Stealing Your Health

Yesterday, we spoke in this space about the high costs of health care in this province.

Today, we focus on one of the hidden costs, one of the little over-runs that politicians will not be rushing to discuss in public.

"e-health" is all the rage.

Every jurisdiction in the land is pouring millions of tax dollars into the belief that all of your health care info should be in cyberspace and available at a mouse click to anyone who needs it asap.

Fair enough.

Trouble is, kids, corruption abounds.

"e-health" and e-anything is the new cement.

Used to be that when a new highway was being built somewhere, all you had to do is ask, "Whose cousin got the cement contract?"

Now, the game is the same, only the players and the sticky stuff have changed.

Charges laid against three linked to e-health project

Former top bureaucrat, MD consultant among those accused of corruption

In BC, the e-health caper is worth $259 million.

We Three Little Pigs have been hit with 16 charges of influence peddling, fraud and such.

In Ontario, the Auditor-General concluded $1-billion of taxpayer money had been mismanaged on that province’s e-health system. David Caplan resigned as health minister on the day the review was released last October.

Will The Falcon resign?

Not on your stethoscope.

Mr. Falcon stressed that the allegations stem from events that took place long before he took over the Health portfolio.

But they did take place on somebody's watch? Could we have that sucker up front and centre for an axplanation, please?

Not likely.

So...

In addition to all of the inefficiencies in the sytem, we now know that one of the reasons that our health care eats up so much of the budget is plain old-fashioned theft.

Yes, that's very healthy, thanks.

And has the Premier demanded answers on this misuse and abuse of public funds?

Seacrh me. I've been out of town for a few weeks.

Was that right between the Crosby goal and the closing ceremonies?

Old Movie

The fact that abortion is the hot-button issue that may scuttle President Barack Obama's attempt to bring home health care reform in America is appalling - and frightening.

God, guns and glory...our good neighbours are tetched.

The fact that 50 million of their fellow citizens are a cough away from a catastrophic health issue because they have no money or insurance just doesn't seem to be important to most Americans, who would rather scream hysterically about SOCIALISM or COMMUNISM or the evils of abortion.

The USA is the most backwoods, backward regime among all the so-called Western Democracies, an imperialist nation hunkered around false, comforting pieties.

It is beautiful and it is exciting and it is flat nuts.

Smudgit

There's nothing particularly wrong or offensive about the latest Jim Flaherty/Stephen Harper fiscal game plan.

The only problem is...can you believe this kind of starry-eyed optimism?

Cut the federal deficit from today's $54 Billion to less than $2 Billion in 4 years?

What are these guys smoking?

Why It's Still Difficult to Trust Politicians

Darrel Dexter is the Premier of Nova Scotia.

To maintain his standing in the province as a practising lawyer, he must pay $3,119 annually.

That's his choice.

The only problem is that the Nova Scotia/Canadian taxpayer - that's you - has been paying Dexter's fees for several years.

Dex has the gall to insist that that's O.K.

No, baby, it's not O.K.

Did you have a mother?

Did she teach you Right and Wrong?

Lessons from Italy

He is a crook.

He is a womanizer...favoring 18 year olds by the boat load.

He is richer than God.

And in some circles, more powerful.

He has had more plastic surgery than Joan Rivers and even his hair plugs are dyed.

Perhaps, most impressive - he has a pizza named after him. (I have a Crepe David at a little neighbourhood cafe, but a Pizza! Oh, the pure jealousy!)

He is Silvio Berlusconi and he is the Prime Minister of Italy.

Again.

In spite of being indicted half a dozen times on a very democratic broad range of charges, he manages to sweep the popular vote and dash into office at will.

For the casual observer, the inevitable question is, "Why?"

Are these people mad? Have they no good common sense? Has he promised them all a free bottle of Prosecco once a week?

No.

It is much simpler than that.

And here's where Carole James and Iggy Pop and Jack the 'Stache come into the picture.

Berlusconi - love him or move to Malta - keeps getting elected and re-elected because:

a) He is tremendously organized, and

b) The other guys aren't.

"The other guys" constitute about 94 other parties, each one dumber than the last and all clawing away at each other over the fine print, while Silvio skates across the finish line again.

Travel is refreshing and instructive.

I recommend it for certain other also-rans.

You see different buildings. You eat different foods.

And you get a glimpse of how some people have figured out the basics, while others gab, gab, gab...

To Your Health

It's not often that you'll find me in agreement with something coming from the fountain of wisdom known as B.C. Health Minister, Kevin Falcon.

But in this case, "Right on, Kev."

Speaking of the need to hold the line or better on inevitable increases in health care spending, Falcon warns, “Because if we don't do this, our system will implode under the weight of its own excess and inefficiency.”

The only problem with that statement is that it doesn't answer the question, "Oh, yah? Then what are you doing about it?"

Take the mandarins who head up the regional Health Boards, for example...please.

Salaries in the $300,000 range.

And every time one of them is sacked or decides to go fishing, the buy-out is in the half million dollar range.

These folks must calibrate, before taking on the job, the exact best pay-off moment to head into the sunset.

And the endless bureaucracies that support them.

And the top-heavy hospital management teams.

And the refusal to tally up the real cost of any surgery and position oneself to take remedial action in buying habits for supplies and equipment.

The province has consistently reduced services for mental health, addictions and seniors.

How has that helped the bottom line?

Almost no money goes for treatment in addictions, yet millions go to giving users more of their favorite free drugs and clean places to use.

In short, if Falcon is right - and for once, he is - that we must stop the mounting health costs, where is the Plan?

Is he the Man with the Plan?

Doesn't look like it.

The same government has announced a $50 Million commitment to a new Vancouver Art Gallery, when anyone with an abacus handy knows that such an animal will cost at last 10 times that number.

Planning is not Victoria's long suit.

And never forget that there always has been and always will be one single villain who drives the machinery of health care costs.

That is your friendly neighbourhood Federal Government, who many years ago covered half the costs of health care across the land.

Today, Ottawa pays 25% of the bill.

The next time, some rube posing as a politician asks for your vote in a national election, ask him or her when Ottawa will return to paying its full share of the health bill.

Rube or Ruby won't have an answer for you and will not deserve your vote.

Spin

HST = Health Care?

Huh?

It's the Health Saving tax?

This is news.

Yet this is what Colin Hansen and Gordon Campbell would have us believe.

In delivering the Provincial Budget, Mr. Hansen was determined that we come away pillowed by the comforting thought that the new tax would really be all for Health.

In the words of that famous parliamentarian, John McEnroe, "You can't be serious!""

But listen to the Good Minister's language:

“We need to find ways that can help demonstrate to average British Columbians the connection between the tax dollars they pay and the services they get.”

Translation?

"You are stupid and we have to 'splain stuff to you, You Average Donkey You.

Yup.

Thanks, Boss.

Look, revenues are down, expenditures are up and the whole world is struggling through the same identical mire. Ontario, Greece, London and no doubt the Maldives are all in the same sweaty tank.

We get it, thanks. We got it.

But you don't have to keep pulling these tired cheesy old circus tricks, guys.

Let Us Not Forget

The notorious Air India case – the bloodiest unsolved crime in Canadian history – will be back in the spotlight Wednesday with the start of jury selection for a trial on the rare charge of perjury against former Vancouver Island mechanic Inderjit Singh Reyat.

It is charged that he lied under oath 27 times.

The killers of 331 people walk free, in large measure thanks to this man's testimony.

May some measure of justice be found in this matter.

It's only been 25 years since this obscenity occurred.

Values and Opinions Department

New immigrants to Canada are being told many helpful things - thanks to our new official study guide.

Of course, they are not being told that spitting in public is a) disgusting and b) a criminal offense. Or if they are, who's listening?

In addition, the Globe has learned that a number of references to certain Canadian Rights enshrined by law have been deliberately omitted from the guide.

For example:

"Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969 and more recently, civil marriage rights to same-sex couples was legalized nationwide in 2005," the earliest draft of the guide says under the section Towards a Modern Canada.

And in the section on citizenship rights, the early draft said: "Equality Rights - Canadians are protected against discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or age."

Neither sentence survived the minister's red marker.

The minister is Citizenship & Immigration Minister Jason Kenney who was advised by staff to include such statements.

But Kenny has his own agenda.

For which, no doubt, many will applaud him.

Not I.

May the Beeb be Heard

The BBC is much like the CBC, only bigger, nastier and more ingrained, if such a thing can be imagined.

What a pleasure then to read in a "Telegraph" at a restaurant in Heathrow yesterday that the Beeb wants to change its tune.

More British, less Yanqui, programming.

Of course, these announcements for all we know may be annual affairs, the Home Office equivalent to the sighting of the groundhog.

Let's hope someone at CBC Control is listening.

You are publicly funded.

Stop showing The Price is Right, Jeopardy, and all other American mind rot.

Pay for News, Comedy, Drama, Children's, docs, and education.

Decide who you really are and go for it.

Techo-Geek, Part 4,398,222

Once again I 've recorded about 4 minutes and managed to upload only 2...

What I was saying about comments was...

MOSTLY, your comments are quite wonderful and well told and full of good information and excellent stories and I really appreciate very much your input.

Best wishes...

Cheers!

Ciao Baby

I'm leaving on a jet plane.

Venice, Sicily...Carnivale, Corleone...

I won't be posting on this blog again until March 3d.

But...

If you feel so inclined, check in occasionally to my other bog site,

http://laughingintheisles.blogspot.com/

which I last used during my '09 trip to Edinburgh and Dublin.

I'll endevour to get some good fotos of the masks and costumes in the Piazza, and the hillsides and Greek ruins in Sicilia.

A tough assignment, I realize, but...

Be well, Tutti!

True Crime

Cosy Cave Lane.

Respected and admired Air Force Colonel charges with multiple murders of young women.

This is the stuff of old Law and Order episodes.

Will Ben Stone come out of his drunken retirement to prosecute?

Forgive me, for this is no laughing matter to the families of these victims.

The story is horrifying and fascinating and too much like a movie.

No doubt some enterprising HBO executive has already bought the rights.

Round the Bend

Iran is fronted by a madman.

It is run by fundamentalist religious clerics.

It is increasing its nuclear stronghold.

And claiming that this is in the interests of medicine.

Read the latest from the NY Times and then pray or go jogging and try to forget that there are rogue nations on this earth that pose a clear and present danger to humankind.

(The "other guy" is American Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.)

The IOC - Such a Happy Little Group

This was forwarded this morning from a friend on Hornby Island, where people read the news very early each day. Thanks, Gary.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Convicted ex-Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee was
reinstated Sunday as a full member of the International Olympic Committee, a
boost for South Korea's bid to host the 2018 Winter Games.

Lee's rights were restored by the IOC executive board, although the IOC also
gave him a public reprimand for tarnishing the Olympic movement and banned him
from serving on any IOC commissions for five years.

Lee voluntarily gave up his IOC rights after being indicted in 2008 in a
financial and tax evasion case. The South Korean government pardoned Lee last
year, clearing the way for his return to the IOC.

Lee is now free to attend IOC sessions, take part in IOC votes and help South
Korea's latest campaign to host the Winter Games.

The South Korean government has said Lee will be a key figure in the bid from
Pyeongchang, which is competing for the 2018 Games along with Munich and
Annecy, France.

Pyeongchang is bidding for the third straight time after defeats for the 2010
and 2014 Games, which went to Vancouver and Sochi, Russia. The IOC will choose
the 2018 host in 2011.

With Lee's reinstatement, South Korea has two IOC members. The other is Moon
Dae-sung.

"We are delighted to hear the news," said Park Yang-chun, chairman of the
Korean Olympic Committee's international relations commission. "We are very
pleased to hear of his reinstatement."

Park said it was too early to determine Lee's exact role in the Pyeongchang bid.

"One way or another he will join our bid," he said. "There is nothing official
yet. Mr. Lee will decide."

Lee's reinstatement follows the pattern of previous IOC ethics cases. French
member Guy Drut was provisionally suspended in 2005 after being convicted in a
party-financing trial. He was reinstated by the IOC a year later after being
pardoned by then French President Jacques Chirac.

Lee stepped down in April 2008 after 20 years at the helm of the Samsung Group
after being indicted in connection with losses at a Samsung affiliate and for
tax evasion. He later was fined and sentenced to a suspended three-year prison
term.

In Sunday's ruling, the IOC ethics commission said Lee's conduct "has tarnished
the reputation of the Olympic movement" and violated the IOC's ethical
principles.

The IOC issued him with a "reprimand" and a five-year suspension from sitting
on any commissions.

Asked how the committee could bring back a member who had been convicted of
criminal charges, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: "He has received two of the
three strongest sanctions the IOC can give."

The strongest sanction is expulsion.

That Covers It

DIY Writ Large

The citizens of Colorado Springs, all 380,000 of them, have agreed that their city - just a hike down the road from Denver, doesn't really need or want government...or its questionable services.

In true American libertarian style they have decided to go it alone.

That includes parks, trash, lawns, dogs, you name it.

Outrageous! Madness! You say.

Or is it a sign of things to come and a warning to the idiots who mismanage governments everywhere at all levels - which, roughly means all of them?

This Curiosity Just Arrived

For Immediate Release

February 8, 2010

Vancouver Taxi business “dead” just days before Olympics
Drivers unsure of how they will survive the next 2 months

Vancouver, BC – A combination of factors associated with the Winter Olympic Games have resulted in the slowest period for the taxi industry in the past 15 years, says Amrik Mahil, President of Black Top and Checker Cabs.

“I have never seen it like this, and I am very worried about the lingering effects from two months of this kind of business climate” said Mahil. “While everyone thought that we would have too few cabs for the Olympics, the reality of the situation in this final week before the Games tells a vastly different story.”

There are dozens of temporary licenses that have been issued for the duration of the Games. Taxi operators in the GVRD who cannot usually operate within the City of Vancouver are now able to deploy up to 35% of their fleet to pick up passengers at Olympic sites or anywhere else in the city. The Olympic transportation plan and associated road closures make using taxis within the city to get to and from Olympic events very inconvenient (no right lane stopping, meaning the amount of cab stands is severely reduced during the Games). Finally, the economy is still soft, making cab fares an expense that many individuals and companies have cut back on.

With fixed costs ranging between 80-$120 per shift, many cab drivers are having trouble breaking even. In fact, many drivers are now contemplating a departure from the industry because of an inability to make ends meet.

The long-term health of the taxi industry in Vancouver is now at risk, according to Mahil.

“We would not be able to withstand a mass exodus of drivers from our company, and yet we cannot even guarantee these individuals a consistent income over the coming months” said Mahil. “VANOC and the Passenger Transportation Board have grossly overestimated the need for taxis during the Games, and now we are all paying the price.”

Black Top is Vancouver’s second largest taxi company with 197 vehicles and over 50 years of service within the city.

Media contact:

Amrik Mahil
President – Black Top and Checker Cabs
(604) 614-3777

Merry Men

As part of TCM’s Oscar month, “The Adventures of Robin Hood played the other night and I was able to catch and to enjoy immensely the last half hour or so.

This 1938 movie starred Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains.

I’ll give you a hint.

Rathbone played neither Maid Marian nor Friar Tuck.

What made the movie so much fun was Flynn’s cheeky charm and Olivia’s ethereal beauty.

There was a full and necessary slate of sword fighting and arrows falling we know not where, but the over-all take by director Michael Curtiz was lightness and feather touch.

This is, after all, a kind of fairy tale.

But that is all about to change, children.

Any moment now the new Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe monstrosity, “Robin Hood”, will overwhelm your neighbourhood screens.

Crowe was born to play “brute.”

He specializes in brute force.

Crowe and Scott were the pair who brought you “Gladiator.”

Do you remember anything from this movie? I don’t.

Here’s what the new “Robin Hood” will offer.

Heads hacked in two by axes.

Severed arteries exposed by missing limbs spurting blood in your face.

The intensity and mystery and neuroses of Cate Blanchett.

I can’t wait till this team tackles Sir Galahad.

Then Snow White with Roman Polanski playing all seven dwarfs.