rants and observations

Keep a 12,000 pound killer whale in isolation for an extended period of time and it’s no surprise when it drags a trainer into the water to ‘play’. Tilikum the killer whale, a past resident of Victoria’s now defunct Sealand of the Pacific tourist trap and now residing at Orlando’s Seaworld, is responsible for the death of Dawn Brancheau, who had to be manually extricated from the jaws of the mammal by Seaworld staff.

So what did our American neighbours think of our little Olympic opening show? Well, some were not terribly impressed. Americans have a habit of making most things bigger and better than everyone else which is one of the reasons we love ‘em so much. But Canadians are a bit more reserved and do just enough to get the point across without being showoffs.

>It’s not enough that we Canadians are polite and courteous but we’re also quite aware of countries and people outside our own borders. So it’s exceedingly painful when we witness NBC News goofballs Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer bring new meaning to the word ‘confused and uninformed’ as they offer this fascinating discourse while toasting marshmallows on Whistler Mountain. Behold our neighbours to the south as they continue to know little or nothing about their neighbours to the north unless it has something to do with Celine Dion…

Los Angeles, California is officially aware of some of Vancouver’s problems thanks to the John and Ken radio talk show on KFI AM 640 radio. The boys discussed the recent robbery of taxpayer money to pay for the Olympic Village and the disgraceful part of our city commonly referred to as the East End. As I mentioned in a previous post, our problems are becoming glaringly apparent when light of the global media is shone in every corner of the city.