Never attempt to edit a post right after you wake up. The save and delete buttons are too close together and if you happen to be staring blankly off into space you don’t realize that you’ve hit the wrong one until it’s all over. That admitted; Roy sent me a great article regarding possible Presidential pardons that inspired said entry, so maybe he’ll link it in the comments (as I forgot to save it). It presented far better information anyway.

Truth be told, I suffer from foggy head quite a bit, which makes most things a bit tricky. For example, it is not unheard of for me to wake up with my laptop sitting on my chest, or somewhere on the bed having slid off my chest. It is also not unheard of for me to completely forget that I own a car, leaving me occasionally wondering how I am going to get somewhere.

This is horrid, grotesque, and truly bizarre. From the BCC…

“A man on a Greyhound bus travelling across the Canadian Prairies has killed and decapitated a fellow passenger.”

[…]

“When we came back on the bus… he was cutting the guy’s head off and pretty much gutting him up,” Mr Caton said.

The attacker ran at them, Mr Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut to prevent him getting out.

“He calmly walks up to the front [of the bus] with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us,” Mr Caton said.

“There was no rage in him … It was just like he was a robot or something,” he added.”

There go Conservative theories that decapitation is the sole province of Muslim extremists.

What is truly scary is the fact that authorities believe the man did not know the victim, that it was a completely random act.

Now. Who’s doling out that extra cash to fly?

- More from the CBC.

The new del.icio.us design has been launched and it’s an amazing improvement. The same cannot be said of Facebook, whose new design looks as though it was farmed out to a high school computer class. True, the new tabbing system solves some layout problems, but it’s even more confused now than it was before. While Myspace might look like complete ass, at least they’re consistent.

While I am a steadfast Safari user, while on the topic of social apps I should also mention Flock, which is perhaps the world’s premier browser for integrating social applications. If you haven’t taken it for a spin, I highly suggest downloading it and giving it a whirl.

Battle of the sexes, don’t need it, far too tired this morning. We’re all to blame, porn is to blame, the pipe fitter makes $70 bucks an hour! The world’s just like Beauty And The Beast, except not a cartoon and without the talking inanimate objects – though that depends on your state of mind really.

And I haven’t even fucking seen Beauty And The Beast.

I have, on the other hand, read Skinny Legs And All, and would claim that it’s a far better love story. It too involves talking inanimate objects. Then again, given that it was written by Tom Robbins, he’s probably had a conversation with a spoon at some point in the past, so at least there’s a chance that it’s somewhat autobiographical.

Talking inanimate objects aside, if you’re a Vancouver resident don’t forget that Dave Eby is running for city council. You can check out his official website for updates and information.

As a follow up to an entry posted a few days ago, an article of note from the New York Times entitled - C.I.A. Outlines Pakistan Links With Militants…

“The C.I.A. emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups that were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the officials said.

The decision to confront Pakistan with what the officials described as a new C.I.A. assessment of the spy service’s activities seemed to be the bluntest American warning to Pakistan since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks about the ties between the spy service and Islamic militants.

The C.I.A. assessment specifically points to links between members of the spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and the militant network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The C.I.A. has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan, despite longstanding concerns about divided loyalties within the Pakistani spy service, which had close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks.

That ISI officers have maintained important ties to anti-American militants has been the subject of previous reports in The New York Times. But the C.I.A. and the Bush administration have generally sought to avoid criticism of Pakistan, which they regard as a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism.”

This should come as absolutely no surprise whatsoever, least of all to the Central Intelligence Agency who used the ISI as their primary conduit with regards to supporting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 80’s. The CIA is, by no means, in the dark when it comes to the reality of the ghost government that the ISI represents. To present information that they are, in any way, shocked that elements within the ISI (or as a whole) have continued to support those that they have, for years, considered invaluably quintessential with regards to the injection of Pakistani influence in the region is a stretch to say the least.

The International Olympic Committee has reversed its recent decision to disallow Iraq to participate at the Olympics. Unfortunately, only two members of Iraq’s Olympic contingent can attend, as the deadline for admissions for numerous events has passed, leaving only Iraq’s track and field athletes eligible.

There’s nothing like training for the Olympics in one of the worst locations in the world only to be told that you can’t attend the games and then have that decision reversed too late for you to participate anyway. Had the IOC dealt with the situation differently, Iraq’s entire team would still be attending.

In related Olympic fever news…

As many of you are aware, the Chinese government actively blocks access to a variety of different websites. For example – BBC journalists covering the games only have access to the BBC’s website in English, they cannot view it in Chinese. Amnesty International’s website is also inaccessible, though that should come as no surprise given their recent report - People’s Republic of China: The Olympics countdown – broken promises - which you should read.

It’s as if it were simply publication errata, not the admission that innocent people had been killed – never mind the blatant lies involved…

“The U.S. military said Sunday that the three people killed last month after U.S. soldiers shot at their car in one of the most secured areas of Iraq were civilians, not criminals as the military initially reported.

The correction came more than a month after a bank manager at a branch inside the airport, Hafeth Aboud Mahdi, and two female bank employees were shot at by U.S. soldiers as they sped to work on a road within the secured airport compound. The road is used only by people with high-level security clearance badges. The car veered off the road, hit a concrete blast wall and burst into flames.

The original statement said that Mahdi and the two women were “criminals” and that an American convoy on the side of the secured road came under small-arms fire from the vehicle. Soldiers said they shot back. A weapon was found in the debris and two U.S. military vehicles were struck by bullets from the attack, the statement on June 25 said.

“When we are attacked, we will defend ourselves and will use deadly force if necessary,” Maj. Joey Sullinger, a spokesman for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, said in a statement at the time. “Such attacks endanger not only U.S. soldiers but also innocent civilians, including women and children, traveling the roadways of Baghdad.”

On Sunday the story changed and the tone was apologetic. A military statement said that neither the civilians who were killed nor the soldiers were at fault for the deaths. An investigation found that “the driver and passengers were law-abiding citizens of Iraq.”

Soldiers had pulled off the road because one of the vehicles in the convoy was having maintenance problems. As they worked on the vehicle they saw Mahdi’s car and thought it was moving too quickly toward them, the statement said. Believing they might be in danger, the soldiers warned the car. When the driver ignored the signals they shot at the vehicle, the statement said.

The alleged attack and the weapon that was said to have been recovered from the burned vehicle were misunderstandings, the statement said.”

So the individuals in the car did not fire on the US convoy and, according to new versions of the event, the ‘weapon’ recovered was a ‘misunderstanding’.

Translated for the layman: No shots were fired by those in the car, those that fired on the car, after discovering their mistake, probably plugged a few rounds from an AK into one of their vehicles and then threw the weapon into the wreckage to make it appear as though they had come under fire to cover their asses.

Sound about right?

Despite the fact that I write on this website on a daily basis, I’m rather out of the loop when it comes to the ‘blog scene’ here in Vancouver. That said; I was unaware that Blogathon 2008 was even taking place or I probably would have participated.

Thankfully, through my friend Rebecca Bollwitt, I was able to contribute at the last minute. Rebecca’s charity of choice is The Union Gospel Mission, a non-profit organization that has been active in helping Vancouver’s homeless since 1940.

At first, Duane asked me if I would be willing to contribute a signed CD, which I immediately agreed to. But as I thought about it, it seemed too little an effort. So I decided the best way to raise money to help Rebecca and Duane’s cause of choice was to hold a private listening session for the highest bidder.

As many of you are aware, the tracks that will be previewed are only demos, and the record that they will eventually appear on will not be released for some time. But it seemed to me to be the best course of action with regards to helping raise money, so I went with it. Of course, it will be held in a very private setting and I will be there to answer any questions the winner might have about the songs, the album’s theme, and so forth.

As of this morning I am being told that the bidding has reached $4,000 dollars.

As recently announced on Miss604.com, Matthew is going to be holding a special private screening of the demo tracks for the new album for one special person. As the album will not be released until next year, it’s a great opportunity to be one of the first individuals to hear the album in its entirety. The proceeds from the event will go to the Union Gospel Mission, a local Vancouver charity that provides assistance to the homeless.

The event is in the form of an auction, where the highest bidder will be awarded the prize. If you’d like to participate, please visit the auction page and leave a comment to place your bid. The contest will end in a few days, so make sure to head over and place a bid soon to be considered.

It seems that getting to the festival this weekend in Pemberton isn’t going to be without its problems – the main one being bumper to bumper traffic only to be confronted with $90 parking fees and no shuttle buses for concert goers. Of course, I don’t plan on going within 100 miles of it, which still leaves me a decent radius within which to operate.

The CBC has some questions about the fireworks here in town posted on their website. So, being that I was a long time resident of the West End, I thought that I would tackle them.

Do you have pictures or video of your friends celebrating?

Celebrating what?

The fact that you have to produce identification to pass through police checkpoints to gain access to your own home because half of the downtown core has been shut down?

Perhaps the fact that you get to listen to drunks yelling at the top of their lungs until five in the morning as they maraud through the West End without a single care for those who actually inhabit the neighbourhood?

Or maybe it’s the pleasure of waking up to streets strewn with garbage; flowerbeds and landscaping trampled, and bewildered residents examining damage to their vehicles and property?

In truth, my favourite thing to do is to film the police helicopters that patrol the skies. I then watch the footage for hours at a time celebrating the fact that tax payers are flipping the bill for them to be up there when that money could have been used for something purposeful.

I came across this ‘morning after’ photograph on a local website called Beyond Robson.

What did you see on the street?

For the last several years – not a thing. The reason? Because I stay as far away from it as is possible. Though during the seven years that I lived three blocks from English Bay I did see my fair share of interesting things.

1) Roaming groups of testosterone and alcohol fueled morons looking to start trouble with whoever was unlucky enough to catch their eye.

2) A lot of vomit on the streets, sidewalks, and grassy areas that front the neighbourhood’s apartment buildings.

3) Billowing clouds of dope smoke rolling around as if a fog had come in off the water.

4) Smashed bottles, discarded coffee cups, pop bottles, and a variety of other enjoyable litter.

5) That special brand of imbecility that only occurs when hundreds of thousands of people gather in the same place to watch explosions that produce colourful lights.

Did you see anything unusual on the beach?

In all the years that I lived by English Bay not once did I entertain the idea of showing up eight hours prior to the event to find a piece of beach or grass to sit on. But I will say that I have seen what the beach looks like the morning after, and it’s not a pretty sight. Mind you, that may have changed. It’s been a while since I went down there the morning after the fireworks. They could be employing cleanup crews to work through the night. If they are, I hope that they’re wearing boots, because there’s nothing better than walking on sharp objects and glass pushed into the sand.

Do you have a story to tell about the fireworks?

I have a novel.

It includes tales of tires being slashed, of underground parking lots being broken into and vehicles vandalized and robbed, of fights breaking out in the middle of streets at 4am, of loud music being blasted from cars, of dumpsters being lit on fire, of bottles being thrown against apartment building walls, of yelling matches in back alleys beneath the windows of residents at 5am, of sirens blaring in the night, of masses of people walking up from the beach trampling everything in their path, of stabbings, of vomit covering the front steps of buildings, and even a few of passed out bodies laying on lawns and benches the next morning.

To be honest, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

One point I will stress, and this is something that goes entirely overlooked, is the affects that the fireworks themselves have on animals living in Stanley Park.

As some of you are aware, Stanley Park is the largest urban park in North America, larger than Central Park. That being the case, it is home to a variety of wildlife, mostly small animals. Unfortunately, their experience during the fireworks is quite different than ours, as my friend Angela points out…

“Each fireworks event wreaks havoc on the wildlife living in Stanley Park and surrounding areas - some are displaced from their nests fleeing frightening booms, some have fragile eardrums burst, and some are even found dead of apparent heart attacks due to the stress of the impacting vibrations. Wildlife Rescue records this the day after each event.”

We get it Matt, you hate the fireworks. So what do you suggest?

Ship them off to a location on the other side of the river that can accommodate the number of people that want to view them.

That won’t happen, of course, because no one over there would tolerate the overwhelming influx of people. So one has to ask – why do the residents of one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in North America have to? Don’t get me wrong, Kits gets it just as bad. In fact, most of the communities along the water have to tolerate it on one level or another. But the fact remains that given the headache the fireworks cause, even if only on four days of the year, the residents of the communities affected should have the right to at least hold a referendum with regards to their continuation. Unfortunately, business concerns have far more to do with it than the concerns of residents, which is why the fireworks will be back next summer and the same shit show that occurs every year will, once again, go off without a hitch.

Yes, yes. I’m just a downer in a sea of contentment. I think we can all agree on that.