SHARING THE BOUNTY

Ah, Wally.

You've done it again.

Political mastermind, crime fighter, bungler.

The judge has tossed the Polygamy case against big jolly Winston Blackmore into the creek.

You'd be jolly too if you were shtupping 15-year old girls every day and getting away with it by calling them all your "wife."

But, Wally, you see, was told by one prosecutor after another to be quiet, that you couldn't possibly win this case.

So, Wally, undeterred, kept shopping around until he found a prosecutor who was willing to give it a go.

That declared BC Supreme Court Madame Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein (I had to put all of that mouthful in because I know there's a joke just waiting to be written.) declared that such shopping expedition by our former glorious A-G was definitely out-of-bounds.

Thus the good goat and his many ewes and lambs can thrive happily ever after in the magical kingdom of Bountiful.

p.s. A question: Why are all the group wives always smiling beatifically. Is Blackmore that good? Is there some hallucinogenic in the local stream? Should I use "stream" in a post like this? Should I use "post?"

p.p.s. Last question: Why does Blackmore look exactly like a guy I used to work for in the recent past? Spooooky...

WE'RE WAITING...

Even the cops are now calling for an independent body to oversee and investigate police-related shootings, deaths and allegations against officers/

Duh?

How long does this government have to wait before it does the obvious and right thing?

You have the job now, Kash.

Step up to the plate.

Now.

JUSTICE

Soon it will be December 2009.

That will make it six years since the RCMP marched into the Provincial Legislature and seized boxes of documents from the office of Dave Basi and Bob Virk.

Six years.

This corruption trial will resume, with a new sitting judge, next week.

Pre-trail, that is.

Full trial may not happen for at least another year.

Justice delayed is justice denied, or so goes a saying.

What if PR man Patrick Kinsella is shown to have been working simultaneously for both BC Rail and the eventual buyer, CN Rail, as many suspect was the case?

What will that tell us about his good friend and often boss, one G. Campbell?

Stay tuned.

But don't hold your breath...

CANNON FODDER (or, Mudder)

Federal Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon is much in the news today.

Abousfian Abdelrazik is suing the government – and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon personally – for $27-million over Canada's role in his arrest and alleged torture in Sudan and for violating his constitutional right to come home.

Mr. Abdelrazik, who spent nearly six years in prison or forced exile while his attempts to come home were thwarted, returned to Canada in June after Ottawa was ordered by a federal judge to repatriate the 47-year-old Sudanese-Canadian.

I have absolutely no idea if Mr. Abdelrazik has a legitimate case or not.

But I have long advocated that injured or aggrieved people sue government officials - whether parole board members or members of Parliament or receptionists in the dog catcher's office - so that officials will begin to take their responsibilities more seriously. Remember accountability?

On the other hand...

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon led a Canadian walkout as Iran's president began speaking to the United Nations Wednesday night, a boycott that was followed by diplomats from the United States and other countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad then launched into a tirade against the United States, Israel, and Jews.

And for that, Cannon is to be roundly praised.

What is the UN thinking about? Yesterday they were treated to rambling rants by Ahmadinejad and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, two criminal terrorist madmen.

Is the UN going out of its way to make itself even more irrelevant and clownish?

PETITION, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

A petition and campaign has been initiated by the DTES Power of Women
group against the City of Vancouver, VANOC, RCMP, and VPD in their
attempts to change next year's historic and sacred Feb 14 March for
Murdered and Missing Women in order to ensure ‘flow of Olympic traffic’
down Hastings Street.

The Power of Women group is based in the DTES neighbourhood and its
membership is composed entirely of women living in poverty who have
experienced and survived sexual violence and mental, physical, spiritual,
and emotional abuse.

Please sign the online petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/feb14/petition.html


Text of petition:

It has been brought to our attention that the City of Vancouver, Olympic
officials, and the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit are trying to
change the historic Feb 14, 2010, March for Murdered and Missing Women in
order to ensure ‘flow of Olympic traffic’ down Hastings Street.

As residents of the DTES and supporters of the Memorial March, we
completely oppose any change in date, time, or route of the Memorial
March. This March has been happening for 18 years to honour our sisters
who die each year due to the violence of physical, mental, emotional and
spiritual abuse. It is something far more significant and sacred than the
Olympic Games, which has already increased poverty, homelessness, and
policing in our neighbourhood. The government is spending billions on a
circus, while putting people aside.

We, the women in the Downtown Eastside and our supporters, demand that:
• There be no attempts to change or control our Feb 14th Memorial March
• Not a single person be forcibly removed, evicted, or displaced from
their homes in the Downtown Eastside and any other community due to the
Olympics.

For more information or to obtain hard copies of the petition for your
organization, contact project@dewc.ca or call 604 681 8480 x 234.