News
Morning Brew: Vancouverites protest stoning, kayakers raise thousands for cancer patients, repealing the HST may carry a significant cost, Canada Post struggles with slower mail service
Well, that's something I never thought I'd see -- a crowd of hundreds has congregated in Vancouver to protest stoning. Of course, it's the other kind of stoning -- you know, the barbaric method of execution that dictatorships whip out whenever someone so much as coughs the wrong way. It's awful, brutal, and a symptom of a misogynistic and hateful society. It's awful, partially because there are so many other ways of stoning that don't involve actual stones. The article mentions that 150 people have been stoned in Iran in the last 30 years, but it's unclear whether they used a bong or a pipe. Okay, that was a bad joke. News
Morning Brew: Bike lanes don't sit well with local businesses, food vendors still struggling, sizeable opium plantation discovered by police
Business do not want bike lanes. We all know how it is -- those damn, dirty cyclists keep mucking things up with their healthy, environmentally-friendly transportation. Now they're out to take jobs away from honest downtown businesses. That's the impression the business owners seem to give, although it's not really a convincing argument -- last I checked, cyclists are still consumers too, and businesses are still likely to thrive even without access to parking. Most people walk/take public transit downtown anyways. I can't imagine that cycling will be the nail in the coffin for these roadside business, but who knows? News
Morning Brew: BC gets yet another political party, record numbers of salmon give hope to dwindling industry, school districts have millions of dollars tied up in unusable bank accounts
BC is getting another political party. The BC First party, which alleges to reach out to those dissatisfied with both the Liberals and NDP, hopes to rally behind some of the anti-HST sentiment and get some seats. Of course, the province already has 22 other parties, and most of them are not major players. Is another new kid on the block going to do much to shift the waves of political power here? I doubt it, but I suppose there's no harm -- unless they're taking votes away from other parties. News
Morning Brew: Monster truck rampage an odd way to celebrate a birthday, Grouse Grind record beaten by local, man using Craigslist to obtain underage sex reeled in by police
An Abbotsford woman saw fit to go on a monster truck rampage. Or should I say a monster truck celebration -- it was, in fact, her 26th birthday. I guess the local party supplies store was out of balloons or something. Also, she had been drinking. The article doesn't elucidate on how exactly the monstrous truck was procured, but I suspect those are minor details which do little to fully encapsulate the majesty of driving around recklessly in a goddamn monster truck. You will never have a more dangerous or awesome birthday. News
Morning Brew: Environment Ministry not doing enough to protect parks, new community for homeless and mentally ill individuals opens, White Rock still has E. coli in the water supply, Port Mann bridge will be tolled before completion
An auditor's report finds that the environment ministry is not doing enough to preserve our parks. It's certainly true that spending millions of dollars to keep a bunch of forests in shape seems less of a priority than, say, health care or education. It follows that it's not much of a surprise that the whole enterprise is underfunded, and that the public would probably prefer to have taxpayer money spent on services that do more than merely promote tourism. On the other hand, being committed to environmental preservation has never been anything less than a noble endeavor. Maybe we could make good on our promises for once. News
Morning Brew: City Hall has seven unused floors, U-Pass implementation delayed until January, report claims RCMP are not team players, Grouse Mountain wind turbine starts up after six month hiatus
The City Hall building has seven floors that are unoccupied. Five empty floors would be bad enough. Six is just ridiculous. But seven? How much money is the city losing by having all the important offices spread over several buildings? It's going to cost thousands just to renovate that office space. And yet, the excuse that is being trotted out is an old favourite: it was a good idea at the time. And when it became apparent that, in fact, having all that empty space was no longer a good idea, that little international sports competition came to town and siphoned away any trivial budgeting. Now, finally, the hubbub has subsided and they can start dealing with the issue -- at great taxpayer expense, of course. 
