Cowboy Junkies

Live@5: Convict escapes from Agassiz institution

There is a Canada-wide arrest warrant this evening for convicted murderer Ralph Morris, who walked away from the minimum-security Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village near Agassiz in the middle of the night. (This is the second high-profile escape from a Corrections Canada facility in less than two weeks.) Will anybody correct Corrections Canada?

More Justice Atrocities

Raymond Irwin killed his mother 4 years ago. It was a particularly brutal murder.

He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

He is in Riverview.

But not always.

He has been granted unescorted passes.

Why?

Quote of the Week/MOnth/Year

Dianne Watts, Surrey mayor on Immigration and Refugee Board member Daphne Shaw Dyck releasing a murderer:

"Maybe if she wants him released, he can go and live at her house."

Right on once again, Dianne.

Shaw Dick Dike should be sued and fired for this egregiously irresponsible behaviour. She claims she didn't believe Mr. Refugee gang murderer about his exploits.

That's nice.

Pillar to Post to Provincial Police Force?

Was there ever a greater argument for a Provincial Police Force?

The case of the man in Victoria who murdered his family last year reveals that his now dead wife had contacted 3 different forces and was bounced from one to another.

Read the Sun story here.

Housing Priority

I applaud the new public demonstrations for affordable housing.

They are called "stands," as people stand in protest.

Join us next Wednesday, May 7th at 7:30pm in the Alice Mackay Room, downstairs in the Vancouver Public Library Downtown branch for a debate on this very subject.

THE LANGARA DIALOGUES presents: RESOLVED: ONLY GOVERNMENT CAN BRING AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

Arguing the Affirmative: Vancouver City Councillor, Suzanne Anton.
Arguing the Negative: Urban Planner and Author, Lance Berelowitz.

Surprise!

The Nutty Mayor's conference was told last night that treatment works.

This will be hard news for this maniac to swallow.

He has been paying at least 2 mandarins $100K a year to tell anyone unsuspecting boob who will take the free coffee and listen that treatment doesn't work.

Now what, Mr. Addictions Expert?

Highway Robbery

Brith Petroleum announced net profits up 63.4%.

Shell-Out rose 25%.

And you think there's some mystery about your pump price?

The Liz of our Life Salutes the Victor

29 April 2008

David:

With apologies to The Bard --

Who Is Victor? Who is Victor? what is he, That all his words commend him? True, fair, and wise is he; The heaven such erudition did lend him, That he might admirèd be. Is he true as he is wise? For wisdom lives with truth. And truth doth to our eyes repair, To help the media of their blindness, And, being helped, inhabits there. Then to Victor let us sing, That Victor is excelling; He excels each mortal thing Upon the dull earth dwelling: To him let us Nobels bring. William Shakespeare

News Deficit

I must read The Economist more often.

And you must read the April 19-25 edition.

The cover story is "The Silent Tsunami, The food crisis and how to solve it."

This is a most extensive coverage.

It includes tiny gems, like this: "A billion people live on a dollar a day." "Since the way to feed the world is not to bring more land under cultivation, but to increase yields, science is crucial."

That's particulary interesting considering how much Bush has cut away at science grants.

Did you know that Egypt's president ordered the army to start baking bread? That the Philippines has made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment?

I feel like I am suffering from an information deficit.

For relief, read http://www.economist.com

And follow the Scandinavian ideal - Eat Less, Chew More.

Wright is Wrong

Why is the Reverend Wright doing everything he can to destroy Barak Obama's election chances?

Because he is a shallow, attention seeker.

Read Bob Herbert's excellent analysis in this morning's NY Times.

Wright is a fool, who instead of doing everything possible to help get the first black President elected, is accomplishing with his antics exactly the opposite.

Victor on the Radio - Pizza Uber Alles

Bloated Bill has another crusade.

This time, Bloated Bill, the CKNW talk show host, had two of his twenty nothing assistants try to catch a cab to the Tri Cities. They were refused and it became the number one news story on CKNW all day, complete with a quote from Kevin Falcon. Something about a Cab Riders Bill of Rights.

This is how news is made at our biggest radio station. It has come to this. Why do we even have journalism schools?

Bloated Bill's young assistants think a cab driver should be required to haul a fare anywhere in the GVRD at any time, even if he has to dead head back, burning gas and losing money.

By this logic, I should be able to order a pizza delivered from White Rock to my house in Vancouver. After all, I'm hungry. It's my human right to survive even of the pizza operator loses his shirt.

Last week Bloated Bill interviewed his two twenty nothings for their views on how consumers should respond to higher energy costs. One of them confessed that at age 27, she had just moved out of her parent's basement. But that didn't deter her from sharing her economic wisdom with listeners.

No wonder they think a cab driver is similar to a nineteenth century rickshaw driver in Nanking. You do a lot of growing after you leave Daddy's basement. While waiting, you can always work for Bloated Bill.

I'm ordering that pizza. I have Kevin Fallopian on speed dial just in case.

The Boulevardier.

Cynical Fake "Conferences" Help No One

One of the great advantages of being in office is that you can swing just about any cat over your head and get attention.

Witness the latest pathetic PR exercise coming from the Nutty Mayor.

The Sun and Province are both reporting about the "conference" that will begin tonight at the Vancouver Playhouse (How appropriate! Where's Tennessee Williams when you really need him?) and continue the next day at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

The "conference" alleges to be about homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

But look at the given suppositions in their own press release:


This evening forum will aim to:

· Promote an understanding of the relationship between mental illness, addiction and homelessness
· Acknowledge that no one person or group, alone, can provide a solution
· Recognize the breadth of the problem as being beyond Vancouver, BC and Canada

Please RSVP by April 16 to Collaboration for Change by email at: collaborationforchange@pacegroup.com


What is the political implication of the line that I highlighted?

Note also the email address. This initiative is entirely created and managed by Pace Group, a PR company.

Because they have a deep and profound understanding and concern about these issues. Right.

Note also the participants. All the usual suspects.

These are all the invested parties that have been at these tables from the beginning and done such a wonderful job to date. With the help of these wise people the problems of homelessness, mental illness and addictions have never been greater.

This is a cynical vote-begging atrocity.

Avoid it. Placard it. See it for what it is.

Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mombazo: Diamonds

Must Read Analysis by Macleans magazine on Israel

Why Israel can't survive

Sixty years on, the country is facing a choice of two futures: it can be Jewish or democratic -but not both

MICHAEL PETROU | April 23, 2008 |

Thanks to my good friend Bill who pointed out this very rich and detailed analysis on the future of Israel.

It is lengthy, but an important and exellent read.

Recently, I have been muttering about public places and public spaces and how we have so few of them here.

This spore must be in the air.

This morning, the Province reports that a possible new waterfront development near the Seabus terminal has been revealed. The display is currently at the Downtown Public Library.

The Best Letter Ever on THE CAMBIE LINE

Our regular Cambie Line Kamakaze, Susan, has forwarded a colleague's most elequent letter to the Preem. It's a doozy. Read it, think about it and follow suit...write one your own true self to these heartless crooks:

________________________________________________________________________________________________

April 23rd, 2008

Premier Gordon Campbell
Legislative Buildings,
Victoria, BC


Dear Premier Campbell,

As a Cambie resident, I have both experienced and witnessed the pain all
along Cambie Street as a result of Canada Line construction. I have spent
most of my life fighting against injustice in other parts of the world, but
I never thought I would witness so much injustice on my own doorstep in
Canada.

I have watched for two and a half years as businesses have died a slow and
painful death. Our corner store at Cambie and Marine stopped selling
newspapers within months of construction commencing. Then they stopped
selling milk because it was going sour before it was purchased. Then they
stopped restocking their shelves because they couldn’t earn enough to cover
their lease. For the last three weeks or so, they’ve stopped opening at
all. The owners are an immigrant family that was trying to make a go of it
in Canada. While one family member worked long hours alone in the store,
two other family members took on extra work elsewhere to try to keep the
store afloat.

The corner store is next to an insurance company that after two years of
sending out notices offering to come to their customers because it was so
impossible for their customers to get to them, has now moved.

Next to them was a Sushi restaurant owned by another immigrant family. They
made the ill-fated decision to open a new business on Cambie just before the
decision to proceed with the RAV Line was announced. They were just getting
established when the road was torn up in front of them and all access routes
were blocked. They struggled for months before going bankrupt.

The story is the same up and down Cambie.

These are not just businesses – they are livelihoods and lives. The stress
and pain that has been caused by the cut and cover construction has affected
not just businesses or business owners, it has hurt entire families – some
of whom may never recover. At least one business owner who was under
financial stress had a heart attack and died – and another has publicly
admitted to contemplating suicide.

I simply cannot believe the callousness of your government in turning its
back on these small business owners and their families. I personally feel
great shame at the way in which they’ve been discarded by your government.

I’ve heard all the arguments about businesses coming and going and short
term pain for long-term gain, but none of this applies to the Cambie
corridor. What has happened along Cambie is beyond devastating. There is
no long-term gain for the many businesses that have lost everything and
disappeared, or for those on the verge of losing everything.

I’ve also heard you and your ministers insist that the Canada Line is not
your project, that you are just one of the funders. I’m sorry but the facts
show otherwise. There would be no Canada Line if you had not interceded and
forced city councillors to vote and revote the issue. As a funder of the
project, your government bears responsibility for it. It simply defies
logic to argue otherwise – government responsibility goes with the money.

I note that while various levels of government have admitted that serious
mistakes were made along Cambie, they only do so to reassure other
communities that the Cambie mistakes will not be repeated.

It’s well past time your government admitted that grievous errors were made
in the handling of the Canada Line construction, and you set about trying to
remedy the financial damage and consequent stress by fully compensating
small businesses and others for their losses. You might also consider
providing a letter of responsibility that these business can use to try to
restore their credit ratings and their relationships with their suppliers
and other businesses with whom they have dealings.

There should also be a commitment from your government that if future
projects cannot be undertaken without serious damage to businesses and
residents, then compensation must be built into the budget. If that makes
the project too expensive, then the project should be altered or shelved.

Premier Campbell, all the flower baskets and banners in the world cannot
heal the terminal wounds down the Cambie corridor. Businesses are
continuing to die a slow and painful death with each and every passing day,
while families are being torn apart by extreme stress. This situation must
be remedied immediately. This is a crisis.

I look forward to your prompt and compassionate response.

Sincere regards,
Jillian Skeet

cc. media
all MLAs , MP's, TransLink Board,
Vancouver Mayor and Council , citizens

Role Model

Some friends in West Vancouver are setting an example that ought to be followed by citizens in every municipality. Think in particular, Richmond, Nanaimo and Vancouver, just for starters.

They are carefully monitoring the way their council is spending tax dollars. Needless to say, the revelations are shocking.

What follows below (without the graphs referred to) is their latest from the wealthiest postcal code in the nation:

DWV "municipal muffin munificence" continues apace. In 2007, from one supplier alone, District tax-payers paid $127.67 per working day to purchase muffins and such for our employees, up from $122.30 the previous year. It could be more if other catering outfits are billing the District less than the $25,000. per year threshold and thereby staying below the FIA radar. I doubt these "freebie"goodies are being consumed by the unionized clerical staff and outside workers.

Ah, to be a senior bureaucrat at DWV municipal hall. It's "Fat City" and not simply because of the free muffins! According to the District's "schedules of remuneration" for the years 2002 to 2007, eleven senior managers have received increases in remuneration totalling, on average, 39% over the past five years, or 7.8% per year. These eleven management positions were chosen because they involve the same individuals in the same positions over the subject time period.

The spreadsheet accompanying the graph provides a glimpse into what our senior municipal employees are being paid. My understanding is that these figures are exclusive of the senior employee benefit package, now apparently close to 35%, not to mention auto allowances and the like.

As for the overall picture, in 2007, the District had 134 employees on its payroll who each received in excess of $75,000. in remuneration. The figures for each of 2006 and 2007 are exclusive of WVPD employees. ITAC has requested the number of police department employees who received in excess of the threshold amount in each of the past two years, together with the aggregate cost to the public purse of such individuals. This information will be shared with you upon receipt.

To put things in perspective, in 2000, the DWV had only 41 individuals on its payroll, including police, who received in excess of $75,000. in remuneration, for a total cost of just over $3.8 million. By 2005, these numbers, including police, had ballooned to 139 employees at a total cost of $12.8 million. In a mere seven years, this is a 339% increase in the number of employees receiving over the $75,000. threshold and a 337% increase in the total cost of such employees to the tax-payers.

In 2007, exclusive of WVPD members, the District had 134 such employees, at a total cost to the tax-payers of $11.5 million. Further, it appears that, in 2007, the top 13% of DWV income-earners took home fully 29% of the total remuneration paid to District employees. This is up from the previous year during which the top 15% of income-earners took home 25% of the total remuneration. A disturbing trend-line.

Clearly, the District's fiscal incontinence needs to be addressed. Given that 80% of the District's operating costs are evidently employee remuneration and benefits, and given the percentage of this cost represented by senior managers and supervisory personnel, it seems obvious where one ought to look first for cost-savings. A leaner management team ought not only to have no negative impact upon the provision of municipal services, it will in all likelihood improve the quality of such services by empowering non-management employees to make more decisions and be more flexible.

Interestingly, last autumn, after a few weeks on the job, VanCity's new CEO, a woman who had previously been a highly successful BC Deputy Minister of Finance, reduced 28 management positions in her company to nine. This is the sort of action that so urgently needs to be taken at DWV municipal hall.

dom

Friday's Province Column

Applying a strict business model to B.C. child care is a recipe for failure

David Berner

Special to The Province

Friday, April 25, 2008

Throwing money at children at risk is not the answer.

But what can you do when governments tend to think exclusively in the business model?

Despite the protestations of Children and Family

Development Minister Tom Christensen, it is clear that Premier Gordon Campbell does not keep short people clearly in his sights.

No, his government is busy with roads, bridges, ski runs and transit lines.

Judge Thomas Gove made exhaustive and comprehensive recommendations in his 1995 report. Judge Ted Hughes did the same in 2006.

Both came to similar, damning conclusions after substantial expense of public monies -- expenditures that would be welcomed, if anyone had bothered to listen or follow up.

Last week, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the province's new watchdog for children and youth, issued an almost identical report calling for a new kind of attentiveness.

Of course, the minister, who should have resigned last year when yet another child in care died, has said: "We welcome the report. It is consistent with the direction we are going in."

The Christensens and Campbells of the world just never quite get it, do they?

Christensen rolls out all the numbers and dollars the government is spending, as if he were talking about traffic circles or college enrolments.

But it's not about more money, more workers or more computer programs.

It's about getting the people on the front lines really sharply tuned to the subtleties of working with families and children at risk.

What are the real indicators of trouble, the real signposts of safety? Who can be trusted? When is the right time for intervention?

Should we place a particular child in next-of-kin families or foster homes? Does the foster home have a documented track record of love, support and clear structure?

Should aboriginal children always be placed with aboriginal families?

The aunts and uncles who might be stand-in parents for a child in danger, are they drunks or are they sober, caring guardians?

Does the caseworker have the time and the latitude to investigate?

Are workers who have studied social sciences for years stuck in offices writing reports that will cover everyone's butt -- or can they truly get to know the territory?

This woman is alone. That man doesn't contribute. This father yells and hits. This mother gambles. This parent cares and copes admirably.

Are the "helpers" learning? Are they passing on crucial information to the next helper?

It's not about master plans. The devil is in the details.

It's about all the complexities and shortcomings and gifts of human nature.

When, in embarrassment and desperation, government turns to the matter at hand, it responds with what it knows -- throw more green at the problem. Buy it off.

Maybe that works for ferry boats and lumber mills -- but it doesn't for the suffering child.

david@davidberner.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Trojan Horses

The real News reports today that Hamas has proposed a 6 month period of "Calm," but that Israel has rejected the offer.

What are we to make of both this "offer," and this "news item?"

My take is that this is not a real and legitimate offer, because it is made by people who are sworn to destroy both Israel and Jews, and that the News item portrays Israel as the evil.

Watch the video and decide for yourself.

On May 7th, Jews around the world will celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

I am a Jew and I am not particularly a Zionist. I have never been to Israel and, at the moment, I have no plans to visit.

But I am not an Israel basher. I do not approve of every large and small thing the state of Israel does, but I am proud of my fellow Jews for establishing and nourishing and protecting this sovereign state amidst hatred in large numbers.

To its credit, Israel will not be tempted or fooled by fake offers of peace, made by dedicated murderers.