Dawna Freisen
Dirt Disher!
 

Dawna Friesen working on her C.V. to apply to Glow Ball

GlowBall TeeVee seems to have a real tendency to hire anchors that serve some time in the big (read important) networks in the USA, like NBC,CBS and ABC - Faux News not so much. Canadian born, and returned, Kevin Newman, Chris Gailus and Dawna Friesen are all results of this policy. Of course compared to Chris Gailus who fluffs pillows for the establishment (read BC Liberals and their corporate masters) Dawna is a female Edwina J. Murrow. Though no fault of her own though, now Dawna is being forced to be almost a tabloid political version of the legally trained guy that runs the banks of "papparazzi reporters" at TMZ as the Global National becomes more and more like northern version of TMZ for politicians rather than irrelevant celebrities.

The Early Evening National on GlowBall runs from 5:30PM to 6:OOPM, here on the left coast and on Tuesday evening the first item up was the reconvened Senate Internal Economy Committee that had originally provided a white washed report on Mike Duffy's indescretions while making no effort to tone down the language in the cases of (former) Lib Senator Harb or Justin's TKO victim, (former) Con Senator Brazeau. Unlike the last meeting of this committee behind closed doors, this one was opened to the press and public and Mike Duffy was even invited to attend, which he chose not to do.

The mulligan do-over meeting not only removed the whitewash from the original report, but made public even more allegations, such as the fact that the Duffster had invoiced for per diem on many days when he was not in Ottawa, many of them not even in Canada - enjoying the warmer climes of Florida, for a number of these "claimed" days. Color me surprised, but Mr. Duffy was even actually on Prince Edward Island, imagine that, on some of the days he had billed the taxpayers for his oleaginous presence in Ottawa, and on others he had been on the road campaigning for his once buddy Stephen Harper in the campaign to steal the election of 2011. Also the committee moved to send the matter to the RCMP for further investigation. Considering how diligent the horsemen were on BC Rail and that they may not be able to say anything not approved by the adulterous Vic Toews, this doesn't exactly make me confident a real investigation will actually occur.

Next item, we moved on to Question Period in the House of Infamy - Federal Division, where Prime Sinister Harper actually showed up to take, but not necessarily answer questions about Mr. Duffy, Nigel Wright and $90,000 and change. Ever since Humpty Duffy had fallen down, Steven had been hiding in Peru and Columbia promoting trade deals with countries in some cases with even worse human rights records than his BFF China. But, hey, maybe he wanted to try and get a better deal on the raw ingredients for crack (cocaine) for his buddy bros in Toronto.

Speaking of the Ford brothers, then Dawna and her correspondents had to address the ongoing comedy at the Center of the Universe. It was fairly quiet on Rob's birthday Tuesday, as Rob offered cake to the maggots in the media that some of them accepted, another staffer or two quit and it was revealed that a homicide detective had been to interview a member of Ford's staff. Conflicting statements continue to swirl, like there is no video of the mayor smoking crack with dope dealers - one of which is since deceased, or Rob or a staffer know where the non-existent video is and Gawker had raised the $200,000 to buy the video but now can't find the owner, who also might be deceased, more recently.

The next item concerned Harper bud, Arthur Porter, who after being appointed the HEAD of the committee overseeing CSIS, had to leave the country as a fugitive evading charges for fraud and breach of trust around bribes and such around the new McGill Medical Centre construction to be undertaken by that pillar of corporate probity and friend of the Gaddaffis, SNC-Lavalin - who apparently never saw a job they didn't want to bribe for, even if they didn't need to do so. Mr. Porter, who had claimed to be too ill with stage four cancer to travel, was captured on an overnight layover in Panama enroute to Trinidad and Tobago from the Bahamas where he has been hiding out ever since he became a fugitive. In spite of statements to the opposite, apparently today he has stated that he will be fighting extradition to Canada to face the charges.

By this time there was barely ten minutes left of the half hour newscast and Dawna hadn't even mention anything about Bee Cee, which could easily have used up the rest of the show while staying with the same theme of corruption, cronyism and just plain criminal behavior by our leaders and their closest friends and staff. Just imagine how things would be if we hadn't elected the religiously upright, moral and honest and transparent Steven Slime to look after our interests. Hell, it is hard to see how we could be governed worse by the Hell's Angels anymore - except they might not lie as much and just depend on intimidation instead - not that the Harper government doesn't also use that tool - just ask former ambassador Colvin, Cindy Blackstock or the card carrying Conservative veterans that wanted to be treated better by Veterans Affairs.

Oh Canada, I weep for where we are going and we were such a wonderful country, unrecognizable now, thanks to the Harpster and his trained seals and fence posts with hair

Thanks - Dan Murphy

Help Wanted*
*Canadians need not apply

Coolies changing shifts at H(an) D(ynasty) Murray River Mine

According to the Financial Post's Legal Post:

OTTAWA — The government was justified in issuing a positive labour market opinion that allowed a British Columbia mining company to hire 201 temporary foreign workers from China, the Federal Court ruled Tuesday.
The decision comes after two unions challenged the government and the companies involved, arguing Canadians are available to do the jobs required and that it was not necessary to look outside the country for foreign labour
.

So much for exploiting the environment and resource development at least providing good family supporting jobs, unless the goal is to support families in China! Years ago executing a pipe dream like the current Christy Clark pipedream of LNG riches the SoCreds built a whole community with infrastructure at Tumbler Ridge in direct competition with numerous coal mines already despoiling the streams of southeastern BC that at least had the advantage of a shorter haul to tidewater so Asians could pollute the atmosphere with the emissions from our coal (a large percentage of the particulate matter in L.A. smog is from coal burning plants in China and not cars on L.A. freeways).
So now a Chinese company with pull in Ottawa and Victoria gets to utilize the facilities paid for by B.C. taxpayers, and if the royalty scheme is anything like the billion dollar annual deficit building one in Alberta the gooey tar sands, not only will we realize no jobs but the provincial coffers little or no revenue. In spite of the fact Cheating Lying Christy Clark claimed they had fought for the rights of BC or Canadian workers, according to documents obtained by the BC Federation of Labor it was indeed the opposite, quel surprise.

Federation president Jim Sinclair says a Freedom of Information request has unearthed incriminating documents
“What it shows is that the provincial government was training mining companies on how to bring Temporary Foreign Workers to work in BC mines at the same time they were cutting back training money for British Columbians to work in those mines.”
Earlier this week, court documents showed a federal agent complaining about the pressure put on her by the province with regard to the work permits.
“The government was actively, on a daily basis, phoning the federal government and pressuring it to give the permits to the mining company so that they could hire 200 foreigners for jobs clearly British Columbians could have done.”

It isn't like the BC LIEberals would ever misrepresent the truth - think BC Rail, think HST, think the imaginary budget deficit of $495 million prior to the 2009 election that turned out to be closer to $2 billion. Meanwhile the two pronged attack on working Canadians, and those who wish they had a job, from the HarperCons and the BC liaRs ccontinues apace. Don't forget Christy's motto, (Chinese) Families First! Forget about the oft mentioned excuse that Canadians lack the skills, the current RBC situation puts the lie to that as the Royal Bank, one of the biggest in North America, and extremely profitable, uses the Temporary Workers Program to bring in foreign workers so their own CANADIAN IT professionals can train them to take their own jobs back to India, leaving the trainers unemployed tomorrow.
When will the assholes, the traitorous loyal to no nation multi-national corporate carpetbaggers realize without a middle class earning wages that create some disposable income HERE in North America, their products and services will have no market, no money, no customers = no profits! The garment workers in Bangladesh, those still alive, or the workers building Apple crap in prison like conditions in China won't be able to buy the garments or the Apple crap. Most of us will be out of work, and the one percenters, by definition aren't much a mass market - though business might be good for BMW, Mercedes and Ferrari. All those assholes can look forward to building walls around themselves and hiring security (which they already do) so they can stay in their sanctuaries and count their ill gotten gains.

Some Sordid
BC History

If anything, politicians are getting more skilled at crime as time goes by. Richard Nixon avoided possibly going to jail by resigning his Presidency and getting a pardon from his VP, newly President, Gerald Ford. But nowadays, quite likely thanks to serious study of how earlier politicians failed, or got caught, it would appear that once in office everyone is immune. Bush and Cheney were never, and it appears will never in their lifetime be held accountable for the war crimes and outright fleecing of the American public they indulged in for eight long years. Ferret Collins, Capo Gordo Campbell and the rest of the renamed Socreds, or BC LIEberals seem to be able to leak cabinet information, accept or give bribes at will with no consequences, unlike back poor old Robert (Honest Bob) Sommers who eventually (and it only took a fraction of the time of the pretend BC Rail trial - he was accused by Gordon Gibson in 1955 and went to jail, after being on the run in the US, in 1957) went to jail for accepting a rug and a $6,500 bribe over some timber licenses. He at least had the distinction of being the first Minister of the Crown to be convicted and sent to gaol. Incredibly, considering this is the day of "instant" communication, it only took less than three years for Mr. Sommers to be initially cleared by the equivalent of todays "oh so" Special Prosecutor and finally be charged.

A judge was appointed to look into Gibson's claims and reported that there had been "no impropriety." But allegations continued. In 1956, an RCMP report found "definite indication of wrongdoing" by Sommers. The government was slow to act. It wasn't until November 1957 that Sommers was charged.

Tom Barrett

Nowadays even lowly aides are covered for $6,000,000 in legal fees and "serve their time" in luxurious homes with all kinds of excuses to leave the house - some house arrest.

One fellow who predicted the BC liaR victory at the polls last week was Terry Lawrence who published a piece on May 8th that included the brief look at other highlights (or more appropriately low points) in BC history. Of course compared to the current renamed Socreds W.A.C. was a parson, and one must admit he did leave a legacy of public assets like BC Rail, BC Hydro, and BC Ferries, not to mention a hell of a lot of new pavement. Of course under Gordo and now Christy, it will be a miracle if any of that is left by the time the next Masochist's Holiday (or BC election) rolls around. Terry Lawrence asked readers to pass around his piece, so I am going to share the part below here at the House that is doomed to remain in Infamy. To read his complete prediction, with Rafe Mair's warning to the dippers included go to Ian Reids place where he dissects the results of the dirty work of KoolTopGuy or the political consultant marriage apparently made in Hell. Terry's piece is in the middle of the approximately 70 comments that were there when I last visited.

Since coming to power the number one priority of the “BC Liberals”, who are really the Conservatives running under a false flag, has been to constantly transfer taxes from their wealthy supporters onto the backs of the people least able to pay. While reducing top end income taxes and removing bank, corporate, and stock trading taxes they have added and/or raised hundreds of “flat taxes” that take no account of ability to pay. So for instance, a billionaire like Jimmy Patterson and a minimum wage worker from the Fraser Valley both pay a toll now when they drive across the previously free Port Mann Bridge, but while the cost is meaningless to Patterson, it is a crippling burden to a low wage worker who has to live up the valley to find affordable housing, and pay a toll twice a day to work in Vancouver. Ditto ferry fees, student tuition charges, drivers license renewals, and every other service the government used to provide at or below cost, subsidized by corporate and income taxes, and by the many profitable public enterprises we used to own such as BC Rail, BC Hydro Railway, BC Gas, and so forth that pumped money into general revenue before being sold at a small fraction of their value to some company that had generously contributed to the old Liberal/Conservative Coalition, later called the Social Credit Party, and since the Socreds imploded in 1991, the new right-wing coalition called the ‘BC Liberals’.

I’m only skimming the surface here, but the latest “We’re all going to be rich” natural gas fantasy being pimped by Christy Clark follows a long list of similar pre-election fantasy announcements by her right wing coalition predecessors.

1957 – WAC Bennett gave away the northern third of BC to a Swedish billionaire named Axel Wenner-Gren who promised to build a monorail train down the Rocky Mountain trench and pour money into northern BC. That never happened, of course, and BC taxpayers ended up paying through the nose to buy back what we had given away over the next 15 years or so.

1965. WACky Bennett again, this time giving away our ability to generate cheap hydro electric power in the upper Kootenay and Columbia river valleys when in exchange for a $465 million check he signed an agreement with the US to flood the agricultural valley bottoms of the Kootenays to create a series of storage reservoirs for the Grand Coulee Dam in the US. The $465, which was supposed to cover all the expenses of building all the storage dams and a tidy profit, didn’t even cover the cost of building the first dam, leaving BC taxpayers on the hook for the multi-billion dollar cost of building all the other dams to the benefit of the US, and adding insult to injury by flooding all the best agricultural land in the Kootenays.

In the late ’60's, having signed away the rights to generate power in the Kootenays, Bennett proceeded to fall back on the old Wenner-Gren scheme of building a power dam on the Peace River, at the opposite corner of the province from where all the power is consumed. This time it was funded by BC taxpayers and Hydro users, and cost us a fortune to build and maintain because of the remoteness of the dam site and the need to build and maintain transmission lines stretching from the North-east corner of the province to the South-west corner where Vancouver is.

Then came the three NDP years under Dave Barrett when for the first time in BC history the provincial debt was actually paid down each year from the surplus revenue largely derived from charging the US a surtax on BC Gas exports. In the interests of brevity I will only mention a few of the NDP achievements which are still with us: The Agricultural Land Reserve, construction of 4 new superferries, and the founding of ICBC, providing cost-effective public insurance while keeping all the money in BC.

In 1975 the Socreds got back in under Son of Bennett and proceeded to assemble several billion dollars worth of the public assets acquired in the NDP years, such as natural gas fields and timber holdings, into a scam called the BC Resources Invest Corporation, or BRIC. In the run-up to the following election all BC Residents were “given 5 free shares” in what we already owned! Do you still have your worthless shares? Because within a few years Bennett’s buddies, whom he appointed to the Board of Directors, had stripped out all the assets leaving a worthless bankrupt shell while transferring billions of dollars of public assets into their personal pockets.

Also under Bill Bennett’s Socreds there were billion dollar boondoggles like the Dease Lake extension of the BC Railway, a now abandoned rail line across a frozen swamp from nowhere to nowhere now sunk into the muskeg, and the North-east Coal, the ’80's version of Christy Clark’s “next big thing” fracking scam. More billions down the drain.

Then came the Vander Zalm scams. Our very profitable BC Hydro Natural Gas and Railway divisions were split off from Hydro and sold at a fraction of their real value to US companies, and several billion dollars of prime real estate in False Creek in downtown Vancouver was handed over for about one percent of it’s real value to a Chinese billionaire who thoughtfully also bought Vander Zalm’s money losing Fantasy Gardens theme park for $15 million dollars, although it was only valued at around $2 million! How nice of him to help out his buddy Bill Vander Zalm when he needed a bailout. I guess that’s what friends are for.

After another 10 year interruption in giveaways while the NDP was in power in the 1990's, the BC Liberals came to power under Gordon Campbell and proceeded to sell off all the public assets they could lay their slimy hands on, starting with BC Rail, which they had explicitly stated in the 2001 election campaign that they would NOT sell. They also sold the Coquahalla Highway to Jimmy Patterson, but had to back off that deal after a huge public outcry. More recently they gave away the right to power generation on dozens of rivers to “Independent Power Producers” and ordered BC Hydro to purchase ALL the power they produce, whether we need it or not, at hugely inflated prices in locked-in long term agreements that constitute an enormous gift to some big BC Liberal campaign contributors. Rafe has done a wonderful job of detailing how that sleazy scam will bankrupt BC Hydro while pushing up our electrical rates to make “privatization” of Hydro easier to sell.

Finally, the Clark gang just tried to “privatize” the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, stripping another billion dollar a year asset from general revenue and handing another huge gift to BC Liberal “friends”. This deal was such a blatant giveaway so close to an election that they had to back away from it at the last minute, but you can be assured that should the Clark gang, and in particular Rich Coleman, get re-elected, it will quickly be back on the front burner.

I have only been skimming the surface of the giveaways of our public resources by the various right-wing coalitions that have stripped the public assets out of BC and provided windfall profits to their corporate backers while forcing BC taxpayers to make up the lost revenue with endless increased User Fees, Service Charges, and public debt, on which we are paying an ever increasing portion of our provincial budget as interest.

A Sad Day
for British Columbia
 

 I foolishly thought I would awake with a smile on my face this morning, silly me!  I would never have believed that the voters (those who bothered to vote) of British Columbia would reward the less attractive and less intelligent/educated and even less principled BC version of Sarah Palin with not just a victory, but and increase in seats. 

The only small satisfaction to be taken by anyone not in line for LIEberal pork from last night's results is the fact that Christy failed to hold her own Vancouver-Point Grey seat. Though from Christy's view this is most likely a good thing, as now she has an excuse to prolong her absence from the Legislature, where she obviously doesn't care to spend time - nineteen days in session in the last year. Of course her fawning caucus will be falling over each other to step aside to give Christy a safe seat to contest as a reward for saving the bacon of the most dishonest, thieving and corrupt government in the history of Bee Cee. She won't be in any hurry, why call a by-election when she can just bask in the glory of her (well provincially) victory without having to even face the most polite question in the dreaded Legislature. 

I hope those who voted Green and no doubt made this stunning upset possible are now preparing to get involved in clean-ups of tarry goo from land and sea, as they helped guarantee the worst outcome in relation to protecting the pristine land of central B.C. and the coastlines both north and south. Andrew and Jane, you may as well say good-bye to wild salmon while there are still a few alive.  

It is perfectly clear that the road to success in politics in B.C. is lying and character assassination.  It is equally clear that Adrian Dix and the NDP refuse to acknowledge this and will continue to play nice while their opposition has no understanding for either truth, honour or the interests of those millions of B.C. residents who aren't donors. So it is a happy day for corporations like SNC Lavilan, who while facing charges of outright bans in much of the world are those chosen to do business in and help with the pillaging of British Columbia. 

BTW, calling Patrick Kinsella - you can come back now and buy another mansion, maybe in West Van this time, cause the gravy train will be running another four years in British Columbia - the Banana Republic of North America - the jurisdiction that makes Chicago look like a Sunday School Picnic!

One wag characterized the BC NDP as the Toronto Maple Laffs of politics, but that is too kind. At least the Leafs competed, except for the last minute and a half of game seven. Adrian Dix and the Dippers merely kept turning from one cheek to the other saying slap me. In 2001 leading up to the NDP massacre the MSM was like an arm of the soon to be created PABlum Brigade (PAB), with every news cast starting with the two gangsters (?) exiting a North Burnaby card room - yet the same media has spent the last twelve years doing everything possible to hide the corruption and lies the Campbell/Clark government has embodied - while giving inordinate barrels of ink and pixels to a missing sky train ticket and memo from almost twenty years ago.

Adrian, since you wouldn't be so "not nice" as to point out the myriad failing and sins of the BC LIEberal reign of terror, most of the apathetic voters of B.C. don't even know about them and therefore, this morning, think they have elected a good government and British Columbia is headed for a rosy future powered with gas (in more ways than one).

One last message I would like to address to Brad Bennet, son of Bennet the Lesser and Grandson of Wacky. I hope you are proud of yourself for helping this gang of thieves gain enough time to complete their project of giving away and/or destroying everything your grandfather built over twenty years to benefit ALL British Columbians.  

Green Crime Scenes!

It is impossible to parse just how a split vote would have gone without getting a truthful answer (judging from poll results - unlikely) from each voter who voted for the third party that possibly diluted the vote of one of the two major parties. However, it is reasonable to at least pose the possibility that many who voted Green would have voted NDP if the Green option had not been available. Since the environment is the main concern of the Green Party, then concern for the environment must be important for Green voters. Any Green voter who would default to the BC LIEberals obviously hasn't been paying attention - after all, they are the party that approved the Prosperity Mine proposal that even the government of that enemy of trees and fish everywhere, Stephen Harper couldn't get behind. By my admittedly rushed analysis, if the Greens had kept away from the following twelve ridings, Adrian Dix would be consulting with his wife about what to wear when visiting the LG in a few days.  

 Fraser-Nicola

Comox Valley

Boundary Similkameen

Maple Ridge-Mission

Delta North

Vancouver Fraserview

Burnaby North

Coquitlam-Maillardville

Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows

Port Moody - Coquitlam

Oak Bay - Gordon Head

Surry Fleetwood

Even if we let Andrew Weaver keep Oak Bay - Gordon Head, the Libs would be reduced to under forty seats and the dippers would have been sitting in 45 or so seats. So get busy Jane and Andrew, get yer rubber gloves, solvent, brushes and sponges ready and oh yeah, get used to eating farmed salmon and perhaps drinking bottled water and don't blame anybody but yourselves!

Strong Economy
Secure Tomorrow
Bovine Excrement!
 

Strong Justice and Secure Incarceration for Chesty and Gang!

     
The best thing about tomorrow other than getting rid of Christy and her crew of crooks will be not having to see her fact free attack ads on TeeVee anymore. However, I would feel a lot better if instead on just being put out of office, many of these scoundrels were actually, you know, held accountable and Gordo, Christy and a slew of others could be guests of the state for awhile after being stripped of all their ill-gotten gains from stealing the people of the province of B.C. blind for a dozen years.   

Misinform, Mislead and
Make up stuff
 

Christy with Cabinet Members

The title above is a partial lift from the lede of Brian Hutchinson's piece concerning the BC LIEberal Campaign, which thankfully has only a week left to torture us.

VANCOUVER — It’s no secret that Christy Clark’s government has a credibility problem.

For the B.C. Liberal party to avoid annihilation on May 14, repairing damage caused by broken promises and re-establishing trust with the electorate must be priorities. But it seems they are not. Instead of treading carefully, taking pains to ensure that whatever she presents during the election campaign is airtight, verifiable and the plain honest truth, Ms. Clark continues to misinform, mislead and just make up stuff.

The premier spent almost an hour this week speaking with Vancouver radio talk show host Bill Good. He challenged her on a number of claims she’s been making on the campaign trail. Ms. Clark refers repeatedly to her government’s “balanced budget” and its efforts to make the province “debt free.”

For someone who has patiently, well most of the time, waited to see the last of this incredibly corrupt and "griftopian" criminal organization posing as a government it is indeed comforting to see a column in the right wing propaganda rag started by Lord Black of Crossdressing take Christy and her clown car to task so severely. Even more amazing, according to Mr. Hutchinson even Bill "not so" Good found it in him to challenge Grifty Clark on her claims of a balanced budget and repeated falsehood that Moody's and other bond rating agencies had somehow verified her claims. Of course that isn't part of what such agencies do, not to mention the fact that even what they actually do, they don't do very well (or perhaps very honestly) as was illustrated by the sh*tload of toxic financial instruments which received triple A ratings from them right up until their toxic nature almost destroyed the economies of both the USA and Europe. 

It is really fun to watch Christy and her gang pull out all the stops and descend into complete insanity as May 14 approaches. We even get the comic relief of seeing the return of the other Gordon (Wilson) to add an exclamation point to the desperation of the BC liaRs and the sycophantic supporters and beneficiaries.  I must admit though to being stunned to hear people who aren't totally batsh*t crazy suggest that the BC liaRs will win any seats at all. But then one has to remember that we still have that lost colony of Orange County known as the Okanagan Valley and the fundamentalist Hell of parts of the Fraser Valley where crooks such as John Les prosper as long as they profess to believe in Jesus and Free Enterprise - or more accurately Freebooting Pirate Enterprise.

As some was pointed out somewhere, it is most appropriate to see Gordon Wilson show up in time to be part of the demise of yet another political party to add to his PDA and near extinction of the NDP in 2001. Some folks of course think he is hoping to become leader of the remains of the LIEberal carcass, since according to Bob Mackin he may not be in charge of a flock of sheep anymore. The man who MAY want to lead the party of business apparently isn't good enough at business to run a sheep farm, and hopefully the sinking ship SS BC LIEberal won't find enough sheeple in British Columbia to fool yet again.

Of course if Christy and gang, as the suspicious recent polls try to imply, actually win this election it can only mean one of two possibilities - either they cheated (which would be no surprise) or the people and province I currently live among is even more batsh*t crazy than Christy and the Grifters. Either way re-location would be my response cause I don't want to be governed by crooks anymore, or be surrounded by the terminally insane!