I think I might have mentioned this before, but, fate's got a really, really sick sense of humour. Trust me.

Meanwhile, my town, Tehran West (or Beijing East) carries on down the road of repression. What the hell's happening?

Just another part of the downtown east side that's not quite what it used to be.

And meanwhile, Vancouver becomes just a little more like Tehran.

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a strong correlation between a person's propensity for driving Cadillacs and bumper-sticker Christianity? Dumb enough to buy the one, so they're dumb enough to buy the other?

And, in further developments on the burgeoning police state that my home town of Vancouver is rapidly becoming, there's this. This story goes along with the harassment of one of my students a little over a week ago by Canada's secret police. She's friends with a University of British Columbia prof who's not a fan of the Olympics and who makes no bones about saying so. The secret police were waiting for her outside of a class at the college where I teach. How did they know where she'd be? Who knows? They "interviewed" her, then, as a closing question, asked her if she'd mind giving them her cell phone number. She said she would mind, and didn't give it to them. While in another class the next day, she missed a call. Guess who it was from. The secret police. The very ones to whom she hadn't given her number. How did they get it? Who knows? Frankly, folks, if any of you are planning to attend the up-coming winter Olympics here in Vancouver (evidently a new suburb of Tehran), don't.

I don't know what it is about this building, but I can't stop taking pictures of it. It's the local community centre. I only use the library in its basement, but I use that relatively often, so...

Meanwhile, from the World of Bigtime Irony, there's this story. All the way from Oklahoma, land of tornadoes, to northern Ontario, not the land of tornadoes, to be killed by a tornado? Gees.

And, in Britain, the Powers That Be sink further into dementia. Technically, 1984 is far in the past. "1984" however, seems to be coming on fast.

Which brings me to my own home town, where the police, under the guidance of people who stand to make a lot of money off the 2010 winter olympics, are conducting their own 1984-ish crackdown on free speech. On the off chance you were thinking of attending this fiasco, I'd say don't.

Let's face it, folks, the terrorists have indeed won. Big time.

Notice how the peak isn't in view? Kinda like the costs for my home town's Olympic venture. Yep. What a surprise. The taxpayers are going to take an Olympic-sized bath while the developers walk off with millions. What a surprise! The Olympics costing the presenting city zillions of dollars. Gee, that almost never happens, right? In Dumbya's words, "Nobody could have seen that coming." Well, nobody with his I.Q., that is. Otherwise, the average sea urchin could have predicted this.

Good to see that John McBush (thanks again, Maureen) is sticking with the good old Republican playbook of slagging the opponent while offering absolutely no ideas of his own. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking most Americans would be asking, "John, tell us what you're going to do about fixing the record-setting deficit that your President has run up while your party's been in control of the government?". Or, "John, what do you plan to do about getting your country out of an unjustifiable, unwinnable war that your President, with the cooperation of your party, started?" Or, to be more concise, "What's your plan, Johnny?" The answer, of course, is that McBush doesn't have a plan. He's a Republican.

And things are looking down in China as the Olympics get closer and closer. What a surprise! A police state is censoring news! Hokey smokey! What next? Mass arrests? Maybe they're saving that for the opening ceremony's big parade.

And speaking of Chinatown, just in case you missed the update to yesterday's post - here's a good reason to cancel your up-coming trip to China. Unless you favour governments of the thuggish, for the thuggish.

Uh-oh. Time to hit the streets again.

And, just in case anyone was actually thinking of attending the Olympics in China, here's one more reason to rethink that plan.

Ah, a photo to warm the cockles of the average Ref...er...Conservative Party hack's heart - big money being made by folks who already have lots of big money. Yes, this is a shot of the construction site for the Olympic Village in downtown Vancouver. Who's paying for the fabulous Winter Olympics? Me. And any other tax payer in B.C. or Canada. Not, definitely not, the guys who'll make money from it.

Now, on the other hand, the Ref...er...Conservative Party hates things like this. Tax payer money going to help people who have none. People who are sick and helpless. People who are, yes, immoral dope fiends! Oh, how the Ref...er...Conservative Party would love to shut this place down. It's soooo offensive to their good Christian moral sensibilities. Let's not forget, after all, god helps those who help themselves.