The Gazetteer

It All Makes Sense To Me Now...

2012-01-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

WhoNeedsPhrenology

WhenYou'veGotMurrayVille

Because if, according to Charles 'Coloured's Is Dumb' Murray, somewhat popular American Basset Hound Blogger T-Bogg is actually Cornel West.

Well...

I guess you will not be surprised to learn that, according Mr. Murray's 'How Thick Is Your (NotReallyRacist,Honest) Bubble Test' , this here Whiter than Whitebread Left Canuckistanian Boy is...

Actually...

Bootsy!

More On The BC Ferries Commisioner's Report

2012-01-28T06:14:00.003-08:00

AllTheScrutinyThatFits

WeAreAllIzzyStoneNowVille

Here's something else you haven't heard from the CorpMedia regarding that report that savages the now departed darling of the puffed-up punditry, Mr. David Hahn.

And it comes from the master mariner that blogs over at Tidal Station:

"...What grabbed me instantly, however, was the graph on page 18 of the report. From 2004 to 2011 the cost of maintenance has been virtually unchanged. That, in an environment where inflation has been driving costs up at a little over 2.3 percent per year.

If BC Ferries was carrying out the same level of fleet and terminal maintenance today that they were before they were flipped over to a profit model the cost of maintenance should have increased. Even if there were efficiencies, it would have been impossible to maintain ships to a high standard of reliability and safety without a scaled increase in maintenance costs.

The first thing to go when a shipping company cheaps out on maintenance is quality control. Inspection falls by the wayside. Small things go unnoticed. Pins are left out and nuts are not torqued down..."

So.

When pins are left out and nuts are torqued down....

Is that when ferries start drifting over docks and/or crashing....errrr....landing, 'hard', when docking?

****

Remind me again.

When was it, exactly, in that reign of the 'Straight-Talker', that the trouble-making safety officer Captain Bowland 'left' BC Ferries?

Oh ya, I remember now.

It was back in the first-third (i.e. 2006), just after the sinking of the Queen of the North, as reported at the time by The Globe's Mark Hume:

VANCOUVER -- Amid a growing debate about safety issues, David Hahn, the president of B.C. Ferries, has flatly contradicted key allegations made by a safety expert who says his warnings were ignored prior to a disastrous sinking.

On Tuesday, (former saftey officer) Darin Bowland filed a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in a wrongful-dismissal suit, in which he said senior management at the company ignored his warnings that "there was a strong likelihood of catastrophic incidents" if safety practices were not immediately improved...

{snippety doo-dah}

...Although B.C. Ferries has not yet filed a statement of defence, Mr. Hahn responded to Mr. Bowland's charges yesterday while being interviewed by talk-show host Bill Good on Vancouver radio station CKNW.

"We reject all of his allegations," Mr. Hahn said. "I think what's interesting [is] he never set foot on the Queen of the North during his time here, never was on the Queen of Prince Rupert [a sister ship], was never in Prince Rupert or Port Hardy on any business from B.C. Ferries....

Talkin' 'straight'?

Hmmmmm....

I am not so sure that word means what the puffed-up punditry (and the water carriers) think (or would have us think) it means.

Canada's New Human League Of Nations...

2012-01-27T19:46:00.001-08:00

....The Handsome Furs

And if you want to see Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, who currently call Montreal home, improve world relations while they see/tour/play the world you can watch their entire 'Indie Asia' series, archived at their website, here.

Finally, yes, South Side Torey's boys had the Furry Duo, who first met at a call center training cattle call, on their show not long ago also...

______

There are a whole lotta more visually stunning videos out there of this 'band', but I like the sound and weird techno small-club crush of this one best, even if it is blurry...Most often Ms. Perry introduces this song by saying that it is for their "Friends in Romania"....And apparently, according to the duo, who have travelled deep into the region repeatedly, techno is the sound of the revolution in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.

The Smart Affair....The Shaming Of The Herd

2012-01-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

What,UsWorry?

LotuslandedPunditryVille

And it took someone outside the herd, Jim Harrison, who is at Radio NL in Kamloops to do it:

"...(E)ven more disturbing and puzzling (than CBC Pacific's inability to recognize a clear journalistic conflict) is the behaviour of (Stephen) Smart's media colleagues who all knew the facts and yet chose to remain largely silent. Even last week in the face of the Ombudsman's ruling (that Mr. Smart is in a journalistic conflict of interest) they continued to blather on..."

Norm Farrell has the story (and the actual audio) here.

BC Ferries: The Little Private Monopoly That Couldn't

2012-01-27T09:32:00.001-08:00

DoNotPassGo

PayThroughTheNoseForPick-UpAndDrop-OffParkingVille

Robert Matas, consistently the best thing going in The Globe, BC Division, has a pretty good analysis of the Ferry's Commisioner's report up. Here's his lede:

BC Ferries commissioner Gord Macatee has called for a major overhaul in a review of ferry operations released earlier this week. He urged the B.C. government to abandon its commitment to a user pay system and drop its opposition to major routes subsidizing the less-travelled ones. He recommended that fares be capped at the rate of inflation over the next three years.

His proposals would require a significant shift in ideology for the B.C. Liberal government. Accepting the recommendations could lead to substantial government subsidies. The Liberals would be reversing what they have done over the past decade....

And blogger 'spartikus' has a very nice analysis up over at his place, which is all the more impressive given that he is self-declared as a non-economist:

....(I)t’s kind of fundamental – whom does BC Ferries compete with? Whose competition is forcing them into the ever greater efficiencies the “crucible of the market” is supposed to force? I’m not an expert on ferries or transportation systems, but even I – a liberal arts student! – have never understood this crazy system the BC Liberals have set up (in more than one area). Privatization without competition is monopoly and a private monopoly is worse, much worse, than a public one. At least in democratic states where the rule of law is well-established, which try as the Liberals may to undermine it, British Columbia has and retains...

Anyway....

Kinda funny, donch'a think, that David Hahn ain't 'round no more to take the heat on this one.

The again, even though BCF is once again subject to FOI requests, it is quite possible that if Mr. Hahn flew in today, they'd send a limousine anyway.

OK?

The Smart Affair....The Real Culprit

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

ThisIsNotYourGrandmother's

CBCVille

Harvey Oberfeld gets right to the heart of the matter:

....(I)ncredibly, the real culprit in this situation …CBC regional management … decided to let (Mr. Stephen) Smart continue to cover the legislature (despite the fact that his wife is the Premier's Deputy Press Secretary).

“We feel the ombudsman’s ruling found no issues wuth Stephen’s reporting,” said Johnny Michel, managing director for CBC’s Pacific Region. “Without a shred of evidence that Stephen is offside in his reporting, we feel this is now just a personal matter and a corporate matter.”

Not!!!

There’s a lot more to journalism than just what actually appears in stories: what about things any reporter may know but decides NOT to report for various reasons? What about possible public perceptions …. justified or not … of easier questioning of the premier or government ministers or tougher questioning of opponents? What about the reporter himself becoming more the center of attention than the story being presented, as viewers, knowing of the conflict ruling, now will always look for bias?

Problems like these do not relate solely to Stephen Smart: any reporter can face tougher scrutiny once even a POTENTIAL for bias surfaces. And in covering politics, the sensitivity becomes even greater …to the point of viewer distraction....

So.

The real question is....

Why?

Why, exactly is CBC Pacific ignoring their own Ombudsman's ruling and doing this?

Is it possible that the good Mr. Kirk Lapointe, the current Ombudsman, has actually become the 'new' MotherCorp's ethical beard?

Is There Danger Lurking In The Latest Poll Numbers?

2012-01-26T07:47:00.003-08:00

AllThePincersThatFit

SchlieffenThis!Ville

At first glance the numbers look to be all good for the BC-NDP according the fine folks at Forum Research and Postmedia News:

...Of the 988 randomly selected British Columbians contacted for the Forum Research poll, 39% of decided voters said they would vote for the NDP, compared to the 26% who said Liberal and the 22% who said Conservative.

That's a 5% increase for the NDP compared to another Forum Research poll in December. In that poll, 23% of respondents said they would vote Liberal; 23% said they would vote for the Tories....

Which, of course, means that the Fight against the HST has done its real job and split the Right for reals.

Right?

I sure hope so.

But....

Then I remembered that Mr. Lipstick was here a couple of weeks ago.

And while he may have avoided her publicly, the man with the bright red lips did not trash Premier Snooki before the two (allegedly) commenced sucking back Timmy's in semi-secret, arm-in-arm for an hour or two.

Furthermore, while The Curmudgeon is still floating, if no longer going 'Up', there has been no direct, overt move by he or his to invoke the Cons' now-patented strate(r)gy of 'Total Destruction' politics.

So, with that preface cast your eyes upward and ask yourself the following....

Are the aggregate numbers really better for the Dippers now than they were in May of 2009?

The answer is no.

****

So, given all that....

What if the Cons were to suddenly, depose The Snook, anoint The Birdman, and then engineer a fusion-based love-in with The Curmudgeon.

How would those numbers look then?

______

Because my memory is starting to fail me, I had to look up Schlieffen Plan to make sure I had the 'pincer' reference right...And the really scary thing that the Interwebs can do to you sometimes?....Well, look what popped up as the 'fourth' authority.....Sheesh.

Chain, Chain, Chain....

2012-01-26T04:08:00.000-08:00

AllTheWordsmithingThatFits

BloggodomeTelephoneVille

It started with a comment from our good friend Santa Rosa Jon over at Beer's place:

"In one year when I was at US Steel I think six or seven people got killed on the job. I mean in my one location. It used to be that you at least made decent money doing dangerous work. Nowadays they expect you to die for chump change. When my grandfather was an iron worker in New York unemployed iron workers would hang out at job sites and wait for someone to fall to his death. Welcome to the good old days."

Which was turned into a poem by Mr. Beer 'N Hockey:

In one year
When I was at US Steel
I think six or seven people
Got killed on the job.

I mean in my one location.

It used to be
That you at least
Made decent money
Doing dangerous work.

Nowadays
They expect you
To die
For chump change.

When my grandfather
Was an ironworker in
New York
Unemployed ironworkers
Would hang out at job sites
And wait for someone
To fall to his death.

Welcome to the good old days.

Which elicited another comment from Jon:

"Shit, between you and RossK I might have to start writing again.

I am really sorry to read about what happened at Burns Lake. My condolences."

****

Now.

You think I'm just gonna let that lay there, unanswered?

Of course not.

So, here's hoping I have the tune done and posted in time for the upcoming Sudbury 'N Santa Rosa Saturday night that Beer is already preparing for.

_______

By way of warning....I did this once before, sort of.....But that time they were Beer's own words I mangled musically.

The Smart Affair....Never Mind The Bollocks...

2012-01-25T19:35:00.001-08:00

...Here Come The False Equivalencies.

So.

With the media ranks fully closed Monday, VSun OpEd columnist Craig McInnes tried to padlock the barn door yesterday.

Here, as near as I can figure it, is the set-up to Mr. McInnes thesis that CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe's ruling in which he concluded CBC-BC's Legislative Bureau Chief Stephen Smart is in a potential conflict of interest because his wife, Rebecca Scott, is the Deputy Press Secretary to the Premier is hogwash:

....When I left that employer after 18 years to work for The Vancouver Sun, a competitor, my wife was still a free-lance contributor to my old paper. A couple of months later, some bright lights in the computer room decided her system access should be cut off because of the conflict they decided she was in because she was married to me and I worked for the competition. As it happened, the same wizards who decided my wife was a threat had failed to cancel my computer system access when I left, so if I had wanted to snoop or wreak havoc, I could have done so even after she was cut off.

Foolish though that was, the deeper idiocy was the notion that either of us would have risked our professional reputations out of an overactive sense of personal loyalty to each other....

Mr. McInnes then goes on to posit that the fact that he and his own wife were able to work as two journalistic rivals for years without any conflicts means that Mr. Smart and Ms. Scott can do so too.

But here's the thing....

A husband and wife team made up of two competing journos can scoop each other, but neither can control the flow of information from sources, be they people or documents. In comparison, Ms. Scott's actual job is to shape and control the flow of information to reporters. Reporters like her husband.

Thus, any reasonable person who has been paying attenion can only conclude that the rationale for Mr. McInnes' apologia is built on a massive pile ofcodswallop of the most falsely equivalent kind.

But that's not even the worst of it.

Because, despite the fact that Mr. Lapointe's ruling was based largely on the 'potential' for conflict of interest, given the jobs that Ms. Scott and Mr. Smart hold, Mr. McInnes still goes all strawman on said ruling when he suddenly pivots and states:

...No one involved in the Smart/Scott complaint has any examples of the perceived conflict between the two corrupting the coverage of any story by the CBC...

All of which makes me wonder.....

Did the Mr. McInnes not hear the specific example offered up by Mr. Keith Baldrey on Bill Good's radio show last Friday?

In case he didn't, here, constructed from Norm Farrell's audio excerpt, is our transcript:

Bill Good (speaking to Mr. Baldrey): And we should point out that you are a direct competitor of Mr. Smart.

Keith Baldrey: Ya. I mean he's my competitor. And I think it's outrageous to suggest that his job performance has been anything less than exemplary. I mean, we compete for stories.... Here's a great example. Christy Clark revealed that she wasn't callin' a fall election on my television station and a couple of other news outlets, and not the CBC (back in September)... It was, you know, he (Smart) doesn't gain necessarily from the relationship his wife has with the Premier. In fact, I think, if anything he's probably hurt by that.

In other words, a clear potential for conflict doesn't always lead to an advantage for one of the involved parties. Instead, it can sometimes result in disadvantages if, for example, someone is trying too hard to demonstrate that there is no conflict. And if this was the case, as Mr. Baldrey suggests, it would mean that the CBC's ability to gather and report news of significance was, indeed, compromised because of the close personal relationship between Mr. Smart and Ms. Scott.

Enough said?

Winning Hearts And Minds With The Best Gossip Columnist Money Can Buy...

2012-01-25T04:06:00.000-08:00

Because once you've got Jane Taber of CTVBellGlobeEverythingElse Media on your side, how can you lose.

****

Need background?

You've got it.

Well, 10 days ago, when 'The Prime' came to Lotusland, we predicted that the semi-secret Timmyfest pictured above would, indeed, get wurlitzered while the real news would not.

And what was that you ask?

The real news that was buried beneath the bovine exrement, I mean.

Well, it was the fact that 'The Prime' deliberately, and with malice aforethought, excluded 'The Preem' from a real photo-op that actually mattered, for all kinds of reasons real politick and otherwise.

You can read all about that, here.

______

And, by the way, the fine photog, Mr. Jeff Vinnick, who snapped the picture above of The Preem and The Prime at their semi-secret Timmy'sfest two Thursday's ago was at that time identified by the VSun's Vaughn Palmer as a 'Liberal Staff Photographer' and the CBC's Janyce McGregor as being from the 'BC Premier's Office/CP'..... From that, and the fact that the photos were almost immediately posted on the Premier's Facebook page, we reckoned that the Premier's office had provided the photos taken by her staff photog, gratis.....However, in The Globe gossip column piece pictured above they identify the good Mr. Vinnick simply as working for the 'Canadian Press' (press on to enlarge 'button', here)....Interestingly, Mr. Vinnick had a completely unrelated image published in The Globe this very day, Jan 23rd, 2012, and...surprise!....In today's case the attribution tag says only 'Jeff Vinnick for The Globe and Mail' (press on to enlarge 'button', here)....Kinda/sort makes you go hmmmmm, does it not?...Then again, why would a media organ that publishes unabashed gossip columns/puff-pieces that they wish to pass off as serious political analyses want to indicate that a photo attached to such an 'analysis' was actually snapped by someone allegedly working for the person seeking out such a puff-piece, errr....'analysis'?

The Smart Affair....The Media Closes Ranks

2012-01-24T06:47:00.001-08:00

(Google-Cache Screen Shot Of The State-Of-Play, Monday Jan 23rd @ 9pm)

Conflictyness'RUs

HerdVille

So.

On Saturday, CBC British Columbia British Columbia's news division let it be known that it plans to ignore its own Ombudsman's ruling regarding the potential for its Legislative Bureau Chief, Mr. Stephen Smart, to be placed in a conflict of interest due to the fact that his wife is the Deputy Press Secretary for the Premier, Ms. Christy Clark.

And what did we hear from the rest of the proMedia on Monday?

Why, as many may have predicted after Messr's Good, Palmer and Baldrey ran up the 'Close Ranks, Immediately!' flag on Friday, it was nothing but....

Crickets.

In fact, the only proMedia type who had anything to say after the VSun's Andrea Woo reported that CBC-BC was going to tell their Ombudsman, Kirk Lapointe, to take a hike was Charlie Smith, who wrote two insightful analysis pieces here and here in the Georgia Strait.

But, then again, we already knew that Charlie, who has called out the proMedia for their cozy and potentially conflicty speaker fees in the past (as blogger Norman Farrell discusses here), is not a member of 'The Club'.

Right?

______

And, for the record, Andrew MacLeod's piece in The Tyee, while worth reading, does not count as it was written in the wake of Mr. Lapointe's ruling on Mr. Smart's potential for conflictyness but before CBC-BC told Mr. Lapointe to put his hikin' boots on.

And who knew that.....In addition to once being the VSun's editor that Mr. Lapointe is currently a blogger of sorts....For reals.

A couple of weeks ago I ran up a podcast wherein my central thesis was that, at the height of the darkest of dark days down south during the middle of the presidency of George Bush Jr., Left Blogistan was the only place to find vibrant analysis that actually mattered....Here and now, in Lotusland, especially now that Sean Holman's site is shuttered, I'm starting to feel that the blogs, with all their warts, are now fulfilling that niche almost completely (and I'm not just talking the left-side here, I am seeing good stuff from all points along the continuum)....Now, please, do not misunderstand me - I am not talking about reportage here, where the proMedia still leads by miles...Instead, I am talking about reasoned, in-depth, non-pablumized analysis of the reams of important material that is already in the public domain....OK?

Did Keith Baldrey Fire The Smoking Gun That Demonstrates...

2012-01-22T22:11:00.000-08:00

...That CBC British Columbia And Its Legislative Bureau Chief Are In A Conflict Of Interest?

Why, yes, I believe he did.

And Norman Farrell has the audio up to prove it.

****

Now, first, before I unveil the weapon for all to see, I must say that the 5 minutes of 'Cutting Edge Of The Ledge' that Mr. Farrell has excerpted from Friday's show on CKNW is the best example so far that best illustrates what is truly wrong with political reportage in this province.

Essentially, it is an extended kabuki dance performance piece by Mr. Bill Good of CKNW, Mr. Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun, and Mr. Keith Baldrey of Global Television, in which they collectively belittle the ruling by the CBC's ombudsman, Mr. Kirk Lapointe, regarding the potential for conflict of interest that exists for the CBC's Legislative Bureau chief, Mr. Stephen Smart, because he is married to the BC Premier's Deputy Press Secretary, Ms. Rebecca Scott. And most importantly, this belittling is carried out in its entirety without ever once actually directly addressing the substance of the ombudsman's actual ruling (or so they thought - see below).

So, if you have taken your blood pressure medication today, please go and listen to all five minutes at Mr. Farrell's place.

****

OK.....

As to the proverbial smoking gun, it first makes its appearance when a suddenly pivoting Mr. Good unwittingly puts the bullet in the chamber.

Bill Good (speaking to Baldrey): And we should point out that you are a direct competitor of Mr. Smart.

At which point Mr. Baldrey pulls the hammer back as he pirouettes....

Keith Baldrey: Ya. I mean he's my competitor. And I think it's outrageous to suggest that his job performance has been anything less than exemplary. I mean, we compete for stories.

Mr. Baldrey then, whether he knows it or not, takes aim while simultaneouly attempting to pull off a plie....

Keith Baldrey: Here's a great example. Christy Clark revealed that she wasn't callin' a fall election on my television station and a couple of other news outlets, and not the CBC.

And then, finally, presumably inadvertently, Mr. Baldrey pulls the trigger as he spins into his denouement and completes the description of his 'great example'....

Keith Baldrey: It was, you know, he (Smart) doesn't gain necessarily from the relationship his wife has with the Premier. In fact, I think, if anything he's probably hurt by that.

****

And so, there you have it.

Mr. Keith Baldrey stated, on the air on CKNW, on Friday morning Jan 20, 2012, that Mr. Smart's reporting has probably, at least once in the past already, been hampered because his wife works for the Premier, whom he covers.

Which is precisely why CBC's ombudsman was correct with his ruling and why CBC British Columbia's news division is wrong for ignoring it.

Or.

Put another way.....

There is now evidence, evidence given by one of BC's most prominent members of the media, that Mr. Smart's relationship with the Premier's Deputy Press Secretary may have already prevented CBC British Columbia's news division from competing for a story of import on a level playing field.

And that, in my opinion, goes way past the 'potential' for a conflict of interest.

OK?

_____

Want more information on the 'great example' that Mr. Baldrey used to pull the trigger...Well, turns out that it is all available in the transcript of the tweet fight that subsequently ensued...

Vulture Capitalist Uber Alles.

2012-01-22T11:20:00.001-08:00

TheBainOfTheWorld'sExistence

NotJustMittTheHoopedVille

The madness of the 'unwinding', from Bloomberg News, by way of the incomparable Yves Smith:

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) has paid more than $500 million in fees to restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal LLC in 39 1/2 months, according to a court filing.

The firm, whose co-founder Bryan Marsal runs the defunct investment bank, charged $504.2 million through December for “interim management,” including $8 million last month, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...

Job creators my arse.

CBC British Columbia Tells CBC National Ombudsman To...

2012-01-22T10:32:00.003-08:00

ObfuscationForAPublicBrodcasterNation

MoCoVille

...Take A Hike.

______

Update: At bottom of post

Double-Secret Probation, Smoking Gun Update, here.....

______

From Andrea Woo in the VSun:

...Johnny Michel, managing director for CBC’s B.C. region, said CBC will not be taking any action in light of the review (by CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe).

“We feel that the ombudsman’s ruling found no issues with Stephen’ (Smart)'s reporting,” he said. “Without a shred of evidence that Stephen is offside in his reporting, we feel this is now just a personal matter and a corporate matter.”

“We established a protocol [with Smart] and we’ve adhered to that protocol since day one. It’s there to make sure CBC’s journalist standards are protected, and Stephen is protected as well.”

Stephen Smart has been CBC’s legislative reporter since 2010, while Rebecca Scott was appointed Clark’s communications officer and deputy press secretary in March 2011....

Again, this has nothing to do with what Mr. Smart has or has not done.

It has to do with the potential for conflict of interest and the CBC's 'Journalistic Standards and Practices' which, according to Mr. Lapointe's review states:

“If a current affairs or news employee has a close relative, defined as spouse, parent, child or sibling who is a major actor in a story, that employee cannot be involved in the coverage.”

So, given that, it will be interesting to see if the rest of the Lotuslandian media gives CBC-BC a free pass on this one.

______

Sunday morning going down update....Sadly, nothing from Sean Holman and rabble-rousers on this issue this morning...Although, to be fair, Charlie Smith wrot about it, in the GStraight, yesterday....

Saturday Night's Alright For...

2012-01-21T21:08:00.001-08:00

....For Uke (Cover) Fighting!

First, the original, from the 'The Sweet'....

And now, the cover, with secret weapon, a cello!....

______

The story of the 'The Sweet', and, especially, that of the lead singer Brian Connolly is a sad one...Essentially, it led to the original band's early demise which, I reckon, is why there is so little decent live footage of them on the Interwebz....That's why I decided to go with the weird, gender confused lip-synchier version above....But, looking back at that, I'm reminded of how truly weird it was to be a teenager in the mid-70's...

UkePegPhotoCredit: LosAngelino PhotoMaven EllenBloom

Message From South Carolina...

2012-01-21T18:14:00.009-08:00

....May The Best Race-Baiter Win!

And so, in the end, it was done.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Surprising his rivals and upending the Republican race for the presidency, Newt Gingrich won the pivotal South Carolina primary Saturday, 10 days after a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire left the impression his candidacy was all but dead.

Mr. Gingrich rode to victory by winning a plurality among a wide range of important Republican voting blocs, outperforming the rest of the four-person field among evangelical Christians and Tea Party supporters, men and even women, despite the publicity given to problems in his first two marriages....

But, for an embattled America that will now have to put up with even more of Mr. Gingrich's corrosive lies and baits, non-stop and writ large, isn't it interesting what Jim Rutenberg and/or the NYTimes left out of their lede shown above?

Once again, to get to the nut of the thing, which would put an end to this national nightmare if only the CorpMedia would just say it, you have to head for the Fever Swamps.

And Driftglass is there, lurking, with the truth jammed between his teeth and gums:

Once again, the ghost of Lee Atwater has risen over another Republican election like the Great Klansman, flying though the night to dance on the bones of Abraham Lincoln and promise to restore the rage-drunk, inbred remnants of the Confederate South to their former glory, but only if they are sufficiently sincere in their hatred of the usual suspects -- gays, Negroes, uppity women and, of course, the Liberal media which spreads their terrible lies....

Alternatively, you can watch Jimmy Carter et al. get to the heart of the matter here...

Fish Farm Fine Revisited

2012-01-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

FillingTheWurlitzer'sCrankCaseWithSand

(Almost)CompleteMediaBlack-OutVille

It is now three days after the ruling against the fish farm company 'Marine Harvest' for not returning wild fish to the 'wild'.

Yesterday, we mentioned that only one proMedia organ, the Campbell River Courier-Islander had reported on the matter.

Well.

There are now two reports.

The following is the lede from Judith Lavoie's piece in today's Victoria Times-Colonist:

The largest salmon-farming company in B.C. has been fined $5,000 after pleading guilty in Port Hardy provincial court to failing to return wild herring to the ocean.

The case was brought after Marine Harvest Canada was found in possession of wild herring in 2009 while transferring farmed Atlantic salmon at a Broughton Archipelago farm to a grading site.

Farms are supposed to return wild fish to their home waters.

Three other charges, relating to possession of wild pink salmon and herring, were stayed....

Nothing really ground-breaking in Ms. Lavoie's piece, except a couple of new 'he said/she said' quotes from the company's Spokesthingy and Alexandra Morton, but....

The real issue, in realMedia hardcore terms is that a local and a daily have now reported on this matter, sans wire service fodder.

So, will we finally see the Wurlitzer start to crank on this important story given that all kinds of codswallop has been flung at us on the basis of much flimsier reportage?

Don't bet on it.

Does Anyone Really Think Those ConglomerNet Bills Are Dead?

2012-01-21T15:25:00.004-08:00

AllTheLobShopsThatFit

MrHollywoodGoesToWashingtonVille

Because if they do they're crazy.

Here's the lede of Richard Verrier's story on the matter in the LA Times today:

After a week in which their anti-piracy legislation got derailed by the full force of the Internet lobby, the mood in Hollywood was one of anger, frustration and a growing resignation that the entertainment industry will be forced to accept a much weaker law than originally envisioned.

{snippety doo-dah}

Hollywood now must conduct PR damage control and convince tech-savvy Americans that it isn't the bad guy...

Ya, sure.

That's the ticket - PR.

Or.

Maybe not.

Here's more, in code, from Mr. Verrier's LAT piece:

...Although Hollywood's options appear to be limited, one tactic could be to apply more pressure on theWhite House to help broker a compromise with the tech industry. The Obama administration angered many studio executives last Saturday by releasing a statement that criticized aspects of SOPA and PIPAeven after sponsors of the bills agreed to remove the most controversial provision, which would have enabled Internet service providers to block access to foreign websites engaged in piracy.

Two senior entertainment executives and Obama donors, who declined to speak on the record, said they were so angry about his administration's handling of the matter that they would not support the president's reelection bid.

Technology companies and other opponents of the bills said they wanted a slower, more deliberative process that could delay a new law until at least next year. They prefer legislation pushed by Rep.Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), which would use trade laws to try to cut off the money from the U.S. to foreign piracy sites...

In other words, what's really going down here is a drawn-out squeeze play by pols like the good Mr. Obama and the reactionary Mr. Issa to force the moguls to tell their lobb-shops to really pony up with the cash.

Then, and only then, the pols will slowly climb down from their pretend integrity perches and 'compromise'.

And that way everybody involved, except maybe the people who use the Tubez, will come out smelling like roses and/or crisp clean benjamins in the end.

OK?

Who, Exactly, Is The CBC News Div. Fighting?

2012-01-21T11:40:00.004-08:00

______________________________

So.

Who, exactly, did the CBC 'News Div.' allegedly vanquish so that Mr. Baldrey could once again love the smell of napalm in the morning?

Evil Bloggers?

Partisan Pols?

Spittle-flecked citizens who refuse to watch the right TeeVee channels?

No.

Instead, their alleged combatant, whom they had to defeat at all costs lest the public start, you know, looking into other matters 'conflicty' when it comes to cozy media/pol relationships in this province, was none other than....

The CBC's own Ombudsman:

CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices note: “The trust of the public is our most valued asset. We avoid putting ourselves in real or potential conflict of interest. This is essential to our credibility.”

There is an extensive policy on the issue of conflict of interest, both in the journalistic standards and at a corporate level.

The journalistic policy states: “The credibility of CBC News and current affairs rests on the reputation of its journalists who are, and are seen to be, independent and impartial.”

It discusses the relationship between reporters and family members. “If a current affairs or news employee has a close relative, defined as spouse, parent, child or sibling who is a major actor in a story, that employee cannot be involved in the coverage.”

Now that last, bolded sentence is very clear and explicit

Which clearly means that....

If the CBC News Div. does not reassign their BC Legislature Bureau Chief, Mr. Stephen Smart, forthwith they will knowingly be in direct contravention of the CBC's own clearly stated 'Journalistic Standards and Practices'.

OK?

The Club Strikes Back!

2012-01-21T09:47:00.004-08:00

Conflicts?

WeDon'tHaveNoStinkin'Conflicts!Ville

In case you missed it, there is a very exclusive Club in Lotusland.

And, as Ian Reid explained some time ago, you and I are not in it:

..The ties between BC’s media and the BC Liberals make the Murdochs look like pikers.

In England right now it’s a story that PM David Cameron employed the editor of the News of the World as his press secretary. In BC, half of the local CTV news broadcast work as political appointees for Christy Clark.

In England, Parliamentary committee members were shocked to hear how often Murdoch and his chief aides met or spoke with the Prime Minister. Bill Good, Rick Cluff and others share personal relationships with BC Liberal premiers, Cabinet members and MLAs. They hang out. They golf together. They are personal friends.

There are many buddy/buddy relationships that get in the way of real reporting.

Dennis Skulsky – the former publisher of the Sun, Board of Trade activist and intense networker – consulted regularly with Premier Campbell. I don’t believe it’s any accident that the stadium roof was a Campbell priority given his relationship with Skulsky, the Lions biggest booster and now head of the club.

Every major outlet has some conflict… Editors are married to key BC Liberal strategists and PAB employees, former reporters staff government communications jobs using their connections to move government stories… The CBC’s bureau chief in Victoria is married to the Premier’s communications strategist…"

It all works one way. The club at the top is a club that doesn’t admit New Democrats. That’s not to say there aren’t some exceptions, mostly to be found amongst the reporters, but it’s very true that the higher you go in the decision making pile, the rarer it is to find someone from the centre let alone the centre left.

That’s a problem because the club works towards one end, one vision – it’s not interested in a world of conflicting ideas and difficult truths. It’s not interested in the things that are usually considered the role of the media to deliver.

In BC – from the Sun to Global TV – the stories, the editorials, the views that are expressed tend to support one end of the ideological spectrum. It doesn’t serve BC well...

So.

Should we be surprised that 'The Club' is ignoring the heart of Kirk Lapointe's ruling that there is the potential for a conflict of interest when the Legislative Bureau Chief for CBC and the Premier's Chief Legislative Bureau Deflector Spinner are life partners as they circle their wagons.

Of course not.

The Exile has a whole lot more, including a tweet from, gasp!, Rod Mickleburgh.

While Norm Works....Keith Fiddles.

2012-01-20T19:38:00.001-08:00

There'sNoTedBaxter

LikeTheRealTedBaxterVille

First, Mr. Norman Farrell:

The CBC Ombudsman has agreed with me and others who raised the issue of Stephen Smart's conflict of interest. Now, we await the corporation's resolution of this matter. You can read theentire Ombudsman report here but the important section is this:

"...Whether a real or perceived conflict of interest, no amount of managing it can do more than mitigate the impact on an impartial fulfillment of duties.

"In this instance some of Smart’s central political reporting functions that involve dealings with the premier and her opponents are affected or impeded. He also bears an unavoidable conflict of commitment in which professional responsibilities commingle with moral obligations in other legitimate personal roles in his life.

"CBC journalistic policies are designed to be congruent with corporate policies that call for an avoidance of real or perceived conflict of interest, bearing of the greatest scrutiny, and exceptions only when the corporation’s interests are clearly better served.

"Smart can report with integrity, and CBC’s protocol can combine disclosure and recusal, but the pervasive appearance of a conflict of interest will continually challenge their 5 reputations. It is hard to see how an arrangement with the potential to diminish the effectiveness of CBC’s journalism and public standing serves an interest worthy of a policy exception.

"My role isn’t to sort through the challenge of resolving this matter in accordance with labour law or collective agreements. My role is simply to assess the situation against policy in light of the public complaint. As it stands there is a violation of CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices."

Kirk LaPointe
CBC Ombudsman

Next, Mr. Keith Baldery:

That is all.

______

For all the background you need regarding why Mr. Farrell and many others felt that Mr. Smart is, at the very least, in a potential conflict of interest, please see this.

The Media Versus The People

2012-01-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

AllTheRealNews

ThatDoesNotFitVille

So.

I waited on this story for two full days.

And now, finally, there is a single proMedia report from Dan McLennan in the massive circulation Campbell River Courier-Islander:

Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) has been fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to a charge of failing to properly return Pacific herring to the wild in October 2009.

But the plea and sentencing in a Port Hardy courtroom Wednesday was the culmination of a lengthy - and some say historic - case.

Back in June 2009, open net pen opponent Alexandra Morton was told of wild pink salmon smolts spilling onto a Port McNeill dock where Marine Harvest was loading farmed Atlantic salmon from a boat to a truck. Morton investigated and urged the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to investigate and lay charges.

A second incident occurred in late-September/early-October when Pacific herring that got into MHC's Arrow Pass farm were moved to another site along with the farmed fish. Morton urged DFO to act on this incident as well. When DFO failed to take action, Morton and her lawyer Jeff Jones laid their own charges, alleging MHC had possessed wild fish without a license. Morton said herring have been endangered in the Broughton Archipelago area for years....

Now.

Let me be very clear.

I am not in any way impugning Mr. McLennan or his employer here.

But I am very concerned that this story of historic importance, a story that really matters to British Columbians, is not being widely covered and reported by the proMedia in this province.

Luckily, for those of us paying attention, Ms. Morton herself gives us the entire story, in her own words, at her blog.

Here is her lede:

As people from the Broughton Archipelago, where the crimes occurred, Alert Bay, Sointula, and Port Hardy looked on Marine Harvest pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal possession of wild fish. Marine Harvest made the unprecedented move to avert the 4 - day trial that had been scheduled.

At issue were juvenile pink salmon, almost certainly from Glendale River that ended up falling out of a huge bucket moving Atlantic salmon broodstock into a truck and 3cm herring that ended up in the farm salmon dump in Beaver Cove.

While flawed in many ways, this case made history twice over. It was the first time a private prosecution has ever been taken over and run by the Department of Justice to its conclusion and it is the first time the Norwegian salmon farming industry has been charged for taking wild fish. I would like to thank Todd Gerhart of the Department of Justice for taking this all the way.

With no obvious way out, Marine Harvest, represented by the BC Salmon Farmer lawyer in the Cohen Inquiry Alan Blair, pleaded guilty to a portion of the charge... the part about releasing the herring in the wrong place - that the fish were picked up at Arrow Pass and released at Midsummer. We heard the little herring all went back into the sea and a few of the larger herring were accidentally tossed into the pen with the Atlantic salmon.

This is not the way I heard it from Marine Harvest back in October 2009. Standing on a dock in Beaver Cove, Robert Mountain and I heard a Marine Harvest employee tell us that the smaller herring fell through a sorting grid and were put in totes and dumped in the farm salmon dump in Beaver Cove. We heard this when, tipped by a fish farmer disgusted by the situation contacted me, we went looking for them in the dump. We were met by steaming piles of freshly turned bark and rotten fish...

Now, the good news.

Ms. Morten, and those who help her, have no attention from averting their eyes if any future transgressions occur:

...(N)ow that Marine Harvest has received a warning - for having the pinks in June 2009, and now being found guilty for having the herring in October 2009, if they are caught with illegal wild fish again the offence rises. DFO asks that we "observe, record, report" so please do so if you see wild fish dying in industrial salmon farming operations...

And if these folks do witness any such future transgressions we would hope that, with the precedent set, the DFO will now move forward with all speed to punish the transgressors forthwith.

OK?

A Photo-Op Is Not Enough Madame (not)Premier

2012-01-20T15:00:00.001-08:00

WatchWhatSheDoes

NotWhatSheSaysVille

Well, well, well....

Whaddy'a know.

Christy Clark has bowed to public pressure and her own 'internal' reviews and has announced that there will be new funding for British Columbia's adult disabled:

Premier Christy Clark responded to months of criticism Thursday by promising to invest an additional $40 million in improved services for adults with developmental disabilities.

Clark made the announcement as she released two internal reviews of Community Living B.C. and unveiled a 12-point plan to fix problems at the agency and other ministries that work with disabled people.

"It is not about throwing money at the problem," she said. "It's about looking at the policies across government and finding out how we can make that work better for people."...

Fair enough Mdme (not)Premier.

But this you should know.....

We remember your words on this matter before, when it was first brought to your attention on the floor of the legislature that your government was throwing disabled adults out of their homes, homes that some had lived in for up to 20 years, with little notice and no good reason at all.

Paul Willcocks noted those words back in the fall:

...CLBC was the topic in question period, the 30 minutes allocated for the opposition to raise issues with the government. The New Democrats, again, pressed Premier Clark for a review of CLBC and a moratorium on group home closures.

Clark said the government is spending quite a lot - about $50,000 per client a year, if you count welfare - on people with developmental disabilities.

But she rejected, again and again, calls for an independent review of CLBC - the "top-to-bottom examination" Hawes had urged.

And then Clark offered up something revealing.

New Democrat Carole James prefaced a question with a reference to the "heartbreaking stories from families about a lack of care for their children." She cited the case of a mentally handicapped woman forced from the group home she had lived in for 19 years.

Clark said the opposition is being negative.

"And you know what?" she said. "I don't necessarily begrudge them that. I used to sit as children and families critic. I know the game the member is playing."

I didn't realize Clark was playing a game back then, as I watched the debates. I thought the lives of children at risk were important enough that MLAs would be serious and honest...

So, we will be paying attention.

And if you, Ms. Clark, have finally stopped playing games you will be praised if you really do the right thing.

But if you do not?

Well.....

Rest assured that you will be shamed mercilessly for exploiting those amongst us who need our help most for your own selfish short-term political gain.

OK?

Has The Time Come For The Dean To Put PavCo On Double-Secret Probation?

2012-01-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

BlindedByTheLight

RevvedUpLikeDeuce(sGoneWild)Ville

Frances Bula has published a piece in The Globe on those egregious high-wattage, mega-mansion-sized billboards from PavCo that are burning the retinas of downtown residents who live within a three kilometer radius of BC Place.

Which is a bit of a problem that PavCo has so far only kinda/sort pretended to respond to.

And then there is the other matter.

Which is that the billboards are also forcing Betty Fox's son to run for Budweiser, and worse.

While worthy as a clarion call alone, Ms. Bula's post also has a wee nugget buried inside it that is delivered, not by a spokesthingy, but instead by an assistant (to the regional?) manager.

Or some such thing:

....Kathy Delisser, the assistant general manager at BC Place, said management is trying to come up with solutions as a result of neighbourhood complaints.

But she also said that the main sign is tied to a negotiation on an “overall sponsorship and technology program” with a company she can’t name, so BC Place isn’t free to do exactly what it wants with the sign.

She said she couldn’t say how much revenue the sign generates, because that’s also a confidential part of the sponsorship program...

Imagine that.

Secret contracts with a public corporation.

Would'a thunk it?!

The 'One'...

2012-01-19T18:00:00.002-08:00

YourBasicFormula

YouCanDoAnythingYouWannaDoWithItVille

...Which is, according to Tim Tebow's lifestyle flip-side (in a good, good way), Bootsy Collins, the true formula for 'The Funk':

You can hear all about how Bootsy learned the Funk, way down low, from James Brown, and then later took it straight into outer space with George Clinton, here.

(hit that last link and read and/or listen - you will not be sorry)

Not With A Bang, But A Shilling.

2012-01-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

AllTheSellingOutThatFits

TheCorpIsNoLongerOurMotherVille

The CBC in BC is running its student intern program (or a sort) again.

Which is laudable, I reckon.

What is not so laudable, by my reckoning anyway, is the fact that is being used as a shillophantic platform for 'Sylvan Learning Centers'.

Now.

Regardless whether or not you like what Sylvan is selling (ie. private, cookie-cutter, franchised 'tutoring' and 'more'), the real issue here is that this is, essentially advertising on the Ceeb, including the radio.

And the edge of that wedge does not look so thin from where my ears are sitting.

OK?

Is The Non-Stop Catapaulting Of The Codswallop Blocking Out The Sun?

2012-01-19T11:42:00.004-08:00

AllTheWurlitzeringThatFits

FoxNewsNorthVille

The good Reverend Paperboy, who knows the proMedia business from the inside-out, explains what is really going on at SUN-TeeVee:

"The SUN-TV news network was never intended to cover the news, it was intended to make the news.

Some might even say make up the news, but what I mean is that the gang of clown-shoed commentators put together by right-wing Quebecor chieftain Pierre Karl Peladeau and former PMO flack Kory Teneycke are paid to act out and grab headlines, not to report the news...."

All of which explains why, as long as the fine folks at QMI don't mind losing buckets of money, the paltry viewing numbers (apparently less than zero for the Huff-'N-Puff Daddy, Charles Addler, in the 25-54 demo, for example).

Because, when your real objective is to wurlitzer crazy sh*t just enough so that it can be de-stinkified just enough that the rest of CorpMedia can treat it as slightly-saneified fodder fit for swaying all those low information citizens who walk amongst us....

Well.

Your own audience, or lack thereof, doesn't really matter.

Right?

Climbing Into The Cigar Tube, Again.

2012-01-19T08:00:00.004-08:00

LeavingLotsusland

AgainstMyWillVille

This time the science geek bunker is located deep within the bowels of the so-called 'Center-Of-The-Universe'.

And these days, when the Airporter trundles down the Gardiner Expressway towards the downtown core past all that corporate home office landscaping, I can't stop myself from thinking that I have arrived in....

The New Cleveland.

______

Image at the top of the post...The Whackadoodle revelling at the edge of Lotusland's Don Mills equivalent (eg. the dunes along the banks at the mouth of the mighty Fraser).

And, ya, Danneau...The date stamp in the $30 camera from the surplus store has gone a little haywire...This picture is from last weekend.

Montreal Simon Has A Message...

2012-01-19T04:48:00.002-08:00

AllTheShowin'UpThatFits

ParticipatoryDemocracyVille

...For Progressives.

Which, based on the role that protest and pushback has played in recent events (eg. the flipping of Rob Ford's budget cuts in Toronto; the delaying of the Keystone pipeline; the weakening of attempts to clampdown, bigtime, on internet freedom), is the following:

...(W)hen progressives get off their asses, take to the streets, stage loud and noisy protests, and use the internet in clever and creative ways to bludgeon their opponents, we can leave the right-wingers looking like palookas, and wondering what hit them...

_____

Has anyone else noticed how Simon is fast becoming a Gilliard to call our own?

They Still Don't Call It The 'Music Music'

2012-01-18T19:49:00.004-08:00

MakingItOnTheirOwn

UkeKidsGoneWildVille

And try as they might to put the toothpaste back in their monopoly monger tube station at midnight with all their lobbyist-assisted assaults on intenets freedoms, the Multinationals that used to own the music business still can't stop the kids from doing it on their own.

Which is something I've talked a lot about before.

****

The first truly independent Uke Kid that I got hooked on was Julia Nunes, who was brought to my attention by our good friend Santa Rosa Jon.

Which led to the post below which, coupled with that damned Hansard, set me off on a musical DIY thing that I roped my own kids into for an entire year.

Anyway.

My original post on Ms. Nunes is from way back in dinosaur times as far as the YouTubes go (i.e. early 2008).

___________

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Coolin' Up The Old Guy, Pt III

TheKidsReallyOurAlright
MultiTrackVille

To tell you the truth, I don't think this one will raise my coolness quotient with the hipsters in the lab one iota.

But that doesn't matter.

Because this kid, who works the UKE Tube like nobody else, is herself just plain cool.

I mean this is nothing short of unbridled DIY taken to that level, of, how to say it.....

.....Pure joy?

Even if she is wearing a hat because "her hair looks stupid, not 'cause it's cold."

OK?

_____________

So.

What is Ms. Nunes, who is no longer really a kid, doing today?

Well.

All kinds of crazy stuff .

All on her own.

Stuff like generating tons 'o money from her fans to make albums, and touring, and, now....

....Taking calls from the people on the TeeVee.

Who says that, in a lot of ways, the world is not a better place than it used to be?

Taxis In Lotuslandian Bus Lanes.

2012-01-18T14:43:00.001-08:00

AllTheSwervingThatFits

HybridsGoneWild(er)Ville

Now, I can understand the rationale for this, from Mr. Mayor and Councillor Meggs:

Vancouver taxi customers should experience quicker, cheaper trips on congested routes, says the Vancouver Taxi Association, now thatcity council has approved a one-year trial to allow taxis to travel in bus lanes.

The pilot program was an election commitment by Mayor Gregor Robertson, who was responding to a long-standing call for such action from taxi owners, who point out that similar rules are in place all over the world...

But, I for one, am a wee bit nervous.

Especially given that I try to commute by bike as much as possible.

I mean, does this mean that taxi-drivers will be racing up curb lanes, swerving in and out, even more than ever before?

Is that even possible?

Dead People Do Not Ride Off Into The Sunset.

2012-01-18T10:51:00.003-08:00

De-RegulateEverything

HarperlandVille

We talked the actions of the Stephen Harper's government that will almost certainly result in future listeriosis outbreaks in Canada yesterday.....

Here is more from Johanna Smith's recent piece in The TStar:

...The latest spending plan from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency proposes heavy spending cuts next year, including getting rid of some of the extra resources the Conservative government threw into food safety following the deadly nationwide outbreak of listeriosis in 2008.

The illness linked to tainted deli meats from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto killed 23 Canadians and sickened hundreds more that summer.

“Resources will sunset for listeriosis, and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments,” says a line in the latest report on planning and priorities from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency....

In my opinion, and the opinion of at least one of the relatives of the dead, it is antithetical to the peace, order and good government, not to mention fairness for all, that we expect in Canada:

...Karen Clark, whose 89-year-old mother Frances Clark died after eating cold cuts contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes at her Belleville-area nursing home in 2008 (said that)....

“It seems as if they think Canadians have forgotten about the listeriosis outbreak and all the people it affected, that they can reduce these programs and inspectors and no one will notice or care,” Clark said Monday. “Something terrible happened to my family. We’re not special. In other words, it can happen to anyone if the federal government does not maintain safety oversight and inspection. It could be anyone’s family. It’s that simple.”...

Now, that about says it all.

Except.

Here is something I did not know that makes it worse.

Which is that the original decision to hire the additional 'temporary' inspectors may have been made to keep the American market open:

...The federal food safety watchdog increased the frequency of inspections in domestic ready-to-eat meat plants to match the higher number of checks the United States demanded for plants producing meat destined for its market and hired 170 inspectors to handle the extra burden.

The report notes they were “short-term initiatives” and they are being phased out alongside overall cuts associated with the governmentwide spending review...

Truth be told, that flummoxed me because it suggests that stopping a dip in cold cut sales may have been more important than saving lives.

If true, is it even possible to come up with a work that would accurately describe such a deplorable act of political expediency?

They've Got A New Life!

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

HowCanTwoPersonsLikeYou

BringUsJoyVille

The best of Lotusland's (no longer pro?) journalists, Paul Willcocks and Jody Paterson, have a new life.

In Honduras!

With Accordian!!!

"Later I pulled out the accordion - which has spent much of the last two days stuffed into the carry-on bins of our various planes - and played a few tunes later this afternoon in the garden at the hotel. It made me feel like I'd arrived. But it gets dark here early, this close to the equator, so it looks like 6 p.m. will have to be my outdoor-accordion wrap-up time in this new homeland...."

We want YouTubes!

The Stephen Harper Government...Listeriosis 'R Us.

2012-01-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

WordsAndActionsMatter

GovernmentPolicyVille

That was then:

...The Canadian Medical Association Journal (ie. a journal published by real doctors) has just published an editorial that places the de-regulation ethos at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency squarely in the lap of Mr. Stephen Harper's government (warning: pdf):

Last November (2007) the Canadian government instituted a strategic review of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Among its outcomes was to transfer inspection duties for ready-to-eat meats from the government inspectors to the meat industry. Cabinet decided to “shift from full-time CFIA meat inspection presence to an oversight role, [thereby] allowing industry to implement food safety control programs and to manage key risks.”

In practice, the new policy meant that CFIA inspectors would rarely enter meat plants to test for bacteria and testing was left mostly to companies. Self-inspection came largely to substitute for, and not just to supplement, government inspection. Self-inspection mechanisms have worked effectively in other countries, but in Canada something went very wrong. One troubling sign is that even now, months after the policy change, the CFIA’s required sampling procedure remains under development.....

Now.

Here's the thing, when it comes to listeria outbreaks, because that is what the CMAJ is focussing on here.

They are most definitely not caused by by anything as exotic as a superbug-like Andromeda Strain that requires people to run around in hermetically-sealed hazmat suits.

Instead, they are caused by a run-of-the-mill gram-positive bacillus (bacteria) that, in the case of the recent outbreak, apparently bloomed within filthy meat cutting machines that were not being cleaned properly by a company that was "self-regulating" sans government inspectors.

PacificGazette, Sept 18, 2008

That was thenner:

....Despite the unarguable proof that it was his government's policy change that led to the removal of Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors from meat processing plants, Mr. Stephen Harper implied earlier this week that the listeriosis outbreak was the fault of the previous Liberal government and that it was his government that was actually the proactiveone:

The Conservative leader (Mr. Harper) insisted his government has already taken action by modernizing the inspection system and hiring 200 new inspectors and will conduct a "comprehensive" inquiry into the listeriosis outbreak.

"We are aware of deficiencies, and that's why we're acting and investing, both putting money [into the system] and looking very carefully at our processes as we go forward," he said.

"The previous (Liberal) government was aware of some of these deficiencies, [but] they didn't act. We have been acting."

This is unadulterated codswallop.

And it should be Mr. Harper's 'Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job' moment.

In other words, he should wear this for now and forever after, because this so-called 'frenzy of inspector-hiring' came after.....

After people started getting sick.....

And after people started dieing......

And before all that, the common and easy to disinfect listeria bacilli began blooming deep within the bowels of those meatcutters in that processing plant which no longer received visits from CFIA inspectors because of an overt, and demonstrable, policy change instituted by the government of Mr. Stephen Harper.

No ifs.

No ands.

And no buts.

No matter how much he obfuscates.

PacificGazette, Sept 28, 2008

This is now:

..."The federal government plans to cut the additional inspectors who were stationed at meat plants across the country after the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak killed 23 Canadians in 2008.

A recent report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says “resources will sunset for listeriosis and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments” at the end of the current fiscal year..."

Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail

Jan 16, 2012

_____

Thanks to reader Grant G for the tip.

The David Hahn 400...Gone But Not Forgotten.

2012-01-17T10:00:00.001-08:00

AllTheCutsThatFit

RunFerryRunVille

Remember when David Hahn tried to cut sailings rather than executive salaries (and not just his own) to cut the ballooning deficit he and his created?

Well, it would appear, based on an the docs released by FOI Request by Peter Ladner's Business in Vancouver, that he was planning us to screw us even more than he pretended.

Once again, Chris Montgomery has the story. Here's the 'screw the shareholders even more' part:

B(usiness) I(n) V(ancouver) is reporting that when Hahn announced the plan last summer, he was reported to have said cuts would affect only the Friday and Sunday extra sailings during the off season.

But the application apparently says the cuts could extend to August 31 of this year — “well into the busy summer season, and could affect weekday and holiday sailings.”...

Hmmmmmm...

Wonder when, exactly, the tipping point will be reached wherein normally clear-eyed commentators like, say, Dave Obee will retract their post-leaving hagiography of the good 'straight-talkin' Mr. Hahn.

The Kind Of Thing We Used To Do...

2012-01-17T00:19:00.003-08:00

WeShallOvercome

SomedayVille

...Before there was a Martin Luther King Day:

Vancouver (CP) - The 60,000-man west coast longshoremen's union in Canada and the United States agreed Thursday not to handle any goods from Alabama.

The boycott will not end until the Negro in Alabama obtains his constitutional right to vote, declared delegates at the International Longshoremen's and Warehouseman's Union convention....

Saskatoon Star-Pheonix, April 9th, 1965

Which, of course, was fully one year after The Beatles came to America for the first time.

If Corporations Are People, Then....

2012-01-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

IAmNotARat

WillardVille

___________

Update: We apologize to reader Ed Seedhouse who had this way before that lazy bahstahd, Mr. Colbert.....Ed had it up on his wall on the book of faces days ago...Perhaps he should go after the the SuperPac for damages.

____________

...Mitt Romney is, according to the SuperPac-ManCorp backing Stephen Colbert,

A Serial Killer!

That's funny, we always thought Willard was just a wee bit Psycho.

Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa, fa....Run, run, run, run, run, run run away.

Ha!

Corraling The Dean With A Confidential Missive

2012-01-15T10:36:00.001-08:00

NeverMindTheBollocks

HereComesTheFireWallVille

Well, well, well.....

It would appear that Vaughn Palmer got the memo.

The 'secret' memo that is:

...(Conservative Prime Minister Stephen) Harper, far from not having time for (Liberal Premier Christy) Clark, has met with her on non-hockey matters a half-dozen or so times over the past year. Thursday, he not only made the gesture of stopping by her son's hockey game, he stayed for all three periods, suggesting a level of mutual com-fort beyond what is necessary for public relations purposes.

Image-making aside, the week also brought more substantive evidence of the budding relationship between the two leaders and their administrations.

Earlier Thursday, Clark had announced the appointment of a former senior adviser to Harper, Ken Boessenkool, as her chief of staff.

His prime objective, as described by Boessenkool himself in a confidential missive announcing he was joining the upper echelon of the B.C. Liberal administration:

"Keeping the NDP away from the reins of power in B.C.," as a way of "keeping Western Canada strong" and "keeping Canada on course," meaning the one charted by Harper's Conservative government.

"So when Premier Christy Clark recently asked me to play a bigger role in making sure her free-enterprise coalition stays in power, I said yes," he wrote in the letter distributed to friends and supporters....

Mr. Palmer then spent his entire column making the case that Ms. Clark has successfully started to shore up her right side, laying out all kinds of evidence, including the fact that Mr. Harper hung out with Ms. Clark at her son's hockey game so that she could have a pseudo-staffer snap pictures that were then immediately posted on her Facebook page.

But here is what Mr. Palmer did not tell British Columbians about Mr. Harper's visit recent visit to Lotusland:

It's time for some housekeeping about the twin events Prime Minister Stephen Harper held Thursday on both coasts to announce the next steps and promote the winning bidders for the federal government's huge shipbuilding project....

First let's take attendance...

Not invited to the event in Halifax: As reported by CBC Halifax, NDP Premier Darrell Dexter, who lobbied hard for his province to win the larger of the two contracts up for grabs. (Though the government did maintain all along that lobbying would not influence the contract decisions.)

Also not at the event in North Vancouver: B.C. Premier Christy Clark, who also did her best to make the west coast case for their share of the procurement...

Inside Politics, CBC

Hmmmmm....

Some might actually call the fact that Ms. Clark was shut out of a public event that she could have really wurlitzered, based on real news coverage, 'real' news.

Real news that gives us (i.e. British Columbians) real insight into the state of play that actually matters.

Real news that was not 'confidentially' generated for selective release to insiders with special access.

Real news that was not 'manufactured' for dog whistling on the book of faces.

OK?

______

And, for the non-secret, non-conflicty record, the Ceeb's report cited above did NOT come from Stephen Smart. Thus, apropo of nothing at all, it would appear to be safe to assume that no confidential memos from inside the newly retooled and expanded Premier's office were used to generate it.

Saturday Night's Alright For....

2012-01-14T19:40:00.001-08:00

....For Uke (Cover) Fighting!

First, the original, which itself is a most fantastic cover of the Michelle Shocked tune called 'Fogtown'....

And now, the Uke Cover, from Bigger E. and me (for reals)...

_____

And ya, that really is Bigger (and littler) E's Grandpops with the camera....And yes, he probably was down at the park on that August Day in 1956 when Marilyn Bell finished swimming across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the beach below...

UkePegPhotoCredit: LosAngelino PhotoMaven EllenBloom

BC Ferries: Spokesthingy Vs. Sources

2012-01-14T09:30:00.002-08:00

ThereIsNo'W'In

StenographyVille

From one of the many bits of proMedia stenography that took BC Ferries' word for it, verbatim, on their latest 'incident':

BC Ferries cancelled eight sailings today on major routes between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island due to the failure of an engine on the Queen of Oak Bay Thursday night.

One of the boat's main engines failed during the 5 p.m. sailing from Nanaimo to Vancouver's Horseshoe Bay. "The captain did muster the fire party," said BC Ferries spokeswoman, Deborah Marshall. "There was no fire, there was smoke coming from a clutch."...

From Chris Montgomery over at 'On The Waterfront' who did the opposite of stenography and went to real sources:

...As I said earlier, I was confused by repeated news reports today in which a BC Ferries spokeswoman was quoted as saying the Queen of Oak Bay wobbled in to Horseshoe Bay on one engine Thursday night with a “smoking clutch”.

I was confused because I’d got a call when the coast guard hovercraft was scrambled to the scene after the coast guard was contacted by the ferry — which was reporting a crankcase explosion.

I’m not sure what the clutch issue was all about, but here is what has actually been determined so far, according to sources who would know: It was the crankcase. The liner had a crack of some sort. Cylinder lubricant was washed away. The doors on the case blew. One piston in particular suffered damage....

Now.

And this is important.

The Spokesthingy and Ms. Montgomery both have track records.

And, to the best of my knowledge, only one has never let us down going all the way back to the Queen of the North sinking and beyond:

...In the days just following the (Queen of the North) ferry sinking, Chris Montgomery, a Province reporter who has long led the pack in maritime news, broke stories about the Queen of the North's delayed decommission date and the inaccurate passenger manifests. But after Montgomery co-wrote a story claiming an RCMP investigation into possible criminal negligence by B.C. Ferries was underway, Hahn publicly took issue with the claim that B.C. Ferries was itself the target of the investigation. An RCMP representative told The Tyee the difference of opinion between Montgomery and Hahn is one of "semantics," though a criminal investigation can not be formally announced until the TSB issues its report, possibly years away.

In the meantime, B.C. Ferries no longer returns Montgomery's phone calls....

OK?

______

And in case you have doubts about there actually being a BC Ferries spin-driven stenography-development strategy, have a read of Andrew MacLeod's piece on the matter in The Tyee from a couple of years ago, here (especially the section sub-titled 'Proactive Communications'.

And one other thing....If you were to compare the comments to the stenography, here, and the comments to one of Ms. Montgomery's missives on this matter, here, you will see that there is no comparison there either.....But, of course, the defenders of the stenographers would like you to keep on thinking that the blogs are where the real feverswamps are.

Where There's Smoke There's Sure To Be A....

2012-01-14T00:25:00.001-08:00

...BC Ferries Spokesthingy

Something happened on the Queen of Oak Bay Thursday night that caused it to limp (not drift, as shown above from a few years back) into Horseshoe Bay on one engine.

And the official party line from BC Ferries, as spouted by spokesperson Deborah Marshall, does not quite fit with reported eye witness accounts. Based on past performances of a decidely obfuscatory nature, this has the proprietor of the Tidal Station blog wondering what really went down:

...The latest mishap to befall the company is an engineering casualty in MV Queen of Oak Bay. Apparently there was smoke in the engine room and the master quite rightly issued a call for assistance after going to fire stations.

What isn't clear, (and it won't be until an initial investigation is completed), is what actually happened. There are initial reports that the QoOB suffered a crankcase explosion. Subsequently Deborah Marshall, BC Ferries public information person, stated that it was a smoking clutch.

There would be no reason to disbelieve Ms. Marshall's statement if it weren't for one major issue: BC Ferries has been less than sincerely honest when answering public questions. Understandably, BC Ferries would like to mitigate the effect of such mishaps by, perhaps, minimizing them to the point of insignificance. A loss of public confidence in British Columbia's Crown-owned ferry system could create a debilitating effect on ridership especially during the high tourist season.

Now we get further questions because the past obfuscations leave everyone in doubt. Was it a smoking clutch, or was it a crankcase problem? Or would it have been best to simply say, we have not yet isolated the source of the smoke.

And then there's the smoke issue. According to Ms. Marshall:

It's my understanding the smoke was contained to below the car deck

Yet according to a passenger:

We could see smoke and some of the employees began getting into firefighting outfits. They started pushing us all to the front of the boat and closed the fire doors to the rest of the boat.

Somebody has it wrong. The passenger description suggests that he was in the passenger area, (the presence of fire doors), and that smoke did infiltrate above the car decks...

And Chris Montgomery who owns another fine marine-o-centric blog, 'On The Waterfront' has more, based on what she's been told by inside sources she trusts:

....(E)ngineers are still telling me this (Friday) morning that it was the crankcase. And they seemed kind of ticked at the release of what they say is faulty information.

We’ll know one way or the other eventually. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board will be on board today, I’m told, since a crankcase problem has the potential to endanger life.

Meantime, just in case the engineers are right, you can find some very useful links to information that a reader helpfully provide in the comments section of my post last night. You can find them by scrolling through the comments section at the bottom of this.

Meanwhile, Ms. Montgomery has turned up the heat, and the discussion, on the recent Duke Point crash.

Again.

_________

And as you read, ask yourself the following....Are you hearing this kind of fact-based skepticism from the Lotuslandian proMedia that went gaga over Mr Hahn upon his recent departure from Berth #5?

The Ratsturbation Begins!

2012-01-13T21:14:00.003-08:00

IfDonnieSegrettiFlewInToday

They'dSendALimosineAnywayVille

Via T-Bogg, we learn that the screamers have already start to pick-and-roll off of the carcasses of the Newticle and the Empty Suitcase to blame the Dems for all that (roger) ail(e)s King Rat (i.e. he whose real name is Willard):

"The Left is carrying out a coordinated attack on Mitt Romney’s business career. One sees exactly the same allegations, often phrased identically, whether you look at the Daily Kos, the Associated Press, Slate or Think Progress, or listen to Newt Gingrich or Rick Perry...."

****

Our thanks to Mr. Beer 'N Hockey for pointing out that The Circle of Rovians was unbroken by any real Ratf*cking that we mentioned yesterday when he said this:

...If the good Docktor (Thompson) were still with us he may just have referred to the above political pillow fluffing exercise as 'Ratsturbation."...

OK?

_______

And thanks also, to commenter John, for pointing out that the Dems will very likely now shrink like paper-tissue tiger violets from this exercise in simultaneous self-loathing and self-love from those who must, at all costs, innoculate Willard from his vulture-toothed past before the real campaign begins.

Are Rodents Of Unusual Size Copulating Or Inoculating...

2012-01-12T20:49:00.004-08:00

...Or Both?

Ratf*cking (definition):

In politics, the use of "dirty tricks" to discredit one's opponent(s). This often takes the form of false or semi-false accusations spread through underhanded means. The term was coined in the 1960s by Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Woodward.

But here's something that has been mini-swirling through the feverswamps for a few days now, and the ripples seem to have found their way into the pages of The New Yorker.

Which is the whispered suggestion that maybe, just maybe, all this attack-addling and video-smearing of Mitt Romney by the Newticle is not actually f*cking, but is instead rodent-driven inoculation for a short attention-spanned nation that will see it all as old news not worth worrying about come fall.

So.

What did the producer of the supposed 'anti-capitalist' hitpiece video “When Mitt Romney Came to Town”, a man named Barry Bennett who is a right-sider that has worked extensively for Rick 'Three Things' Perry, have to say when the New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh asked him about it:

Why, this, of course:

“I wanted people to see what the Democrats are going to do [to] this guy.”

And one other thing.

The Director of the above-linked video is a fine fellow named Jason Millon Keath, who according to the New Yorker:

....has previously worked with the Stevens & Schriefer Group, a consulting firm that worked on Romney’s 2008 Presidential campaign...

Imagine that!

Slouching Towards A Big-Ass State Of Petro.

2012-01-11T21:19:00.012-08:00

HewersOfWoodCarriersOfWaterAndSqueezersOfRock

NewlyMiddleEasternVille

As Boris over at The Galloping Beaver points out - we already have a lot of the pillars in place to become a Petro-addled Banana State, what with our....

"....military glorification and the princeling ministers with their Quadaffi-esque sense of entitlement...."

And just in case you thought we were soon going to have trouble keeping the prop-machine spinning on the military glorification front, what with the end of our combat mission in Afghanistan and all, have no fear because the Princelings have decided to enlist the best Prop-Mongers money can buy in a bit of historical war glorification:

...The Harper government has hired a consultant to inject a little war into this year’s Canada Day bash on Parliament Hill.

A Toronto theatre expert has been asked to find ways to insert a War of 1812 commemoration into the July 1st festivities that typically include pop music, dance and pyrotechnics.

“I do big-ass special events all the time, so they asked me to do that,” artistic producer Paul Shaw said in an interview. “It’s sort of tricky to do a War of 1812 theme when you’ve got so many modern things in and around it.”

The Conservative government, which has been promoting Canada’s military culture and heritage, has earmarked money and resources throughout the year to commemorate the bicentennial of the outbreak of War of 1812 in North America...

Oh.

And just in case you thought they had forgotten about the 'youth'....

...Last week, Heritage Minister James Moore announced a Canada Day poster contest, calling on young Canadians aged five to 18 to create original posters on the theme “1812: The Fight for Canada.”...

No word yet if the winners of the contest will be asked to wear shirts of a particular colour.

New Hampshire's Magic Eight Ball....

2012-01-11T02:00:00.001-08:00

....Is A Little Cloudy.

After all.

It did manage to pick Johnny McCain in 2008 and The Shrub in '04.

But.

In 2000 it chose the even then old and crotchety McCain before he got Roved with the black baby story in SoCaro.

And as for 1996?

Well, that was the year New Hampshire picked Hunter Thompson's favourite Nixon nephew Patrick J. Buchanan who wrote the following, from the Bunker, in the dying days of Tricky Dick's doomed Presidency....

Dear Hunter:

Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you sooner; but all leaves and furloughs have been cancelled for the last sixty days, on orders of the General Staff. At the appropriate time, I may well deliver myself of the recommended 'hammerhead screed' but I must say I was dissillusioned to learn that Rolling Stone had excercised the bad judgement to throw away three good pages on Richard Goodwin. As the Old Man said in the final days of that wonderful year, 1968, it is "getting down to the nut-cutting." Tell your liberal friends we expect to be treated with all the deference and respect as outlined in the Geneva Conventions on the handling of prisoners of war.

Best,
Patrick J. Buchanan
Special Consultant to the President

And do not forget.

It was the rise of the 'too-honest-to-be-electable' George McGovern, in New Hampshire in 1972, that made the good Docktor legitimate in the wake of the Freak Power Movement in the Rockies just as that bloody Vegas book went ballistic.

OK?

When Blogging Was So Punk Rock

2012-01-08T19:05:00.003-08:00

YouThinkIt'sFunny?

Turnin'RebellionIntoMoneyVille

Another Sunday story for your listening enjoyment....

_______

You can read it, if you would rather, here.

Hey! Pundits!...

2012-01-08T10:27:00.003-08:00

...Stop Trying To 'Make Sense' Of The Ethical Oil Argument.

Why?

Because, as Ian Reid makes clear, it is nothing but a brazen PR offensive:

(alternative link, here)

....The group, Ethical Oil, was set up by refugees from the Tory war room, Sun News and Prime Minister Harper’s office. It’s ad campaign claims that opponents are serving the energy interests of foreign powers and companies with ethically challenged records.

But here’s a question.

If Ethical Oil’s concern is about supporting oil companies linked to hideous and unethical practices like the oppression of women, terrorism and human rights abuses why are they supporting a pipeline being developed in partnership with some of the most unethical companies in the world?

Sinopec (Enbridge's Chinese partner) is identified by human rights groups as one of the four worst companies operating in the Sudan. Sinopec’s partnerships with the government provides fiscal support for the Sudanese government’s genocidal military operations. The government depends upon oil revenues from Sinopec – which owns three key Sudanese oil companies – to support its military purchases and campaigns against the South.

Sinopec plays a similar role in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), partnering with one of the most oppressive regimes in the world to develop both offshore and land based oil and gas reserves. Revenues from these operations help pay for the government’s extraordinarily repressive internal security operations.....

****

Look

In my opinion, any responsible pundit who aims to inform the public on this matter must do one thing every single time they discuss it.

Which is to call 'Ethical Oil' what it actually is.

Which, of course, is a demonstrable falsehood made with malice aforethought.

Or, put another way that all Canadians can understand, it is deliberate lie.

And unless we, the public (with the help of responsible pundits), begin to deride outright lies like this, and shame the liars that make them mercilessly, we may soon find that we will be unable to generate an informed, reasoned opinion about anything.

Which is pretty much precisely the predicament our good friends and neighbours to the south find themselves in already.

OK?

Saturday Night's Alright For....

2012-01-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

....For Uke (Cover) Fighting!

First, the original, pre-Seymour, at CBGB in one of their 74 shows there in 1974....

And now, the fantastical cover, from a real basement (and with a real stylo!)....

______

UkePegPhotoCredit: LosAngelino PhotoMaven EllenBloom

Why here and now?....Because it's good flyin' back to school music.....That's why.

One Is Not Enough...

2012-01-07T12:50:00.003-08:00

AllTheDogWalksThatFit

OurHouseVille

Snuck out of the house reasonably early this morning to take the Whackadoodle to the beach.

But, before leaving, I had to get my strumming gloves and the tuner from Bigger E., which meant I had to wake her up on her leaving-eve morning.

I then checked in with littler e.

e. was awake, but she didn't want to come out with Rosie and me in the weepy rain.

Why?

Ostensibly, because she was listening to a podcast, that bloody Jonathan Goldstein and friends, who I am convinced are warping her brain with their hyper quench-drenched discourse.

"Hey!" I said. "How come you're not listening to your favourite podcast?" I asked.

"Because you've only got one." she retorted, buds still in ears.

Sheesh.

I better to get to work.

More On The Latest BC Ferries FOI Docs

2012-01-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

AllTheIndependentReportsThatAreFitToHide

IsHahnReallyGoneVille

The FOI request that led to the document dump was generated by Andrew McLeod of The Tyee who led his piece on them with something that we and others have long suspected was sloshing around in at least some of the limbic systems of David Hahn's loyal apparatchiks:

A 2007 study produced for British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. found the publicly owned company could maximize its revenues by raising regular fares by 75 per cent, if the province's ferry commissioner would allow such a large hike.

The proposal included charging more at the times when people were most likely to want to travel, and dropping fares at other times. A more recent report suggests that hike could be made without seriously decreasing traffic levels, a finding disputed by critics who say ferry fares are already too high....

And how much more did BC Ferries' paid consultants reckon they could have gouged out of us....errrrr....generated in 'extra revenue' if the Ferry regulator had caved and allowed them to do so?

Well....

..."The elasticities derived in this study show that there is significant pricing flexibility and that by using time of day, route, trip purpose pricing the overall revenues of BC Ferries can be increased under the caps set by the regulator," the TEMS report said.

"BC Ferries is clearly in a position to begin to increase revenues by using a flexible pricing policy," it said. "The overall potential revenue gain for the seven routes studied from using a flexible pricing system is $21.8 million or an increase of 10.8 per cent over the existing fare structure in 2010."..

But.

As Chris Montgomery of 'On The Waterfront' notes after reading the released documents, there was some concern from the consultants themselves about demographics and all that 'elasticity' that is required to make this kind of price jacking really work, not to mention the state of the economy...

1. There’s a “major transition” in traffic patterns under way at Ferries. There are demographic shifts and changes in ownership of island properties (meaning a shift from commuting to temporary visits), both of which are complicated by recessions and the after-effects of 9-11. The conclusion: it would be foolish to expect any sort of short-term growth in ridership.

2. Price and ridership really are linked. But the pricing-demand rubber band isn’t as elastic as many people think .

3. Mostly, ridership appears to be linked to the health of the economy in general. With a recession, it falls. With a healthy GDP, it grows...

So if the Hahniacs remaining at BC Ferries were to get their way and were to institute the gouging with the blessing of the 'new' regulator, which way do you reckon overall ridership would slide on the major route money-shakers?

Say What?....We Still Have The HST!?

2012-01-05T21:23:00.004-08:00

ThePeopleSpokeAndHeavyKevvyPretendedToListen

Campbell/ClarksvilleStationVille

Why yes Virginia, we do.

And, as Harvey O, (he's back!) points out, it's hurtin' retail sales:

"...In an article in The Vancouver Province about weak Christmas retail sales Dec. 28, experienced Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter was commenting on the 40 per cent drop in Searts Canada’s share value in 2011.

Sears is in a lot of trouble in the US, because of the wretched economy …but Canada’s economy is relatively strong, our debt load is a fraction of the US, our consumer confidence is higher and our political situation is much more stable.

Yet all is not well in the retail sector here… especially as viewed from through the microcosm of Sears Canada. Why?

“Canada has been very, very difficult, due to the harmonized sales tax,” said Balter.

That’s not me saying it; not Bill Vander Zalm saying it; not some NDP critic saying it. No, it’s from an economist working for the well-known and trusted international financial analysis institution, Credit Suisse.

The HST indeed HAS had a dampening effect, to put it mildly, on major spending by British Columbians...."

Kinda makes you wonder what would have happened if all that gaming of the system by Heavy Kevvy's Boyz AND the millions spent by the the 'Smart Tax Alliance' had actually defeated that referendum, eh?

Wheelin' Wednesdays...

2012-01-04T21:30:00.002-08:00

AResolutionGoneBad

RainSweptStreetsVille

One of my real New Year's resolutions (as opposed to the faux ones) is to ride more and drive less.

I still ride everyday, but rarely all the way to and from work because I have the bike in the VW (notso)Microbus and get it out after I drop of littler e. at school etc. which is 3/4 of the way there.

Anyway.

Before I get going on the trips to the Western Edge of Lotusland from the Near Eastern Townships for real again, I have to buy a new bike as I currently monopolize C's.

And, unfortunately, I haven't done the buying yet.

So I don't have any new bike stories yet.

But I am working on the next story-cast.

And one of the things I am fiddling with is a bit of a dissection of Robert Stone's childhood and his first novel (because I am one of the few that actually loves the movie that arose from the latter).

Which somehow led me to Darnielle (for some of the background music).

And I have decided that I will never, ever again miss seeing that man's work if he comes within 200 miles of where I live (assuming he will always come up to Seattle at the very least if he makes it all the way to Portlandia).

______

And if anybody has any good advice on hybrids in the 700-800 dollar range, let me know, would'ya.

Dissecting David Hahn....

2012-01-04T19:45:00.003-08:00

StoppingSpinWithFacts

ImagineThat!Ville

_____

Update - Thurs Jan 5/11, Evening Edition: I've changed the quote from Ms. Montgomery, embedded below, to reflect her revised edition, which itself now has some very nice updates.

_____

Chris Montgomery is on the job again.

This time she is working on the rotting carcass of an old Tyee-initiated FOI request from 2010 that is finally seeing the light of day.

It promises to be stinky work that will cause eyes to water, stomach's to churn, and heads to hurt.

But, given that the proMedia very likely won't, somebody's gotta take a reality-based, spin-free scalpel to the thing.

Here's is the first bit of real meat that Ms. Montgomery has managed to hack free:

"...So far, my favourite stuff starts at about page 52 of the second report, with the question: What happens when we apply a “common sense” smell test to the idea that the price of a ferry ticket affects ridership numbers? For the answer, you’ll have to click here.
And then a few pages later, the report deals with the issue that former CEO David Hahn was so fond of raising when anyone got uppity about why traffic was falling off: Do gas prices really affect ferry travel?
Hahn’s answer was always yes. He said that again and again and again.
I don’t want to give away any surprise endings, but let’s just say the company’s own report says that between 2003 and 2011, the answer just might have been a big, fat no.
Perhaps Mr. Hahn, the CEO of the company that paid interVISTAS to produce the report in May of 2011, should have read it..."

There is sure to be more to come.

Are the flack-hackery monkeys soon to follow (again)?

The Real Surprise Of Iowa Caucus...

2012-01-04T06:48:00.002-08:00

WhyNotJustRunOzzy

GOPVille

Is not that Mitt Romney was not the inevitable winner.

Instead....

It is the demonstration that fully 75% of the Heartland's GOP have now officially bought their tickets to take a ride on the crazy train.

______

And did Rick Santorum really link the programs of Barack Obama's government to those of Benito Mussolini in pre-war Fascist Italy?

Of course, what this really means is that the full-on crazy (eg. Santorum and Paul) can now raise some real money...As for the medium-crazy (ie. the Newticle)?....Well....

The Hacktacularization Of Everything

2012-01-03T19:28:00.001-08:00

There'sAHoleInYourBucket

DearLizaVille

Christy Clark in trouble because the big tent that Gordon Campbell yanked out of the hands of Gordon Wilson is coming apart fast, at the seams, from the inside?

Not to worry.

Because here comes Keith Baldrey to do a little 'externalizing':

The federal government's decidedly right-ward shift has some potentially big implications for B.C. and whichever party forms the next government here.

It also has the chance of making the political tightrope Premier Christy Clark has been walking when it comes to relations with the Harper government that much trickier to navigate.

Many have long wondered just how right-wing Prime Minister Stephen Harper was and the early indications after the last election are that he has moved his government to a footing that is more to the hard right than anything seen previously.

No doubt emboldened by the fact that he now has a solid majority in the House of Commons, Harper seems prepared to shape policies more along ideological lines than anything else....

{snippety doo-dah}

...While most provincial finance ministers blasted (Federal Finance Minister Jim) Flaherty for his arbitrary cuts to their (future healthcare) funding, B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was warmly supportive, lauding the fact Flaherty had brought "certainty" to the situation.

It wasn't hard to connect some dots here. The Clark government's survival in the next provincial election is likely directly tied to ensuring it doesn't lose significant support among conservative voters.

Therefore, fighting with a federal Conservative government is fraught with peril, which may explain Falcon's positive reaction...

Sure thing Mr. Baldrey.

But, then again, when, exactly, has the Campbell-Clark government NOT been in lockstep the the FedCons?

Or was that HST bribe really all Mr. Hansen and Mr. Campbell's idea from the get-go?

Sheesh.

Sunday Story (on a holiday Monday)

2012-01-02T22:15:00.001-08:00

WordsAreAllThereIs

PromisesPromisesVille

Bruce Springsteen brought the Circus to town awhile back.

C. and I took the kids.

This is that story (and it is safe for work).

_____

You can read the words, here, if you so wish.

Backing tracks...Bruce does a haunting cover of Suicide's 'Dream Baby Dream' as well as 'Atlantic City', both without the usual circus gang....There are also snippets of 'Growin' Up' for John Hammond, an Asbury Park playing of 'The Rising', and an acoustic, harp-laden version of 'Bobby Jean'.

The One Nick Hornby Missed.

2012-01-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

AllTheFidelityThatFits

TurnedTablesVille

Or maybe it was Stephen Frears.

I'm not really sure.

Because the book and the movie do get a little muddled in my head occasionally.

But if there had been a fourth working with Rob, Barry and Dick at 'Championship Vinyl' I reckon it might have been Mike, he who is currently the keeper of 'One Base On An Overthrow'.

I mean, if it wasn't for Mike, how the heck would I ever know about bands like, say, 'The Magnolias'?

An Idea Whose Time Has Come For Lotusand?

2012-01-02T13:04:00.001-08:00

WhoseListIsItAnyway

WatchDogVille

I'm talking about Salon's 'Hack-List'.

It is, as you might expect, U.S. American-O-Centric (i.e. Mark Halperin wins!).

"...Halperin spent 2011 gearing up for the presidential elections by parroting transparently lame spin from Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, insisting that Palin was really going to run for president and taking Trump’s farcical vanity “campaign” seriously as anything other than a time-wasting stunt. He still takes Mark Penn seriously as a wise campaign sage and not an amoral grifter. And he got in trouble for calling President Obama a “dick” on “Morning Joe,” because the president criticized the GOP at a press conference. (This after Halperin spends years writing columns calling him a weak-willed wimp, because he is a Democrat.) The worst thing was not that he called the president a dick, it was that the president hadn’t even been dickish. (Well, the worst thing was the whole “Morning Joe” team giggling like stoned teenagers that Halperin said a bad word.) Halperin is so dedicated to being wrong about everything that, upon his return to the airwaves, he actually made a point of mentioning that, had he been on TV during his suspension, he would’ve been wrong about something. Plus he did a “Morning Joe” appearance from an airplane bathroomwhich is surely illegal..."

So......

If such a list were to be composed for British Columbia's hacks who would be your #1?

More Evidence That The Liberals Are No Longer The Natural Governing Party Of Anything

2012-01-02T09:40:00.007-08:00

FlagsOfConvenience'RUs

BigDeadRedMachineVille

Warren Kinsella, interestingly enough nails it.

First, Mr. Kinsella tells us that, back in the halcyon days (e.g. a plaid-shirted 1996), Gordon Campbell was the master of a big, beautiful centrist tent where everyone could live in peace and harmony:

...In 2001, he (Campbell) was massively successful, winning an astonishing 77 of 79 seats in the legislature in Victoria.

Back when I was helping him out, Campbell was always welcoming of new recruits, whatever their political pedigree.

“I don’t care if you’re a federal Liberal, or federal Conservative, or a Reformer, or from Mars,” he’d say. “But when you come in our door, you are a B.C. Liberal. Leave your fights outside.”

And, mostly, B.C. Liberals did...

Of course, nothing there about how anybody uppity was told to F*ck Off in caucus or taken out behind the barn and spit upon if they dared to poke a finger into the skin of the bubble hidden beneath the faux tent where the real corporatist Straussian Privatizapalooza Party rages 24/7.

And Mr. Kinsella also does not mention the Politburo-like stacking of everything with non-elected quislings that do any and all things required to push the cult-like P3-ification of the entire province, backed by an all powerful Bureau of Information that cows a compliant access-addicted media at every turn.

Regardless, when the people of British Columbia finally did what Mr. Campbell's sycophants would not, Mr. Kinsella concludes that they were 'asinine' when they rose up, en masse, and ripped a massive hole in the big, faux-centrist tent to first release, and then vanquish, the shillophantic HST Surrender-Monkeys:

...To her credit, new B.C. Grit Leader Christy Clark had been climbing back in public opinion polling, and she seemed to be escaping the province’s asinine decision to withdraw from an HST accord with the federal government, too....

Oh, and then there is the following, which apparently demonstrates Mr. Campbell's bonafides as a truly great leader:

... Eventually, Campbell resigned, and now leads Canada’s High Commission in Britain...

And then, finally, Mr. Kinsella gets to the heart of the matter, which is to open a new front in the war on the 1990's and train his pop-gun on the already Liberal-smeared, but still rising, Curmudgeon.

To wit:

Incredibly, that means controversial NDP Leader Adrian Dix — who, last time he was anywhere near the premier’s office, was forced to resign as a top aide to disgraced B.C. Premier Glen Clark for back-dating a memo about casino licences — will be premier.

And, mostly, he will have John Cummins’ ego to thank for it. The party that gave B.C. Hydro-gate, Bingo-gate and destroyed economic growth in the province will be back.

Political expediency.

It's not just for Fed-Libs anymore.

________

Of course, those British Columbians who have been paying attention since 1996, know that the pretzelian-triangulation practiced by the BC Liberal party that hides true intentions is the real issue here (and is what British Columbians of all ideological stripes were sick of when they rose up against the HST).

Why the need for a second front in the war on the decade of Courtney Love? Well, as we mentioned yesterday, the Generals know that the first front (i.e. the 'economic' one) is actually a mirage that could be destroyed in a Bay Street minute if the proMedia in this province were to make like Robert Matas and start reporting facts rather than Politburo-provided puffery.

And as for the rising of the radical right in British Columbia....Which party's leader's words and deeds, exactly, sowed the seeds to make that happen anyway?

New Year's Resolution Number 2.

2012-01-01T12:40:00.003-08:00

AllThePredictionsThatFit

UnrepentantForeverYoungHipsterVille

"Learn to love the rapture!"

And then chew-up and spit all the codswallop back into the faces of the proMedia shills that will play this crap up, laughing and giggling, all the way until Dec 22nd while their children buy it and cower in their beds at night.

****

And who better to rip-off the bite sized chunks of this gunk than our than our good friend with the rapier wit, JJ, who is already off to a roaring start with her New Year's Day prognostications.

I like this one best:

(9) Ron Paul will come very close to winning the GOP nomination, until he’s utterly destroyed by Fox News. He’ll storm away and form a 3rd party, and Stephen Harper will hoist himself up and shout: “TWO WORDS: REFORM PARTY!”

But they are all worth reading.

Go!

New Year's Resolution Number 1.

2012-01-01T00:49:00.004-08:00

AllTheInspirationThatFits

PLPVille

When we got home last night we had some real mail.

From the real Springfield.

In the real middle of the USA.

And in it there was a notepad from our favourite political bloggers and 'lectronic DIY media moguls/podcasters Bluegal and Driftglass.

Which inspired us to make our first resolution of 2012....

__________

Then littler e. and I organized our Big 5 New Year's Eve Movie Marathon...We made it through 3 and-a-half....

Big New Year Comin' For.....

2011-12-31T17:43:00.003-08:00

AllTheAdventuresThatFit

CentralAmericaVille

Two of our favourite cross-over proMedia/Blogger-types and all 'round good people, Jody Paterson and Paul Willcocks:

We’re off to do volunteer work in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere - Honduras. You can help us make a real difference....

To help them make it them make it happen go here.

The BC Liberal Party's Further Descent Into 'American-Style' Politics

2011-12-31T10:05:00.002-08:00

PoliticsOfDestructionisms'RUs

LINOVille

That was then (ie. Dec 23rd, 2011):

"I don't think Canadians welcome American-style politics. And so whether it's American politicians or American interest groups, they all to American-style politics. And I don't think anyone wants to welcome that in British Columbia...."

Christy Clark in interview with Tom Fletcher

This is now (ie. Dec 30th, 2011):

And as for that all that Conference Board chatter that uses, you know, real facts and real context, sans cherry-picking, that clearly demonstrates that the BC Liberal Party's economic record over the last decade, a decade when we lived through the greatest commodity boom this province has ever seen, is far, far, far less than stellar?

And that, as a result of the BC Liberal Party's poor management over the last decade, we are now worse off economically than we were at the end of the NDP's reign of power in 2000?

Well.

That would appear to be a reality that the current (not)Premier and those who are (still?) riding and bankrolling her would prefer that we did not worry our pretty little heads over.

How do we know this for sure?

Because, Ms. Clark recently killed that Conference Board.

D-E-A-D.

OK?

The Despots Win The Penant!

2011-12-31T08:51:00.004-08:00

HeadsTheyWin

TailsWeLoseVille

Norm Farrell, along with every shiny, happy business page in N. America, has the story.

_____

Although, to be clear, Norm tells it a little differently.

Best Line Of The Holiday Season, Bar None...

2011-12-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

AllTheRecycledWordsmithingThatFits

LeaningOnTheParkingMeterVille

"Jesus died for somebody's beer, but not his."

Mr. Beer 'N Hockey's that is.

_______

Catch her at the just the right moment, like maybe during a New Year's Eve Eve riverside walk with the Hammer, and I reckon even Ms. Smith herself might smile a little at that one.

The Sister.

2011-12-30T09:50:00.004-08:00

BowlandWho?

SafetyFirst!Ville

When the German-built 'Coastal Inspiration' crashed into the dock at Duke Point last week BC Ferries spokesthingy Deborah Marshall told us not to worry our pretty little heads about it because:

A) BC Ferries hardly has any 'hard landings' at all (i.e. only about a dozen per year).

And....

B) The other German-built sister ship, 'The Coastal Renaissance' would keep on keepin' on to help take up the slack.

And, as can be seen above, the Coastal Renaissance is doing that, running on one of the busiest weekends of the year when the weather can be its worst and when, at least some of the time, the ship figures to be full to bursting with 300 plus vehicles (which is way more than the 100 cars that were on the 'Inspiration' when it crashed).

Now.

According media member and self-confessed sometimes BC Ferries spokesthingy Mr. Keith Baldrey everything's gonna be alright because....

The most recent crash will be investigated and perhaps lessons will be learned from it and that will be that (until the next serious hard landing or accident).

Yes, you read that right.

Mr. Sometimes Spokesthingy actually said 'until the next serious hard landing or accident' as if:

A) It is just bound to happen

And

B) When it does it will have nothing to with/completely uncoupled from the crash just past.

But here's the thing.....

We were also told by the official BC Ferries spokesthingy (that would be Ms. Marshall, not Mr. Baldrey) that the 'preliminary' indication was that the crash of the other sister was caused by an 'electrical' malfunction on the bridge and that any potential 'contributing factors' would be uncovered by the investigation mentioned by the sometimes spokesthingy above:

...Although an electronic failure in Coastal Inspiration's bridge equipment appears to be the cause of the accident, there will be a full investigation to see if there were contributing factors, (official BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah) Marshall said...

Which is all fine and good.

But that is a whole lot of 'spokesthingy talk' and very little actual talk from, people that, you know, actually know something about matters merchant marine in general, and Coastal Inspiring specifically.

But, thanks to the digging of folks like the merchant mariner who owns the blog 'Tidal Station, it has been established that a consultant for BC Ferries had concerns about the design choice of the system that the controls of the 'pitch' of the propellers of BOTH German-built sister ships that, if it failed could contribute to a ramming because the boats were being pushed forward rather than backwards at the dock.

And a ramming of the dock is what appears to have happened at Duke Point last week based on passenger statements in the media and the comments blogger Chris Montgomery elicited from crew members who were on the scene.

And then, subsequently, a commenter, Kevin S., who is a retired engineer that was involved in the propeller control design choice, helped explain all this to us. He also made it clear that there are a number of fail-safes built into the system that should have prevented any loss of pitch control that could have sent the ship into the ship ramming into the dock if there was, indeed, a loss of control due to the an electrical failure.

However, Mr. S. also noted that a document on the BC Ferries FOI site indicates that the ships may have been running only one of their props rather than two during docking to decrease vibration, noise and prop-wash which could (and we stress 'could' here) have decreased the effectiveness of any and all fail safes.

****

And then there are a couple of more non-spokesthingy things to consider....

First, as Ms. Montgomery noted, according to passenger reports and folks on the scene the Coastal Inspiration was 'not powering backward to slow it down' when it hit the dock, hard, which is precisely what the pitch control should have done if it was operating correctly.

Second, Mr. Tidal Station, reported that there had been a pitch control problem on one of the Celebration ships at least once before, but in the particular case he knew of it occurred far enough from shore that engineers were able to correct things manually before anything untoward happened at the dock.

****

So.

Given the weight of all the non-spokesthingy information cited above, I feel strongly that the following question must be asked:

What evidence, does BC Ferries have that the propellor pitch control system did NOT contribute to the crash of the Coastal Inspiration at Duke Point?

Why do I ask this?

Because if they do not have darned good, solid evidence that they can share with the public right now (i.e. immediately), I am of the opinion that the Celebration ships (and that includes the 'Coastal Celebration' running on Route 1 this weekend) should NOT be sailing with vulnerable passengers on board until a complete, thorough and independent investigation is complete and any and all design issues with the propeller pitch control system have been ruled out entirely.

Why?

Because more than just a dock and a ferry door were injured in the Duke Point crash.

And next time, especially if the ferry is full with more than three times the cargo weight (in vehicles and people in them) on board, the injuries could be much, much worse.

OK?

______

I would be remiss if I did not also mention that Kevin S. and Dave from the Galloping Beaver, another merchant mariner, had a most interesting and heated discussion about design v. safety at Chris M'.s place, here.

The Fisking.

2011-12-30T00:01:00.001-08:00

MoreFacts

LessDriveBysVille

Of Keith Baldrey's latest continues over at the very fine 'Tidal Station'.

In my opinion, the most important bit of deconstruction goes as follows:

Perhaps the most egregious line in Mr. Baldry's piece is this:

The most recent crash will be investigated and perhaps lessons will be learned from it and that will be that (until the next serious hard landing or accident).

Cavalier and dismissive. 14 people killed on or by BC Ferries? Corollary damage. They'll never be any better than what they are. You could be next.

I don't see Keith Baldry being consulted on maritime safety anytime soon.

That is all.

For now.

The Spin.

2011-12-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

AllTheHardLandingsThatFit

BCFerriesVille

_______

Update: See bottom of post for the total number of hard landings on the Washington State Ferry system in both 2010 and 2011.

_______

So.

BC Ferries AND Keith Baldrey are both (surprise!) telling us that we should just make like Bobby McFerrin when we find ourselves worrying our pretty little heads about the corporation's record on 'hard landings':

"...Of course, four "hard" landings so far this year seems excessive. But BC Ferries responds that its fleet sails more than 187,000 times a year and averages about a dozen hard landings (of various degrees) a year, which seems to put things in perspective..."

Now.

Let's dissect all of the spin runnin' round in that single sentence, shall we.

First, as we have already discussed, there is the matter of the pure and unadulterated bullshit that is the term 'hard landing'.

Specifically, the landing at Duke Point was a crash - pure and simple.

Second, there is the attempt to bamboozle with numbers.

187,000 'trips' per year?

So what.

Over the last five years YVR alone has averaged more than 300,000 airplane 'trips' per year.

And if Vancouver's airport had 'only' a dozen 'hard landings/crashes' in each and every one of those five years (i.e. 60 'hard landings/crashes' in total) I'm pretty sure that the media and, in turn, the public would be screaming bloody murder

Third, there is the matter of all those 'hard landings/crashes' being put in 'perspective' by the good Mr. Baldrey.

Which had Chris Montgomery wondering if Mr. Baldrey had a comparable reference that was used to generate such a 'perspective'.

Seeing none in Mr. Baldrey's column, or in other media reports on the matter, Ms. Montgomery did something that Mr. Baldrey et al., apparently, did not.

Which was to call up the comparably-sized Washington State Ferry service and ask them how many 'hard landings/crashes' they have had recently:

The answer, from the polite folks in the communications department, who could easily have ignored a call that was not coming from a major newspaper or TV station, or even from the U.S., was as follows:

“Regarding the number of hard landings that Washington State Ferries have experienced in 2010 and 2011 – the answer is two.”

Perspective my ass.

Or maybe that should be someone else's.

Ass, I mean.

_____

And, again, for those 'shocked' by both my language and my inference, it was BC Ferries and Mr. Baldrey who decided to wurlitzer the/their numbers and the/their 'perspective'.

There is much more in Mr. Baldrey's column that, in my opinion, requires Fisking before it becomes 'conventional wisdom'.....That is coming.

And just to be absolutely clear the TOTAL number of hard landings for BOTH 2010 and 2011 for Washington State Ferries was two. Which is an average of, if I still remember what a demoninator is, is one....We know this because, not only did she do the initial digging, she also double-checked (see update at the bottom of her post)

The Fawning.

2011-12-28T13:13:00.001-08:00

AllTheAccessThatFits

ReclinerReportageVille

I will get to the burnishing of David Hahn's golden parachute that began in earnest in the pages of VT-C on Boxing Day later.

But just to make the point that this fawning by the proMedia over all that Mr. Hahn does and says, regardless the actual, you know, facts at hand, did not begin yesterday, the following is something that the illustrious Mr. Keith Baldrey wrote way, way back in 2006 just after the tragic sinking of the Queen of the North:

Early last Wednesday morning - just after 2 a.m. - my home phone rang. That's usually a reason for concern - the first thing that springs to mind is a family emergency somewhere. But this call was about another kind of emergency.

"Keith, it's Dave Hahn. Sorry about the early call, but I thought you should know. One of our vessels has just gone down north of Vancouver Island. I'm trying to get an update on the passengers. I'll keep you informed, but I thought you might want to get going on this."

It was a startling phone call, to say the least. Startling because the ferry had only sunk about an hour before, startling because of the potential magnitude of the ferry disaster, and startling because of the forthrightness of the man who runs BC Ferries.

Mr. Hahn and I talked several more times in the early hours of that morning. He would phone with updates - the most important of which was about the state of the passengers - and try to provide as much information as possible.

As the morning went on, he started appearing seemingly everywhere - one minute on CKNW, the next moment on CBC Radio, the next on Global TV. BC Ferries had hastily chartered a plane to fly Mr. Hahn and Premier Gordon Campbell to Prince Rupert to meet the Queen of the North's passengers. He invited me and a Global cameraman to accompany them.

As this potentially giant crisis was still developing, Mr. Hahn was front and centre with the public. Rather than hiding and adopting a bunker mentality when faced with a disaster for the company, he was out in front of the story, trying to provide information as quickly as possible.

In other words, he was behaving exactly the opposite of how most politicians act when faced with a crisis. The usual experience, from this reporter's perspective, is having to wait for hours outside a cabinet minister's office (or a premier's office) as nervous aides huddle, trying to figure out a damage control plan before saying anything publicly.

Not so with Mr. Hahn.

It's a refreshing approach from the head of a large company, and one that I suspect resonates well with the general public. I ran into Mr. Hahn at a Victoria gas station this past weekend, and attendants there were congratulating him for "being upfront" about everything. The radio phone-in shows have also reflected positive reviews - not scientific research, I admit, but my instincts tell me the approach is working.

All this injects yet another perspective into the ongoing debate over the privatization of BC Ferries. I have a very hard time believing information would have been forthcoming so quickly in the wake of this kind of disaster if BC Ferries were still run by the provincial government.

There are valid concerns about the need for public accountability when it comes to BC Ferries, since the company basically controls the transportation ability for thousands of people who rely on the ferry system for travel, commuting or the shipment of goods.

For example, the company is exempt from B.C.'s freedom of information law, which shields it from a significant level of scrutiny.

There are certainly parts of privatization that trouble many people. But in terms of accountability in the face of a disaster as large as the sinking of the Queen of the North, I'll take Mr. Hahn's approach over his predecessors - as in cabinet ministers - any day.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.

And here is what I wrote in response, way back when:

First, the obvious: Why, exactly, does Mr. Baldrey automatically conclude that persistent attempts at PR Spin = Accountability?

Second, the less obvious: Why, exactly, does Mr. Baldrey not recognize when he himself is, perhaps, being spun?

With respect to the latter question, could it be that Mr. Baldery likes it that way?

Given recent events and the non-responses to them, not to mention the lack of digging beneath the shakey ground that the babbling spokesthingies stand on, it would seem that you could ask the same questions of all of Lotusland's proMedia right about now.

OK?

The Paragraph.

2011-12-27T11:18:00.006-08:00

WeDon'tNoStinkin'W's

PostModernPressVille

As someone who just paid $126.90 to bring my family of four across the waters from the Lower Mainland to Victoria, I have a question.....

Why isn't the following paragraph, which was written by a marine engineering consultant company that carried out a 'due diligence report' for BC Ferries in 2007, known by every single British Columbian?

Again.

This was written by a consulting company working for BC Ferries that served them up a poop sandwich on the German-built 'Coastal Celebration' ferries more than four years ago.

And just in case you missed it, here is the really stinky bit, some of which was likely smeared on the Duke Point dock last week, is stuck right in the middle:

"....The primary drawback is at the dock; when the nearly-feathered propeller is rotating at full RPM, any failure in pitch control could have severe consequences..."

So, given that, according to the most excellent 'Tidal Station' blog, this problem with 'changing pitch' has happened before, but far enough from the dock that it could be corrected manually, why isn't every single proMedia outlet in this province screaming at BC Ferries asking how, exactly, this is being fixed and why, exactly, the other German built ferry that, presumably, also has the same propulsion system, is still running.

****

Now.

Some may say I am being hyperbolic here.

To those, I would respond with the following....

First.... A consulting company working for BC Ferries identifies their propulsion design choice as being a potential problem...

Second...That design decision, based on what we have been told so far, appears to have perhaps, contributed to a crash at a dock that injures people...

Third...The media does not scream long and hard at BC Ferries demanding to know what actually happened, second-by-second, and how they are actually fixing the propulsion problem...

This is pure lunacy.

Not to mention dangerous.

_______

*I called it a 'crash' above because I agree with Chris Montgomery that calling these things 'hard landings' when you destroy a dock, mash a door, and injure people is pure unadulterated bullshit (although Chris is much more polite with her language than I am).

In addition to 'Tidal Station' and Ms. Montgomery's 'On The Waterfront', Dave at The Galloping Beaver, who points out that the only reason you can read the consultant's reported cited above is because it was rooted out by an FOI request, is also doing the job that the proMedia are not on this issue.

The Cookie Man Says Something Of Substance.

2011-12-27T08:54:00.003-08:00

AllTheStuntmenThatFit

MinsisterialMaterialVille

This time last year Mike de Jong was the big winner amongst the BC Liberal also-rans for the leadership of their moribund party.

On the YouTubes that is, with his now disappeared 'cookie recipe' video.

Now, a year later, as Health Minister, he has actually said something of substance, in response from otherwise (mostly) softball questions from the VSun's Pamela Fayerman:

Q. How do you feel about contracting out to private surgery facilities?
A. What I’ve discovered, in the vast majority of cases, is that people have little interest in who owns or operates the facility. What they want to know is that when they require treatment, they can present their Care Card and receive treatment in a timely way.

Q. What about paying for it themselves?
A. Well I am sure there are some who prefer that option. I put that question to the federal minister just a few weeks ago because I wanted to know if the majority federal government is planning any changes to the Canada Health Act and the answer was no. So the Canada Health Act structure will remain unchanged and we are going to manage on that basis.

Interesting that, no.

Half an extra tier maybe but then when the third rail comes defer to the Harpoons who have made it clear that devolution is going to be the way to their (anti?) Healthcare revolution.

The Traditionalist.

2011-12-26T10:05:00.002-08:00

TheAuldTriangles

HaveManyJoinedAnglesVille

We played on the ferry coming over yesterday afternoon, right after the shift change, outside, on the back deck behind the SeaWest lounge where the exclusives go to avoid the crowds and the bustle.

Not to mention the hoi polloi that paid for their bon-bons.

It actually turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with high cirrus, towering mini-squalls, and wind whipping through high and hard, and then gone.

We played right through the Islands into the oranging of the early winter sunset without a whole lot of folks to listen, but three true enthusiasts stayed pretty much right through and exhorted us on after pretty much every song.

Amazing, that, how complete strangers can make you feel so good when you make them happy for no real reason at all.

****

Because of the wind, the stand with the Book of Tabs (and the vaunted 'Set List') was out, so we fell back on old stand-bys.

E. absolutely killed on our mash of the Decembrists' 'Down By The Water' b/w Ms. Parton's 'Jolene', even if she was forced to sing it in my key instead of hers.

Then, I held on by the skin of my thin reed, as she wailed effortlessly through 'Fogtown/Hit The Road Jack' which, it turns out, can be fused seamlessly with 'Stray Cat Strut' if you do them all in 'F'.

How's that for a trifecta!

****

Anyway.....

Despite my lunatic obsession with this musical thing, you might be surprised to learn that, I do try my best (most of the time) not to push it on people.

Especially people I know that have to put up with me every day.

Like the people I work with.

So I was a bit surprised a couple of weeks ago when this shy kid who works in a lab down the hall knocked on my door and asked me if I had a minute.

Thinking she was going to ask my advice for getting Englebreth Holm Sarcoma-derived matrix to gel, or some such thing, I almost blew her off for that particular moment because I was trying to get my final exam marking done on time (for a change).

But I didn't.

And instead of going into science geek speak she asked be something very simple and direct, which was:

"Are you going to play your guitar at the Christmas party?"

I was floored.

I stammered for a bit and then tried to explain that Emily was still off at college.....

And that I didn't want to impose....

And that I hadn't rehearsed...

And that, well, you know, on my own I'm really not very good at all, and all that...

But she, this kid who had hardly ever said boo to me before, insisted.

"Why?" I finally asked.

"Because," she finally blurted, "It's a tradition!"

****

So.

Did I play?

Are you kidding?

_______

Speaking of traditions...

The True Meaning Of...

2011-12-26T01:17:00.003-08:00

AllHisRustinessWasOnce

OursVille

A really big, grand orange Christmas.

That is all.

And to all a good post-belly-full-of-foul, not to mention less than than two months until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Christmas In Cadboro Bay.....Do Not Go In The Water!

2011-12-25T10:48:00.004-08:00

Because it's really hard to know what's what in the weird world of Cryptozoology....

The Set List

2011-12-24T09:59:00.006-08:00

TheBestEverBesterEverer

BestestEverestHappyChristmasBabyVille

The kid in the image above, littler e., who is a little older now, kept us on a tight schedule yesterday on Christmas Eve Eve.

First, there was the shopping with her sister Bigger E.

I was just starting. They were just finishing.

The shopping I mean.

We began on 4th Ave where we always do. Zulu, as was Quintessence before it, is still the anchor for me. The Candy Aisle is the place for them. And we all dig the magazine store just off Arbutus that is still there despite the fact that all the high end and shiny maternity shops are now mutating into designer Toddler palaces.

Or some such thing.

We ended up out at UBC where the kids went crazy in our old friend Allan's dollar store while I went into the empire of evil cheap tech stuff store around the corner to get a hard drive to fit all the junk we now have on the household's big fat Mac that holds about a billion times more bits and bytes than the machine I wrote my entire thesis on.

And you know what?

I was more amazed by, and liked that little SE way, way better.

If that makes any post-Apple 2e sense at all.

The shopping finally came to a close at the campus bookstore where we went bonkers on the back of an old gift card I found at the bottom of an office drawer the other day. It was almost as if we were in a gameshow, running around grabbing as much stuff as possible before the buzzer went off.

We then rushed over to Oakridge (although 'rushed' is not quite the right word for it given that I made the big, big mistake of taking 41st Avenue through Kerrisdale) to drop off Bigger E. so that she could go busking with her friend N.

I then took littler e. home so that she could start wrapping, grabbed my outside guitar (see headstock in image above), and took fullest advantage of my two free hours by heading off to the beach with the Whackadoodle - which was fine because the beach was absolutely empty (which meant I could yell my head off as much as I wanted) and it was only a little rainy.

Dinner was at 6:30, and it was done and over with quickly because littler e. insisted that Bigger E. and I had to be done rehearsing and assembling our holiday set-list by 9:00pm because that was the time that watching of 'A Christmas Story' absolutely, positively had to begin.

****

To back up for moment, you should know that Bigger E busked for less than three hours yesterday afternoon.

And in that time she and her friend made (get this!) one hundred and fifteen dollars.

Now.

There is a little scene in one of our family busking videos from a couple of years ago where a young kid approached us at Trout Lake and asked if he could join us. I gave the kid the outside guitar (see both the Lake and the headstock, again, in the image above). He then played 'Falling Slowly' and Bigger E. sang while I exhorted them to keep going because 'they didn't need me anymore'.

Which, based on all kinds of things, including the busking haul from yesterday afternoon, is really and literally true in all the right musical senses.

And if I didn't know that already, it became crystal clear to me as Bigger E. and I worked on our set list last night.

Don't get me wrong; it was really, really fun, but I was barely hanging on as she used unleashed her voice, her phrasing, and her chops on that little 4 stringed thing of hers to whoosh on by me in a rush of power and song.

All of which means that folks are going to be really amazed over on the Island next week.

And so, without further ado, and in no particular order, here is that list:

-Blue Christmas

-Blue Suede Shoes

-Hallelujah

-Falling Slowly

-One Great City

-Christmas Waltz

-Here Comes Santa Santa Claus (insert D.Sedaris excerpt here)

-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

-Happy Christmas

Encore:

-Baby It's Cold Outside

-Fogtown/Hit The Road Jack (while exiting stage, living room and/or porch)

_______

The image of littler e. at top comes from our most popular family busking video in which we do 'The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton' by that genius John Darnielle....The image of the smile comes from the 1:58 mark...

Bigger E. starting to go Indie, for real, is presaged in this one at the 2:00 mark....

Now, back to 'A Christmas Story'....If Ralphie pinned all his hopes and dreams on that air rifle, I probably pinned my most recent ones on that goddamned outside guitar. Both have since paid off in spades I reckon.

The cursing of the guitar is, of course, a Springsteen reference wherein (in my imagination at least) a Darren McGavin-like Dad tells him to turn down the 'goddamned guitar' as he works on his hopes and dreams endlessly in his bedroom and the sound drifts down to the kitchen via the heat vent....And, for the record, my Mom still thinks he of the hopes and dreams sings like a man with a mouthful of marbles unlike, say, her Elvis.

It Would Appear That The Good People Of PG And The 'Loops....

2011-12-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

...Won't Have The Ghost Of Lord Tubby To Ignore Anymore.

Will wonders and/or the War on Crazy Anti-Canadian Ghosts of Christmas Past never cease?

______

Here's the link to T. Hawthorn's tweet.