Sunday, August 12, 2007

Why Does The Return Of Rafe Mair Matter?

LucreCrazedLinosaurs
RunningWildInTheStreetsVille


Yesterday, I posted up a teeny-tiny post about the pending return of Rafe Mair online and unleashed on Sept 4th, which is the day after Labour Day.

Which, coincidentally (or not?) is just one week after one of Mr. Mair's former employers, the no-longerGiant98, is unveiling it's latest comeback attempt with the official product rollout of former (and still present?) LINOsaurus queen, Ms. Christy Clark.

Now there's all kinds of history behind Mr. Mair's long tenure, both as a politician and a talk show host, in this province.

And a lot of it is neither pretty nor progressive.

And journalistically it wouldn't quite be fair to put Mair in a league with Jack Webster, or even another dead guy with the same initials, Jack Wasserman.

However, in the end, what I found most endearing about Rafe was the fact that he refused to be spun by Mr. Campbell's Dobrano-assisted LINO machine on all kinds of issues.

Including the environment.

A good example was his pitbull/pirhanna-like shredding of the open net fish farming industry and its then enabler, a true LINOsaurus Rex who is also known as Mr. John van Dongen.

And the other thing I really give credit to Mr. Mair for was his ability to see the closed door selling off of public assets, current or former, as the evil that it truly is. An example, is a short piece I wrote below on Rafe's criticism of the sale of stuff that used to be ours to a gaggle of Bush Rangers back in 2005:

______

Today, in his weekly commentary in the Tyee, Mr. Mair pulls no punches on the takeover of Terasen by the Texans formerly known as Enron:

"I am just a poor one time lawyer, one time politician and part time environmentalist who does a bit of broadcasting and writing. I know nothing about oil and natural gas except what it costs me. But I do know bullshit when it wafts my way, especially if the source is anywhere near where politicians ply their trade, PR people hang out (usually the same place) or when CEOs of large companies tell us about the huge social benefits they are about to confer on our province by reason of their utterly unselfish corporate policy."


Hey Zeuss!

This is giving me the heebie jeebies, because we were saying essentially the same thing a scant two weeks ago.

What's next?

A seance perhaps?

_______

What the heck were we 'talkin' bout Willis', lo' those many months ago?

Why, the public utilities commission-assisted takeover of British Columbia's pipeline distribution network by KinderMorgan, of course.

And those who live anywhere near Burrard Inlet these days knows the end result of that.

OK?

____
Hope that helps WEB!
Oh, and btw, while he wouldn't come right out and say it, I'm convinced that Mr. Mair's outspoken criticism of the behind-closed-doors corporate kleptocracy that has run wild under the current LINO administration got him canned from his last gig.
For those are wondering, LINO stands for 'LiberalInNameOnly'
And finally, here's a link to all our Rafe coverage through the ages for those who are remotely interested.....

.


No comments: