Update

Kash Heed resigns - again

Victor's comment, posted below, was written before this morning's announcement.

The Special Prosecutor, Terrance Robertson, who cleared Kash Heed in the elections matters just happened to work for a firm of lawyers who made contributions to Heed's campaign.

Heed was correct in stepping down...again.

But here are a few nagging questions that remain.

Is is possible to run for office and not know what your campaign manager is doing?

If he is not aware, why not?

Is the Premier not aware that the Special Prosecutor works for a team that makes campaign contributions to the man under a potential cloud?

If he is not aware, why not?

And the biggest question of all - the one that must be asked at the moment that Old Granite Face re-instates Heed long distance:

Is Kash Heed, good or bad, innocent or guilty, the ONLY person in the province capable of being the Solicitor General?

Can we function Heed-less?

Victor Comments on The Return of Kash Heed

So, Kash is back in Cabinet.

Does Ministerial accountability mean anything today?

He may be pure as Caesar's wife (although not as pretty) but I would
have applauded him if he had said that he would abide (like the Dude)
on the back bench until this unpleasantness passed.

This man will keep watch over us to protect us from every nefarious
scheme, every crook, who may bring harm to us.

And he couldn't scrutinize 3 people in his campaign office?

There is much more to this. He won his seat by playing one race
against another.

My wife is Chinese. She arrived here 10 years ago, struggled to start
a business and now employs Canadians. Like me, she is disgusted with
the hypocrisy of Canadians who, on one hand, bleat about
multiculturalism while endorsing political campaigns that pit one
culture against another.

The fact that the Premier re-appointed Kash Heed, over the phone,
while attending observances in Holland for Canadian soldiers who died
by the thousands for democracy, says it all.

He has no honour. He profanes the graves he walks on.

Real Issue, Bad Law

Imagine you are walking down, say, Robson Street towards the Library.

A policeman stops you and demands your "identity card" or your "immigration papers."

You might think, "Did the Berlin Wall go back up? Is this the stasi?"

When I first moved to Vancouver in my early twenties and began driving taxi, I was always astonished to be asked by curious passengers, "What are you?"

Of course, I had a number of ready smarty pants answers.

But what they meant was, "What is your ethnicity?"

Coming from Winnipeg, where a question like that was moot and never asked because if you weren't Scottish, then you had to be Ukrainian, German, Jewish, Polish, or twelve other unacceptable pitiable things, I always found this inquiry alarming.

Long before we lived in Hongcouver or Shangcouver, this was decidedly BRITISH Columbia.

Now...

Place yourself if you dare in Phoenix.

Last week, Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, signed a law which makes failure to carry immigration documents a crime. Further, the law directs police to question people about their immigration status.

Among other backlashes, conventions booked for Phoenix and Scottsdale have been cancelled and moved to other cites.

Baseball clubs are urging that the 2011 All-Star Game be relocated out of Phoenix.

There is no question that states bordering Mexico have serious problems with illegal immigration.

Among the several hundred possible remedies, this is close to the worst.

The very Americans who hold their rifles high over head shouting, "Over my dead body," are happy to have their fellow citizens stopped at the mall by officers of the state demanding ID because of the shape of your eyes or the colour of your skin.

Who Is Out of Control Here?

In the video below, a fan at a Phillies game runs around the filed like an idiot.

Par for the course.

It's a game. Beer is drunk, People are dopes.

But then comes Mr. Policeman armed with a taser.

Listen to the highly sophisticated broadcasters.

"He got him."

What is this? A video game for 9-year olds?

Can anyone say, "Robert Dziekanski?"

Was this poor sap running around the outfield armed? Was he threatening anyone? Did he pose some clear and present danger to anyone other than his own lonely goofy self?

No, no and no.

Over-react or what?

Who Is Out of Control Here? Part Duh?

Who Pays?

President Obama expects British Petroleum to pay for the Gulf oil spill clean-up.

Good luck on all of that.

Aside from the massive environmental impacts and the devastating loss of jobs, work and incomes, the scrubbing could cost upwards of $15 Billion.

BP is not alone.

They share the oil rig project with Transocean of Switzerland and Houston's Anadarko Petroleum.

Shares of BP, Transocean and Anadarko have plummeted since the rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering a massive oil leak. BP’s market value has sunk by about $30-billion since the accident. Shares of Transocean have dropped 21 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange and Anadarko’s stock is down 14 per cent.

How many lawyers occupying how many complete buildings toil for BP full-time?

Cleaning up the crude will be significantly easier that getting BP and its friends to pony up to the pay booth.

All of which raises a boatload of questions.

Starting with...what codicils are built into these drilling agreements in the first place regarding disasters?

The photo is of a giant containment device that will be lowered into the ocean to grab some of the spill.