FASCIST CHIC: TWO NEW COMMERCIALS FROM UNITED KINGDOM

THE UGLIEST NEW BUILDING IN VANCOUVER

The ugliest new building in Vancouver can be found at the southeast corner of Main and 12th. This monument to architectural failure reeks of cheap material, bad design and just about any other bad attributes one can find when addressing architecture.

On top of all the hexagon window and poorly made awning we are left with some of the worse color combination ever used in any given palette.

The trashscape at this corner mirrors the other atrocity that was completed last year and homes a Subway store and a Starbucks coffee shop.

Somewhere there amongst these corporate giants there is an out of place grocery store and a franchised french bakery.

Back to our lovely building, so far a "Neighborhood" UPS Store has started to move into one of the empty retail spaces on the street level. We are curious to see what kind of people this eyesore would add to our neighborhood.

The whole block between 12th and 13th streets basically has become a waste, minus the old corner Dairy Queen that thanks to its late 70's's sleek architecture charms the passerby's.

TIES THAT BIND: YOUNG AMERICAN JEWS AND THE BOMBING OF IRAN

According to New York's Jewish daily FORWARD, Young Jewish Iranians who live in USA (most of them since the revolution) are very hawkish towards Iran and don't hesitate to support Israel in an attack against that country.

The article measures the young Iranian Jews' attitude towards attacking Iran against that of their parents who are far more reluctanct in  joining the Pro Israeli hawks in their desire for more wars.

To explain such hatered towards their parents country, further on the article argues that these kids are not actually Iranian, since they don't have any solid links to the land, people or the culture of their parents' home country and they should just be seen as American. 

The problem with this analysis is the prevalence of anti war sentiments among a majority of Americans, specially younger Americans (don't forget those who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan). 

Is it safe to assume that the aggressive attitude of this specific segment of the Jewish community matches the general levels of hawkishness among young American Jews? 

In other words, are young "Iranian American" Jews more hawkish than the average young American Jew? The article has no answer for this question, (even though it claims to have been serving as the main print media for the Jewish community in America for over half a century). 

Our question from Forward is, why not cut the crap about Non existing young Jewish Iranian Americans and get to the chase? What is the attitude of young Jewish Americans towards Iran, especially in contrast to the older Jewish community? What about the entire Jewish community in USA? what does the majority of Jews in America think about attacking Iran?

From what I know and have gathered from my own personal contacts with a lot ofJewish Americans, Canadian and Israelis, most of them are not supportive of an attack on Iran, young or old. If anything, they think that the kind of blind support Israel receives from USA and other Western governments is a poison pill and Israel is better off without friends Like dick Cheney and George Bush. More than half of my jewish friends don't like Israel so much and get mad if you ask them anything about Israel, as if they are responsible for Israel's actions and interests. 

Why would young Jewish Iranian Americans be any different? I know a handful of extremist Iranian Jews who advocate an attack on Iran, but I also know many from inside and outside of Iran who wish for dialogue and peace. I'm not afraid of hawkish young Iranian American Jews. You shouldn't be either.

RECENT CIVILIAN SLAUGHTER IN AFGHANISTAN

You may or may not have heard about the recent slaughter of civilians in Afghanistan by US bombers. (We gotta be so proud to be fighting alongside our ally USA in this war). That's right 90 Afghani civilians, among them 60 children died in an this recent attack. So instead of telling you how we feel about this (it's obvious) we thought it's a good idea to give you a rundown on the recent civilian deaths caused by coalition bombings:

March 12, 2008: British confirm their air strike kills four women and children

March13, 2008: American bombing kills four women and children

June 11, 2008: at least 30 civilians killed by US air strike

July 4, 2008: 23 civilians killed by US air strike

July 6, 2008: 47 civilians killed by air strike at wedding.

July 14, 2008: 30 civilians killed in air strike

July 15, 2008: 8 civilians killed in houses bombed by US air force

July 17, 2008: 31 civilians killed by air strikes

July 20, 2008: 9 police killed in air strike

August 10, 2008: 8 civilians killed in air strike

August 25, 2008: 90 civilians, sixty of them children, die in a U.S. air raid

August 29, 2008: 3 civilians killed at Afghan checkpoint by German troops

CANADIAN FAKETIVISM

"Vancouver young radicals were at it again last night, attacking the olympic clock with white paint and a few minutes later getting arrested and charged with mischief under 5000 by the cops on Robson St. Meanwhile the Afghan war, our most embarrassing tax endeavor goes unchallenged.

I want to ask these brave young guerillas what is more disgusting? Our mercenaries killing Afghani civilians thousands of miles away in another country? or an Olympic that was approved by our democratically elected representatives at different levels of government?

Are you doing these to feel good about being radical? or your white paint is covering up the fact that you have nothing to say about our military involvement and ongoing war crimes in Afghanistan? This kind of public disorder not only won't stop the olympic but invites more clamp down on our privacy and freedom in the years to come.

You kids should just give up the activism carnival and go grab a beer or roll up a joint somewhere and, just like most kids your age, please don't give a damn about the Olympics. I prefer genuine apathy to faketivism of otherwise apathetic kids. While real apathy creates a real void that sooner or later has to be filled with a new kind of social action, by pretending to be politically active faketivists only delay the arrival of a real genuine social movement.

DEMOCRATIC & GOP CONVENTION WEB SITES: MYSPACE VERSUS FACEBOOK?

It may be true that the two major political parties in America only reflect one another's inability to address the pressing issues facing USA. But you won't nessesarily find their similarities reflected in their convention web sites:

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

In our opinion, the Republican web site is far superior to the Democratic one in presentation, design and aesthetics. What does that tell you about the differences of the two parties?

Notice the website lacks any large photographs of Republican leaders and instead it glorifies the country and the flag. Not that they have any gems that are being hidden; why would anyone in their right mind want to remind the people of Bush, Condolleeza Rice or even McCain hinself? So instead of relying on cool leaders, Republicans are relying on cool design. Whereas Democrats who have stars like Edward Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Obama have to tone down the design and let their stars be the design.

So in this twisted picture, Republicans must have opted for an art directed, myspace customized rock'n roll look for their convention web site but democrats chose the faceless Facebook look of dry and scientific objectivity. 

It would be interesting to see which one of these two interfaces can really touch the voters in America.

CBC SPREADS ANTI IRAN PROPAGANDA WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS

SPET 1ST UPDATE: SInce the publication of the article on CBC web site,  I have left several messages on Matthew Hays' answering machine at TIFF but no call backs so far. Also Tanaz refuses to be interviewed by Iranian journalists about her documentary.  This was communicated to me by the press office of Montreal's World Film Festival, which featured this film in the Labour day weekend as part of its documentary section. 

How dare to make a controversial movie yet fail to feel the importance to talk about it. I call this extreme cultural arrogance, to betray your subjects' trust, to spread lies and to hide afterwards. 

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I started my morning by reading this on cbc web site about Tannaz Eshaghian and her documentary called "Be Like Others" about transgendered people and homosexuals in Iran. Great. According to our Concordia professor turned expert on the Iranian culture, Iran has a "...culture so steeped in hatred of gays and lesbians that it deems a sex change preferable to simply accepting differences in sexual orientation."

As far as I am concerned, Iran should be praised for allowing transgendered people to receive public funding for their sex change. Imagine if Iran had created a program to force transgenders to commit into their male gender. I bet Matthew would have seen that as another sign of hate, One way or another, Matthew is determined to see hate in Iran.

I thought to myself, If Israel Asper's children and CanWest GlobalMedia like to trash Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs and Iranians on a daily basis, one can shrug and blame capitalism, after all they own the media company they use as a propaganda vehicle, but what about CBC? Where is public integrity? Dear Mr Robert Rabinovitch - President and CEO of our publicly funded broadcasting network, you can't do the same with our money.

Then I started reading on the film, its producers and the CBC writer Mr. Matthew Hays, a professor at Concordia University and a programming director at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before I even tried to write something on it, I noticed my friend Hossein Derakhshan already had done a great piece about the film and its pushers back in February 2008. Here is a link to Hossein's brilliant piece on the film.

As Hossein comments about the director, "If you are a Jewish Iranian, living in the U.S. from the age of 6, it is very likely you don't like Ahmadinejad. So of course you would like to show how you hate him and how he is such a liar and how evil the entire government he represents is, in any way you can."

THE MYSTERY OF DISAPPEARING BEES IS SOLVED

Apparently the best selling chemical pesticide named Clothianidin produced by the German company Bayer CorpScience is the focus of a criminal prosecution launched in Europe by a coalition of German beekeepers and consumer protection advocates.

The complaint is part of efforts by groups on both sides of the Atlantic to determine how much Bayer CropScience knows about the part that clothianidin may have played in the death of millions of honeybees.

Clothianidin and related pesticides generated about $1 billion of Bayer CropScience's $8.6 billion in global sales last year. The coalition is demanding that the company withdraw all of the pesticides.

"We're suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the risks of pesticide residues in treated plants," said Harro Schultze, the coalition's attorney. Bayer's ... management has to be called to account, since the risks ... have now been known for more than 10 years."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the pesticide in 2003 under the condition that Bayer submit additional data.

Clothianidin, sold under the brand name Poncho, is used to coat corn, sugar beet and sorghum seeds and protect them from pests. A nerve toxin that has the potential to be toxic for bees, it gets into all parts of the plant that grows from the coated seeds.

A lawsuit, which the environmental group filed Aug. 19 in federal court in Washington, accuses the EPA of hiding the honeybee data.

The group thinks the data might show what role chlothianidine played in the loss of millions of U.S. honeybee colonies.

Three months ago, German regulators quietly suspended sales of chlothianidine and related chemicals after the family of pesticides was blamed for the destruction of more than 11,000 bee colonies.

WE ARE ONLINE NOW

DADABASE closed its doors on April 31st in its former location at 183 East Broadway and so far, there are no plans for reopening of the shop in its previous shape and form. Our limited edition prints GOVERNMENT are available at LARK (2315 Main St. 604-879-LARK).

As we contemplate a new beginning for DADABASE, we saw it fit to publish a blog, mostly to keep in touch with our friends and supporters and to maintain a form of presence for the general public.

Always truthful and original, we will bring you things that we think you need to know about the big picture out there or the small frame right here on Main Street, and by that we literally mean the street that runs from Chinatown all the way up to Southeast Marine Drive in Vancouver.

We will dish out the good, the bad and the ugly as we try to provide you with some of the most honest and truthful commentary you could hear in this rather polite and quiet city. Just like how we used to be at the shop.

Welcome to i.dadabase.ca

Did i forget to say? idadabase is designed both for a regular browser or for smartphones (like Apple's Iphone). 

If you like to be part of IDADABASE, please fell free to contact us. We would like to hear from you.