Happy Trails To You

The Premier is a renowned C.F.

Control freak.

Nothing gets past him and nobody says or does anything without his Holy Blessing.

Independent Operators in the BC Liberal government - not there are any or have ever been any or ever will be any - go straight to the back of the bus.

They get dropped off at Palookaville toot sweet.

How then is is possible that:

- a law firm that makes regular contributions to The Party gets to have one of their own as a Special prosecutor? Try about $50,000 in recent years.

- one Solicitor-General, John van Dongen, has to resign because, although he is the region's Top Cop, he has lost his driver's license to speed? 2009.

- another S-G, John Les, hs to resign because of possible shady land deals? 2008.

- a third S-G, Kash Heed, has to resign twice in three weeks, because of possible election campaign irregularities? 2010.

How are these things possible, we find ourselves musing over the back porch at twilight, with a man Who Knows Everything, Who Sees Everything?

So far the only answers that emerge are these:

1. His Granite Face doesn't really know everything and see everything.

2. He does know everything and he does see everything and he just doesn't give a damn, Scarlett.

3. He has pre-scripted all of the above a) to keep everybody on the edge of their cheap seats and b) in the most recent fiasco, to get all the original charges against Kash Heed's gang of ethnic-baiting rabble-rousers thrown out.

Diabolical.

No.

Even Gordon Campbell is not this clever.

The truth may be something closer to this.

Conflicts of interest and rules of behaviour simply don't impress the Premier very much.

If I want to appoint a Special Prosecutor, frankly I don't waste much time worrying about how many dollars that guy's firm may have given me over the years for my own election war chests.

If I want Kash Heed or anyone else that I favour this week as my Minister of Cups and Saucers, well then I will bloody well appoint him.

Everything is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit.

The truth is closer to this.

Gordon Campbell's run as Premier of the Province of British Columbia is coming to an end.

His tattered skirts are showing and in the not too distant future someone else will have the opportunity to mismanage our affairs on a grand scale.

Falcon? Vulture? And the Difference Is?

That Prince of Warm Heartedness, that purveyor of Public Kindnesses, Kevin Falcon, the man posing as the Provincial Health Minister - I say, posing, because an actual real human person occupying that title would demonstrate some actual interest in HEALTH - has hit rock bottom with his latest profundity.

"B.C. instituting fees for convalescent care

Charges will fill gap between palliative and respite care, minister says"

You have to read this announcement and then think seriously about the implications.

These are fees for the dying and the elderly and their families.

We out here in the thoughtless boonies who clearly are too stupid to understand the good and mysterious workings of our glorious government have a small appreciation that governments are always on the lookout for more revenue.

Fair enough.

I guess.

But the elderly, the dying, the barely recovering and their families?

Perhaps Mr. Falcon knows no people over the age of 40.

Perhaps his parents and grandparents have long since thrown off this flimsy veil for a far, far better world elsewhere.

If we may be so bold...

Old people don't make a lot of money.

The elderly and the dying are not raking it in, folks.

So it is to these vulnerable, weakened people that we turn for more loot?

This administration is finished.

No one with any conscience could possibly vote to stomach another season of these ghouls.

Scary Great Beautiful Combination

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.

Plain Speaking

Nancy Ruth is a Conservative senator and pro-choice feminist.

She worries that aid activists, pressuring the Harper government to include access to abortion in a G8 initiative, will only touch off a backlash.

She has some friendly advice for them.

"Shut the fuck up – on this issue,” Ms. Ruth said.

That's what she said and that's what the Globe printed on page 4 this morning.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

It warms my heart to see that there are still a few people who speak English.

What is behind Ruth's warning, however, is troublesome.

It is but one indicator of how folks everywhere in political life in Canada at this date fear speaking up and speaking out lest Harper bite back at them where it hurts.

We share the same concern...while applauding Ms. Ruth for her clear messaging.

All praise Her Feistiness!

Asper-ated

I don't rightly care which "Family" completely controls all TV and newspapers in the country, believing as do that this kind of concentration of information assets is bad for almost everyone.

However, there are a few wrinkles in the Shaw buys CanWest story that interest me.

First is the claim that Shaw is betting that consumers will put increasing value on the ability to watch TV on their mobile phones, laptops and portable devices such as iPad.

Well...

A) I think they are right. If cafe life is any indicator, apparently everyone under the age if 35 is incapable of being anywhere without thumbing themselves to death, whether or not they are alone or with a companion.

This mindless consumerism frightens me.

Where did all these goats or TV's - Trend Victims - get this idea that they MUST live like this?

There are now more mobile phone and electronics shops in malls than women's shoe stores!

B) I will not be one of their eager new customers.

Just as I don't buy espresso in paper cups so I can walk down the street sucking on a plastic lid, I have no interest in watching TV on a screen the size of my wristwatch.

Drinking espresso means to me sitting down in a cafe with friends and talking and laughing or sitting alone and reading a book and watching the passing parade.

Watching TV means to me sofa, popcorn, pajamas.

Call me a Ritualist.

Call me not Shaw's Best New Bet.

* * *

The other thing that concerns me about this sale is the impact it will have on the City of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is my old home town.

I still have friends and relatives there.

I go there occasionally for one reason or another.

The Asper Family is now officially out of business.

I don't know these people personally and I have no judgements or comments about them.

But I do know that they have had, over the past several decades, an enormous impact on the community with their business interests and their charitable contributions.

How much of that, I wonder, will survive?

R.I.P. Great Canadian Jazz Man

Shortness

A quick and short blogismatis this morning, folks.

a) I've got an early morning appointment, and

b) What can I say, let alone do, about the Greek economy, the Gulf Spill or bomb threats in Times Square? (Talk about a blockbuster show opening!)

Back with the usual complaints, kvetches, outrage and home-grown solutions to local problems tomorrow.

Read It Here

Mike MacDonald has left a new comment on your post "THE HST BLUES":

I own a manufacturing company, typical I believe, with 1.5-3 million in sales a year over last 4 years, and 10-12 employees at any given time, in Delta...all probably typical for a small manufacturer...we make very automated machines primary for food, pharmaceutical, and plastics industries.

I had our bookkeeper spend a day exporting the last few years data and then using Excel making a figure that represents how those years would have been with HST instead of PST/GST.

We would have saved, oh yes indeed!
A whomping .3% to .5%. Not 3%, NOT 5%....POINT 3% or POINT 5%! Less than 1% savings from this huge change to my company, which will never offset the added tax on every-ones personal spending!

What savings am I going to pass on to our customers? I must now upgrade our accounting software, and be patient as our staff figure out the new rules...there is no savings David, you are 100% correct.

I was at a Langley City (where I live) open house and the local MLA Marry Polak commented strongly that there would be huge savings as manufactures could have HST rebated...

...I commented that manufactures are currently PST exempt and GST ITC rebated...so I asked where are the savings from?? Where? How?

Honestly David, she looked surprised and politely told me she has been assured there is a savings for manufactures...so I ask...anyone...where is this savings coming from, what am I missing?

She Got It

THE HST BLUES

I saw one of those Captains of Industry wizards on the television news the other day confidently assuring me that, if only I were patient, if only I really understood how things work, I would come in time to love and embrace the HST.

His claim?

Manufacturers - all his pals, I guess - will save money and they will pass the savings on to stupid me and you, the consumers, with lower prices.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

How a fool like this can stand up in public and with a straight face utter such a bald-faced lie and fantasy is beyond human understanding.

Of course, we are all familiar with all the prices of things rocketing downwards because the supplier saved a few bucks and wanted to share that with the public.

NOT.

The HST is a cruel scourge and everyone who opposes it is right to do so.

The silver lining?

It might be the political end of You Know Who.

THE OLYMPIC CITY

On Friday afternoon, a friend and I headed over to the tennis courts at Kits Beach to hit a few balls.

Half the courts are asphalt, which is to say, they have no green paint or other surface that might give a truer bounce or allow you to use the balls more than once without having to throw them into the practice bucket because they are now grey and scuffed beyond recognition. The nets are sagging old pieces of dirty string.

The other courts, the ones closer to the beach on the north side, are painted green, but they are not much better.

Moss and grass are breaking through cracks everywhere, the white lines are completely faded, the nets are garbage and the courts slope in several directions at once. "Level" is a condition they've probably never experienced.

Green canvas strung across the fencing might somewhat abate the steady winds coming off the water, but how are we to know?

This is a very public place.

It is in full view and it is an urban disgrace.

So much is babbled on about the "legacy."

Sport B.C. is currently advertising for a new CEO or General Manager.

What good was all of that excitement – what good is a new boss - if we can't attend with some civic pride to the most ordinary accommodations for ordinary citizens who enjoy staying healthy?

I am hardly a wealthy man.

I am basically retired and I live on a very limited income.

But I would be happy to pay a $5 user fee for public tennis courts if it meant that they were put into playing shape and maintained.

The courts at Kits Beach are not the exception. Almost all public courts in Vancouver suffer the same abandonment of care.

In Montreal, public courts are beautifully groomed and ready for action. You pay a small fee to play.

In Toronto, many public courts have been turned over to small local neighbourhood clubs, who collect modest yearly membership fees and maintain the facilities in first class condition. Non-members can use the courts for free in off-prime hours or any time a court is open.

Show us the Olympic legacy on our street corners.

Teary speeches at the Board of Trade won't cut it.

They Should Try Vancouver

Vicious, Unprovoked and Cowardly

That's what you can expect to hear when you walk up to a guy on the street, punch him in the face, breaking his jaw, and then stand over him yelling pleasantries, like, "FAGGOT!!! HOMO!!!"

Especially when it all gets caught on videotape.

In sentencing Michael Kandola to 17 months in jail, Mr. Justice Joel Groves added, "It is hard to believe that something as innocent as two men holding hands could cause such a visceral assault. In Canada, people are free to choose to live their lives as they choose, regardless of sexual preference."

So, in essence, Judge Grove has found Kandola guilty of a hate crime.

Many people argue that hate crime laws are unnecessary because we already have many laws on the books prohibiting violence against others.

That is true and often that is enough.

But what are we to do when a person or group assaults another person or group because the latter is Catholic, white, male, female, gay, Fijiian, left-handed, a member of the Cello Players of America, Jewish, black, Japanese or Swiss?

The Sublime Cleanliness of It All

Although I stopped subscribing to daily delivery of The Vancouver Sun newspaper some time ago, I still have a peek in cafes and on line fairly regularly.

The Sun is to be highly commended for their current serious on B.C. Municipal Elections Donations.

This is a series and it is a well-written, thorough and well-researched revelation.

Article after article chronicles monies being given by very interested parties to local councillors who then mysteriously vote directly in the favour of the kind donor.

Clicking through this link HERE will lead you to most of the stories.

The Maple Ridge/Jackson Farm piece and the Langley Firehall story are particularly intriguing.

In the latter case, the headline pretty much captures the gist:

Langley Township councillors who voted for full-time firehall got donations from firefighters

A few weeks ago, when the contestants on American Idol were wrecking the song book of Lennon & McCartney, one of the saps sang, "Can't Buy Me Love."

Ellen Degeneres laughed and ad libbed, "That was fine, but you actually can buy love, by the way."

Simon Cowell, a man with a few coin, howled with sly recognition of this ugly old truth.

Well, apparently, in B.C. you can still buy a good vote and a good old politician when you really need one.

Often, for as little as $500.

I repeat, Little People.

If you want me to run for office, deposit large amounts of cash in small untraceable bills in a brown paper bag on my door step, guarantee me a chauffeur-driven Cadillac, and always call me, "Sir."

In a pinch, "Your Highness," or "Your Holiness," will do.