...And Women_______
Second Double Secret Probation Update @ 5pm....Unaccredited journalist nonpareil, Mr. Robin Mathews, has two things to report over at Mary's based on his in-depth knowledge of what is going on and what has gone on in the Railgate courtroom previously....First, Mr. Mathews is reporting that the jury will be coming back tomorrow morning (not afternoon as previously stated by he and others) to listen to further cross-examination of Mr. Martyn Brown, which has us wondering if, indeed, numbers 11 and 12 have agreed to stay on (although nobody can really say for sure given the silly publication ban which is starting to comical given all the telegraph-tapping/mojo-invoking/body language-reading it is inspiring)....Second, and this is something that only someone who has been in the courtroom pretty much every single day could know, which is that it was the Special Prosecutor, Mr. Bill Berardino, who first told the court that he expected the trial to last only six to eight weeks. Imagine that!
First Update @ 12noon.... at bottom of post
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WhenDoesAMadeManSuddenlyBecome
JohnDoeAllOverAgainVille
I don't know about you, but I find it ironic in the extreme that:
After all that went into the making of the man....
And the political assassinating of the other man (and woman)....
And the Machiavellian machinations required to construct the fauxian big tent...
And the even more fauxian/false deification of the solipsistic 'Institute' and its 'scholars'....
And the busting of the unions....
And the stuffing of the boards.....
And the dismantling of the regulatory agencies....
And the privatization of the profits....
And the selling of the public assets....
And the cultivation of the friendlies.....
And the ripping 'of new ones' in the not-so friendlies...
And the Brenzingering and Nettletonization of internal dissent....
And the harmonization of the taxes (and the former ministers)....
And the monitoring of the media....
And the catapaulting of the propaganda....
And the specialization/PABsterization of ALL the projects (including circuses)....
And the greasing of all the rails, rivers, roads, roofs, land/forest reserves, and roulette wheels imaginable at the behest of the most influential friends, uncles and corporate masters that money can buy....
That it all comes down to two regular folks that may or may not be willing to sit in a courtroom for an entire year for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.
****
Yup.
That is the crux of the matter.
Because the Railgate jury was told yesterday that, instead of being done in time for the summer holidays, they will now be forced to listen to tales of all of the above until, perhaps, this time next year.
And amazingly, within 40 minutes or so, ten of the twelve jurors agreed to do so.
And the other two didn't flat-out say no.
Instead, they said they would think about it overnight.
So the judge asked those last two to call the court sheriff this morning to let her know of their decision.
****
To me, this is most amazing.
Why?
Because, despite all of their best, most expensive attempts to control absolutely everything, all of those influential friends, uncles and masters of the made man are now, essentially, at the mercy of two regular folks who must decide if they can afford, and are willing, to spend a whole year watching their (ie. the friends'/uncles'/masters') dirty laundry trotted out for all to see.
Heckfire.
I count myself as one of the sixteen Railgate 'cultists' (as we have been repeatedly called by this Province's 'elite' media members), and even I don't know if I'd be willing to do that.
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Meanwhile, court will be in session without the jury this morning to discuss 'case management issues' under the cone of silence/publication ban....Then, the jury will be back at 2pm tomorrow afternoon....Watch for reports of what happens then, because if the last two say no there will be big decisions to be made as 10 is the bare minimum and, given the new extended-play version of the trial, the judge may decide that is not enough....
Update, Noon on Tuesday (when the good people of the world are washing their cars?)....Glad to see that the Boss of the fully-accredited PressGang is finally catching up....In fairness, Neal Hall of the VSun did let slip with just a morsel of something new to consider late this morning, which is the fact that the folks in the courtroom, including both his Gang and plain ol' ordinary citizen journalists and members of the public, will likely know what's up with the two last jury members by the end of the day but won't be able to tell us about it until tomorrow afternoon because of the 'no jury = no publication' ban...Somehow, me thinks that 'ol rumour mill sure will be bumping, grinding and cranking tonight....
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13 comments:
"Because, despite all of their best, most expensive attempts to control absolutely everything, all of those influential friends, uncles and masters of the made man are now, essentially, at the mercy of two regular folks who must decide if they can afford, and are willing, to spend a whole year watching their (ie. the friends'/uncles'/masters') dirty laundry trotted out for all to see."
Dare we hope that these two regular folks ARE NOT being tampered with? After all, after all the things in your Woody Guthrie like recitation above, what's a little jury tampering?
And Ross, as Mary has already corrected me, it was Leonard "the dog" Krog who labelled our "ilk" cultists, believe it or not - our own supposed defender of justice.
I say Leonard gets to join his obvious heroes or allies in the Campbell Crime Family in the Recall Parade come November - along with the hapless, though nice, Carole James. We will need some actual leadership to fix all the stuff the Campbelloids have broken over the last nine years or terrorism against the populace of British Columbia.
Amen to that Koot!
I have no idea why Krog hasn't crossed the floor - I've been expecting it since last summer. Either way - he has to be recalled, as does the "too nice" Carole James.
RossK...what is your take on the Campbell invite to the Bilderberg meeting this year?
Leah,
Leonard Krog is likely, and prudently, waiting for the NDP Convention in 2011 and the Leadership review vote that comes with it. No point for an ambitious politician to sit as an independent when there is a chance to lead the party that is ahead in the polls.
I find "the mathematics" of this situation quite "convenient" as well.
12 - 2 = 10
And 10 is magic.
What an interesting and predictable equation.
I must go.... I have two seeds to plant in my garden.
It scares me, every time anyone mentions Krog as premier.
He shows up now and then at the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial and offers up uninspired comments for hapless but "accredited" newsmen. Klever Krog gets himself quoted in CanWest newspapers. Think about that for a moment. At first glance, it looks as if he's connected with the BC Rail case. But he's done nothing. Nothing!
I notice that Mr. Head Accredited Newsman reports again that CN "paid $1 billion to take over the railway assets."
They are such sticklers for accuracy are they not? Maybe the approximately $600 million rebate from taxpayers due CN is not material.
I am amazed at the peanut gallery comments on this excellent post. Clearly, the folks reading here don't have the faintest idea of the work involved in staying on top of this.
Both Krog and James have raised significant issues and set in motion research efforts that have determined unknown facts that have furthered the case and allowed it to get this far. They have persevered despite the full weight of the government and other forces against them, as well as most of the blogosphere.
And they made it a significant component of the last election. But somehow all the time, effort and resources that have gone into this isn't enough and they should be recalled.
I am biased but this kind of crap on the centre and left makes me despair. As I like to say, solidarity is a way of life on the right. On the left, it's only a song.
Ian,
You can read up on it, at my place. Go to:
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
and type July 14, 2009 BC Rail 5th Anniversary
into the search box.
I think you'd be shocked, angry and disgusted too, if you do care about solidarity in resolving important public issues such as BC Rail.
koot--
Point taken....But, it was Baldrey/Palmer/Good that kept on wurlitzering it (with an assist from Smyth more than once)
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Leah--
See reference to the best 'friends, uncles and corporate donors' that money can buy.
Although, clearly Mr. Campbell, as one who has shown he can deliver, has just stepped up a weight class.
Important for him to remember that, just like this guy before him, useful tools are easily discarded if they become too badly damaged.
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lynx--
Ya.
I thought of that perfect '10' also as soon as this came out yesterday...
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Norman--
This is an excellent example of the egregious nature of the MSM's inability to actually dig into important issues that matter which are NOT subject to the publication ban.
Now the frustration of having to deal, constantly and continuously, with codswallopian behaviour such as this from the proMedia is, I think, why Mary and others have acquired a somewhat negative view of some of Mr. Krog's recent actions as they pertain to Railgate which brings me to...
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Ian--
Your points are very well taken, and I fully understand the real politick of the situation....But here's the thing.... Mr. Krog did diss folks that were trying their best to remove the sand from other folks eyes...Now, you and I both know that it was the Dippers that got those 8,000 pages liberated....You and I also know that it was Dipper researchers that unearthed the still-looming-large matter of a $297,000 consulting contract....But, you've also got to understand that folks like Mary, by getting people like Ian Mulgrew to pay attention, and Robin Mathews, by getting Judge Bennett to actually make sure previously available materials actually became availble to the public did a lot of heavy lifting also.
Finally, while I fully agree that shooting inward is not helpful for anybody, I truly believe that open discussion and debate is much more preferable, and in the end, does much more good than just being monolithic with the message for the message's sake.
(which is probably why I'd never, ever make it as a pol - ha!)
.
Wait a minute? Ian said:
But somehow all the time, effort and resources that have gone into this isn't enough and they should be recalled.
Is that a fact, Ian? Is there a Recall Campaign on in Nanaimo for Krog?
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No Mary, no recall campaign in Nanaimo. Leonard has done a good job on this one. And will continue to do so. Figuring out where the 8000 pages were, hiring a lawyer and accessing them to reveal the only docs so far available publicly plus figure out what they mean and take action was a lot of work and Leonard was integral to the direction. And there's a whole lot more work going on that nobody sees.
And if you know Leonard, the comment about the group interested in the trial was made with a little irony.
The truth of the matter is that the case has got this far - it's on the edge of tipping into a public display of the truth about the sale of BC's publicly owned railroad - because the people who write and read this blog, Mary's blog and all the rest, along with the people who have to sit and work in the leg plus the anonymous sources and all the rest who want to see the truth get out have done an amazing job of training their sites on the actions of the government.
Now there's ten months of testimony and evidence to sort through, debate and understand. By the end there will be a verdict on the defendants. But there could also be a big reveal on how corrupt this government is and what it did to dump an important public asset. That's a lot of work ahead.
Sorry RossK for the diatribe. As you know I appreciate the work on this blog, mary's and all the others. Thye have been ndispensible in the face of a MSM that has pushed this into the recesses.
No need for apologies Ian--
Really, really appreciate the clarification - especially the bit about Mr. Krog's penchant for irony.
All joking aside, it is very important for everyone to know how those pages were obtained.
Thanks.
.
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