I recall Colin Hansen speaking as an opposition critic about the problems of BC Ferries a decade ago. He noted successive provincial governments had failed to install competent management and had subjected […]
A Faustian bargain
Open letter by a real friend of BC
Hello All: In the last two weeks nearly 2,000 more people have signed our letter asking the Minister of Fisheries to apply the laws of Canada to salmon farms. The Fraser sockeye […]
Volunteers don’t come cheap, updated
Olympic volunteers (have I offended a trademark?) apparently don’t come cheap. One estimate puts the new bill to provincial taxpayers at $28 million. Consider that when the hospital postpones your father’s heart […]
That oughta do it
Steve Tuttle, a Taser International VP, was trying to defend his company from critics in the comment forum of a Salon.com article, “Let’s talk about tasers” written by guest blogger Digby. This […]
When you don’t want to know the answers
Even though I pay for a copy of the The Globe and Mail, I may seem to be a marketing rep. Can’t help it though when articles show up like this Mark […]
Highest and best use
In “Stream of aboriginal tradition hits a rocky patch,” The Globe and Mail examines how the declining Fraser River salmon fishery impacts the traditions of people who for thousands of years relied […]
First, they lied to the poor people
From July 2009, published here after the BC Liberals reversed a promise before the May 2009 election that HST was “not on the radar.” First, they lied to the poor peopleAnd I […]
Unswerving devotion to being perverse
Let’s hope they know more about managing investigations of crime than they do about managing public relations. July 23, Thomas Braidwood issued his report recommending severe restrictions on the use of conducted […]
When 2 + 2 = 8
British Columbia Premier Deceiver Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced a plan to combine PST (provincial sales tax) and GST (goods and services tax) into HST (harmonized sales tax). The new […]
Chat with the Globe’s Mark Hume
Title: Mark Hume discusses corruption probe in B.C. politics Date: Wednesday July 22, 2009 Time: 12:00PM PDT Mark Hume of The Globe and Mail British Columbia bureau takes questions on the political […]
Self interest before public interest
An earlier post “Power from the powerful” listed the following political insiders and their connections to private power production. Geoff Plant, former BC Liberal Attorney General, now chair of Renaissance Power. Mark […]
No, not a cult
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965): “Civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind, independent of the prevalent one among the crowds, and […]
Railgate opens?
Gary Mason, The Globe and Mail, A landmark ruling puts B.C. Premier in the hot seat, July 21, 2009: …It’s not a stretch to say yesterday’s ruling by Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett […]
"The job’s too big for us"
A decade ago, media companies were fat and so was their sense of entitlement. Newspapers and broadcasters were flourishing and to them, the Internet was an untapped lode, ready to be exploited. […]
Do you care?
Radio talk shows are often wastelands of puffery, babble and prejudice. Well conducted programs, with knowledgeable listeners, occasionally break through with moments of simple passion. One of those occurred recently on Bill […]
"… disclosure of documents (potentially thousands) …"
Could there be other surprises about to surface in examination of the Dziekanski homicide? One has to wonder why the Inquiry anticipates soon receiving thousands of documents for examination. This was the […]
Freedom of expression, perhaps
For this post, I planned to review the Supreme Court of Canada decision in the BC case regarding advertising that discomforted our political establishment. In it, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority appealed […]
Changing scene of political commentary
Clearly, journalism itself is not dying. What is dying — and rightfully so — is the staid, establishment-serving, passion-free, access-desperate, mindless stenographic model to which establishment journalism rigidly adheres. From Glenn Greenwald, […]
That job belongs to the fringe media
Harvey Oberfeld is a retired news guy now expressing opinions without limits from editors or advertisers. His blog, Keeping it Real… is a sometimes amusing, always readable collection of thoughts informed by […]
State sanctioned violence
The Braidwood Inquiry focuses Canadian attention on a single deadly outcome of police violence. Robert Dziekanski’s death was unusual, but only because a bystander recorded it. That digital video was sufficiently explicit […]
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