now relocated) 'Urban Shaman' out on Commercial Drive. I did it once, and never again. Not recommended for anyone but the most schizophrenically-inclined. Although I'm against it, I'm a sucker for a good link: videos of people smoking the stuff. Oh how glad I am we didn't have YouTube in my dorm days.

So Wal-Mart is looking at some mega Canadian expansion. Well, you might want to consider the environmental cost of shipping all that shit around. Essential viewing: Where do Wal-Mart products come from?. A list of Wal-Mart resources, including an article on how the business 'caught the China bug.' Update: they've announced a new Wal-Mart at Grandview and Boundary.

How conscious are you of buying locally? It's something I only really hear about when it comes to food...

I'm gonna go against the grain and start out positive today: BC unemployment rates are the lowest they have been in over 40 years. Sure, we're all making less, addicted to more drugs, and faced with high and rising housing prices... but at least more people can support their habits via menial labor these days. Okay... that got negative fast.

I'll try and bring it back with a thousand crosses raised for lives saved by Insite. Meanwhile, the mayoral candidates band together to urge the feds to keep Insite open. It's nice to see the city unanimously supporting the program, but all this energy should be channeled towards improving the program; as DeGenova says, "we should be expanding... not fighting to keep the one open." Alas.

Church sandwich-handout program shut down, because homemade sandwiches might make someone sick? Versus a diet of 7-11 smokies and pizza crusts? And what does starvation do to the system again? Ridiculous.

After their recent multi-million dollar deal to become the official paper of the 2010 Games, Globe and Mail president John Furlong actually said "it's implied that 60 per cent of the headlines will be 'Those VANOC guys are super-great.'"

Oilpatch injuries are more severe and costly than those in any other sector. Hmmm... maybe God is telling us something? Stay out! Stay out boy!