You Know You're In Trouble When....

.....Your Only Chance Is The Zalm

Former Premier Bill Vanderzalm is wading into the pool of critics concerned about the implications of Bill 30 - Section 56, which they say will eliminate municipal zoning authority when it comes to independent power projects, "All of that local input will be gone, there won't be a say. It's "Big Brother in Victoria knows best," regardless of where it happens, so that concerns me."

CKNW/Michael Smyth, Nightline BC, May 16, 2006

Which makes one wonder - just how far to the right are the British Columbia LibCons anyway, given that a former way-right premier thinks they have gone completely insane?

Then again, maybe the actual 'direction' of total extremism means nothing, if Kevin 'ThePaveMaster Flash' Falcon's recent comments on the ChiComs are any indication:

"......China has a bit of a different governance structure. But, in many ways, it is the ideal governance structure." As the room broke into laughter, Minister Falcon added, "China really has the ultimate Kevin Falcon government structure" - which got even more guffaws from the audience. He then wryly noted that, the Chinese "don't have the labour or environmental restrictions we do. It's not like they have to do community consultations. They just say 'we're building a bridge' and they move everyone out of there and get going within two weeks. Could you imagine if we could build like that?"

Sean Holman, Public Eye Online, May 17, 2006

Which, of course, brings to mind that famous line from those halcyon days long done gone:

"If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

George W. Bush, Dec 18, 2000

Sheesh.

It's like a perverse hyper-drive 'deja-vu all over again', in which the both extremist poles bludgeon and lacerate the 'common good' middle in their headlong rush to the asymptotic exclusionary ecstasy of cronyism gone completely crazy.

Or, put, more simply, not to mention even more graphically, when one is dealing with the privatized power markets that George W. Bush's former golden boy Kenny Boy Lay was so fond of:

During California's rolling blackouts, when streets were lit only by head lights and families were trapped in elevators, Enron Energy traders laughed, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.

One trader is heard on tapes obtained by CBS News saying, "Just cut 'em off. They're so f*cked. They should just bring back f*ckingg horses and carriages, f*cking lamps, f*cking kerosene lamps."

And when describing his reaction when a business owner complained about high energy prices, another trader is heard on tape saying, "I just looked at him. I said, 'Move.' (laughter) The guy was like horrified. I go, 'Look, don't take it the wrong way. Move. It isn't getting fixed anytime soon."


So listen to the Zalm. He may be a lunatic, but he's our lunatic, and this time he's on our side.

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