Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 02, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A11 D EAR Anthony Weiner: Just go. Don't bother to explain. We've already heard enough. Just go. Don't write a book about it. No tree should die for that. Just go. Don't do a sit down with Oprah. She just had that couch cleaned. Just go. You want to redeem your name through public service? You want to use your gifts to help those in need? Wonderful. Very commendable. And Somalia is lovely this time of year. Make sure you get your shots. Now, can you just go? Please? Does it surprise you to hear that? Well, I am equally surprised to say it. America, after all, is the land of redemption, second chances and comebacks. We love nothing so much as the guy who beats long odds, the underdog who achieves the improbable, the loser who wins. That's who we are. It is woven into our DNA. Our national history begins with a ragtag group of farmers defeating the mightiest military on Earth. The problem is, you remind us of something else that lately seems to be woven into our DNA: an incapacity for shame. You won't know that word. It came into use before the 12th century, but you don't hear it much anymore. Merriam- Webster defines it as " a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety." One sees little evidence of that consciousness in reality television, cable news, politics - or you. Taking care to pinch both nostrils shut, let us review the record: After you tweeted an image of your sheathed but erect penis, after you lied and said you had done no such thing, after you finally copped to the truth, after your humiliated wife stood beside you, after you resigned from Congress in disgrace, after you went through therapy, after you posed with your wife and baby for People magazine last year and pronounced yourself committed to being a " better person," we learn you were sending out explicit text messages and pictures all along.. One of your sexting partners, a woman less than half your 48 years, was last seen, according to TMZ , leaving the offices of a pornographic movie producer. How much you want to bet the call already is out for a beak- nosed man with curly hair to, ahem... " act" with her? Meanwhile, you have the scrotal audacity to come before the voters of the nation's largest city and ask for a second second chance. There are no words. The stunning arrogance of you, the pathetic, ridiculous recklessness of you, is too breathtaking for words. Even in a nation where human hound dogs in public office have become sadly routine, you stand alone. It should tell you something that the Clintons - that includes Monica Lewinsky's old boyfriend, Bill - are said to be disgusted by you. And Eliot Spitzer - the New York governor whose career went boom because he patronized prostitutes - says he wouldn't vote for you. That's like a Kardashian calling you superficial. It's up to New York City, of course, to pass judgment on you. But forgive the rest of us for being gobsmacked at your behaviour, suggesting as it does we now live in a nation where shame is rarer than a vampire's T- bone steak. It gets a bad rap, but a little shame is a good thing now and again. It will keep you from making an ass of yourself. Or, if you already have, it'll keep you from repeating the mistake. You could use a little shame. Why not take this time to go find some? Don't worry; we'll handle everything on this end. We'll sweep up for you. We'll turn off the lights. We'll take out the trash. You just need to do the one thing. Please, for your sake and for ours: Just go. Leonard Pitts Jr., winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a columnist for the Miami Herald. See also: Eight women blow whistle on San Diego's ' creep' mayor, Robin Abcarian writes at wfp. to/ comment Winnipeg Free Press Friday, August 2, 2013 A 11 POLL �� TODAY'S QUESTION Are you confident in Justin Goltz as the starting Bombers quarterback? �� Vote online at winnipegfreepress. com �� PREVIOUS QUESTION Have you ever used the city's 311 line? Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 VOL 141 NO 257 2013 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204- 697- 7000 BOB COX / Publisher PAUL SAMYN / Editor JULIE CARL / Deputy Editor T HE military judge in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning got her decision Tuesday exactly right. Col. Denise Lind found Manning guilty of most of the lesser charges against him for leaking military documents to the anti- secrecy group WikiLeaks. But she found him not guilty of aiding U. S. enemies - the Obama administration's nuclear option to stop persistent government leaks. Manning will serve jail time, but a conviction on aiding enemies would have meant life in prison with no possibility of parole. That would have been unjust. Manning had agreed to plead guilty to many of the lesser charges for leaking more than 700,000 pages of classified documents to WikiLeaks, which posted the sensitive material online. But fortunately, his attorney fought the aiding charge, which asserted Manning had cravenly helped al- Qaida. A guilty verdict on that charge would have set a horrible precedent. Leaking documents to the news media or the Internet might be done in concert with America's foes, but claiming this is true by definition is preposterous. The leaker's intent, misguided or not, can be patriotic. The aggressive prosecution of Manning could have a chilling effect on potential government whistle- blowers, which no doubt was the administration's hope. Prosecutors argued the 25- year- old Manning betrayed his oath and his country, a fair accusation covered by the lesser charges. But they further argued he had helped al- Qaida because the terrorist group could access secret material once WikiLeaks posted it. This charge relied on a theory of prosecution not used successfully since the Civil War. It was Pvt. Henry Vanderwater, a Union soldier, who was last convicted of aiding the enemy through a leak to a publication. Vanderwater was found guilty of leaking a Union roster to an Alexandria, Va., newspaper. He was dishonourably discharged and served a three- month sentence, but for Manning, the stakes were much higher. Col. Lind's decision came at the end of an eightweek trial in which the prosecution and defence battled to shape Manning's image. Prosecutors cast him as a loose cannon who had caused profound damage. In the closing argument, Maj. Ashden Fein said Manning had disregarded the " sensitivity" of the material he leaked and " decided to release it to a bunch of anti- government activists and anarchists to achieve maximum exposure, and advance his personal quest for notoriety." Defence attorney David Combs repeatedly portrayed Manning as " well- intentioned" and naive, a characterization on the other extreme but closer to the truth, it seemed, than Fein's. Combs said Manning was motivated by the violence in Iraq and wanted to " spark a worldwide discussion." Mission accomplished. Now he must pay for choosing that path. But life in prison would have been too high a price. See also: Manning reminded Americans that presidents can do wrong, Tim Weiner writes at wfp. to/ comment. OTHER OPINION Manning got what he wanted, and what he deserved The San Jose Mercury News B RISBANE - To " segue" into our future gives the impression of moving seamlessly into a glorious new age but the vehicle once tipped to transport us into the wonders of the 21st century is, frankly, a little disappointing. The Segway is not quite what the baby boomer kids of the mid- 20th century had in mind when they planned their space- age future while watching the Jetsons on TV. Vacations on Venus and Rosie, the wise and unflagging household robot, all looked cool. But when it came to 21st- century transportation, that flying car and the 500 milesper- hour speed limit were truly inspirational, setting an entire generation up for something a little more vigorous than a glorified scooter. On Thursday, Segways became a legal form of transportation on footpaths and bikeways in Australia's northern state of Queensland. The upright scooters, which require an erect posture, allowing riders to resemble slow- moving meerkats, have attracted much attention across the state more than a decade after their celebrated launch at the dawn of the 21st century. Then Dean Kamen, who unveiled the odd looking, gyroscope- packed, electric- powered scooter in New York, declared it the answer to the global traffic congestion. This " human transporter" would create a mobile revolution leaving us with smog- free, environmentally friendly inner cities populated by smiling citizens gliding silently along at 10 km/ h to vegetarian diners to discuss global peace initiatives. "( The Segway) will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," Kamen said back then. The conservative Liberal National Party, which governs Queensland, obviously believes Kamen may have been onto something. ' Can- do' Campbell Newman - the state's indefatigable premier - personally instructed Transport Minister Scott Emerson to smooth the way for the Segway. Emerson was quickly on board, in the literal sense, turning up to his press conference earlier this year with a slightly abashed grin to announce new Segway laws... astride a Segway. The affable Emerson has also taken his brief seriously, overseeing legislation including a ban on riders under the age of 12, helmet requirements and a speed limit of 12 km/ h. " Like bicycles, they must have a bell or similar warning device in working order and use of mobile phones will also be banned while using a Segway," he cautioned. Emerson sees endless opportunities including Segway- guided tours of Queensland's more accessible tourism destination ( with obvious exceptions such as the Great Barrier Reef). He has also mooted the possibility police officers may abdicate the cramped confines of their squad cars to opt for this more sedate form of transportation, more in keeping with the tropical climate. Queensland police commissioner Ian Stewart has apparently suggested the machines could be deployed in areas such as Brisbane's popular Queen Street Mall or along popular beach- front attractions in the northern cities of Cairns and Townsville. While there's been a flurry of public interest, there are questions whether an aging population that has enthusiastically embraced the four- wheel motorized scooter will also take up a technology costing more than $ 10,000. And there's also a faint suggestion the Segway is proof positive that supersonic future we dreamed of is not all it was cracked up to be. Fact is, there's a sneaking suspicion among an aging Australia the Jetsons were ( to use a local phrase) " having a go at us." All those futuristic documentaries of the ' 70s that had us wearing sparkling silver- coloured spacesuits and eating meals the size of a capsule while never having to worry about cancer again were also a little misleading. The future is here and all we got was a largely abandoned space program, Skype, the GPS in the car and the bland world of Facebook. The Segway may be environmentally friendly and even a practical answer to traffic congestion. But it's also a sign humanity has a little work to do if it wants to better realize all those wondrous futures we all gaze so hopefully into. Michael Madigan is the Free Press correspondent in Australia. He writes mostly about politics for the Brisbane- based Courier Mail. LEONARD PITTS Weiner, please, go away MICHAEL MADIGAN There's a 12 km/ h limit on the future in Oz V ANCOUVER - Rivalry between major cities has long been an accepted fact that passionately drives loyalties for citizens intent on exercising their bragging rights. Catfights between Beijing and Shanghai, Paris and Marseilles, New York and Chicago, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Sydney versus Melbourne are legendary, as us- against- them ideology neatly frames everything from housing costs to earning power to the best restaurants to green space. Now there's a new entry in these civic sweepstakes: Vancouver - glorious and intellectual and sensual as she is - is facing increasing competition for the title of British Columbia's most important city from neighbouring Surrey, which is rapidly experiencing a metamorphosis from a home for loutish behaviour and cheesy mobile home parks to a sizzling Second City for the new century. Billions of dollars and heartfelt civic pride are at stake as the two cities try to out- muscle each other while continuing to expand and lure in new residents. This rivalry has reached a new level of urban schadenfreude as population projections show Surrey, one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Canada, will become a bigger hub than Vancouver within three decades. Bigger in people power, yes, but maybe not more important depending on how the congested intersection of local politics, civic infrastructure, housing costs and land development plays out. What is already certain, however, is Vancouver's seemingly permanent reign as First City is no longer undisputed. In fact, according to many Vancouver boosters, the knuckle- dragging barbarians from Surrey are quickly approaching the gate. David Hogben, a semi- retired journalist and a fourth- generation Surrey resident, has had firsthand experience of Surrey's many perceived lows and recent highs. Now 56, Hogben has fond memories of Surrey being a " a cool place with giant cedar trees and wilderness" when he was a boy. That perception began to change, he said, when he was about 15 and began travelling to other parts of Metro Vancouver to play hockey. " We were considered hicks," he recalls, adding people from Surrey - unlike those who lived in Vancouver - were thought of as lousy drivers, criminals, uncouth and, generally, rough around the edges. But that was then. Four decades later, says Hogben, Surrey is an entirely different community. " It is a different place now. It doesn't really seem the same place at all. It's quite urban." Driving that change is population growth fuelled by huge swaths of cheap, developable land - at least compared to Vancouver's crowded and high- priced residential footprint. Statistics from the 2011 Census tell the story. Vancouver's population then was 603,502, a 4.4 per cent increase since the 2006 Census. For the same period, Surrey recorded 468,251 residents, an 18.6 per cent increase. Various growth projections suggest Surrey will have more residents than Vancouver sometime before 2040. Surrey's biggest draw - in the past, now and in the future - is its large land base, which, at 317 square kilometres, is almost three times Vancouver's. Considering Vancouver has little, if any, raw land left for housing, it seems clear hundreds of thousands of people will continue to flock to Surrey in the coming years. And Surrey, which averages 10,000 new residents annually, has enthusiastically thrown out the welcome mat. Located 30 kilometres east of Vancouver and south of the Fraser River, Surrey was incorporated in 1879 with its first European settlers being loggers and farmers. Made up of six major communities, Surrey is currently developing a city centre to anchor civic, business, residential, cultural, entertainment and educational aspirations. These include a new library, a covered youth park, a recreational centre, space for seniors, an expanded hospital and a community plaza. Last week, the Real Estate Investment Network named Surrey, for the fourth consecutive year, the No. 1 town in B. C. to invest in. According to the city's website, Surrey was listed as one of the top five real estate investment cities in Canada by Business Review Canada in 2012, and in 2011 it was named the best place in Western Canada to invest in real estate by Western Investor Magazine . Even though its growth rate is slower, Vancouver isn't taking backseat, especially considering its spectacular setting between the North Shore mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Host to the 1986 Expo World's Fair and the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver, which was incorporated in 1886 and became a railway town the following year with the arrival of the first CPR train, is regularly named as one of the world's most liveable cities. The city's website notes The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Vancouver the third most liveable city in the world. " Every year from 2007 to 2011, Vancouver placed first on the EIU benchmark, making it the first city in the world to hold the No. 1 spot five years in a row," the website boasts. Wanting to be known as the greenest and most sustainable city in the world by 2020, Vancouver is also home to most of the province's major sports, arts, post- secondary and cultural venues. With all that in mind, it's hard to see the cutthroat urban development race between Vancouver and Surrey, which are now both lobbying for hundreds of millions of dollars of new rapid transit infrastructure for the region's transit system, declaring a winner anytime soon. Chris Rose is the Winnipeg Free Press West Coast correspondent. Surrey is in a hurry CHRIS ROSE Surrey has shed its reputation as a wilderness full of ' hicks' and is closing in on Vancouver as largest city in B. C. Yes, and the response was great 1,075 ( 38%) Yes, but it was no help 1,135 ( 40%) No, I've never felt the need 626 ( 22%) TOTAL RESPONSES 2,836 A_ 11_ Aug- 02- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A11 8/ 1/ 13 10: 39: 19 PM ;