Torn from the Headlines

I saw the news today.

Oh, boy.

How could a trio of adored characters go from this...

at Kitsilano Beach

...and this

at Tojo's,
eating the official food of the Vancouver 201o Olympics

and this:

working the school kids

...down to this:

scalping tickets

...and this -

(if you search up internet mascot porn in the forest,
is it illegal?)

and this:

could be Shaun White, but I'm pretty sure
it's Quatchi

Oh, how the mighty have fallen, as evidenced by the editorial cartoon in today's Province Newspaper:

cartoon source here

[Editor's note: East Hastings Street is at the core of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, one of our city's more crime-addled areas. I think, at one time, it had the distinction of being one of North America's most dangerous. Yo. So very proud. ]