Sunday, July 29, 2018

Mentally ill? Media or murderer?


From columnist Tarek Fatah in the Toronto Sun -

No sooner was it revealed that the Toronto mass murderer was a 29-year-old Muslim of Pakistani descent, ‘consultants’ and ‘experts’ lined up on various TV networks twisting themselves into halal pretzels, trying to avoid the elephant in the room staring at them — a Muslim hate crime.

Within hours CBC News obtained an unsigned letter purportedly from the killer’s family, stating the mass shooter Faisal Hussain had a lifelong struggle with “severe mental health challenges,” including “psychosis and depression.”

Thus the subject on the evening news became one of lack of funding of mental health and gun crime, painting the murderer himself as a victim with not even a hint of anger at the man who had declared war on a Toronto street of party goers, killing two girls, 18 and 10. Never once did a single participant have the courage to raise the possibility of the killer being inspired by jihadi teachings that portray partying on streets by women as evil and satanic.

The most apt response to the hours of political correctness came from an Australian Islamic cleric, Imam Mohammed Tawhidi who has been to Canada and is familiar with the Islamist networks in the country. He tweeted: “If you think all these Jihadi terrorists kill because they have a mental illness, then perhaps you are the one with a mental illness. It’s not mental illness, it’s their allegiance.”

Also upset at the endless hours of banality on TV was Ensaf Haider, the Canadian wife of Saudi-held prisoner of conscience, Raif Badawi. She tweeted: “Politically correct reporters keep saying murderer Faisal Hussain suffered ‘mental illness’. Which Islamic terrorist was NOT mentally ill? These jihadis hate women and Faisal aimed at and shot the woman. He’s a jihadi, no doubt about it Shame on CBCNews for covering up the truth.”

If it was not for the Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington, much of what we now know would have remained concealed. Warmington reported that his “law-enforcement sources confirm investigators are looking at every avenue — including a potential jihadi-inspired mission.”

This was the first time the word ‘jihad’ appeared in the media, where a Toronto Star investigative reporter went as far as to blame all men for the crime. Kenyon Wallace wrote, “why, many are inevitably asking, would someone do such a thing?” Then answering his own question Wallace determined, “In truth, we may never know.”

He then went on to conclude: “Hussain also shared a characteristic in common with many mass murderers, one that has received particular attention in the wake of a string of explicitly misogynistic attacks: he was male.”

However, another male was digging for the truth as in facts, not a discourse in gender studies that would diminish Bin Laden, ISIS, al-Qaida and the Taliban responsibility for crimes against humanity and share it with all of us males as their partners in crime.

In the meantime, Warmington reports that “files being reviewed by police include concern Hussain expressed “support” for a website that was “pro-ISIL” and his visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There are questions that remain unanswered – like which mosque Hussain attended, who scrubbed his social media presence and how it was that his name was withheld until the family issued their polished statement.

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How can we ever stop these hate killings until we accept the truth of their WHY?


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Stanley Park - part of Vancouver Resort

Been there lately?
Used to be you could stop anywhere in Stanley Park and walk trails, sit at the beach and read among the logs, watch the ships and sailboats in English Bay, have a swim, have a picnic. Of course you still can, but as Vancouver becomes a tourist town, and ejects the locals and born-here people, it has become extremely expensive to visit.

You now must pay for everything. The cost is $3.50 per hour to park anywhere in the park! Some say that is reasonable, but really? What family can afford say $14.00 to take the kids to the zoo, or the Aquarium (more money) or just for a picnic at Second Beach. You can get a daily pass for $17.00 except if you're near some concessions selling lousy food or plastic ice cream. Then you pay more.
You can get a seasons pass for $225.00 but that is good only from April 1 to September 30. After that you must buy another for $120. from Oct 1 to March 30. They don't say if you have to pay extra for Feb 29th.
And parking is controlled by a contracted company outside of the Vancouver Parks Board, Easy Park. Maybe what is easy about that is their profits for doing nothing but endlessly circling parking areas. And they simply read the electronic meters to see if you paid yet, and if you are too damned slow about it you're nailed for a $40.00 ticket! Including in the darkness of night. So watching the once famous Nine O'clock gun is out unless you time your drive-by!

Several years ago now, they started charging a fee for the Second Beach pool! They might as well have hung a sign on the new chain link fence saying, 'Rich Kids only please', and Lumberman's Arch pool is gone. I was born and raised in Vancouver and took the Sun Free Swimming lessons many years ago at Lumberman's Arch pool. They had little changing tents and taught you the Deadman's Float first. Cost you nothing else.

So gone are the greenhouses, and the famous rose gardens and a lot of the areas you could sit and dream in are covered with blackberry thorn bushes. The money is certainly not going into maintenance, they had a lawn mower once. Then you could roam the park trails for hours and find quiet reflections at Lost Lagoon or Beaver Lake.  (I wonder if that little drinking fountain is still there at a cross-trail south of Prospect Point in the forest?) You could sit on a bench for hours and watch the freighters coming under Lions Gate Bridge. Free. Or wander a trail and come face to face with a lovely quiet doe, or even watch a little skunk herd her brood while ignoring you. Throughout my childhood I spent many hours exploring the seashore and forest. I met Jimmy Cunningham, the builder of the Seawall when he was working on it by Third Beach. And Birder John Rodgers who told me about a third eagle aerie along the west side. I suppose the once largest tennis tournament in the world, the Stanley Park Open is finished too.
I parked at Brockton for years and ran the 10 K Seawall, then had a shower like thousands of other runners and went back to work. No cost.

But as Vancouver redesigns itself as a Resort Town, open mainly to tourists and wealthy visitors, the good things about Vancouver just disappear into the treasure chests of corporations. Lord Stanley's dedication says 'For the use and enjoyment of people of all colours creeds and customs for all time.' Perhaps they should recut a line in that marble - 'Bring money'.  

Sadly Vancouver people are being excluded from Vancouver very quickly, The powers that be want you to go in on the train or bus, service the rich foreigners who live there, and then get out back to wherever you actually live. The Vancouver Aquarium keeps trying to take more of the park for what they keep saying is helping marine life, then why do they need a convention center in there? Did you realize the entry to the Aquarium for adults is now $38. and a child is $21. So you park, bring wife and 2 kids to see fish and it costs you $135.00! OMFG!

Further decline of the park. Do any teams still play at Brockton fields. I suppose the Vancouver Rowing club still rows, maybe only in the lounge chairs by the bar? And the Vancouver Yacht Club patrons can still afford to visit their barnacled boats once in a while, but they arrive in Limos with drivers told when to come back. No need to park the Bentley with the unwashed masses.
I am talking about folks forced to live in congested neighborhoods or tiny apartments who want to sit on grass and breath a little fresh air at Burrard Inlet or Prospect Point or walk the Seawall for health. Sorry folks, but you are being excluded. Be careful, that Nine O'clock gun may be shooting at you.

I moved out of Vancouver some time ago because of the costs. As an oldster with limited resources, I just cannot go there now, a $1.00 coin only gets you 10 minutes on the metered streets. And I recently tried a private parking lot, the old Bay Parkade, paid for two hours, got back 7 minutes late and they had a ticket on my car for $127.00! (NEVER going to pay that one)

Stanley Park roads used to be filled on a Sunday as many families went there for nature or picnics. Finding a spot was sometimes hard, but the upside was that thousands of people were there, IN the park, of all colours creeds and customs, enjoying it all. For years the Park Board has been no more than a political organization and should be eliminated entirely and the control of parks returned to Vancouver City.

And although some may see this as a bitch, I think of it as a lament for the thousands of Vancouver born or unrich people being driven out of their own town. Taking away the chance of a little recreation or quiet contemplation only makes the evicted a little more angry.

Those parking fees in Stanley Park should be like $1. per hour. Or eliminated entirely. Filling the park with people enjoying it should be the goal, not the anathema. Seeking solitude shouldn't have you seething with irritation over parking fees. And we can only wonder how long we'll be able to drive through it without having to pay a road toll.


Welcome to Resort Vancouver, the Gucci store is over there.