Less by Les.......
on Les

Applicable to MLAs and Ministers, Only!

My favorite lackey of Lucinda's, Les Leyne, almost got it right this morning from the shakey western outpost of the erstwhile Assperson Empire the Times-Colonist. In If John Les walks, so should bureaucrat he hits the nail on the head with his opening paragraph.

It's outrageous that a former Chilliwack bureaucrat has to face criminal breach of trust charges for doing exactly what his mayor and council encouraged and subtly guided him to do.

But his inability to actually use reason soon shows its ugly face with:

But if Les walks away in the clear, then so should the municipal staff member whose job was to execute the will of the mayor and council. Instead, the special prosecutor elected to file three breach of trust charges against then-subdivision approving officer Grant Sanborn.

Then again, a lot rides on that one word "if." How about the idea that Les shouldn't "walk away," how about the idea of the superior actually being held accountable?

This is a recurring theme that can only be executed by "oh so" Special Prosecutors with the skill to find culpability in sub-bordinates willing or unwilling to take the blame for following the bosses orders. Dave and Aneal Basi and Bob Virk have been under a cloud for almost seven years now, for basically doing the bidding of their masters in the Premier's office and the Ministry of Finance and Transportation.

Barinder Sall, Dinesh Khanna and Satpal Johl face a dozen criminal charges for the dirty tactics they used to get disgraced former North West (I knew that, glad to see someone is payin' attention, Gary) Van police chief Kash and Karry Heed elected, but in spite of the questionable election, the only question facing Kash is whether or not he gets to be in cabinet - apparently his seat is secure, no matter what - until RECALL, of course.

Mike Harcourt resigned from the big chair when one of his caucus got caught with his finger in a cookie jar that seems almost quaint compared to the brazen scams perpetrated by the Campbell Crime Family, while Gordo hisself won't resign when convicted of an offense that would be a criminal code offense in his own jurisdiction. Glen Clark resigned over bogus allegations involving yet another "scandal" that even if true was laughably small potatoes - yet Doug Wall's indiscretions are almost ignored - in spite of the taxpayer monies gone missing.

There is a lot more to be looked at about the Special Prosecutor legislation and how it has been working out than the minor matter of campaign donations. When "family" is involved in an investigation potentially involving government and Special Prosecutors are plucked from the law firms of the sitting Attorney General or former partners of the lawyer in charge of vetting documents in the very same case - something is rotten in the banana republic of British Columbia.


Pacific Press just part of Public Affairs Bureau

While over on the Island, Les strives for less, the flagship of the Lower Vainland , the Vancouver Sun managed to disgrace itself yesterday with this "editorial". I was going to address this piece of crap but I think it has been dealt with well enough at BC Mary's and the Gazetteer. As an AnonoMouse over at BC Mary's succinctly puts it:

The most interesting thing about the Sun editorial is that it completely abdicates the role of a newspaper - to seek the truth. Even if the material quoted by the defense is not presented as evidence in the narrow sense of the Sun editorial, it should, for any journalist worthy of the name, present an opportunity for investigation.
In the case of Glen Clark, the Sun followed this route and set up a "war room" to investigate the allegations. In the BC Rail Corruption trial, not only is there a willful absence of investigation, there are editorials that warn against it. This is not only a politically motivated double standard, it's an abdication of journalism.

Ross has some interesting observations on this abdication of journalistic values with Vancouver Sun Goes Down on Railgate!

I guess it would be fascinating to see an organizational chart for either the PABlum Brigade or Pacific Press - is Pacific Press part of the PAB or is it the other way around?

Lying without.................
LipTravel

Campaign Promises
.......................................in Writing!



The letter above (click to enlarge so it can be read *) was from candidate Gordon Campbell to a voter in the north/central BC Rail corridor in early May, just before the deluge election that sent the Gord into the Big Chair. The letter talks about things such as:

• "...we have no intention of privatizing BC Hydro. We will not sell or privatize - Hydro Dams, Transmission Lines, water resources, blah, blah, blah."
  
  
• "restore authority of BCUC"
  
  
• "In addition, we will not sell or privatize BC Rail!"
  

The voter had written with specific questions for the Man from Marathon and upon receiving the answers above probably even voted for the WHPinC (White-haired Prevaricator-in-Chief)- to his everlasting dismay, no doubt! This is documentary proof that Gordon Campbell can LIE without even moving his lips. Of course we wouldn't expect any less from our own Prevaricator-in-Chief! I'm sure that there were probably enough phoney letters like the above cluttering mailboxes from Atlin to White Rock, back in the day, and the lying just goes on, only lately it would seem even under oath!

* Anyone wanting a high resolution copy of the letter above can e-mail the koot with "promise2001" in the subject line. It is perfect for framing to hang next to the silk screen montage of the Maui drunk shots!

P'ssst....
Didja Hear?

Did you know there was a trial going on down at the Vancouver Law Courts at Robson and Smithe? This trial involves breach of trust, bribery, rigged bidding, untendered contracts and the questionable disposal of public assests by - AT THE LEAST - top level ministerial aides, if not the top levels of government itself, though so far no "elected officials" have been charged.

Well if you knew about this minor legal skirmish going on, resulting from the unprecedented, in what was once the British Empire, police raid on the British Columbia Legislature, you must do more than watch the Six O'Clock Snooze on Global TeeVee. Because this little legal wrangle fest just isn't important enough to crack the line-up of really important stuff that Chris "I've got Gall to spare" Gailus, Debra (I) Hope (you will someday talk about something relevant) and Squire Barnyard Boy have to discuss each night.

Actually, tonight Debra did discuss the issue of that icon of corporate responsibility, British Petroleum, sneaking into the back country between Sparwood and Fernie to begin exploration for coal bed methane gas. Of course Debra also made sure to give Gordo the Greed Pig, meeting this week with Fast Eddie Stelmach and the rest of the Western Clowns, the opportunity to point out how this was perfectly fine, as BP weren't operating underwater in the Crowsnest wild life corridor and thus could be trusted to do everything peachy cozy. Meanwhile the Prevaricator-in-Chief and Fast Eddie and friends are conspiring to remove the few environmental protections that still exist in HarperCon World. The fact that coal bed extraction has made people's water taps in Alberta catch on fire, and is threatening to permanently destroy the watershed for New York City, Philadelphia and much of the BosWash Megagopolis is irrelevant to our own white haired prevaricating traitor to the peoples interests. The fact that whole towns in Pennsylvania have become uninhabitable due to poisoned water is just so quaint compared to Gordo and gang making profits and the invisible criminal hand of the market.

No the really important stuff according to the GlowBall news room is:

1. The school yearbook from Trail Lake Middle School in Courtney and whether the 10th grader's picture and comments should be cut out for cracking funny (but not in a distasteful manner), or now that they were cut out of 300 copies, if they should be reprinted with his picture replaced - this when schools are being closed and teachers laid off due to lack of education funding.
   
   
2. Another school where a grad prank led to "traumatized" chickens.....jeeez!
   
   
3. Even more ridiculous was an item about a neighbor mad at their neighbor for allowing a frog or two to live in their backyard - even though the lady can't find the frogs to serve them with an eviction notice. The lady with a pond was thrilled to discover a frog or two and a salamander had taken up residence in her yard and didn't consider the frogs night time calls anywhere nearly as disturbing as say passing Harleys or sirens in the night. But her neighbor is threatening to personally hunt down and kill the frogs or sue the lady - perhaps the neighbor should be in a padded cell, so he can enjoy a good night's sleep.
   

You have to hand it to Glow Ball though, they must really work hard to find the really important stuff, so they don't have to bother us with the inconsequential things like how Martyn Brown managed to be the most important un-elected official in the province for a decade, when he can't even apparently remember his own name, much less anything that happened this millenium or even in the last week or two.

Amazingly Mr. Brown was completely startled when he learned, IN COURT, that Blair Lekstrom had resigned from cabinet over the HST. I guess Mr. Brown is confused about the difference between being a witness and being a member of a jury. Due to his being grilled by attorneys trying to overcome his amnesia for the last couple of weeks he hasn't seen a newspaper or a newscast. Over all Mr. Brown seems pretty confused about damn near everything. Perhaps Mr. Bolton, assuming Mr. Brown can find his way back to the courtroom tomorrow, should ask Mr. Brown the name of his boss!

Then again, maybe Gordon Muir Campbell is just a compassionate man and makes a practice of hiring the mentally handicapped for really high paid and important jobs!

Desperate LIEberals
Go After Big Bucks!

Rich Coleman (right) "I could eat these three for my lunch"
("and still go have a few burgers for dessert!")

The BC liaRs have finally figured out how to balance the books by going after the people with the real money. After years of giving the rich tax cut after tax cut and spending money on really important stuff like improved access to Whistler for rich folks, bridges no one can afford to use, a roof for a stadium to please casino builder friends and endless legal fees and settlements for wrongdoing against their own citizens, they've finally figured out how to balance the books.

Unfortunately for them (and us) closing hospitals in communities outside the Lower Vainland, refusing to fund education, firing government workers tasked with protecting parks and other public lands, cutting funding for legal aid and closing courthouses and other cost cutting measures weren't enough to help the LIEberals balance the books - the same books they inherited in a state of surplus by the way. But now thanks to the pea brain in the oversize body of Rich Coleman, they have found the solution to their fiduciary difficulties. They are going after those greedy welfare recipients for overpayments.

According to AnaheimNorthDOTcom:

The B.C. government is suing hundreds of welfare recipients in small claims court to try to recover overpayments, a strategy critics are questioning.

But the Minister for Housing and Social Development says there is nothing unusual about the government trying to get back overpayments to welfare recipients.

The ministry has filed 300 claims against people in small claims court in the past month alone, a dramatic spike compared with the few dozen it filed in each of the previous five years.

Coleman said that taxpayers expect government to go after any kind of fraudulent payment, even if it involves people with little or no money.

..../snip

“This is news for me,” Fredi Cruz told CBC News after receiving a $5,000 claim.

The construction worker said he went on social assistance six years ago after breaking his back. He said the claim notice was the first indication he had that the province wants a portion of the money back.

“How? I don't have any money to pay. You know, it don't make sense, how to pay something when I don't have,” said Cruz.

Jessie Hadley, a staff lawyer at Community Legal Assistance, said it's unusual to see the government take so many cases to small claims court, and she said many of those targeted by the legal action may not have received overpayments.

According to Andrew MacLeod in today's Tyee:

Lawyers with the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre......../snip

.....say the government's overpayment cases often fall apart under legal scrutiny, and yet it insists on attacking people who are little able to defend themselves. It does so in a climate where legal aid has been cut for people living in poverty. And in this case it didn't bother to contact groups like BCPIAC that often advocate for welfare recipients.

BCPIAC has now been able to review six of the claims and found them to be "cookie cutter" in their wording, a June 11 letter to Coleman from lawyers Sarah Khan, Ros Salvador and Eugene Kung said.

Of course these are the same guys that pay Admiral Hahn of BC Ferries over ONE MILLION dollars per year to provide less service to fewer users for higher fares, while his peer, the CEO of Washington State Ferries gets $140,000 for doing a MUCH BETTER JOB! These are also the guys who have coerced BC Hydro into signing contracts to purchase IPP Power at 12.6 kwh which they are they forced to sell at times of peak supply and NO DEMAND for less than 1/2 cent per kwh. Masters of Business, yup!

They are also the same guys that harassed half of the doctors in British Columbia and stressed out most people on disability in the province by forcing everyone to REPROVE their eligibility for disability benefits by filling out massive forms. This process led to so much busy work for doctors who could have been actually treating patients and so much stress for disabled people that some even wound up committing suicide. Nice guys and GREAT BUSINESS FOLKS!


Birds of the Feather!

When the BC liaRs decided that in their efforts to wrap up BC Hydro and drive it into a state of unprofitablity to justify giving it away to corporate pig friends they looked around to find someone to outsource billing services. Who better than the disgraced and renamed remnants of Anderson Accounting, Accenture, who had helped Enron cook their books enroute to their spectacular crash, burn and prosecution of most of the executives.

Thus it shouldn't be surprising that today, when locals in the East Kootenay found out that Coal Bed Methane exploration had begun (underway for a couple of weeks, before any locals were even aware) that it was being undertaken by that exemplar of corporate responsibility British Petroleum!

Actually BP was granted its license 3 days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and locals only found out in the last 24 hours that work had begun south of Sparwood.

BP gets BC drill license

Nature Mirrors
BC liaR Party

Just Like John Slater's Political Career!

As John Slater, BC liaR MLA for the riding that includes Oliver, it must be like seeing his political future as he surveys the destruction from the mudslide that destroyed five homes, vineyards, orchards and farm buildings on Sunday just past. Fortunately, and actually almost amazingly, there were no fatalities or serious injuries as tons of mud, rock and trees came down the ravine and wreaked destruction in the peaceful neighborhood. However the same can't be said for the political future of Mr. Slater.

Mr. Slater, along with rookie MLA from the Cariboo, Donna Barnett, are the two most likely to be recalled come November once the 18 month time period to circulate recall petitions has expired. In the case of both MLAs the number of signatures on the anti-HST petition, which the arrogant Campbell government is so obviously going to ignore, has surpassed not only the amount of votes they received last May, but also they have exceeded the 40% of the registered voters in the riding required to have their seat declared vacant, necessitating a bye-election.

Recently resigned former Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom was skirting the magic 40% when he decided to pose as a heroic representative of his constituents and flee the sinking Campbell ship. As Bill Tieleman speculates in today's piece in the Mild One:

Is Lekstrom a politician of great integrity for listening to his constituents, who overwhelmingly oppose the HST and told him so?

Or is Lekstrom an unprincipled opportunist -- a "rat," as one B.C. Conservative already called him -- who knows the only way he could be re-elected to a $100,000 a year job and collect a gold-plated pension was by admitting the obvious, that the BC Liberals are finished, thanks to the HST?

I would tend to go with the later, or perhaps the fact that as Energy Minister he was ashamed of the fact that BC Hydro was selling Pirate Power onto the Columbia Grid last week for approximately 1/2 cent per kwh. That is a good deal for somebody, but not for the taxpayers and ratepayers of BC as thanks to the "green" (as in US dollars) energy policy of "Kermit" Campbell, implemented by minister Lekstrom, BC Hydro was coerced into buying this power from Gordo's friends for 12.6 cents per kwh - now that is the way to do business, buy high and sell low.

John "I've seen my political career MUDSLIDE before my eyes" Slater and Donna "I'll never collect my gold plated MLA pension" Barnett, aren't the only MLA's in trouble though. Other MLAs that are on the bubble with two or three weeks left to collect signatures are:

Pat Pimm - Peace River North: 3,992 votes in 2009, 7,791 petition signatures.

Terry Lake / Kamloops-N.Thompson: 9,830 votes in 2009; 10,532 petition signatures.

Bill Bennett / Kootenay East: 8,404 votes in 2009; 8,729 petition signatures.

George Abbott / Shuswap: 10,764 votes in 2009; 11,806 petition signatures.

Lekstrom, Barnett and Slater are merely the tip of the iceberg as even the private sector arm of the Public Affairs Bureau, the Canwest News (dis)Service admits that the four Vancouver Island MLAs are looking pretty shakey:

More than half those who responded in the four ridings represented by Liberal MLAs -- Cantelon, Ida Chong, Murray Coell and Don McRae -- said they would definitely sign a recall petition while another 22% said they would probably sign.

So you do the math - over half, plus 22% totals over 70%, so it appears to me that the doomed HST petition will have proven to be little more than a practice exercise for the real thing - getting rid of the most arrogant and frankly criminal government in the history of the province - WITHOUT HAVING TO WAIT UNTIL 2013!

Keith Baldrey, Glow Ball TeeVee's chief apologist for the Campbell regime, at five and again at six, last night forced - first Deb Hope and then Chris Gailus to act like idiots and ask him if the signatures for the HST petition could be used for recall so Squirrel Cheeks could show off his genius and remind people that they could be jailed if they tried that. I'm sorry Mr. My Cheeks are Full of Nuts Bald Faced liar, but now that the anti-HST forces have all the signatures (complete with addresses etc.) they have, it will be pretty simple to go back and have the same, even more pissed off, people sign the recall petition, especially when the folks are reminded that the government CANNOT ignore the recall petition.

But I guess Keith just won't give it up until he has to. I just hope Gordo will take Keith to Maui, or where ever Gordo escapes to. Or even better, allow Keith to share his cell at Okalla with him, once his (Keith's) days as Asst. Liar in Chief are over.

Campbell's Popularity
SOARS!

The Pride of Grande Prairie, Alberta!

Gordon Muir Campbell, better known as the white haired Prevaricator-in-Chief is experiencing a spike in popularity from Grande Prairie, Alberta to Port Angeles, Washington. Unfortunately, the for the creep from Point Grey this surge in popularity is conspicuously absent almost everywhere in between these two locations.

Merchants everywhere in western Alberta and northern Washington State are hiring extra staff to prepare for the rise in business coming as of July the First when the stubbornly and sneakily imposed Hey Sucka Tax takes effect as yet another assault by this government on the victims of almost a decade of Campbell Crime Family rule. For those close enough to Alberta shopping in the province with only the HST has always been popular. On any high priced items, like say a new computer system or appliance, the gas to shop next door is a small price to pay for the tax savings and the satisfaction of keeping that money from the grasping hands of Colin Hansen and company.

When it comes to shopping in Spokane or Bellingham, the attractiveness is about to get even more so. Anytime the Canadian dollar is anywhere near par, the prices alone have made shopping stateside attractive. Thanks to Gordo and gang, now it gets even better as after July 1, BC shoppers will have the added incentive of being exempt from the Washington State sales taxes which range from 7% to almost 10% depending on the county. These snow "early" bird shoppers may have to tolerate pot holes as the hit to revenues in jurisdictions like Whatcom county take a 15% to 20% hit, thanks to the loss of tax revenue from such a large segment of their market. However for those willing to take it easy to spare their shocks the savings in money will be worth the extra time to drive a little slower.

There is one area in BC where the womanizing sleaze will perhaps gain some support - the north side of the Fraser from Hope into the Big Smoke. Merchants and resturanteurs in Agassiz, Harrison Mills and Mission are likely to see an increase in tourist traffic as folks from the vast hurtland enjoy the mellow secondary highway and avoid the outrageous tolls on Gordo's shiny new bridges. Even PEI with its new Confederation Bridge (with tolls one way only) can't hope to match the cost imposed by Gordo the Greedy and Admiral Hahn on folks using the Trans-Canada to reach the capital of the Province - Victoria. By the time a poor country mouse arrives in Vicky Town his wallet will already have been drained by these sorry excuses for leadership.

The CEO of Washington State Ferries earns approximately a fifth of the income that Admiral Hahn pulls down for providing less service to fewer people for higher fares with the formerly public owned BC Ferries. Actually the CEO for Washington State ferries earns even less than Lara Dauphinee, but then his job most likely doesn't involve having to perform quite as disgusting of duties.

For someone heading to Victoria from say Nelson, it might be more enjoyable and much cheaper to head to Spokane and then take the Interstate to Seattle. With the money saved by burning cheaper US Gas and avoiding bridge troll tolls and a straighter less mountainous/faster highway, they could then enjoy a drive on the Olympic Penninsula, catch the boat from Port Angeles and arrive in Victoria with enough money left to have high tea at the Empress or tour the beautiful Buchart Gardens.

Hell, the next thing you know they'll be carving Gordo's likeness, ala Mt. Rushmore, on Mount Ranier! (Of course BC residents will line up to apply graffiti)

It ain't just the VSB
Making
BAD CHOICES!

NDP's Jenn McGinn retained her seat in a by-election in Vancouver-Fairview Wednesday, defeating Liberal Margaret MacDiarmid. Oct. 29, 2008.

Then the Following May.....

Too many voters of Vancouver-Fairview went back to making BAD CHOICES! Just when you start thinking the BC liaRs couldn't possibly appoint a more stooooooopid Education Minister...........or one more opposed to public education........

DANGER!

Beware of
CRAP!

Since I am fairly knowledgeable about the inter toobz and how it works, I handle most of my security issues myself and tend to allow my browsers to travel in cyberspace without the assistance of a nanny, and minimal privacy settings, prefering to deal with threats PERSONALLY. However even with these mininimal levels of security my elderly version of Internet Explorer recognizes the Canned Waste Empire as the untrustworthy corner of the internet and media that it truly is.

Like most Canned Waste outposts of mis-information, the Times-Colonist under the guidance of Lucinda Chodan makes ignoring the real issues an art form and polishes the BC liaR apple as glossy a state as an entire basement full of PABlum Brigade spin doctors. Only the Vancouver Sun, the Province and the Times-Colonist (tho I'm confident other rags from the former Assperson Empire would do the same) cause my browser to issue the warning pictured above, forcing me to accept the risk posed by the lackeys of what used to be the AssPerson Empire or not access their fiction/propaganda. With the warning:

" ....there is a problem with the site's security certificate.

The security certificate was issued by a company you have not chosen to trust"

...they must be warning me to be on guard against lies and propaganda, as I haven't detected any threats of a viral or phishing nature - though their so-called "accredited" journalists go to great lengths to pose a threat to the truth.

When it comes to the rantings and ravings of Les Leyne lately, it is a good thing I'm reading his stuff online from hundreds of miles away and not exposed to him and his most likely toxic rabid drool by being within hearing distance. BC Mary takes him to task today for his pitiful coverage more than a day late and many brain cells short of the shameful folding up of BC Rail with the headline:

I thought "Less is more". Not here. Les is less than ever. His story is headlined "BC Rail goes out with a whimper". Disgusting man.

What a shameful piece of "reporting":

But Les(s) "braincells than the average amoeba" Leyne showed his colours, or fears even more clearly a couple days ago when he attacked yet again the only real journalists left in British Columbia, namely the bloggers who aren't in the back pocket (or worse) of the BC liaRs or covert agents of the PABlum Brigade. In Campbell hangs out with the global elite, he spews words that even on the page appear to be coated in spittle and drool such as:

The conference is as unofficial as possible and the meetings are kept as quiet as possible. All sessions are closed and no record is published.

So naturally, it's a focus for conspiracy theorists who see SECRET CABALS directing events from BEHIND THE SCENES. They see POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK, forces so powerful that some bloggers have to use all capital letters to express how profound the influence is.

Bilderberg was elevated in the rankings of secret societies that control the world last year when the cable TV show Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura devoted an episode to it.

I don't know if the rantings above qualify Mr. Leyne to actually be a blogger (well maybe an associate blogger at Rubbish without a Pause), but he could be a troll at "small dead animals" or at Ezra Levant's excuse for a blog, that is if Ezra allowed comments that don't praise Ezra for being brave enough to get out of bed. Even the usually not likely to publish critical letters, T-C, a couple of days later called Les on his suggestion that we should be proud the elites invited our white haired prevaricator-in-chief to their secret session by pointing out they also invited the obviously talented finance minister of Greece - yeah that Greece!

Before Mr. Leyne starts accusing his BETTERS of wearing tin-foil hats, perhaps he should read what David Rockefeller had to say in 1991 regarding the global elites' plans to look after the best interests of the rest of us (yeah.....right!).

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National autodetermination practiced in past centuries.""

Perhaps there is something in the water over there in Victoria, because not only has Les Leyne deteriorated from a man who could coin a clever phrase like:

"You know things are bad when Campbell calls for a legislature sitting."
- Les Leyne (Times Colonist), Nov. 5, 2008

to one who will imminently most likely need an attendant to prevent him from drowning in his own drool and choking on his food. Also from the evidence of a dozen or so hours of testimony at the BC Rail Corruption Trial, Martyn Brown, the man who ran Gordon Campbell through the nineties and the province since 2001 has seemingly suddenly developed an advanced case of Alzheimers that renders him incapable of "recalling" anything he did or said for the last twenty years (anything he wrote or typed having been shredded apparently).

Or could Martyn Brown be trying to not tell the truth without actually LYING?

Small Town Democracy
or Sophie's Choice!

Well, it doesn't look like we can condemn the Heli-Pad*

Update: Wednesday Morning, June 9, 2010

At last night's New Denver council meeting it was moved and carried unanimously that first and second reading of Bylaws 646 and 647 (to rezone lakeshore by the Slocan Lake Health Centre from "Public and Institutional" to "Multi Family Residential") be RESCINDED. Therefore the Man from Marathon and his proxies from the Inferior Health Authority and BC Housing (the terra-guys from Victoria) will need to go back to the drawing board before they can turn our Health Centre into condos to bring profit to the pockets of the usual suspects. Hopefully before they can regroup we can remove them and have a government with an agenda other than alienating public assets for private profit for the "in" crowd!

June 8, 2010

The terrorists in Victoria who never tire of attacking British Columbians who don't live in the Lower Vainland, or the smokey hole where all the money goes have tried to make the village of New Denver make a deal with the Devil - the Devil in this case being the proxy for the Campbell Crime Family affectinately known in these parts as the Inferior Health Authority.

Ever since the Campbelloids swept to power with 77 terrorists against 2 opposition women they have been on a tear in the Kootenays, closing schools, courthouses, hosptials and trying to reduce or privatize inland ferry services - that we in this region NEED just to get to work etc., in many cases because of flooding for BC Hydro and other projects to benefit the USA or the paper shufflers at the coast.

About a year ago the IHA and BC Housing Authority offered the village a million dollars to build "assisted" housing for seniors, on the far edge of the property where our hospital sits. Our hospital still exists and still has emergency services 24/7, only thanks to years of resistance by the community and the medical staff to threatened reductions - which have been kept to a minimum with great effort from us.

As the time approached for a decision by council about the project, all of a sudden the IHA wanted the land rezoned for multi-family, not assisted living housing, AND for some perverse reason known only to the Inferior Health Authority this housing (trailers really) could only be built on top of our heli-pad which over the years has saved many lives by making it possible for accident or heart attack victims to be transported to Trail or Kelowna in less than the 4 to 6 or more hours it could otherwise incur.

Many in the community saw it as a backhanded attack to rezone the land, so in accordance with typical Gordon Campbell procedure it could eventually, after closing the hospital and ER due to lack of adequate ambulance service or air evac capacity, be converted to condos on the lake and more profit for the man from Marathon and his sleazy associates.

The poor village council was in a tight spot, not wanting to turn down $1,000,000 from the province which usually laughs at our requests for anything and with the village suffering from a shortage of affordable housing for seniors or anyone. A week or two ago there was a very contentious meeting, many in the community thought they were being sold out by they elected representatives, who didn't think they should refuse the cliche six pieces of silver. Of course the province through its proxies, the IHA and BC Housing, turned up the pressure by imposing artificial deadlines pleading that this was "stimulus" funding which wouldn't be available later for use for a similar project at a more logical location - this location would strand seniors over a mile from downtown, the post office and grocery store.

However last night there was another meeting with the largest space in town, Bosun Hall, packed with over 200 people who followed each other to the microphone with presentations unanimously AGAINST the Deal with teh Devil and the loss of the chance to access emergency service from a remote village that is often rendered inaccessible in three direction in winter by storms and slides and oft times in summer by fires.

The lone currently qualified EMT (other than a couple drivers training for their 1st Aid) pleaded for the heli-pad to stay. People whose lives were saved by the ability to get out in bad times or whose parents' lives had been saved told their tales. The fire chief himself told how he was rescued after an accident over in the Vahallas and almost died, but was able to access care thanks to air evacuation. Then a delegation from the volunteer fire and rescue folks pointed out how disgusted they would be if one of their own was injured in the line of serving the community and then couldn't get an ambulance if the road was closed, as isn't a rare occurance here anytime of year. They suggested that if the heli-pad, which they consider one of their tools, was taken away they would resign enmasse.

And the doctors who respond to emergencies have made their feelings about losing the pad clear for weeks - they feel it is necessary, and certainly don't want it moved even to somewhere where one would need to wait for an ambulance to then get to the helicopter, which now is just outside the entrance to the emergency department.

After about forty submissions at the microphone, many representing multiple people, the village clerk read off a bunch of written submissions again ALL OPPOSED and two petitions from areas in the local regional district opposing the rezoning. Often logging plans or other development (think the telus cell phone controversy) divide the community and the loggers and the tree huggers are opposed and at loggerheads (pun intended). But in this case if anyone other than the Inferior Health Authority and the Campbelloid Real Estate Speculators are in favor of risking rezoning this unique piece of village lakeshore, they were well hidden last night.

Tonight there is a special council meeting to consider the rezoning proposal, for third reading, in other words it will be a go or no go. This meeting also is being moved to a larger venue than the council chambers because of the intense community interest. As the mayor said this morning during a brief interview on the CBC Morning Show, never since 1929 has the mayor and council gone against the CLEAR wishes of the community. So I will be going to the meeting tonight (as will probably a couple hundred other folks) but I'm pretty confident in the way the vote will go - unless the current mayor (an excellent mayor - incumbent for about thirty years) and council are simply tired of being councilors and mayor. I'm pretty sure that the proposal will fail, because OUR mayor and council aren't like the terrorists in Victoria, who think they know better than us what we need.

* Coincidentally (and who believes in co_inky dinkies?) this chopper from the Federal Department of Transport arrived during this local debate to "check out" the helipad. To the chagrin of whomever sent it (though the official story was it was a routine inspection) other than the need of some paint and maybe a new windsock - the helipad and its approaches are super fine. A lot of us locals have spent a lot of time firefighting, doing forestry work etc. in choppers and the helipad by the lake/hospital is a cadillac of places to land a chopper, even in terrible conditions. A clear approach over water, with no obstructions. Though it is only used for medical emergencies 3, 4 to a half dozen times per year, it is often used during summer fire fighting seasons for refueling or other errands when the local skies are filled with helicopters. Hell, even the Fuzz land there during their autumn sky searches for the vile weed growing in the bush!

MOTHER
May I?

da Boss of Bosses

Adolf Hitler had Herr Doktor Goebbels. Capo Gordo Campbell has the minders and information manglers of the Public Affairs Bureau. The Ayatollah of the Canadian Taliban, Stevie Harper has the "...potent but little-known communication tool called the Message Event Proposal." Any dictatorial government, or government that intends to implement an agenda that goes against the interest of the voters AND the professed policy objectives expressed during the increasingly sham election periods MUST control the flow (or just as often STOP THE FLOW) of information.

According to Sunday's Toronto Star under the headline Documents expose Harper's obsession with control:

The Canadian Press has obtained almost 1,000 pages of MEPs* from several government departments, including the Privy Council Office, under the Access to Information Act. The PCO, the bureaucratic nerve centre of Ottawa, has been conscripted by an increasingly powerful Prime Minister’s Office to vet requests for public events across the federal government.

The MEPs have blurred the time-honoured separation of non-partisan public servants and political staffers and sidelined seasoned government communicators, sapping morale across the civil service.

They have become the political tool for literally putting words in the mouths of cabinet ministers, federal bureaucrats, low-profile MPs on the barbecue circuit, and seasoned diplomats abroad.

* MEP = Message Event Proposal

For a government that campaigned on transparency, accessibility and accountability, Harper's avoidance of most media and control freak approach to Canadians' access to information is hypocritical at best. But then if this flock of Reform/Alliance wingnuts disguised as Conservatives were out front about their agenda they would be out of elected office, if not incarcerated for treason. Mind you, if only bankers, Zionists and Oil Companies were allowed to vote, these guys would be government for eternity.

Not only did the Prime Minister's Office "decline to comment on this story," but:

The identities of senior sources who have worked at PCO* and other departments are not being revealed because they fear retribution from their political masters.

* PCO = Privy Council Office

The absurd length to which this government and its Control Freak in Chief will go to control the message is illustrated by this example of your tax dollars at work to keep you in the dark, or on the "right" (wing) page.

A 2008 request from an Ottawa journalism student for an interview with CIDA on its Canada Fund for Africa generated a detailed two-page MEP — even though there was only “remote potential for sale of the article to a Canadian magazine or weekend feature section of a national daily.”

There is even a template for a proper Message Event Proposal as follows:

• Event,


• Event type


• Desired headline


• Key messages


• Media lines


• Strategic objectives


• Desired soundbite


• Ideal speaking backdrop


• Ideal event photograph


• Tone


• Attire


• Rollout materials


• Background


• Strategic considerations

If I wasn't such a paranoid tin foil hatted conspiracy theorist, I guess I could take comfort in the thought that Uncle Steve and his Cardinals and Bishops Cabinet at least care enough about what I think to try and mould my thoughts non-violently. They could just water-board me or something until I agreed with whatever they wanted me to buy into!

FASHION
for BC Rail Cultists

Distaff BC Rail Cultists Stylin'

I believe that braces or suspenders are the thing to wear in two situations. One, they are de rigeur when devastating forests in bucked off jeans. The other time they are the thing to wear is when one is in a state of suspense - isn't that why they're called suspenders?

Okay, joking aside, it is a suspenseful weekend as all seventeen* * of us in the BC Rail Cult (and perhaps some auxilary "ilks") ponder what will happen tomorrow, Monday the seventh day of June in the year 2010. As BC Mary opines at her one stop authority on the Trial that never seems to actually come around on the guitar, this weekend has been " ....tense hours of waiting for the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial to continue...

The ever illusive trial of the century, arising from an investigation (Project Everywhichway) that began in 2002, leading to a Raid on the Legislature at the end of 2003 that resulted in charges finally being laid against two (apparent) dupe fall guys/scapegoats late in 2004, MAY actually be underway as I type. Though originally scheduled to begin in 2005, since then the actual start has been postponed too many times to count/remember. The judge has been mysteriously replaced after years of complex pre-trial wrangling and evidence has been withheld or gone south to a US based data destruction company as recently as during last May's election.

Most of the involved big shots in government at the time of the BC Rail Sale/Lease/Theft/Giveaway, excepting the Capo himself, Gordon Muir Campbell, have gone on to other greener, or perhaps just more obscure, pastures, or in the case of former Transport Minister, Judith Reid, into witness protecton it would seem. For over seven years evidence has been withheld due to privilege, or questions not answered because of the StoneWally Oppal tape-loop "It's before the Courts." And now thanks to our new unbiased agenda free (yeah, right!) Justice MacKenzie, we have a brand new publication ban (as BC Mary points out - requested by neither crown nor defence) that makes it illegal to even talk about much other than MAYBE whether or not the court met that day, unless the jury is present, and about 9 days out of a dozen, there are reasons (not publicly disclosable, of course) for the jury to be sent packing after showing up.

The trial ostensibly began on May 18 and now over three weeks later we've had an opening statement by Wild Bill "sometimes I even show up in court, heroically bearing my conflict of interest" Berardino, including a witness list for the prosecution that is still only half known by the public and a couple days of testimony by Martyn Brown, the un-elected official who seems to actually run the province but at the same time seems blissfully unaware of pretty much anything that actually happens in government or cabinet. It would not be unreasonable to conclude from Mr. Brown's responses to Kevin McCullogh's cross-examination that he is being either less than truthful or has been in a coma for almost a decade.

So, hitch up your suspenders, and look forward to late tomorrow morning when we will either have more testimony, most likely from the man who knows nuthin' 'bout nuthin' or perhaps the jury will be sent home yet again for reasons that cannot be disclosed.

How EFFING long does it take to FIX a trial anyway?
____________________________
* one of the so-called "real" or accredited (by their own self-appointed assperson dominated panel)journalists claimed that we who care about the theft of BC Rail are a cult of about 17 weirdos in tin foil hats!

* Update to Footnote

BC Mary said...

"....Now, much as it pains me to correct you ... and much as the actual facts of the matter pain me ... it was our esteemed (not) Opposition Justice Critic who referred to the "19 people who are interested in BC Rail."

His name is Leonard Krog, well-paid M.L.A. for Nanaimo..../snip

As BC Mary points out in her informative comment, it was actually Leonard "the dog" Krog who suggested that only a few cultists cared about the BC Rail Trial, though most likely some of the so-called journalists undoubtably jumped on the idea, seeing as they always have a difficult time trying to say anything about the BC Rail scam, without accidentally saying something actually relevant.......

Mary's complete comment that details how Mr. Krog did nothing but be a poseur over the whole issue is worth reading in whole.

If only we actually had an "opposition Justice Critic." This fall I think that Mr. Krog should also be targetted for recall, because it would hardly be an improvement to rid ourselves of the Campbell Mob to wind up with the likes of Krog as Attorney General. We will need an AG with a passion for justice to rebuild the compromised, degraded and corrupt mockery of due process that the Campbell regime have spent almost a decade creating. The NDP must have another lawyer in caucus - any lawyer who actually takes his oath seriously would be an improvement over what we have today, or what we would have in Leonard Krog! You would never know it, but the Attorney General's responsibility isn't to provide legal cover for the sitting premier and cabinet, but to represent the legal interests of the PEOPLE.

Congratulations
are in Order

Banned in Guantanamo

The fine folks at that paragon of blogging at its finest, the Galloping Beaver, recently received an honour from an unexpected quarter. Human and civil rights lawyer Candace Gorman, who represents Gitmo detainees wrote to say:

...when I was visiting Guantanamo last month and I was not allowed to visit your website while at the base. I received a notice that the website was not allowed to be accessed by the "administrator" (military censors)

Ms. Gorman ends her letter with this sentiment, which I (and the folks at the Beav) heartily share.

So, please take my congrats….I would consider it an honor to be barred by those thugs!

Best regards,
Candace

Ms. Gorman also runs the Guantanamo Blog, to "provide updates on developments concerning the plight of the detainees, the ongoing injustice of current U.S. detention policies in the "War on Terror" and efforts to hold accountable those men and women responsible for the war crimes." Recently she considered whether now that George Bush the Lesser is running around bragging about torturing the so-called 9/11 mastermind, while insisting he would happily do it again, she writes:

.....I wonder how he will respond to questions about waterboarding Abu Zubaydah (some 100 times) as the government has now been forced to admit Abu Z was not al-Qaeda or taliban .... just some shmuck who had the misfortune to be captured by my criminal Government.

Then there's Surrey!

Surrey, that vast void that seems to lack any sign of intelligent life (well Laila Yuile lives there, but she must feel like an alien) as usual has its priorities as confused as ever. This fastest growing festering sore between Vancouver and the USA, instead of dealing with planning for growth, dealing with crime, dealing with the lack of facilities for youth and yada, yada, yada, has in its wisdom, under the guidance of the accident prone mayor (that some think should replace Gordon Campbell), recently focused its council's time on REALLY IMPORTANT MATTERS. In its wisdom Surrey Council has rezoned ONE BLOCK of King George Boulevard in order to revoke the license of Roxxxy's Adult Novelty Shop. According to the Surrey Leader (being a leader in Surrey probably isn't too much of a challenge):

Roxxxy’s, which opened up last November in the 10700 block of King George Boulevard, recently had its licence revoked by Surrey, which claimed it was issued in error.

Owner Tony Perry locked the doors and hired a lawyer.

After reviewing the case, Perry’s lawyer said his client would probably win the battle, but he’d ring up a huge bill in the process.

I could care less if there is such a shop in Surrey or not but, until the council decided to waste time rewriting the law (sounds like the guys in Victoria after they are on the losing side of a court judgement) where Roxxxy's was located was the place zoned for such a business.....

In April, Surrey council passed a bylaw outlawing adult entertainment stores from locating anywhere in the city.

Until then, adult entertainment store or restricted theatre (theatre 2) zones were limited to the block where Perry’s store is located.

Adult stores, other than perhaps the classy ones that specialize in perfumed oils, candles and tasteful erotic négligés and teddies are the definition of a sunset industry. With the surfeit of porn for every taste available cheap or for free on the internet, most people (except in Surrey perhaps) realize they don't have to leave the comfort of their own home and risk the embarrassment of being seen leaving a store like Roxxxy's with a bag full of whatever.

Perhaps Surrey Council should get in touch with China and Gitmo, so they can block porn websites from the tender sensibilities of Surrey residents. Then again, perhaps SEX itself should be banned in Surrey, that could help get the out of control population growth under control. As an added bonus it would tend to prevent the uncontrolled growth in the population of the kind of people who live in Surrey and elect the kind of people they elect.

Win - Win as far as I can see!

Embarrassing
Canada

The Refugee from the Mailroom of Imperial Oil

Stephen Harper is at war with the twenty first century. Anything to do with the reality of the modern world is anathema in the cosmology of this theocratic whackjob and his muzzled minions. Only the inability of the Liberal party to get it's act together, and its own failure to exhibit genuine leadership has allowed this mean little man to pretend to be President of the Republic of Canada and thumb his nose at hundreds of years of Parliamentary tradition with the support of approximately 15% of the eligible voters in Canada.

The reputation that Canada has built since the days of Lester Pearson as an "honest broker," helping to resolve disputes between countries is in shreds. Harper is bound and determined to fill the war-monger of the world shoes vacated by the Bu$h/Cheney discredited war criminal regime. When even the US, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton being critical of the recent Israeli piracy on the high seas, steps back from its free pass for any thing Israel does, Stephen continues his policy of praising everything the Zionazis do. Even when that involves killing Canadian families or worse yet, Canadians serving as UN observers. This born again cowboy from Toronto is more supportive of Bibi the Butcher than even sane moderate Jewish people in and out of Israel.

Then there is the embarrassment of Stephen hosting a G-8 and G-20 and dedicating it to the health and welfare of women and children, as long as nothing offends his fundamentalist views of family planning. Again with his reactionary posture on this issue he earns a well deserved scolding from the woman who has bravely taken on the task of acting as his surrogate mommy, Secretary Hillary.

Then there is the pure slapstick of sending Stevie to any environmental summit where his dinosaur defense of the icky goo pits and his pro-oil, coal and gas stance and desire to de-regulate nuclear power (or let somebody else make medical isotopes) makes him the center of mocking attention from the real environmentalists. In other word those who haven't sold out like Dr. Suzuki and Ms. Berman - Kermit "It's hard to be Green" Campbell's sock puppets.

But this week Stephen is concentrating on yet another wrong-headed cause. Our man who should be in Ottawa, dealing with Canadian issues is on tour in Europe trying to defend the poor banks and financial institutions from the threat of any kind of accountablilty for driving the world to the abyss of a REALLY EXTRA GREAT DEPRESSION! He is correct that Canadian banks did better than say the grifter US financial swindlers, and mainly because of a stricter regulatory regime. However the only reason Canada had a stronger regulatory regime is that Harper and his neo-cons hadn't been in government long enough, or had a strong majority, that would allow them to dismantle it, just as the US regulations had been dismantled from Reagan through Bush the Lesser - not that he wouldn't have if he could have.

Therefore it is irony and hypocrisy to the Nth degree for Harper to be strutting around the world telling PM Cameron and President Sarkozy and the rest of Europe what they should do. Mind you these gentleman, who seem much more intelligent than our guy, in spite of their lack of voodoo economics degrees from the University of Chicago Calgary, don't seem inclined to pay much attention to the Imam of Calgary.

Stephen's big line lately is that it wouldn't be fair to penalize the poor banks, because we didn't have to bail out our banks here in Canada. Murray Dobbin put the lie to this at the end of May with Believe it or not, we did bail out our banks, which somehow snuck itself onto the editorial page of the Canned Waste Vancouver Sun.

The sorry spectacle of Conservative cabinet ministers flying around the world defending banks from a tax to cover their next, inevitable, meltdown is bad enough. What is perhaps worse is that it is being largely justified by the perpetuation of the myth that Canada did not have to bail out its banks.

Wrong.

We are, according to the IMF, the third worst of the G7 countries, behind the U.S. and Britain, in terms of financial stabilization costs.

First, we put up $75 billion to buy up iffy mortgages from the Big Five banks, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, taking them off the banks' balance sheets. That is almost the exact equivalent of the U.S. bailout -it spent 10 times as much, $700 billion, and its economy is about 10 times as large.

Second, the Harper government established a fund of $200 billion to backstop the banks -money they could borrow if they needed it. The government had to borrow billions -mostly from the banks -to do it...../snip

If Canadian banks are such paragons of conservative virtue and prudent behaviour, why did the federal government have to relieve them of mortgages that, presumably, were all carefully vetted and the borrowers scrutinized?

The reason that the odd person in a coma can buy the argument about the success/strength of the Canadian financial system, or buy into the lie, is explained more bluntly by those fine folks over at the Galloping Beaver.

Now we are pelted with a constant harangue of Harper telling everyone, including the world, that he commands the world's most stable banking system, and that the Canadian government never bailed out Canadian banks.

Harper and his sock puppets are blatant liars.

Canada did bail out its banks. The difference between the way Canada did it and the methods of any other capitalist democracy is that Canada did it "off book". In other words, it was never a federal budget item. Instead, the charge went against certain Crown Corporations as liabilities.

Sneaky? Yup. Dishonest? Absolutely.

In the same post, the Galloping Beavers also point out how it was partly things done, or not done, by Paul Martin when he was finance minister that saved the Canadian banks from going the way of Bear Stearns, or suddenly being born again socialists begging to be bailed out by the taxpayer.

Canadian banks were a constrained bunch of animals which, had they gotten past the finance minister known as Paul Martin, would have created three Canadian mega-banks and would have failed as spectacularly as any of the fallen in the US they lusted to become.

...../snip

....In one swoop, the finance minister (Paul Martin -koot) made it clear that government, not business, will decide what shape the country’s banking sector is allowed to take in the years ahead.

Oh, and didn't the banks make it obvious how goddamned furious they were.

But, what Martin had done was to ensure that a single bank failure would not be enough to lay waste to the Canadian economy. The Milton Friedman formula had no place in Canada. Martin was certain that one day, perhaps after he was gone, Canadians would thank him for his stand.

Then came Harper.

Harper handed the reins over to the banks. Luckily he was constrained. There wasn't enough time for the banks to rebuild their old merger deals and Harper, with a minority government, didn't have a lengthy enough forecast lifespan to guarantee the banks enough time to root themselves in a three bank national model.

Now there are those who agree with Pee Wee Harper, for example, THE BANKERS, what a surprise! Nancy Hughes Anthony, President and CEO of the Canadian Bankers Association, to no one's great surprise takes issue with Murray Dobbin in particular. She says in "Canada's banks well-managed and well-regulated, despite Dobbin's tale" that:

his story is pure fiction.

and that's pretty much all she offers. She doesn't address the "$75 billion to buy up iffy mortgages" or the "fund of $200 billion to backstop the banks" to be borrowed from the banks (like how can they lend it to us if they need it?). I guess we are just supposed to take her word for it, despite the lack of any semblance of FACTS to support her nakedly self serving position.

At least with Stephen gallivanting around the world lecturing his betters, we get to be treated to the spectacle of John "half pitbull, half human" Baird drooling and exhibiting all the symptoms of rabies in the House of Clowns that used to be a Legislative body, once upon a time. I mean what could be more entertaining that watching Mr. Baird and Helena "not so gorgeous" Guergis exchanging pleasantries?

Obstruct Justice
MUCH?

Basi-Virk trial waiting to get back on track

by Neal Hall
.... dean of Pravda's Accreditation Panel

VANCOUVER - After two weeks of delay, the Basi-Virk trial has been adjourned again until next week

The jury was told today (Thursday) to return on Monday.

A ban on publication of dicussions that take place the jury's absence prevents the media from revealing the reason for this week's delay.


The jury trial has only sat for three days since it began May 18.

Then the trial was delayed for a week because one of the three accused was sick.

The trial was further delayed for three days this week by a matter that cannot be reported because the trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie, has imposed a publication ban on discussions that take place in the jury's absence.


So far, the first witness is still on the stand.

Martyn Brown, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell's chief of staff, is expected to resume his cross-examination on next week

The trial was set for six to eight weeks but is already two weeks behind schedule.

Words fail to be capable of expressing the CONTEMPT I have for this mockery of a judicial proceeding and the insult it is to the people of British Columbia!!!!!

Towering
Arrogance*

Stairs to J-Mac's Chamber of Bad Jokes on Justice!

An old saw about the law is that justice delayed is justice denied. Well, here in B.C., the land that justice forgot, delay and secrecy is the norm. Manipulation is standard procedure as a special prosecutor enmeshed in conflicts of interest misrepresents the people of the province in front of a hand picked judge who does her best to protect the right of the Campbell Cabal to withhold evidence and denies the public the right to know even what is happening in a case that so clearly involves breach of public trust in the disposal of public assets.

After almost a week and a half of delay, because one fall guy defendant "allegedly" had the sniffles or something, the trial and cross-examination of the first witness, Martyn Brown was supposed to resume yesterday. Even the often tardy and/or inaccurate court listings online had Regina v. Basi et. al. scheduled to resume at 10:00am yesterday. I'll let the best, though unaccreditated by lackeys unworthy of emptying the shavings from his pencil sharpener, JOURNALIST (Professor Emeritus Robin Mathews) covering this Kafkaesque trial describe his morning yesterday. (from Damnable Outrage at BC Mary's joint)

The electronic court list announced the BC Rail Scandal Basi, Virk, and Basi trial would go forward at ten a.m. this morning. It didn't.

......./snipit dee doo dah

I dressed, went in pouring rain to the court. I looked at the posted list. No Basi,Virk, and Basi. But I saw Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie will be hearing immigration matters at two this afternoon. The court is so regularly inefficient, I went up to courtroom 54 anyway. I waited a few minutes, and then ran into one of the sitting sheriffs. He recognized me and told me the sitting is adjourned for another day, and the lists must be watched from day to day - adjournment may extend.

Now Robin just had to go over to the West End from East Van. But someone like myself, if I had gone to Vancouver from my home in the Kootenays, as a concerned citizen, to pay attention the only way possible (due to the double whammy of a draconian publication ban on anything that happens out of the presence of the almost always not present jury and a lamestream press corps that thinks journalism is about pretending the trial doesn't exist), anytime in the last week or two I WOULD BE CHOKED!

There are very good comments accumulating at Mary's about this latest outrage and it is difficult to even pick part of one, but I will select part of a comment by lynx, a thoughtful, frequent commentor at Mary's joint.

lynx said...

"Damnable outrage" - yes, indeed, Robin.

Perhaps, it is more and more an advantage...and an honour that you are not deemed "worthy" of "accreditation", Robin....

It seems the more "She Who Must Be Obeyed" intervenes.... and stage-directs....and delays..... the more this kind of revealing behavior implicates both the court and those special few who think they are "protected" from implication.

So I guess I'll just have to continue to be in suspenders until I find out in a couple hours or so what they will think up for today to once again deny and delay justice to the people of British Columbia. I'm sure they can find something (after all, they don't even [can't even] have to explain) to quash today's proceedings and since J-Mac and the rest are TOO SPECIAL to work on Friday, that will make it two weeks gone - or put another way - Three weeks to elicit about two days of testimony from one witness - at this rate Gordo and Gang could make this trial extend beyond yet another election. Of course there's no point in that since they are all gonna be recalled this November!

Meanwhile -
Assholes in the Litter Box to the East!


Raincoat recommended within 3 metres of this pitbull/human cross

From the Toronto Star:

OTTAWA – A Commons’ committee dissolved into an ugly display of yelling, insults and school yard taunting Wednesday, all sparked by the Conservatives’ decision to muzzle its political aides.

It culminated in a dramatic finger-wagging showdown between a heckling Transport Minister John Baird and Liberal MP Siobhan Coady.

“Listen, bullies in the school yard should never be listened to. My mother taught me that,” Coady said, adding that such screaming spectacles would never be tolerated in the private sector.

...../snip

Bloc MP Michel Guimond gave the Conservative MPs and the cabinet ministers a tongue-lashing for not letting political staff speak, accusing them of “showing arrogance and clear disdain” for the Parliament.

“Once again, Conservatives think they are above the rules,” Guimond said. “The Conservatives are proving they have absolutely no respect towards our democratic institutions.”

NDP MP Nathan Cullen called it the “theatre of absurd.”

“When ministers are called to committees, they don’t show up. When you don’t call them, they bang down the doors looking to testify,” Cullen said.

* Could Wild Bill Berardino and (in)Justice Anne Mackenzie be the Twin Towers of Arrogance?

"Corrupt, dirty
and on the take"

Mini-CONvention of CONcreatures!

With the BC Rail Corruption Trial on hiatus (its usual state for almost seven years) until at least tomorrow, when it will either pick up where it left off, with Martyn Brown facing cross-examination, or we will learn of another delay, due to some secret reason, resulting in more denying and hiding the truth from the people of BC. Tonight I will focus on the other Canadian House of Infamy back in Ottawa. The big news out of the capital yesterday was the release the findings of Retired Justice Oliphant of the...

Commission of Inquiry into Certain Allegations
respecting Business and Financial Dealings
Between Karlheinz Schreiber and
the Right Honourable (winger), Brian Mulroney

The "Certain Allegations" in the title alludes to the limited nature of the inquiry. Perhaps it was a economic, budgetary matter as for a very limited in scope inquiry that was only to answer 17 questions, it cost the Canadian taxpayers $16,000,000. It these tough economic times, I guess we can't afford the (WHOLE) truth, much less "handle the truth!" Since Oliphant's Report stacks up to more than 800 pages, or slightly less than $20,000 per page, I won't reproduce the entire report here (or ever read it all) though a summary of yesterday's presentation can be found in the Globe and Mail. Some of Justice Oliphant's comments , further highlighted here and there by yours truly are:

The conduct exhibited by Mr. Mulroney in accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from Mr. Schreiber on three separate occasions, failing to record the fact of the cash payments, failing to deposit the cash into a bank or other financial institution, and failing to disclose the fact of the cash payments when given the opportunity to do so goes a long way, in my view, to supporting my position that the financial dealings between Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney were inappropriate

...../snip

I found that the business and financial dealings between Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney were inappropriate. I also found that Mr. Mulroney’s failure to disclose those business and financial dealings was inappropriate. Simply put, Mr. Mulroney, in his business and financial dealings with Mr. Schreiber, failed to live up to the standard of conduct that he had himself adopted in the 1985 Ethics Code.

...../snip

For Mr. Mulroney to attempt to justify his failure to make disclosure in those circumstances by asserting that [federal lawyer Claude] Sheppard did not ask the correct question is, in my view, patently absurd

Those discerning folks over at the Galloping Beaver weigh in on the Oliphant in the Room with a piece from which I took today's title, Corrupt, dirty and on the take.

So far it seems that the only indignity Mr. Mulroney will have to endure (other than waking up in the morning as himself) is being called "patently absurd" and being accused of "inappropriate" behaviour, repeatedly. I'm sure if you or I ripped off the Canadian Taxpayers for 2.1 million bucks by lying to Parliament and performing all the "inappropriate" stuff that made the lies necessary, we might find ourselves sharing accomodations with Clifford Olsen or Paul Bernardo (or Laird Con(man)rad Black).

If there was equal justice under the law in the banana republic of Canada, Mr. Jaw that Walks like a Man (credit - the Foth) would:

1. Have to pay back the settlement WITH INTEREST AND PENALTIES

2. Have to join the likes of Steve Fonyo and Alan Eagleson and return his Order of Canada

3. Be disbarred and lose the ability to practice (or pervert) the law FOR LIFE.

4. Have to face charges of perjury

The four items above would be just a start towards atonement for the man tied with Stephen Harper in polls as the worst Prime Minister in the last half century or so, but most likely having his feelings hurt will be the only cross he'll have to bear.

Calling MacFarlane Walter & Ross

If I were a senior editor/executive at MacFarlane Walter & Ross (assuming they still exist, the publishing business in Canada being what it is today) I would consider a paperback reprinting of Stevie Cameron's 1994 book On the Take .

She spins a tale of "Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years" (the book's subtitle) that runs to 512 pages, and only has room to mention of Karl-Heinz Schreiber on about SIX pages (313-14, 382-84, 386) plus his entry in the index, there being so much other corruption to deal with. (Since this book has been in print for 16 years with no libel/slander suits, it is likely that Ms. Cameron's allegations have the best defence of all - or can't be challenged because they are TRUE).

For $16,000,000, plus the $2.1 million for damaging his (not exactly gleeming) reputation, the Canadian public was allowed to see only the tip of the iceberg of Karl-Heinz specific/related sleaze - due to the limited scope of Oliphant's mandate. The other 99% of the sleaze under Lyin' Brian's watch was left completely untouched. And still the Jaw that walks like a Man tries to spin Oliphant's report as an exoneration.

Honour, respect and politics rarely belong in the same paragraph anymore, much less the same sentence or in proximity. But Brian Mulroney, the man who seemed to be more infatuated with Ronnie Raygun than dedicated to Canada and Canadians has in my estimation set the bar so low, that anyone who wants to go below his level had better bring a shovel, cuz mucho digging will be required.

But if anyone can do it, my money is on Stephen Harper!