Dr. Laura "extremely disappointed" in Sarah Palin Pick but will Still Vote for McCain

After John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate and claimed to have known in advance that her 17-year old daughter Bristol was pregnant, I was having coffee with a Downtown Eastside friend and said, “What would Dr. Laura think?”. What Dr. Laura thinks matters, as the millions of daily listeners to this conservative talk show host’s radio show are the voters McCain is attempting to attract with Palin.

I knew the Palin pick would leave Dr. Laura Schlessinger in a dilemma. On one hand, Dr. Laura would share ‘Sarah barracuda’s’ absolutist anti-choice position on abortion. On the other hand, Dr. Laura would disapprove of Governor Palin holding down a job outside the home while she had a pre-school child. And Dr. Laura would disapprove of the fact that Palin’s 17-year old daughter, Bristol Palin, is pregnant.

Last night I got my first hint of Dr. Laura’s disapproval. I had turned on CFUN radio to wait for Coast to Coast to come on. Dr. Laura was talking to a caller who had said she had come home early and found her daughter’s boyfriend in the closet. The woman didn’t want to alienate her daughter who had previously run away but had now graduated high school and started College. Dr. Laura suggested the woman invite the boyfriend over for dinner, tell him that she hoped he had a genuine interest in the wellbeing of her daughter and was not simply interested in having “access to her genitals.” Dr. Laura said that the mother’s best bet was to “lay it all out” to the boyfriend, that it was either that “or he could get hugs from presidential candidates”.

Hugs from Presidential candidates? That was obviously a dig at McCain. I had seen a photo in the Vancouver Sun of McCain giving the pregnant teenager, Bristol Palin, a hug. Her 18 yr. old boyfriend, Levi Johnston, was standing with them and he, according to the article, got “a firm handshake” from McCain.

That prompted me to go to Dr. Laura’s website to see what was up. Dr. Laura is “extremely disappointed” in the Palin pick because, just as I expected, she considers her a poor role model. “Children and young adults look to those who are visible and successful as a road map of what is acceptable behavior and emulate those actions over the morals and values their parents and churches have taught and tried to reinforce. for juggling an infant and a job and have a pregnant teenager to boot.” See what I mean by Dr. Laura having the audience that Palin is positioned to reach: “morals and values their …churches have taught”.

Dr. Laura, who promotes devotion to family, God, and country, managed to work all three into a criticism of the pictures taken of the Palin family during campaign photo-ops. These photos have “haunted” Dr. Laura, particularly the one with the pregnant teenage daughter holding the Sarah Palin’s infant. “When Mom and Dad both work full-time (no matter how many folks get involved with the children), it becomes a somewhat chaotic situation. Certainly, if a child becomes ill and is rushed to the hospital, and you’re on the hotline with both Israel and Iran as nuclear tempers are flaring, where’s your attention going to be? Where should your attention be? Well, once you put your hand on the Bible and make that oath, your attention has to be with the government of the United States of America.”

Dr. Laura asked the sort of question that Rudy Guiliani, during his convention speech, insisted should not be asked of Palin as such questions would never be asked of a man. Dr. Laura’s question: “But really, what kind of role model is a woman whose fifth child was recently born with a serious issue, Down Syndrome, and then goes back to the job of Governor within days of the birth?” While Palin did go back to work as Governor of Alaska three days after the birth, the Financial Post provided a slightly more balanced picture when interviewing Palin on August 14th and noting that she had a playpen for the baby beside her desk. Her seven year old, while the reporter was present, was also in the office and the two older daughters were in and out.

Dr. Laura abhors the fact that in her role as governor, Palin supported day care. In April of 2008, Palin proclaimed: “Family Child Care Week” and wrote: “These professionals are positive role models for the children they care for and the communities they serve.” Dr. Laura believes that “hired help” is a poor substitute for the role modelling of a parent.

It is on the abortion issue that Dr. Laura sees herself and the Palins on the same page: “I am positively moved that neither Sarah nor her daughter were willing to terminate the lives of their unborn children.”

I was surprised though to see no acknowledgment of the fact that Palin’s 20 yr old son, Track Palin, will deploy to Iraq on September 11th. On her show, Dr. Laura praises U.S. soldiers with the same passion as she vilifies pro-choicers.

In the end, Dr. Laura’s criticisms may not cost the McCain-Palin ticket many votes from her loyal radio listeners. They, like Dr. Laura, have nowhere else to go. Dr. Laura writes, “I will still vote for Senator McCain, because I am very concerned about having a fundamental leftist, especially one who is a marvelous orator, as President.”

City Management at Carnegie Accused of Fraudulently Manufacturing 15 Witnesses

It's not the first time City of Vancouver management at Carnegie Center have been accused of faking witnesses to support barrings and it probably won't be the last.

City of Vancouver staff are accused of faking witnesses in the barring of a woman from the Seniors Center on June 18, 2008. Carnegie Security boss, Skip Everall, barred the woman after Devor, a notoriously abusive coffee seller, asked him to. The woman says Devor had yelled at her and swung his arms at her to push her out the door, resulting in her raising her voice and telling him that she had been taking his abuse for ten years and she was "fed up" with it.

Everall barred the woman based on Devor's version of events; he never spoke to the woman even though he saw her twice that day and she remained in the building. When a staff person allowed the woman a peak at the Incident Report that Everall had written to justify the barring -- Everall and Whitty refused to show it to her -- she noticed that he had claimed that there were "witnesses". During her appeal meeting for the barring on June 23, she told Everall that she didn't believe witnesses existed. Certainly Everall could not support the existence of such witnesses. "When I asked him for their names, he told me, 'The only witness that counts is Devor'". She also asked him what these witnesses had said. He couldn't identify anything, not even generally, what they had said.

When neither Everall or his boss Ethel Whitty would give the woman a copy of the Incident Report, she exercised her right on June 18th to request one through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The City has 30 days to respond to such a request. It has now been 2 1/2 months and the woman has not received a response. But a photocopy of the Incident Report was leaked to the Downtown Eastside Enquirer blog and shown to the woman. She was outraged at what she believed to be retroactive evidence tampering.

Everall was now claiming that Devor's version, albeit a cryptic version, of events entered in the Incident Report had been “corroborated by 15 patrons in the lounge at that time.” The woman says there were nowhere near 15 people in the Seniors Lounge that day. “You won’t find 15 people in the Seniors’ [Lounge] on any Saturday afternoon when the sun’s shining,” says the woman who Everall identified in his report as a “regular in the seniors lounge”. “I went down there that day to use the computer ‘cause I knew the place would be deserted. I got a computer right away; usually there’s a waiting list.”

Not only did Everall and Whitty come up with 15 mysterious unnamed witnesses, they avoided questioning another witness who came forward in this case, one with a name and a face. This witness was a regular Carnegie volunteer who could contradict Everall’s claim that there were 15 witnesses in the Seniors that afternoon. The volunteer regularly goes down to the Seniors Lounge to buy green tea and was there when Devor and Everall were discussing barring this woman. “I tried not to listen,” he said, “I didn’t want them to think I was eavesdropping.” A few minutes later, Devor announced to the volunteer that the woman had been barred. The volunteer passed the message on to the woman later that day, which prompted her to approach Richard, a Security guard, to ask if this was true.

The volunteer/witness estimates there were “four or five” people in the Seniors Lounge that day. He did not see Everall speak to anyone other than Devor. Both Whitty and Everall were given the full name of this witness just after the incident while memories remained fresh, a fact that is confirmed by taped conversations. Whitty stated clearly on tape that she would talk to this witness. The volunteer says Whitty did subsequently bump into him at Carnegie but asked him only “about my music”, not about what he had seen in the Seniors. Since the incident, the volunteer/witness has dropped into Carnegie every day and says Whitty and Everall regularly say hello to him but never ask him what he saw – or didn’t see — in the Seniors Lounge that day.

City Manager Judy Rogers has for years known that staff at Carnegie are subjecting members to fraud and human rights abuses. It is unseemly for a woman with a history of condoning such practices to have been chosen to welcome the world as a member of the 2010 Olympics Organizing Team. Time for Premier Campbell to remove -- let's say "bar" -- her.

Caught on Tape! Security Boss Using City Powers for Personal Retaliation

Photo: Carnegie Seniors Lounge

There have long been stories from people barred from Carnegie Centre that when they didn’t grovel during their appeal process, they were instantly told that their barring had been extended. Exhibiting confidence or knowledge of one’s rights is considered insubordination in this "residential school" environment, an observation made by William Simpson who was barred from the building after getting elected to the Board. Finally, there is taped evidence that Carnegie Security boss Skip Everall and security guard Ted Chaing are engaging in such human rights abuses.

The tape capturing Everall and Chaing abusing power was made on June 22, 2008 while a woman was meeting with them to appeal her barring from the Carnegie Seniors Lounge. She had been barred for raising her voice at a notoriously abusive coffee seller, Devor, who was yelling at her. The woman believed she had a right to know the name of the Security boss who had barred her. She did not at the time know Skip Everall's surname and she couldn't be sure that "Skip" wasn't a nickname. When she asked him twice for his name, her barring from the Seniors Lounge in the Carnegie basement was extended to the entire Carnegie building.

Transcript:

Woman: (speaking to Everall in a soft tone, almost a whisper) What is your real name by the way? You’ve made a decision about me and you’re not telling me your name. I’m asking you your name Skip. [She remained polite.]

Chaing: We call him by Skip.

Woman to Everall: What is your name, your last name?

Everall: It doesn’t matter.

Woman: You barred me….

Skip interrupts: My name is Skip, alright?

Woman: But if I want to appeal it to the City I have to know your name….

Skip: I’m sorry, you’re going to be barred from the building. [speaking forcefully] The meeting’s over!

[…]

Woman: I’m going to be barred from the building because I asked you your name?

Skip: We’ll just discuss the matter some other time.

Woman: Am I barred from the building now?

Chaing [as Everall listens]: Yes, yes.


When Everall responded to the woman asking him his name by barring her from the entire building, Chaing added that she was also being barred for raising the issue of sexism. Chaing was referring to her earlier statements that she believed Security had been sexist not only in barring her from the Seniors Lounge for talking back to a man, but for assuming that only the man’s version of events needed to be obtained before a decision was made to bar her from the Seniors Lounge. She claims Everall saw her twice after the incident but didn't speak to her,and that she remained in the building for the remainder of the afternoon, a fact that is supported by her signature on the sign-in sheet in the 3rd floor computer room.

Transcript:

Woman: Am I barred from the building?

Chaing [as Everall listens]: Yes, yes. I’m sorry, I don’t want to do that. [uses broken English here] Because you’re not in an appropriate behavior to talk. All your head is sexist, male and female. And then the name; we pay him by that name. What’s the problem here; it’s you, not us.... All you’re thinking is the name and then the male and female thing....Next time, I hope you change a little.

The woman hopes Judy Rogers changes a little. Rogers, in her role as City Manager, has over the last decade allowed human rights abuses in the barring process at Carnegie Center to become an epidemic.

Motorcycle Show 'n Shine

The 3rd annual Gastown Motorcylce Show 'n Shine -- "Murdercycle" is the term one Downtown Eastside resident uses -- was held on Sunday August 20th. The bikes stretched from Richards St. through Gastown, down to Main and Powell where this photo was taken.

Woman Reportedly Tied Up and Thrown Out Window of Cobalt Hotel

A man who has for years lived on the fourth floor of the Cobalt -- his window is in the top row of windows in the photo above taken from the back of the Cobalt -- says the word is that a woman was tied up and thrown out a fourth floor window. The man, who mentioned the incident while having coffee with friends at Carnegie on Monday, says it happened just a few doors down from his room.

"There were detectives around so I knew something had happened," he said. Police came to his door and asked if he had heard "anything unusual". He had been sitting in his room wearing earphones and told them he hadn't heard anything.

Later he remembered something though. He had "heard a cat screaming like somebody was trying to kill it". So he had looked out his door and a cat came out of a room down the hall and seemed ok.

He thinks the woman who supposedly died was in her thirties with red hair. He had the impression that she hadn't been getting along with other residents of the building, although he doesn't mix much with the other residents because he is not into drugs (just beer). The residents, some of whom move into the Cobalt straight out of jail, had allegedly been fighting over drugs. The word is that the woman had "ripped somebody off" for drugs but he doubts that's true because, "she wouldn't have come back to the building."

He had seen the woman on a previous occasion lying in the hallway with the paramedics over her.