Virgin Airlines: So Politically Incorrect, So Lovely!

Trip Photos: Chicago's Midway Airport

We flew out of Chicago via their Midway Airport on the south side of the city. Later I learned that this will be the first airport in the U.S. that is completely privatized. Inside our wing was this spectacular display, honouring those who fought in the Battle of Midway.












In case you're interested, here is a video of the battle:

Trip Photos: Seattle & Ft. Worth

I'm long behind in posting photos from my trip. I'm going to catch up now!

SeaTac Airport



Fort Worth, Texas
We went to a restaurant called Joe T. Garcia's. From the outside it looks like a simple little place but it has got to be the LARGEST restaurant I've ever been to!

It's like a collection of indoor and outdoor eating venues, each very different in appearance. The food was quite basic but was decent Mexican food. I got the sense that most people go here for the atmosphere, which was grand.
The cutest baby we met on our trip!
After dinner we drove a few blocks over to the Ft. Worth Rodeo. It's held every Friday & Saturday evening and is billed as the largest indoor rodeo in the U.S.



Here's a father & daughter enjoying the show.
The woman on the left was quite the character. She was clearly "under the influence" but was a happy drunk, providing an additional show to the audience nearby!

Visit to America: Day 1

My mom & I embarked on our big trip today! We caught the Quick Shuttle around 9:20am, though it was supposed to be there 15 minutes earlier.

Unlike times past, the bus was absolutely full. When we got to the U.S. border my heart sank when I saw how many buses were ahead of us. It took over an hour to get through when normally it would take less than 15 minutes.

I kept hoping that we'd make up the lost time but it was not to be. In fact, we had to stop at every location along the way: Bellingham Airport, Tulalip Mall, and downtown Seattle too.

We were supposed to arrive at SeaTac at 1:20pm but didn't get there until 3:00pm, just a few minutes before our scheduled departure. So getting to Dallas today was not to be. With the help of my friend, Mike, he helped us book a nearby hotel using Hotwire. We're safe & sound now, but it has been a really long day.

I Don't Speak English, Please Don't Kill Me!

That subject title may be a necessary T-shirt slogan for all foreigners arriving at Vancouver's International Airport to wear.

I've long been a supporter of the police in our society. While I've never been naive enough to think that any officer is perfect, I've always believed that each of them tries their best each & every day. My faith in this has been badly shaken after watching this video of Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, being killed (2nd Degree Murder?) via a taser, used by 4 RCMP officers at YVR:

The video speaks for itself. No negotiations were attempted. How difficult would it have been to hand the man a phone to a translation service? In fact, it's clearly heard on the video that the decision to use a taser was decided upon before the police even reached the man. They surrounded him the way a bunch of young thugs would do to a helpless animal in a pen. And then they killed him. After they realized he had stopped breathing, they did absolutely nothing to revive him. Aren't all police officers trained in basic CPR?

Equally appalling was what happened after the fact. The RCMP lied about what really went on there. Then they told the videographer that he wouldn't be getting his footage back for 1 or 2 years. He had to threaten to sue them in order to recover it. After that, the damage control spinsters of the RCMP reminded us that what we saw "was only from one man's perspective". Is their opinion of the public's intelligence really that low?

I lived in Mexico City for a year. From that experience I know first-hand what corrupt police are like and the effects that such corruption have had throughout the entire fabric of Mexican society.

It is thus absolutely imperative to Canadian society that these 4 officers be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Failure to do so will forever destroy the faith that the Canadian public has in our police forces. Police are not given a badge and various weapons with blanket permission to do whatever they want, in a very similar way that BC Ferries workers are not given control of a ship to do with it whatever they want.

This is a pivotal litmus test in the history of our country as to whether people in power will be held accountable for the responsibility they hold. Sadly, I strongly suspect that nothing of consequence will happen and our society will slip deeper into the abyss of incompetence and lack of accountability that we've been heading toward for decades.

Update: An abridged version of this was kindly read by Jon McComb on his show (56:35).