THE SILENT SIX

In the Olympic Village debacle and fallout, little mention has been made of the unavoidable fact that six of the current 10 Councillors (Anton, Cadman, Chow, Louie, Deal and Stevenson) were all at the table when this cow-plop was originally conceived and signed.

What's the mystery? Where's the information?

Here's what we're looking at, kids.

A group of elected officials, none of whom has ever sold batteries or run a cafe, get in bed with not one but two large business groups (Millenium and Fortress) and, of course, sell the farm. They know not what they do and they understandably get their clocks cleaned. They get taken, hosed and bagged by men in suits who are falling over backwards, biting off the ends of their Upman cigars, coughing in their martinis, laughing until the sickness comes.

All of which would be mildly amusing or good for a short SNL sketch were it not for the tiny detail that this is public money these rubes have signed away. Your money and my money, earned by working every day, and paid in the hundreds of thousands of taxes we face - property, sales, tires, gas and so on...

Now, the City is begging the Premier to write a new law that will allow Vancouver to borrow - what? - half a billion dollars in the worst economy in 50 years to cover its sorry ass.

The Prime Minister has said, "No Mas."

The Premier is mute.

But Standard & Poor is speaking. They say the City's credit rating is "on watch," as in, "watch out, suckers."

Now, new Council member Geoff Meggs is saying that if the City's credit rating is in fact downgraded it should be called the Sam Sullivan Legacy.

That's fine.

It's true that Crazy Sam was too busy with his personal obsessions, like organizing private foundations to give drug addicts pills, to attend to anything as mundane as CITY BUSINESS.

BUT.

As I said at the beginning of this post, 6 of the current 10 Councillors, honorable men and women all, were PRESENT AND VOTING at the execution.

What do they have to tell us?

When will they admit their roles in what is shaping up to the worst mismanagement ever enacted on this city by a sitting council in history?

If voters had known the true scope of this pile of poo before November, would any of these 6 have been re-elected?

I now officially name them.

THE SILENT SIX.

First to speak get's a lollipop.

(The foto, by the way, is called "Welcome to Frozenville, a Town Without Equipment.")

SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE

Isn't it just a fine example when even the local school board can't play by the rules?

The BC Ministry of Education requires public schools to administer the Foundation Skills Assessment tests for children in Grades 4 and 7.

The rogue BC Teachers' federation hate these things or any other benchmark that might indicate how their union members are performing.

Two of the Vancouver School Board members are former executives with the BCTF.

Now, the School Board itself is bucking the tests.

The strategy is interesting.

The Board will administer the tests...but, it is also sending out notices to parents advising them on how they can keep their kids at home to not participate.

What words spring to mind?

Cheesy? Sick? Playing politics with kids and with public money? You don't have money for band practice, but you have money for "strike" notices?

Out here in the real world, people are being tested in a thousand ways every day. You're going to "protect" kids from this awful and unfair demand?

You're going to send kids to the Olympics to cheer on tough competition and "testing," bu god forbid the same kids should write a math or English test.

This is politics - and bad politics at that - disguised as concern for child welfare.

CUTTING OFF BOOZE IS AN EASY CALL

The entire staff and executive of a Muskoka golf club north of Toronto have been charged with criminal responsibility in the deaths of three young people.

As well they should.

Not only did they serve 31 drinks to one of the party in a few hours, but more importantly, the only way to get in and out of the golf club is by car.

How did these idiots expect these lovely patrons to get home?

Last summer, we were invited to a party on the Sunshine Coast. We were given detailed instructions on how to get to the obscure property. Finally, we were advised that we should bring our own booze. Pot wasn't mentioned, but given who the people were and the location, Mary Jane was a given.

We smiled warmly and promptly scratched that fun time off our calendar.

Everyone is responsible. Or should be.

None of us live in a glass bubble. We all know about the laws and about the dangers of drunk driving. We are no longer 17.

If you can't be in the business of serving booze with some vague civic sense, move to shoe repair.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

Tom Christensen will not be running again in the May provincial election.

This is good news for all of British Columbia, but especially for children.

Mr. Christensen has been for several years now the worst Minister of Children and Families we have ever seen. Which is saying a lot, since this file has been busier than an Olympic relay team.

We have asked him in these pages several times to resign. His incompetence and blindness in dealing with children at risk has been monumental.

He is also the seventh member of Gordon Campbell's cabinet to say, "Basta, baby! I've had enough."

The only sorry part of this news is that he plans to spend more time with his own children and family.

Perhpas he's better with children and families hands-on than from behind a big desk.

FASCINATING, AMAZING DEBATE