Lou Dobbs kills The Golden Spiders

As many of you will already know, The Golden Spiders is a classic Nero Wolfe mystery novel by Rex Stout. When the A&E network made television films of a few Nero Wolfe novels a few years ago, The Golden Spiders was among the most popular.

The book begins with the death of what we would now call a squeegee kid, engaged in what the book calls the wipe racket. However, the kid is killed to protect an extortion racket targetting displaced persons (refugees). The book was written shortly after World War II when there were millions of people fleeing the former warzones ofEurope.

The book ends with the heroes, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, destroying possible evidence, a notebook containing the names and addresses of many of the illegal refugees, which turned up during their investigation into the death of the head of the founder of a refugee aid organization. In other words, the tone of the book is clearly sympathetic to refugees.

Nor is this the only case that this detective hero helps refugees.

Consider now, the modern Lou Dobbs point of view. On Nov 11, Lou Dobbs surprised many by announcing during his regular broadcast on CNN that it would be his last. Lou Dobbs, formerly concerned primarily with business at CNN, has in recent years become the centre of anti-immigration, especially anti-Latino rhetoric in the United States.

In the words of Brian Stetler in the New York Times:

Mr. Dobbs is a longtime proponent of strict enforcement of immigration laws. His critics, who say he spreads misinformation about immigrants, have stepped up efforts in recent months to have him fired.

Which is the "real" America? The one where The Golden Spiders is popular, or where Lou Dobbs gets big ratings? Time will tell.

Remembrance Day service

I am something of a closet royalist. Being a royalist is a bit passé in Canada: we like the Queen (in the English speaking parts of Canada, at least), mostly because a) she's cool b) no known bad habits c) free. We have a Monarchist league here, but I'm not a member.

Anyway, Prince Charles and his wife are currently in British Columbia, and I read in the newspaper the following:

On Saturday, they fly to Vancouver to view the Olympic and Paralympic village before attending separate engagements in the afternoon, returning to Victoria for a reception and dinner at Government House, where they’re staying.

On Sunday, they’ll attend the 10:30 a.m. remembrance service at Christ Church cathedral, then on Monday, they’ll visit CFB Esquimalt before flying to Ottawa in the afternoon.

Me, taking note of the fact that I had not attended church in a while, and Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver in a very long time (20 years), I got up early this morning, put on a suit, and travelled downtown to the Cathedral.

Approaching the Cathedral from the North on Burrard Street from the North, I discovered that Burrard Street was blocked. I went around and found a parking space in a nearby parkade. I walked over to the church, went in a found a seat.

My first impression was that the church was a lot roomier than it was on my last visit. I was expecting this, since the church recently underwent major renovations, and in fact 6 years earlier, when the Church was within walking distance of my apartment, visiting it was like visiting a construction site. So I went to another (and closer) church (St Paul's) in that time frame, which remains my "home church", even though I no longer live in that neighbourhood.

Back to today.

The next thing I noticed is that "pews" were few and far between. The old pews (wooden benches) were still there, but clustered at the back. The new seats were padded chairs linked together. After some consternation, I decided it was a very good thing for my aching back.

The next thing I noticed was that the church wasn't nearly as full as I expected from a Royal visit. However by the time the service began, the church was nearly full.

During the service, it was noted briefly that the expected royal presence wasn't happening (partly because a new stained-glass window they were planning to dedicate wasn't ready, and also because the designers thereof weren't on hand).

I found the service deeply moving. I'll explain that another time.

After the service was over, I made for the door, since I had to be at another church in a remote part of the city for a choir practice. As I went down (literally, it's down hill) the street, I still noted a media circus and thought the royal couple would still be on hand.

However, as I made my way around a corner, a man blocked my way and asked me take the other side of the street -- they were shooting a movie!

As for the newspaper quote cited above, it was perfectly accurate: the royal couple attended Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria this morning.

All in all, I learned a thing or today.