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!