I know Jon linked to the Cambell conference article yesterday, but I just wanted to point out to all those people who say the APC are a bunch of thugs whose message is lost in violence: "When one reporter from the China Daily, considered by Westerners to be a government mouthpiece, zeroed in how Campbell will handle "anti-Olympic groups such as the Anti-Poverty Coalition," Campbell gave a political lesson of his own. "In Canada we will be open to opportunities for people to express whatever views they have," he said. "There will not be opportunities to break the law, [but] we will make sure there will be full and equal expression throughout the 2010 Olympics." Yes, in Canada we pose as police officers and arrest you. In Canada, we close our VANOC meetings and surround it with secuirty forces. In Canada we throw our Native elders in prison to die. In Canada we tear up villages in favour of massive capital projects.

Woodwards Set To Revitalize Gastown. Awesome. A new blog for me to make fun of.

Kelowna rabbit exterminators call for RCMP protection. "Awk, that's ne ordinary rabbit. That's one of the most foul, cruel, bad tempered rodents ye ever set eyes on"

Starbucks opens in Uranus.

It's thus far evaded our linking, but Naomi Klein's short piece on how China is using the Olympics as an attempt to create a 'Police State 2.0' is essential reading. You may also want to check out the longer Rolling Stone article from may, China's All Seeing Eye.

A soldier from BC dies, along with a Brit and another four civilians, while the Tyee go all Tyee on the pandering in Afghanistan. If anything, military service does have the potential to harden our citizens into naked 78 year-old vigilantes.

If there's one good thing to come out of China's crackdown on free speech, Campbell's taken a retaliatory hard-line stance on freedom of expression for 2010. It was a 200-year event, ya damn Commies! If someone had mentioned drunk driving, do you think he would've promised free weed?

The Canadian government wages war on arts and culture. Hasn't CBC television been doing that for years?

Closing down Insite will bring out the angel of death. 'Angel of death' - that's 3 parts heroin, 2 parts coke, and 1 part lysol, right?

Because it just hasn't gotten weird enough in Canada recently,
Feuding Kitimat families decide to settle their differences by having a sword fight. Severed feet, greyhound decapitations, pride parade hammer attacks; what's next? Random shelaighleigh attacks?

Crash at my pad in 2010 - for $35,000

Vancouver won't get into budget battle with Beijing. "Instead, producers will stick with their original entertainment plan: Loverboy concert on an "ice" stage made to look like Superman's Fortress of Solitude". And if that doesn't wow them... maybe Vancouver's sex trade will.

Hey! Whaddya know? Apparently Vancouver has enough shelter space! Awesome news! "There is room at the shelters. Our shelters run at about 90-per-cent capacity. The issue is not really the shelter space; it is whether the people will go into them or not."

Commercial Drive is so vibrant it could form the hub of the separate municipality of East Vancouver. Yes, great idea. Great idea. That way all that Westside tax revenue can stay in Kits where it belongs.

The goalie mask has really evolved through the years from being something that protected a goalies mug, to something much more; a form of expression.

Back in the days it was a piece of unadorned fiberglass used to strictly to protect the goalie's face from the puck, kind of like the mask Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees runs around in.

Later a helmet/cage combination was en vogue--the same kind of helmets worn by Troy Gamble and Dan Cloutier.

These days a modern fiberglass helmet, that covers protects the entire head and chin, is what the cool kids wear and it gives the netminder the opportunity to get a little creative with the design.

Kirk McLean's Scottish horses, Corey Hirsch's homage to Hitchcock's Psycho, whatever the hell was on Felix Potvin's, Kay Whitmore's eagle and salmon, Luongo's current Johnny Canuck are some of the designs that Vancouver goalies have used.

You read that title right folks. Café Crêpe's Robson Street location should be classified as a no-go for any local people looking to dine over their lunch break. I say this because this location has a tendency to ruin your schedule if you have any plans at all.

When we arrived, perhaps about ten minutes into the lunch hour, we were made to wait before getting a seat. No big deal here - perhaps just a taste of Paris coming through - for we were promptly seated after things calmed down. So far things are okay.

It took quite awhile for us to flag down our server to take our order. At lunch hour on a Monday one might expect that they would be "on it" for the daily rush. Whatever. We're still doing alright by any account I suppose. I thought about what I wanted, scrolled down the menu and pointed at what I wanted as I read it aloud to our server. I ordered a chicken baguette sandwich with the only side order I saw available: fries (I think they have soup too but nobody told us the daily specials). It's been a long time since I've had fries but no worries I guess. You only live once and there are bigger things to complain about than this.

What happened next?

What with the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony last week, I felt it appropriate to conclude my series on Vancouver Riots with a discussion of the 2010 Olympics. Will this city party down hard or spiral into pandemonium and rage? Maybe both?