FLIP, FLOP & LIE
(We can't wait for the liaRs to die)

BC LIEberals Flailing - sans heads or brains!

Just when you think the B.S. coming from the enroute to extinction BC liaRs can't get any deeper and the ass-kissing flunkies of our so-called media already live at Fantasy Gardens, you turn on the TeeVee or open a paper, or listen to the radio and find they have as a group outdone themselves yet again. Their policy on the fly insanity of the excuse for premier and his MLAs in-waiting for recall and the let's turn logic on its head sycophantic contortions of his handmaidens of PostMedia (does that stand for the end of information?) and the rest make the Lord of the Rings trilogy seem like a documentary.

This week we've been entertained by a almost daily more absurd textbook example of the old maxim - IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE MESSAGE, AND CAN'T DEFEND YOUR POSITION, SHOOT THE MESSENGER. Thus we have the desperation of Gordo's man at the Sun, Vaughn Palmer, scouring his old columns and reprinting over the top attacks on Bill VanderZalm from 1991. Bill VanderZalm is demonized all over again for accepting a paper bag of cash (well small change actually compared to Brian Mulroney size SHOPPING BAGS of cash) from a party interested in purchasing HIS property. Meanwhile our Dear Leader continues to get a free ride from the men of the press as he and his cohorts accept hundreds of thousands of dollars, and directorships when it becomes too embarrassing to remain in public service, from people interested in STEALING OUR stuff with Gordo's help, like our railroad and our rivers.

It shouldn't be necessary to point out that even though like Glen Clark, Bill VanderZalm had to face charges over alleged impropieties, a fate to which Gordo and gang are apparently immune, like Glen, Dutch Bill was ACQUITTED! Of course what Bill may or may not have done in 1991 is hardly relevant to the current sea of slime engulfing the province of British Columbia.

Terry Lake - one half of the brain cell free brain trust from Kamloops and clueless chair of the committee charged with dealing with the anti-HST petition - has come out swinging at VanderZalm for "keeping company with extremists" and demanding that he take resposibility for the politics, language and most likely even the sex life of every one of the three quarters of a million folks involved in the petition. Especially rich is Terry's attack on Gary Edwards, my colleague, who, gasp, used some intemperate language on HIS OWN blog - to wit:

We the people, those who pay their wages, don’t give a rats ass for the court cases,” Edwards wrote on his blog at the time. “We didn’t go out and bust our asses just so some f---ing bureaucrat could dictate to us what we have a right to know,” he added.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me - and a man whose BOSSES go around ordering their underlings (on our dime) to assume fake identities and call in to radio shows and "tear new assholes" for mayors of communities when those mayors are merely attempting to stand up for the interests of those who elected them, can hardly claim the high ground in this kind of discussion. Apparently Gary also referred somewhere on his blog to the almost invisible sleazy Liberal hitman in charge of dismantling Elections BC (to further the Campbell dickTaTerShip) as a little turd. Again, that's almost mild compared to what I would have to say to Craig James if I ever had the chance to meet him face to face - apparently something no one (other than his boss Gordo perhaps) gets to do. Mr. James, with no moral authority what so ever prefers to communicate with Bill VanderZalm (concerning the results of the PUBLIC'S business) and those he fires by letter and then leave the country. Oh yeah, I guess he did talk to one of the Postmedia drones - or at least that's what the drone said, though I'm as likely to believe anything from PostMedia as I am anything from the mouth of Gordon Campbell.

Of course Terry Lake is an old hand at smear campaigns. During the municipal elections of 2008, while he was still mayor of Kamloops, he had city hall staff dig up a story on council candidate Abdul Rasheed (on taxpayer dime again) and then spread the story through the media that Mr. Rasheed was a personal friend of Osama bin Laden. As a result, Mr. Rasheed had to put up with abuse such as rotten eggs, and who knows what other threats, apparently just because he is a "brown" man who had the misfortune of being born in Pakistan. Mr. Lake also forgot to point out that if indeed Mr. Rasheed had actually met the boogie man OBL (who used to work for the CIA when the Ruskies were occupying Afghanistan instead of us), it was as a young patriot member of the Mujahadin. As a representative of that anti-Occupier group, Mr. Rasheed even testified before the US Congress, as he and his group were allies of the US (and by default, Canada) at the time. Maybe Gordon Campbell should be the one being chided for the need to take responsibility for the things his people say.

Even the occasionally hard hitting retired journalist Harvey Oberfeld, who bends over far too much to cut his former colleagues some slack (in my estimation) finds their willingness jump on the crap emanating from the likes of Terry Lake beyond the pale. In Anti-Recall Strategy: Go After the Messenger, Not the Message, Harv opines:

The Liberal strategy for fighting recall is now very clear: go after Bill VanderZalm personally, since they apparently worry they can’t beat recall on the issues.

And their attack strategy has been picked up by their mouthpieces in the media: either deliberately, trying to scuttle recall, or naievely taking up the Liberals’ refrain in a drawn out, sustained fashion without thinking about their own double standard, dating back to previous elections...../snip

But the media should not willingly be played for suckers … allowing themselves to be used to dredge up VanderZalm’s personal past … which is totally irrelevant to the ISSUES surrounding the recall campaign. Just as they don’t keep repeating Campbell’s past personal embarrassments when they talk about the HST!

This morning the talk is all about what bombshell is Gordo gonna drop when he speaks to the UCBM tomorrow. According to a midnight press release from Mr. Wooden Shoes, Gordo is going to both cut the HST one point (from 12% to 11%) and move the date of the referendum forward. One would think that he would need to do the scary thing known as calling the Legislature to session to do either of these things, but then I almost forgot, the Ledge is just an ornament in our province and a brainfart in the night from Gordon Campbell is enshrined in law and lauded by the likes of Vaughn Palmer and Keith Baldrey by daybreak. As of 11:00am today a statement from the Public Affairs Bureau denies all of Bill VanderZalm's allegations regarding Gordo's much anticipated, and probably last, Friday speech to the Union of BC Municipalities.

*******
Update - Noon on Glowbull Report

Keith Baldrey, legislative reporter LIEberal lackey, authoritatively squashed all rumors based on the midnight press release on what was purported to be a telephone interview from Whistler. Actually I think they just had to use his voice over a still pic because a live feed of only the soles of his shoes protruding from Campbell's posterior wouldn't make for good TeeVee - however accurate it would be.

Anyway butt-boy Baldrey, after emphasizing the early hour and low attendance and tepid response of the mayors to Carole James speech this morning, was then cued to cut to the chase and issue his PAB approved message re: an HST rate change or referendum date change. According to the Squirrelly Cheeked one, there's not a chance in hell that the rate will be reduced because according to his dominatrixes Gordo and Colon, the rate CANNOT be changed at all until 2012 and the date for the vote is fixed in law - so no change to either.

Then just in case the unwashed sheeple didn't get it, he went on to gratuitously slam Bill VanderZalm and Chris Delany saying:

This was just Bill and Chris having some fun but AS USUAL there was no truth to what they said

********

The burning question I have TODAY is whether the six o'clock snooze with Chris "I've worked in NYC" Gailus will even mention that Carole James addressed (is scheduled to do so) the UCBM today at all - and if they do, how will they turn whatever she says against her.

Right to Know Week!

I've almost forgot to mention that this is "Right to Know Week" in British Columbia. According to
the platitude filled message from the recently appointed new privacy commissioner in our banana republic:

This is Right to Know Week, observed in dozens of countries around the world as a reminder of the vital role access to government information plays in a robust democracy.

Across Canada, all levels of government (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) are proclaiming Right to Know Week as a way to celebrate freedom of information and access rights.

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act gives the public a right of access to government information in British Columbia. Examples of information of public interest being released as a result of access requests include those related to BC Rail, the HST and quality of care audits. The law protects this right of access in three key ways.

It is difficult to take Ms. Denham's boilerplate message seriously as we continue to face obstruction of access to information, receive almost completely redacted documents when we receive them at all and as I type have no idea why the BC Rail Trial is adjourned for another couple weeks and whether or not we will ever get to hear Brian Kenning say "I don't remember" again. Come to think of it, we still have no idea what the true terms of the BC Rail giveaway are.

Ms. Denham closes her Hallmark public notice with:

I invite you to celebrate Right to Know Week with me and to stay tuned for more reasons to celebrate in the near future.

Well, I'll hold off on the celebration until we can find out what our government is doing to us and on our behalf as quickly and as cheaply as we can by filing a Freedom of Information request in Washington State. The last I am aware FOIs filed over a year ago regarding what was discussed in meetings between officials of both the State of Washington and our province resulted in full disclosure at minimal cost (less than $100) in a month or two from Washington State. So far NO DISCLOSURE from the Campbell Crime Family in Victoria, but some mutterings about the thousands of dollars that will need to be remitted to receive what undoubtably (judging from past performace) would be heavily redacted wastes of paper.

Perhaps in BC we should rename the week -
FREEDOM FROM INFORMATION WEEK!

Enemy of the People of BC

I don't usually copy (or almost copy) the title of posts by my fellow bloggers, but there is no other way to think of the once proud paper of record for our Province the Vancouver Sun. Colleague Grant known as the Powell River Persuader took the unsigned piece of crap editorial from Friday's Sun to task in Vancouver Sun - Enemy of British Columbia. It may be a little over the top to call the Sun "Public Enemy Number One" with so many other media vying for the title of Gordon Campbell's biggest ass kisser. With CKNW, CeeTeeVee and Glow Ball, not to mention the Times-Colonist and the Province so busy carrying water for the Campbell Crime Family we hardly need to pay the 200-300 creeps of the Public Affairs Bureau with the "private" sector doing their work for free, or in return for advertising dollars from the government. But for the Big Lie strategy to work, it is necessary to repeat the LIES as often as possible, eventually the sheeple will just assume the lies are true, after all it's like a never ending chorus of ongoing fiction.

The unsigned editorial, or collection of untruths and mis-leading statements, that caught Grant and my attention on Friday was Vander Zalm's recall campaigns serve no useful purpose. Whenever the facts aren't on your side, a bit of personal attack goes a long way like:

Bill Vander Zalm is having the time of his life. And doesn't he look good?

Posing in shorts for a magazine cover, he appears to be two decades younger than his 76 years.

But no one should forget that when he was two decades younger, he was a disgraced man, driven from the premier's office for intransigence, arrogance and self-dealing.

It is difficult to read the paragraph above without the image of the white-haired, prevaricating, intransient, arrogant and self dealing Gordon Muir Campbell coming to mind and inducing vomit in the throat. Apparently those qualities are the sign of good government nowadays and concern about self-dealing and arrogance are so eighties or nineties. I will admit that the anon-o-mice of the Sun Editorial board go on to gently chide their hero Gordo for making us all wait a whole year for the so-called $30 million dollar exercise in non-binding referendum on the HST. Of course the Gord has claimed he will follow the wishes of 50% of the voters plus one which might mean something coming from somebody who wasn't a notorious habitual liaR. I couldn't believe Campbell if I was soaking wet and he told me it was raining!

Of course the delay means that the pro-HST crowd, the Campbell government and their beneficiaries, BIG BUSINESS, have 12 months to innudate us with millions of reasons why the HST is the best possible thing that could happen for, or to, us all. The facts of the matter or the slimey way it was imposed on the folks are and will be completely irrelevant and get used to a steady stream of articles and TeeVee features on the wonders of the HST and how we will all wind up young, beautiful and rich because of Gordo's wisdom in letting us take over the tax burden from his comporate welfare bum friends.

Today, for those people too lazy to turn pages, or too practical to pay almost two bucks for bird cage liner that offends my budgie, today's paean in praise of the HST garnered FRONT PAGE prominence at the Sun, squeezing gang land slayings and such to the inner pages for a change. Today it was Craig McInnes turn to come to the plate for the HST crowd with HST may not be costing you as much as you think. Craig tries to pull the wool over the eyes of the poor and middle class by pointing how how terribly hard the HST will be on those poor, poor RICH FOLKS.

For example, I don't expect any sympathy for my complaint about now having to pay seven per cent more on my annual yacht club fees.

Wealthier British Columbians tend to hire gardeners, to dine out more often, to do more dry cleaning and pay for housecleaning services.

Thanks Craig for making it clear which team you're on with your complaints about YOUR yacht club fees. Can I expect sympathy from you for my increased hit on school supplies, ice time for my hockey playing kid or clothes for my child that used to get to eat a rich enough diet to move into adult sizes at the age of 12 or 13.

Craig goes on to pretend to cry for those that might lose their rebates.

About 1.1 million British Columbians are eligible for HST rebates of up to $230 a year.

So, we should be thrilled that a tax shift onto consumers of $2 Billion will be just fine because the poorest families will be receiving a rebate totalling just over $250 million. This is laughable when one considers the fact that the math shows on average the HST will cost every man, woman and child $500 in increased costs, and in many families of four ($2000) only one of the adults will be receiving the magnanimous rebate of $230. The last time I checked kids weren't getting rebate checks in the mail.

Then Craig goes on to whine about how the costs of abandoning the HST at this late stage will be so costly and those revenues will have to be made up, plus the Feds will have to be repaid the $1.6 Billion bribe. Well I have news for you Craig, by the government's own statements the HST itself is REVENUE NEUTRAL (look it up if necessary) and according to the briefing papers addressed to Colon Hansen, that he refused to read (apparently) it will actually cause a loss in revenues of $400 million the first year. Oh yeah, and that $1.6 Billion that we would have to pay back to Gord's Uncle Steve, last I heard the province is doing so well these days that the economic wizards of the BC liaR Party have only so far needed to collect a quarter or third of this and are deferring payment to future years for the rest of the swag.

But get used to it folks, the lying has been going on steady since 2001 and will only intensify as the people of BC wake up and decide that the biggest problem this province has is Gordon Campbell and his co-dependent fence posts with hair.

So really Craig and your anonymous editorial collegues, the recall campaigns aren't so useless - and don't forget there are other ways to create a vacancy in a riding. I would prefer to use the recall legislation in place, as challenging as it may be, because the other ways of creating an empty seat in the House and forcing a bye-election are much less civilized - though very effective.

I would recommend that readers click onto Big Lies – Pay Big Dividends in the Columbia Journal for a discussion of how the BC liaRs have taken Gobbels' principles to new heights of effective manipulation of public opinion.

There's no lie like a Big Lie. And as happens so often in politics in this country, the big lies -- those repeated over and over again -- pay big dividends. This has seldom been more true than the current election and the fact that the BC Liberal's whole campaign rests on the lie that 1) they inherited a huge deficit from the NDP and 2) that through tax cuts and excellent economic management Gordon Campbell turned things around and saved the province.

First, the foundation for all of the Liberal's propaganda: the NDP deficit myth. Rather than hand the Liberals a huge deficit requiring severe cuts to public services, the NDP in its last year in office, 2000-2001, racked up the largest surplus in BC history to that date - a total of $1.56 billion. The previous year, the NDP had a surplus of $150 million.

When he won in 2001, Gordon Campbell faced a problem: that pesky surplus would put pressure on him to spend on social programs. Better, in the odd logic of right-wing neo-liberals, to face a fiscal crisis, a deficit crisis. What better way to rationalize the most vicious cuts to social spending and environmental protection the province had ever seen?

How do you create a fiscal crisis? Simple. Take over $2 billion dollars of government revenue and burn it - or, even better, give it away in tax cuts to your friends. BC's largest corporations got a huge whack of tax cuts and so did BC's wealthiest residents.

This is just the opening salvo of a worthwhile read from May of 2005 accesible by following the link above.

Give me an
Effing Break!

Craig James - BC LIEberal Mole at Elections BC

In exactly 365 days BC voters will have the opportunity to vote on something (who knows what) to do with the HST. In other words we have 52 weeks of garbage and propaganda to look forward to before we can exercise our franchise in a perhaps meaningless NON-Binding vote that according to the invisible man (Craig James) will cost $30 million, or maybe $24 million. This in spite of the fact that almost as many people as voted for the Lyin' Campbell Crime Family last May already said that they didn't like the HST or the way it was imposed on them.

Then to my amazement I heard that according to someone at Elections BC (could it be the invariably unavailable Craig James) that one year was too short of a lead time for them to prepare properly for the vote - but they would do their best to get it together. Now let me get this straight - if I'm not mistaken until Gordo Americanized our election process with the fixed election dates Elections BC never knew when there would be an election (A WHOLE ENTIRE GENERAL ELECTION TO ELECT 80+ MLAs and any referendum issues such as STV) until two or three months before the election date. Now Craig, or someone speaking for him (he only likes to communicate by letter to "special" idividuals, like Bill VanderZalm or Leonard Krog and doesn't feel obliged to explain his reasoning about anything at all. The thought that the putatative CEO of a NON-PARTISAN public agency should have to answer to the public is apparently demented.

Oops, silly me, apparently Craig James does speak because according to John Fowlie in the Vancouver Stunned:

Recall in British Columbia is expected to cost taxpayers at least $500,000 per campaign, acting chief electoral officer Craig James said Thursday.

So maybe he talked to Mr. Fowlie, or maybe Mr. Fowlie got a letter from the man who likes to fire people and then run off to Africa with the Okanagan MLA (and potential recall target) Bill Berisoff. I would like to remind Mr. Fowlie and Mr. James that bye-elections are necessary anytime there is a VACANCY in the Legislature and there are other means of creating such vacancies - though why is another question because the Legislature rarely meets anyway and then there is no real debate of any substance there anyway. A bunch of juvenile cat calls and then a bunch of bills pushed through in the last day or two and off on vacation again. This year it seems likely that the House will have sat for a total of 46 days - nice work if you can get it.

Fowlie concludes his piece in the fish wrapper with:

James was cautious about his remarks because he plans to return to his regular job as a non-partisan clerk of committees once a permanent chief electoral officer is selected. As a result, he sat for an off-the-record interview Thursday, and then issued a lengthy written on-the-record statement.

I guess you could rephrase that to say "he plans to return to his regular job as a non-partisan clerk once he is done with his highly partisan re-structuring of the previously non-partisan Elections BC!

Campbell's PR man Vaughn Palmer chimed in today with a piece in the Sun quoting Carole (Ms. Invisible) James claiming that "Direct Democracy not the best way to set tax policy" - well if we had any representatives that actually, you know, represented us, we wouldn't have to resort to direct democracy.

Actually the entire NDP caucus isn't silent and complicit in this assault on democracy - it's just that you wouldn't know it from the MSM, Glow Ball, CTV, the PostMedia crowd and CKNW. John Horgan was interviewed on CFAX and here are some of his comments, which you won't hear on Glow Ball.

John Horgan on CFAX<

I think it's a shame that we haven't had more attention drawn to this
issue. I've had a number of meetings with Linda Johnson over
the years when I worked in the government and also as an MLA
, and I could describe her in no other way than the ultimate
commensurate professional, and for her after 28 years to be
summarily dismissed by a guy who's just passing through, has
been in the job for two and a half, three months in the
middle of the summer....../snip

....he's not even in the country when she's dispatched or he
leaves shortly thereafter, I think that's just
unconscionable...../snip

.....what are you thinking, Craig?
I mean, you're there to sit in the chair
and administer the act on behalf of all British Columbians.
You're supposed to be the most impartial person in the
province when you're in the role of chief electoral officer,
and to dismiss your number two without explanation to the
public and then to leave town....../snip

This is the part that really rubs me the wrong way.
The Liberals deliberately sent messages to Harry Neufeld,
the outgoing, the former chief electoral officer saying they
were not going to reappoint him. And that's fine. If they
want to take a partisan position on a non-partisan civil
servant, that's fine. But they had, then, an obligation to
strike the committee of New Democrats and Liberals, and I
suspect maybe even the independent would be able to be on
the committee, and pick a new one. And if they're going to
pick a new one, then I'm certain -- I'm certain -- that
Harry Neufeld would have stuck around until a replacement
was found. They plucked Craig James out of the Legislature
without consulting the opposition. They did it arbitrarily
because they didn't like Harry Neufeld, they didn't like
that he had given approval to the initiative petition on the
HST. They didn't like Linda Johnson because she was the one
that was responsible for disallowing people to participate
above or below the $5,000 limit, and that of courses is the
infamous HST pamphlets.

So I say Recall in the Fall and in the Spring. Recall enough to make the BC liaR government fall and recall Ms. James and Leonard Krog as well and let's see where we can go from there. By the seldom seen Craig James napkin calculations for just a few million we could rid ourselves of both the HST and the Campbelloids as government and then just cancel the HST referendum, because any government that listened to the people doesn't need to spend $30 million to answer questions already asked and answered.

Citizen Journalist 54
LOCKED OUT of Club 54

BC Voters - kept in the dark and fed HORSE CRAP!


Memories fade when the details are made clear about selling BC Rail

CJ54 ---

I travelled to the courthouse today to find out that the doors of
Courtroom 54 were locked. No reasons posted. The events of the last
week highlighted by more "I don't recall" and "I can't remember any
events seven years ago" from Brian Kenning forced me to travel to the
BC Supreme Court to see for myself what the reactions were in the
courtroom to the inability of witnesses to remember anything about the
sale of BC Rail. It appears to me that the strategy is for witnesses
to avoid perjury charges at all cost and they are following the
pattern of select memories set by Martyn Brown. No doubt, this will
be a pattern that continues.

We have heard that a so called "money losing railway" was using scarce
dollars to fund Vancouver Canuck tickets and BC Lions tickets. We
have heard that the management of BC Rail travel to Hong Kong and
Dubai to learn about ports. We have heard that Kevin Mahoney Vice
President at BC Rail was eligible to receive bonuses equal to 28
months of salary for only 10 months of work if BC Rail was sold. We
have heard how Brian Kenning was close friends with Peter Armstrong of
Rocky Mountaineer Railtours and a strategic partner with CN. We have
heard how BC Rail paid BC Liberal insiders Randy Wood, Patrick
Kinsella, Nancy Spooner and Judy Kirk hundreds of thousands of
dollars. We have heard that the BC Government approved huge salary
increases for the members of the BC Rail board. All evidence that
points to a railway run as a political tool for the friends of Gordon
Campbell to play with.

The most outrageous example of the gross abuse of taxpayer monies was
the notion that BC Rail management received threefold bonuses for
retention, severance, and change of operator that was signed in
January of 2002! If the decision to sell the Railway wasn't made
publicly until May 2003, why did the BC Rail Board of Directors
approve these extravagant bonuses in 2002? Why aren't these questions
being asked of our elected officials? After BC Rail was sold, Kevin
Mahoney was paid $797,104 in 2004 plus $46,000 in expenses.

The other important fact that was made in evidence was the number of
people involved in the sale of BC Rail. The process to sell BC Rail
involved many people and many politicians. You have the support
staff. You have the people of BC Rail. You have the lawyers. You
have other consultants. You have the bankers at CIBC World Markets.
And then you have the BC Government. The government had many people
involved in the sale of BC Rail and many elected officials including
Pat Bell - a key person who was referred to by Mr. Brian Kenning in
his evidence on Tuesday morning.

According to Mr. Kenning, John McLernon (chairman of BC Rail and chair
of the evaluation committee), advised Kenning that he had information
from Pat Bell, (MLA for Prince George and current Minister of Forests)
that Mr. Bell heard from a source that Mr. Kenning said that "CN is
going to get BC Rail" sometime in March 2003. John McLernon asked
Brian Kenning if he made the comment and Mr. Kenning denied it. Brian
Kenning testified that John McLernon would handle the allegation.
McLernon is scheduled to be a witness in this case.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media ignore some of the more important
facts that are given in evidence during the trial. Everyday new
details emerge around the sale of BC Rail. Unfortunately, the whole
truth is not emerging given the inability of witnesses to remember.

Citizen Journalist from outside 54

Amnesiac of the Week!


Brian Kenning - another man without a memory!

Brian Kenning is a very important man, and somehow, in spite of having no ability to recall anything, has held numerous IMPORTANT postions - namely:

Mr. Kenning is a Corporate Director and a Director of Brookfield Asset Management Advisory Board.

Until January 1, 2005, Mr. Kenning was a Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management, a position he held since May 1995. Brookfield’s operations are in the real estate, asset management and power generation sectors.

From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Kenning was Chairman and Managing Partner of B.C. Pacific Capital Corporation, a Brookfield affiliate active in merchant banking and investing.

Prior to Brookfield, Mr. Kenning held several senior positions in Versatile Corporation, a large diversified industrial manufacturing company, including President from 1987 to 1988.

Mr. Kenning is currently a Director of the British Columbia Railway Company, British Columbia Ferry Authority, British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., and Royal Oak Ventures Inc.

Mr. Kenning is also past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the B.C. Cancer Foundation.

Over the past ten years, Mr. Kenning has served as Director of a number of public and private corporations, including Canadian Hunter Explorations, Ltd., Canadian Northstar Corporation, Northgate Exploration Limited, Great Lakes Power Inc., International Utility Structures Inc., Catalyst Paper Corporation and several private corporations.

In addition, Mr. Kenning is a past Governor of the B.C. Business Council, a past Director of the B.C. chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors, and has served as Board Chairman of St. George’s School (1998-2000) and Board Chairman of Brentwood College School (1990-1995).

Mr. Kenning graduated from Queen's University with an MBA in 1973.

Can a stint at BC Gaming and Lotteries be in this member of the in crowd's future (or does that depend on how much he can forget)? I wonder who helped Mr.Kenning remember all the boards he has sat on and positions he has held - it is difficult to imagine he could have remembered these all himself!

BC's Justice System
SHAMES ITSELF!

imgage from Betty's Early Edition

Just when one thinks that the reputation of the so-called Justice System in British Columbia couldn't sink any lower (See Robin Mathews' 10 point indictment based on just the BC Rail Corruption Trial IRREGULARITIES at BC Mary's) thanks to Alison of Creekside (crossposted at the Galloping Beaver) we learn that one of Mike DeJong's butt-boys in the AG ministry wants to put Betty Krawczyk away for LIFE as a repeat offender. Just this week a trucker caught with $6,000,000 of illegal drugs for sale walked free with a few months served, yet Betty K, who never "harmed a single person or piece of logging or construction equipment." and has the temerity to appeal the 10 month sentence SHE ALREADY served, will be answered in court with an attempt to lock her up for life. I can't express the outrage I feel any better than Alison already has:

After serving out her last sentence in full, Betty appealed it on the grounds that the squelching of protest inconvenient to corporations and governments is an illegitimate use of the legal system.
The Attorney General's response to her appeal has been to recommend the court re-sentence her under the rules of "accumulated convictions", designate her a chronic offender, and lock her up for life!

"When an accused has been convicted of a serious crime in itself calling for a substantial sentence and when he suffers from some mental or personalty disorder rendering him a danger to the community but not subjecting him to confinement in a mental institution and when it is uncertain when, if ever, the accused will be cured of his affliction, in my opinion the appropriate sentence is one of life."

"A serious crime"? "A mental or personality disorder"? "A danger to the community"? "Life" ? For an appeal to a sentence she has already served?
Good God.
Shame on you, Michael Brundrett of the Attorney Generals Office.

It was extraordinary enough that a provincial government now happy to take credit for having "saved" Clayoquot Sound was willing to jail for two and a half years a person prominently responsible for having forced them to do so. It is beyond heinous that they should now attempt to rebrand her fight for social justice and responsible environmental practices some sort of "mental disorder" worthy of a life sentence.

Betty's appeal will be heard this Wednesday Sept 22nd at 10am at the Court House, 800 Smithe St., Vancouver. She is asking for your support at a rally at 9:30am on the back steps of the Court House at Howe and Robson just before the hearing.

Please come. If you can't, write or email a letter to your local paper, your MLA.
Anything will do - the important thing is to let them know you are watching.
Betty is willing to go to prison for her beliefs; please take a few moments to write a letter to stand up for yours.

Speaking of Criminals

Some folks, mainly those whose opinion is of little concern to me, have accused me of being unreasonable, or unfair because I constantly refer to Gordo "da Capo" Campbell as a criminal and his collection of enablers as the Campbell Crime Family. So you can imagine my joy when I discover the man who may be the most articulate and UNDERSTATED blogger in British Columbia has come to the same conclusion regarding the nature of the ongoing criminal enterprise that poses as the BC Liberal Government. Norman Farrell of Northern Insights calls a spade a spade and a crook a criminal in A crime family depends on its enablers. Norman opens this post with the damning paragraph:

Premier Gordon Campbell, his political colleagues, back room puppet masters, greedy co-conspirators and all legitimately paid-up members of the BC Liberal Party are devoid of honor. Campbell, titular head of this west coast crime family, long ago lost integrity and his moral compass. His aim has been to convert public resources and assets to private control for private benefit. Soulless self-dealing manipulators, operating in the shadows, put Campbell in place to achieve their goals of personal enrichment. In the past few years, their appetites have grown because they sense the end nearing with curtains of concealment becoming threadbare.

Of course the criminals pretending to be MLAs get a lot of assistance in their lying and stealing from the so called "pundit" class:

Worst of all are the seasoned professional pundits, claiming to report objectively as servants of the public, but in reality, little more than water carriers, supporting the party line, helping sustain the comforts of British Columbia's ruling class.

If the reasonable Norm Farell finds it necessary to use such damning language, it is clear that something is rotten in James Bay and it is clear that it is the biggest criminals of all that are running the so-called Justice System to further their own greed and lack of concern for the province and its people.

Dr? Jack Mintz
Liar for Hire!

Academic Whore, Jack Mintz with Colon Infection on Shoulder

Academic Studies and Reports
Conclusions tailored to your Agenda

Do you need academic support for some wing nut idea? Do you have money? If the answer to both questions is yes, then two-faced (at least) Dr. Jack Mintz is your man. Let's look at some of his findings and conclusions in recent years.

In Ontario a proposed HST would lead to the loss of 38,000 jobs, higher consumer prices and lower wages - Dr. Jack Mintz - 2008

Ontario stands to gain massive investment AND 591,000 new jobs - Dr. Jack Mintz 2009

The HST in BC will create 113,000 jobs, lower consumer prices blah, blah, blah - Dr. Jack Mintz 2010

I would like to suggest that we pass the hat and once we manage to get $10,000 or so together we can go to Dr. Mintz and have him write a report for us. Of course first we have to decide what we want the report to say - apparently Dr. Mintz' findings are based on what the client wants rather than any fact based reality.

Expect to hear about Jack Mintz (but not Ontario 2008/9 report for CD Howe) a lot in the next year or so now that Genghis Gordo has declared war on democracy and the people of British Columbia. Gordo is gonna remain premier and we are gonna learn to love the HST, even if we have to be water-boarded - but repeating the same lies over and over and over and over will probably be enough, or at least Gord and Colon think so.

Welcome to a PAB supplied soapbox also will be any other so-called economists who adhere to the neo-con, privatization, shift the tax burden unto the poor and middle-class to spare the poor coporations from any onerous costs doctrine. It would be no loss to the world if the University of Chicago's School of Economics and it's junior prep school at the University of Calgary both burned to the ground as the result of natural gas pipeline explosions. I consider it possible that the ideas spawned in these dens of self serving wisdom have caused more damage to the planet and mankind than all the wars on the last century. Of course these "economic principles" bear a great responsibility for much of the warfare of the last few decades.

Just remember it is no use to argue with an idiot. He will just drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

3rd Down and Infinity
$30 Million Punt

Campbell Kicks the Ball Downfield (late hit, please!)

So the LIEberals have taken (as suspected) the weasle way out of the HST brew ha ha. The hood ornament select committee (with six robot liaRS to four NDP, why not just ask Gord directly what to do?) has after consultation with the almost invisible Craig James decided on a $30,000,000 NON-BINDING refrendum in approximately one year from now. I guess this couldn't be dealt with for no extra cost in the Legislature for two reasons.

1. The province is apparently in a position to close another hospital or school and thus can afford $30 mil to do something we already pay our MLAs to do. But we wouldn't want to ruin their year by calling a session of the Legislature and making them earn their ridiculous salaries.

2. Those well-paid MLAs would have to show their true colours if they voted on the HST issue, and we know they are all spineless and frightened of both their boss, Gordo and their constituents who can smell recall already.

Now the legislation governing the referendum states that in order to win the anti-HST forces need to garner 50% of NOT THE PEOPLE WHO BOTHER TO VOTE, but of the eligible (I assume registered) voters in the province to win. Considering that it is almost impossible to expect even half of the eligible voters to even show up and vote in a general election, that would seem to be almost impossible. Then assuming the impossible occurs the result of the vote IS NOT BINDING. So we're certainly glad the province is so overloaded with bucks that $30,000,000 for a meaningless exercise in electoral manipulation/fraud is just spare change.

According to the CBC:

Campbell said the issue will be decided by a simple majority in a referendum to be held Sept. 24, 2011, and if more than 50 per cent of those who vote want the tax gone, the Liberal government will get out of the tax deal with Ottawa.

The move dramatically lowers the threshold...../snip

Of course if you believe this, I own a large Island (Vancouver Island it's called), that I will sell cheap, to make up for my losses in the derivatives market. I don't know if it is congenitally even possible for Gordon Campbell to speak without lying, after all he wasn't going to sell BC Rail, the HST wasn't even under consideration, he wouldn't tear up contracts.....on and on ad infinitum. I like to think that by next September, Mr. Campbell won't even be a sitting MLA, much less premier.

All the Gord is doing is stalling and all I have to say, is KEEP ON KEEPING ON - For Gordo's sake maybe he'll quit his stubborn refusal to step aside, ever tell the truth or revoke the HST, but I hope not. I don't think that his arrogant actions are helping him to win friends and influence people. He might not wish to push it to the point where he gets shot, not that I'd care, but he's got a long way to go, we're not in the United States of the NRA and it takes a lot to even get Canadians (apparently) into the streets much less get violent (unless they are undercover OPP or Quebec Provicial Police).



Assholes Elsewhere

Enbridge has refused to accept an invitation to attend a community meeting over the pipeline from Hell proposal from the village of Terrace. Terrace wanted a meeting that included members of council, residents, environmental groups, unions, natives and Enbridge. Enbridge wants to hold their own meeting where they are the only delegation and basically deliver a lecture telling the community what they want, and how wonderful the pipeline will be for Northern BC.

Liar in Chief
or Mr. Popular!

I can tell a lie this BIG!

Update: 2:00pm

Quote of the Day!

"All I can do is go out and do the best I can -- tell people the truth, which is what I'm doing the entire time" ------- Gordon Campbell September 13, 2010

Well I guess I'm going to have to check with my doctor, about perhaps putting me on some medication that will stop me from living in fantasyland - because either Gordo is LYING or I'm living in an imaginary world. If indeed telling the truth is what the Gord of Greed does "the entire time," then it follows that:

1. We still own BC Rail, and it was never sold
   
2. The deficit is $495 million AT MOST!
   
3. Gordo never tore up any HEU contracts
   
4. Gordo's government is the most open and transparent in history and FOI's are rapidly responded to and hardly ever is anything redacted
   
5. We don't have an HST, and if we do, I'm better off
   
6. It is okay for Gordo to be an adulterer, but not okay for Gordon Wilson
   
7. Rape of the River Pirate Power is GREEN
   
8. BC Hydro isn't being broken up and gradually privatized
   
9. Admiral Herr Hahn is the best thing that ever happened to BC Ferries
   
10. I really don't have to travel 200-300 miles for medical services that used to be available in my community
    
11. Education is sufficiently funded
    
12. The carbon tax has cut down on carbon emissions
    
13. It's a toss-up between Hitler, Stalin and Glen Clark as to who was the biggest enemy of humanity
    
14. BC really is a net importer of energy
    
15. It is fiscally sound to guarantee a purchase price to Pirate Power Corps and then sell the power on the Columbia grid for 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 or less than the purchase price.
    
16. BC really is the "Best Place on Earth!"
    

Speaking of the utterance of great truths, I had the misfortune (or opportunity to scoff and laugh) by hearing an interview with the APTLY named Gordon HOGG, Minister of Mines on my local CBC morning show. According to Mr. HOGG, the Prosperity mine is a wonderful thing because there are NO FISH in Fish Lake, nobody fishes in Fish Lake, there are no grizzily bears in the Cariboo-Chilcohlton to worry about (as he said we may as well worry about lions and elephants) AND the whole project is aimed at aleviating First Nations poverty.

These guys (and what may or may not be gals) only lie if their lips are moving, or they are typing, or writing, or tapping out morse code, or using sign language.

But at least Gordon is listening to me, because according to the Province, the most hated premier in Canada, is still Number 1. See Campbell says he's still No. 1

Despite dismal polling numbers, Gordon Campbell insists he's staying on as B.C. premier and Liberal Party leader

And that's just what I hope he continues to TRY to do..........

Original post*******************

Greed Bag and Prevaricator in Chief, Gordon Muir Campbell should be heartened by his latest Angus Reid poll. Apparently the pollsters were able to determine that there was an astounding 12% of the voters that actually approved of him. With the BC Rail Corruption Trial firing up again today, can single digits be coming soon? Even more illuminating was the fact that according to the poll EIGHTY THREE PERCENT of the electorate DOES NOT TRUST THIS MAN.

Hang in there Gordo, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't resign. I know your magnificent leadership can turn this around. I'm pulling for you!

By the way, Carole James' approval ratings aren't that hot either (though over twice as high as the Gord's. Ms. James has my full support in steppiing down to become a backbencher or Education Minister in Waiting or ANYTHING other than wannabe premier.

IT'S SHOWTIME!


They say the BC Rail Corruption Trial, just like school last week, starts up again today. Of course until someone goes to the courtroom and verifies it, we really won't know as trial dates have a funny way of changing or not happening at the last minute in this case. For a survey of the Lamestream media's check out Ross at the Gazeteer and BC Mary who have provided links to the warm up commentary and articles in the most recent postings over the weekend. It is especially gratifying to see Ross back in fighting trim and hammering away at the keyboard at this perhaps critical time in the trial that may last forever.

I have a busy day (or week) so will leave it to Ross, Mary, Bill, Laila or whoever can devote more time in the next day or two at least to the trial. But I will be following it as closely as I can and will be publishing any reports Citizen Journalist 54 sends as soon as possible (same day).

I did notice a surprising awareness on the part of the CBC (Radio anyway) who if possible had been ignoring the trial in the past even more than the PABsters by another name Canned Waste drones in the past. However I do take issue with one CBC commentator I heard early this morning. He described the trial to date and characterized Martyn Brown's performance on cross examination in an inexplicable manner. The fellow, whose name I can't recall said that subjected to days of blithering cross examination Mr. Brown (approximate from memory) "adroitly matched wits with the defence counsel and denied any corrupt interference by the Campbell government in the transaction.

Well Mr. CBC, how you can call being unresponsive at best or committing perjury at worst "matching wits" is beyond me. Without the apparently biased judge hearing the case to protect him, Mr. Brown would have spent the summer break in jail on contempt charges. It doesn't take a mastermind to claim (falsely I think - which is where the perjury potential charge comes in) his mind is a complete blank for the last ten years, EXCEPT for the odd thing (factual or not) that seems to support the government's innocence.

Has anyone seen
or will anyone ever see
Craig James?

Word last week had it that the select committee on the Referendum was going to pick Mr. James' brain today. But on the other hand according to reports he has disappeared to some undisclosed location (BC's own DickHead Cheney?) after firing the second in command at Elections B.C.

Ah, ain't autumn great - I love the smell of BC Liberal blood in the morning!

Living in the Land of
da Nile

WHAT ME WORRY?

Gordo, da Capo of the BC liaRs Crime Family, is back and "re-invigorated" after a vacation in Europe with his wife prop, you know Nancy, the one he brings out for ceremonial occasions and then sends back to Squamish or where ever it is he stores her in between ceremonies at the cenopah, the need to deflect gossip during campaigns or just any time the white haired prevaricating adulterer thinks a shot of old fashioned family values would be a helpful tactic. At least Wally's targets in Bountiful are out front about their life-style. How our lame media could jump on his bandwagon to dethrone Gordon Wilson over such issues and then put up such a wall between the public and Gordon Campbell's actual situation only goes to show how complicit an unpaid volunteer arm of the Public Affairs Bureau is what passes for media in this province.

As the National Post puts it:

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Campbell said he returned from a vacation with his wife (sic) on Tuesday with a new sense of purpose as Premier. "One of
the things about going on vacation is you come back revitalized and excited by the opportunities the job represents," he said. "I'm pleased to be back. I feel revitalized and I'm ready to go."

Mr. Campbell brushed aside calls from former Liberal party insiders, and the Opposition NDP, that he step aside for the good of the party in the wake of plummeting poll numbers and public anger at his government's handling of the HST. "I don't think anyone would ever suggest I was a quitter," he said.

I would suggest Mr. Campbell was/is many, many things before I got down the list to quitter - LYING SACK OF REFUSE comes to mind immediately!

Mr. Campbell insisted he still enjoys the full confidence of his Cabinet, caucus and Liberal party membership.

"As a government we are doing well. I think we're facing a pretty challenging political agenda right now from a lot of people, but we're going to have to work our way through it."

Well since Mr. Campbell still enjoys the full confidence of his Cabinet and caucus he could be assured of almost 50 votes if an election were called tonight. As to the full support of the "Liberal party membership," I would suggest he is speaking out of an entirely different orifice than his mouth on that one.

But hey, I'm glad he and his gang of fence-posts with hair and fellow bandits are gonna hang in there. Gordon Campbell doesn't deserve the dignity of leaving at a time of his own choosing - he needs seriously to be kicked to the curb and then scooped up and put in a cell.

My colleague Grant over at the Straight Goods, who listens to Bill "name should be changed to BAD" Good, Crusty and the rest of the idiots over at CKNW, so I don't have to, put up a good one last night titled "Kevin Kreuger admits man love for Gordon Campbell". He captures the Jim Jones/Jonestown style kool-aid induced zombie state of the sub-normal Kreuger (and most of the liaR caucus). A taste of Grant's transcription:

"Gordon Campbell is one of the most popular leaders in Canada, Gordon Campbell is a leader in trade relations, Gordon Campbell is respected in China" (Kool Kev)

"I want Gordon Campbell to be our leader in 2013.....I will follow Gordon Campbell anywhere"

You just keep saying that Kev, and the rest of you sleazy betrayers of the Public Trust, you know who I mean Shirley, Mary, Kevin "Birdbrain," Terry "whose head could be put to better use holding a" Lake and the rest.

It seems to me that all they dealt with today in the first BC Cabinet meeting was criminals. How much they love one (Gordo) and they are calling for an inquiry into the Pickton investigation. It is no surprise, and such an exercise could be constructive. However I think it more likely that this bunch of slime wanted to do something that most people would approve of and think that even more daily news about the Pig Farmer from Hell will be distracting from issues that ultimately are more relevant to most British Columbians - like Enbridge, Salmon farms, BC Rail and the Corruption Trial, the HST Follies, health and education cutbacks and so forth.

HST Follies
or Terry fails at Math,
but Les don't get it!

Les(s) "than bright" Leyne weighed in (lightly, of course) on yesterday's farce of a committee meeting by the Referendum Committee charged with handling the anti-HST petition. How out of touch he is with reality is clear from the title of his piece, Liberals might risk HST referendum, really you need not read any further. After all Les, what part of NON-BINDING do you NOT UNDERSTAND. The truly risky thing for the BC liaRs to do at this point, and why Jenny Kwan immediately moved for this to occur, would be to introduce the Bill VanderZalm HST exstinquishment Bill into the BC Legislature. Then each MLA would have the opportunity to cast his vote, and show his/her constituents whether he represented Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen (and the mostly offshore corporations) or the voters of their ridings.

Terry Lake, who with his buddy Kevie Kreuger might be responsible for lowering the combined I.Q. of Kamloops many points, shows that he either skipped math class or wasn't paying attention with:

"We're here because 18.6 per cent of eligible British Columbians signed a petition, many of whom have told me afterward that they were misinformed when they signed it," he said. "So we need to find out, I think, how British Columbians really feel now that they understand a little more of the HST, perhaps they feel differently, but that's the issue before us."

Let me explain Mr. Lake. If just shy of 20% of the eligible voters signed the petition AGAINST the HST, that isn't that much less than HALF of the people who bothered to vote at all in last May's election. Terry Lake realizes full well that in numerous ridings more people signed the petition than voted for the sitting MLA, so don't try to dazzle us with your math, unless you actually know how to work with numbers - I know Terry fractions and percentages are HARD! You with me still Les(s) or should I wait while you do some remedial work in vocabulary and math?

Actually Michael Smyth captured the "historic" meeting as well as anyone I've come across with HST circus evokes images of Monty Python.

While a "historic day" at the B.C. legislature was morphing into a Monty Python skit, the real circus over the HST was performing behind the scenes on Wednesday.

In Victoria, politicians from both parties got together to figure out what to do about ex-premier Bill Vander Zalm's anti-HST petition.

Things got so weird at one point I half expected John Cleese to goose-step into the room and start debating the budget for the Ministry of Silly Walks.

After an hour of ridiculous motions, counter-motions, amendments and general confusion, the Liberaldominated committee in charge of the petition decided to meet again next week to consider their options.

Sadly, while Les Leyne remains confused (or falls for the party line) and Mr. Smyth finds the humour in the situation, this gang of brigands continues to pillage the once rich and proud province of British Columbia to benefit only themselves and their elite group of "friends." or should we call them "associates" in the sense that the Mob or Biker Gangs use that term. They are so proud that Gordo has led them to victory THREE times, but I see nothing to take pride in when it was gained by non-stop lying. And of course the lies go on, they are convinced that if they say it (whatever - I won't sell BC Rail/I didn't sell BC Rail, We aren't even considering an HST/The HST is wonderful) enough and over and over, we sheeple will believe them, especially if we can still go to the mall and get a new large HD Flat Screen TeeVee!

Citizen Journalist 54
RETURNS

As parents and children begin getting ready for the new school year, I felt this was a great opportunity to review the first few months of the BC Rail trial and some other interesting developments as the trial restarts after a long summer break on Monday September 13, 2010.

I have been unable to find a legal case where a jury trial has taken a 2 month break over non-legal arguments, presumably to cover off lawyers' summer holidays. Nonetheless, I have to ask why the defence would agree to the 2 month break? There is no doubt that the testimony of Martyn Brown, Chief of Staff to Premier Gordon Campbell would have hurt the prosecution in presenting it's case as Mr. Brown had no recollection of key events and was having difficulty in remembering emails that he himself had written. Whether the email was about the BC Government approving a tax guarantee to CN, or emails from Brian Keiran discussing a fishing trip with former Deputy Minister of Finance Paul Taylor that then forced the Premier's office to order an investigation, or remembering the many key donors to the BC Liberal Party. Could this evidence have been forgotten by the 12 member jury panel? Time will tell as the trial continues. The Special Prosecutor indicated that Allan Wallace would be the next witness. Given that the defence lawyers have thousands of emails fromthe BC Government, I hope that Allan Wallace and other witnesses will be in a better position to remember the events that lead to the sale of BC Rail.

On August 6th, a hearing took place at the Vancouver courthouse. Upon furthur research of "EM", the names of Tony Young and James Duncan appeared as well. An odd development since the ALR case is a separate hearing but the dates and times are identical to the court lists for Aneal Basi and Bobby Virk. Is something in the works? How could all of the accused Basi, Virk Basi and Young and Duncan appear on the same day? What is "Inherent Jurisdiction"? Will the media ask Bill Berardino some questions about this development?

We also learned of new area codes for a key witness in this case. Brian Kieran, sold his property from idyllic Pender Island to move to Campbell River. Well, we all know how Kieran loves to go fishing with Paul Taylor, so perhaps he wanted to move to the salmon fishing capital of the world to catch the really big one?

Erik Bornmann is still awaiting his discilplinary hearing from the Law Society of Upper Canada. You may recall that the hearing into Mr. Bornmann's "good character" was to begin in November of 2006. I understand that he still holds the title of Articling Student, until the completion of his disciplinary hearing from the LSUC.

As we ready ourselves for the re-starting of the trial, let us hope that the courtroom observers will turn out in numbers and that more people will tune in to this blog and others to find out the real factsof the trial that the mainstream media are ignoring.

I will continue to attend Courtroom 54 for the duration of the trial and I hope to see many others. In my next piece, I will provide my observations of the courtroom attendees of which there have been some notable people in attendence.

Citizen Journalist from 54

You can leave comments here at the House or contact CJ54 at:

citizenjournalist54@gmail.com

Good to hear from ya, CJ54. I'm certain I'm not alone in being glad to hear that you and your observational skills will be attending the Courtroom 54 Follies starting next week on September 13. (kootcoot)

PITTER-PATTER,
Let's Git at 'Er!

No Comment!


While Waldo Gordo continues to be difficult to locate, understandably so, others are of a mind that summer is over and it's time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work on getting our province back from the scoundrels who have been abusing it and ourselves for the last decade. With no thanks to the local PostMedia/Canned Waste we know that BC's first couple were seen stinking up the joint at the California State Legislature last month. And oh yeah, the local excuse for a media (PostMedia - get it? AFTER the death of real Media) was expecting to hear from the white-haired prevaricating adulterer yesterday, but his lack of appearance doesn't really seem to generate any concern with the PAB reliant local lackeys.

..errr, you're not the boss of California, Lara!

It would appear that the Public Affairs Bureau was called into service to write an introduction for Assembly Speaker Juan Perez to use in introducing Gordo so he could grovel before the Californians begging them to buy his illicit Pirate-Power and help bankrupt BC Hydro so GE or Ledcor or ? could afford to pick it up cheap.

I won't cite the entire intro, it went on about how wonderful Gordon was for supplying "clean" energy for Californian air-conditioners - come to think of it, he didn't say much about the power still not paid for, dating back to the glory days of Enron and Brown-outs. No wonder Gordo and Colin love to hire Accenture, the illegitimate spawn of Andersen Accounting would did the creative book keeping ot make it all possible. But this part from the start is good for humour.

Gordon Campbell was recently re-elected to his fourth year term as pri ah.(garbled).. premier of the most innovative and productive province

Under Premier Campbell's bold leadership BC has become a global leader in environmental protection, green technologies and sustainable job creation.

Deliver me from this fool.....please

After uttering the above and not being struck down by lightning (though he is watching out above), is it no wonder Senor Perez spent the rest of Gordo's grovel session scowling and looking at the bottom of his shoes.

Thanks to Laila Yuile for bringing the video clip of this (Gordo's Address to the Assembly) to my attention and for those interested in the transcripts of Gordo's drivel (no transcript of Mr. Perez' intro, maybe the PAB could provide a copy) follow the links below.

Campbell Addresses the California Senate, August 11

PREMIER CAMPBELL SPEAKS TO CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY, August 12

For a video of Gordos gas for the Assembly follow the link above to Laila's and scroll to the bottom embedded youTube offering in that post.

The Return of Citizen Journalist 54

Speaking of rolling up our sleeves and "pitter, patter, getting at 'er" - I heard from CJ 54 this morning who assures me he is getting ready for an autumn of attending court down at Robson and Smithe. It is great to hear that his valuble set of eyes and ears will be there watching and listening for those of us who can't be there. We are just polishing/finishing a guest post from old CJ which will be posted as soon as possible, quite likely later this afternoon. I let the citizen journalist speak for himself shortly - stay tuned........