Politicians, not too long ago, feared the press. Much has changed, not because corporate media owners are suffering financially, since most are not. Good journalism is available, much of it from new media that survives on the knife edge between survival and insolvency, ever in need of financial support. Tenuous job security ensures that few real characters survive in today’s mainstream media. It was not always so…
Postmedia distortions
Postmedia’s Colby Cosh demonstrates the truth of Jefferson’s quote, “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
R.I.P. Rafe Mair
Today is another sad day. We’ll no longer connect directly with Rafe Mair and hear his stories and his passionate advice. He knew this day was approaching but he intended to make his last years meaningful. And, they were. In 2017, Mr. Mair was finishing another book and he was a regular contributor to online journals. Beyond that, seeking to both inform and provoke, he broadcast a regular series of emails to people on his lists…
Rafe & Scotty on Denman
A preceding article contains two comments from readers who I regard highly. The contributions, from Rafe Main and Scotty on Denman, were to Overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks… Because they merit close attention, I present them here again for emphasis.
Looting W.A.C. Bennett’s legacy
Opponents of Liberal power policy assume that, beyond grabbing the profits to be made flipping IPP contracts, Liberal operatives aimed to cripple BC Hydro to make its privatization palatable. The guiding parties decided they could gain more another way. There was no need to privatize Hydro’s assets and liabilities. Instead, they privatized its profits and left Hydro and the public with all the financial risks…
Throw him some work
…easily-influenced voters in BC opted for Christy’s Clark more economically pleasing vision of the future. But it was phoney baloney, conjured up in a three-week period in a “rush assignment” given to Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance Doug Foster by Clark’s newly-hired communications director Ben Chin, formerly a CBC TV news anchor in Ontario and after running for the provincial Liberals there—and losing—he became VP of Communications with the Ontario Power Authority. In that job he infamously advised an OPA official—who was troubled by critical media reports—to “throw him some work” to get a particular journalist onside. “It would be a good score,” Chin said.
Rafe Mair’s eloquence
British Columbia’s most informed political commentary comes not from people at rewrite desks in the Legislative Press Gallery but from a retired — but not retiring — newsman. I refer, of course, to Rafe Mair, whose recent work should not be missed. It includes an assertion that, while true, is seldom discussed in corporate media: Canadians are governed by a fraudulent charade called a “parliamentary democracy”…
Erik Andersen on BC Hydro debt
This devastating information from Erik Andersen, an economist and widely recognized expert on government and Crown Corporation financing: You will note the unbelievable increase in BC Hydro’s debt since Christy Clark took […]
Bankrupting BC with $171 Billion Debt Legacy
From The Common Sense Canadian.
Rafe Mair raises his wise voice
No Souls but Lots of Cash, Rafe Mair, The Tyee, June 25, 2012– BC’s crucial environmental battles pit citizens against politicians’ love of corporate money. “Corporations have a legal body but no […]
Toothless media accommodates political fraud
In 2006, Rafe Mair wrote News Media, Defanged for The Tyee. It included the headline: Politicians, not too long ago, feared the press. Of course miscreants particularly feared Rafe Mair during his […]
Public land with full access now privatized
Liberals have been bulldozing barriers and slashing red tape for more than a decade. Who can forget: “Red Tape Reduction Task Force” of 2001 to recommend priorities for the elimination of regulations […]
Snoozing, slothful syndicate of political poodles…
At the Rafe Mair birthday celebration last week, we got to hear Rafe tell an anecdote about writing a piece celebrating free speech. The article was written for the Ryerson School of […]
BC Hydro CEO proves online journalists correct
Go immediately to The Common Sense Canadian and read Rafe Mair’s new article: Hydro Chief’s Leaked Comments Trash IPPs – What Will Clark Do Now? “You could have blown me over with […]
No higher authority than the other side of what they say!
Alex G. Tsakumis interviewed Rafe Mair on The Money and Wealth Program (CHEK-TV, July 30 7:00 pm). Don’t miss the entire conversation. The two newsmen focus on topics that mainstream reporters are […]
Canadian right wing more dangerous
Rafe Mair recaps the misdeeds of BC Liberals A comment at The Tyee submitted by “immigrant” includes this wise observation: “. . . Since moving here I’ve learned that the BC and […]
Reads you must not miss
BC Liberals in Bed with P3 Industry There is also the curious case of the Macquarie group which is a prominent fiscal agent for the B.C. government and other public agencies and […]
The Big Lie
From a German book published in 1925: All this was inspired by the principle–which is quite true within itself–that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because […]
Et tu, Corky?
Rafe Mair puts out a few opinions on leadership candidates. His suggestion of Corky Evans as a possibility is particularly interesting for two reasons. Corky and Rafe spent time together recently and […]
The Plain Truth
Rafe Mair says: The plain truth is that the Campbell government has wallowed in deceit and sharp practice from the outset . . . [The] government and especially the premier, have told […]
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