Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Keef Report...No Mas.

AllFollowersAreNot
EqualVille


Been really, really, really end-of-term, paper-revision-deadline busy.

Which means I haven't been keeping up on on all things #bcpoli.

But last night a reader sent me a note about some kind of dust-up on the Twittmachine between various proMedia club members backed with the comments of a few citizen cultists that actually pay attention.

So, in the interest of responsible blogging, before weighing in on the matter (which seems to have started with this), I thought I should head on over to the Keef's feed to get the good Mr. Baldrey's take on the matter.

And...

Well...




Fearless journalism, indeed.


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Did somebody say 'cults'....Ya, actually....Somebody once did.



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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Does Ms. Clark Have Another Justin Problem?

FiveConditionsInTatters
PayToPlayVille


The preamble, from the (here's hoping) newly invigorated MoCo:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic for B.C.'s North Coast.

Trudeau outlined the directive in a mandate letter to Canada's transport minister, Marc Garneau, on Friday. In it, he asked Garneau to formalize the agreement with three other ministries: fisheries, natural resources and environment...

{snippety doo-dah}

..."This ban ends the dangerous Northern Gateway pipeline proposal," said Karen Mahon, from ForestEthics, an environmental group that advocates for the protection of B.C.'s coast. "Without tankers, crude oil has no place to go, that means no pipelines, no oil trains moving tarsands to the northern B.C. coast."...



Now.

Why is this a potential 'second Justin' problem for the Clarklandians, etcetera?

Well...

First there is the potential of riling up that most debased wing of their base into 'independent' action.

But this?

Well, this hits the cronies with the mostest  right in their faux free market breadbaskets.

Gosh.

The next thing you know, the Justinies will start asking for real environmental assessments for megaprojects and actual true open bids for transit infrastructure.

Whatever will the cronies do then?


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And what will the local puffed-up punditry have to say about this latest abject failure of Ms. Clark's completely made-up Sparkle Pony dreams?....Hmmmm....Let's see....Have they blamed Dave Stupich for anything recently?


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My Tunebox.

AllTheSongsThatFit
UnderAWarblyVoicedSkyVille


Here are the tunes at the top rotation at the moment...

New Tune!....Aside... The Weakerthans are gone now...And somehow I think this tune is a great one to remember them by...It's got everything in terms of the lost and longing, going both forwards and backwards...And how can you not dig a line like 'In love with love and lousy poetry' anyway?...




Tupelo Honey... Is this my favourite Van Morrison tune?...Of course not....And I know, for sure, that it is not one of his...But, still, there is something about it that goes beyond where the melodically similar 'Crazy Love' gets to...And then there's the fact that Ronnie Montrose (yes, Ronnie Freaking Montrose!) played guitar and contributed a backing vocal to the San Francisco studio version...




CrashOnTheLevee... E's there doing the hard stuff...Actually pretty proud of my acoustical guitar bashing here...





Pocahontas...It's Neil, of course, re-worked  a little into a kinda/sorta anti-Harper protest tune.






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All the Jukebox Tunes we have up at the moment can be found (and downloaded if you want)....Here.
And, don't forget....This December's super special 'Advent Juke' is only six three two weeks away!


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Thursday, November 12, 2015

This Day In Clarkland...Fisking The Local Media Herd On It's Response To The 'Triple Delete' Strategy.

ThereIsA
ClubVille


Tom Fletcher and The Keef recently tied themselves into pretzels in the public prints writing puff pieces wrapped in faux outrage paper packaging designed to mollify a pretend fed-up electorate.

Merv Adey takes them to task and gets right to the heart of the matter that neither Mr. Fletcher nor Mr. Baldrey would even think of touching, let alone writing about:


Tom Fletcher and Keith Baldrey, and others, have been around as leading members of the Press Gallery in BC since before the fall of Glen Clark. I point that out because I recall how relentless the pursuit of Glen Clark was by media over the casino/deck scandal.

Each of them released columns about the “Triple-delete” scandal this week, which were full of logical failures and a more general failure to identify the problem for Christy Clark’s government...

{snippety doo dah}

...What the “Triple-delete” scandal has exposed is an effort among the political arm of Clark’s civil service to avoid accountability for themselves and for Clark herself pre-emptively. To argue that FOI laws should not expose the inner workings of government when the buck stops with the politicians (always at some future date) is nonsense. We have FOI laws precisely so that we might know how the government works in our interest because we pay for it. In part, we have FOI laws to ensure that the government is considering evidence in its decision making, and what that evidence has been.

And what’s been exposed is a rational, pre-emptive, far reaching, intentional, breach of FOI law. And for that, the buck stops with Christy Clark. The buck stops today, not in May 2017...



Nuff said?


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And I know I've been away from the Bloggodome for awhile working double-time on my day job...But Loukidelis?....Really???!!!...One can only wonder....When the good Mr. Loukidelis' report comes down and some non pol-type folks (i.e. the Rubes) get really upset, will the Wizards call in Mr. Plant to explain to them how nothing could have possibly been done wrong because...Well...Procedure!


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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

This Day In Clarkland...Will There Be A Justin Problem?

AllTheWorld'sTheSeine
FromHerDormRoomVille


So.

Pretty soon, I reckon, Ron and all the Obvious ones will be telling us how our fine Premier is doing a boffo job over in Paris.

Because.

Sorbonne!

And/or this...

...(At the end of November) arguably the most significant climate negotiations the world has ever seen will begin in Paris — and Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau plans on being there with a gaggle of premiers in tow, a show of Canadian representation unimaginable in previous years.

The COP21 UN-led climate summit is organized around one seemingly impossible outcome: a binding international climate agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark said she has been planning on attending the negotiations for several months. “I’ve already booked my ticket,” she said in a statement e-mailed to DeSmog Canada, adding she’s “delighted” Justin Trudeau will be in attendance...



After all, there is no such thing as upstream LNG emissions and, besides, obviously it is Carol James who is responsible for any and all greenhouse gas emissions in this province (not to mention IPP gouging) because of that plane trip she took that the Club members hated back in the day.

Right?

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But here's the thing...

While the herdish members of the Club that Vaughn built will very likely do their jobs and change the channel for Ms. Clark as the lead-up to the big event in Paris builds, one can only wonder ifall of the ensuing cozying up to Mr. Trudeau just might make the beast that is the base of her party whose bile has been pumped so many times in the past by all the usual suspects, start to see blue all over again.

And if that happens, do Marky Mark, the Third Man, and the Wizards of Wave-Everything-Away Place already have a spike/spin/smear strate(r)gy in place to kill off any such uprising, tout de suite?

Just asking.


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