At The End Of The Day...

...Why Are The Teachers Called 'Militant'?

And, on the flipside, why isn't the BC Liberal Government called 'extremist'?

After all, it isn't teachers who have worked so hard to provoke strikes.

And it sure as heck isn't teachers who have torn up contracts.

And no judge has ever called the actions of the teachers unconstitutional.

OK?

.

This Day In Snookland...Maybe Mr. Mackin Should Take Out A Membership.

There'sNoKaneInThis
StoryVille


Despite the fact that it is his day job, I still think of Bob Mackin as a citizen journalist in the best sense of the term.

Because, essentially, he pays attention and then goes after stuff we, the citizenry, need to/should know.

Like, for example, what the actual plan is and estimated costs are for Ms. Clark's other boondoggle, the Massey Bridge.

And even after their own Privacy Commissioner told them to hand over the pertinent documents the Snooklandians still found a way to stonewall Uncle Bob on the matter:

...High-ranking minions in Mike de Jong’s Finance Ministry decided last October that the 60 pages of documents about the tunnel-cum-bridge that they held in their grubby hands were going to cost me $126 to see. I’m a frequent FOI requester and governments don’t ask for exorbitant fees to see dozens of pages. But this one was so arrogant that it thought it could get away with it.

Fast-forward six months and, after my complaint to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the government has relented. No fee. But it is not a victory.

Instead of 60 pages, I got 15 on May 22 with such earth-shaking revelations as: “Plan is for the project to ready for construction in 2017″ and “Plan is for the new bridge to be fully operational by the end of 2022.”

The documents mention that there are concept plans, but whether a business case exists is protected by section 12, aka “cabinet confidences.” See “more” below.

Bottom line: The BC Liberal government doesn’t want you to know about how it wants to spend your hard-earned money on mega-projects...


Gosh.

If being a citizen doesn't work, maybe Mr. Mackin should take out a party membership.

After all, according to the boss, when it comes to questions folks may have about what she and hers are actually up to membership matters:

_______
And don't kid yourself....The Snooklandian stonewalling of Mr. Mackin's FOI requests is real and it is concerted when it involves something they don't want us to know.


.

This Day In Snookland...Revision This History.

PipeliningCremeVille
ToLoseVille


I spent a lot of time watching Christy Clark play run-and-hide from David Eby while her wizards did their best to suppress student voting in Point Grey last spring.

And not once do I remember the pipeline thing being a major, or even a significant minor, issue in that specific campaign.

But, according to Ms. Clark herself, as 'revealed' to reporters in scrum this weekend in Kelowna, she sacrificed her own seat to take a principled stand on the matter of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

Seriously.

Here's a snippet from JHunter in The Globe:

...Ms. Clark said she was asked to get off the fence (by her own strategists) and take a stand against the pipeline, because the NDP was jeopardizing her party’s support in coastal ridings – including her own Vancouver-Point Grey seat.

“I was confronted with the decision ... I was asked about it, and my immediate response was, ‘forget it, we are not changing our position on this’,” she said...

{snippety doo-dah}

...On Election Day, the NDP succeeded in defeating Ms. Clark in her own riding, but lost the election.

“In the end, standing firm on my values was more important than winning,” Ms. Clark said...


Gosh.

If that was, indeed, the case maybe Ms. Clark really could see the Iron Lady from her dorm room.

And lest you think the revisionist aspect of the the header to this post is hyperbole there is this closer from Ms. Clark:

...“We were on the right side of history.”

That is all.

.

This Weekend In Snookland...We Are All Spike Lee Now.

Sure thing.

And Bogus Bollywood Blow-Outs b/w Carbon Trustyishthingies are the way to do it.

Allegedly.

.

This Day In Snookland...We May Not Be 'liberals' But We Are Still BCLiberals.

When the Ol' Turdstormer speaks...

We (apparently still have to) listen.



.

This Day In Snookland...Will There Be Disciplining?

Gord
Who?Ville


Hmmmmm....

It looks like those very few actual liberals (and/or folks whose hearts are not made out of stone) who are still inside the wretched, stinking, muck-strewn tent that is the BC Liberal Party may be kicking up a bit of a fuss in front of their 'convention'.

Justine Hunter had a not about this yesterday in the Globe. Here is her lede:

B.C. New Democrats have been unsuccessful in getting the provincial government to end the clawback of child-support payments for single parents on income assistance. But this weekend at the party convention, members of the governing B.C. Liberal party will join the battle.

Delegates from Liberal MLA Doug Bing’s riding have drafted a resolution calling on the government to provide an exemption that would allow single parents on welfare to keep the additional support, saying it fits with the party’s core values of a “compassionate free enterprise system.”

There is no guarantee the resolution will make it to the floor for debate – for the most part this convention is expected to be a love-in for Premier Christy Clark, who led her party to an unexpected and hard-fought victory in 2013. And there are only two hours allowed for policy debate, so the majority of proposals will not be discussed.

But the resolution highlights an undercurrent of tension in Ms. Clark’s coalition party.

Mr. Bing said the resolution reflects concerns from Liberals in his constituency about poverty, but he added that it is not unique to his community. “There is a government policy and the caucus has a position, but I don’t think it is unanimous by any means,” he said. “This motion comes from the grassroots and people want this discussed.”...


So.

I guess the real question is...

Will anybody take these uppity ones out behind the barn and start spitting at them?



.

This Day In Snookland....Will There Be Sparkle Ponies?

And when the local proMedia reports the coming of the unicorns straight-up will anybody other than know-nothing nutbar cultist bloggers call the Snooklandians on it?

Because.

Believe it or not, it actually did happen...

Once.


_______
The origin story of the elevator ridin', and always promotin', Pammy and the Sparkle Ponies is here.


.

This Afternoon In Snookland...Mr. Fassbender's Cold Comfort Farm.

Gosh.

I sure feel better now about the Fassbendererian Hijacking of the BCPSEA now.

Don't you?


.

This Day In Snookland...All Your Public School Employers' Associations 'R Us.

There'sNoAssociationLikeAPuppet
AssociationVille


You may have heard about the 'letter' the association that used to be made up largely of school trustees (i.e. the BCPSEA) just sent to the public school teachers union (i.e. the BCTF).

Because the herd's soundbites so rarely do, we thought we would give you the actual money shot in its entirety:

"...Effective May 26, 2014, and continuing until further notice, your members will be locked out as described in this letter. As a consequence of this action, salaries will be reduced by 5.0% for all employees in the BCTF bargaining unit who are scheduled to work, beginning May 26. If the union moves to its stage 2 activities, the reduction will be 10% instead of 5%, effective the first day that the walkout affects any school..."

Gosh.

A couple of months back we wondered why the Snooklandians would do the following:

1) Replace elected school trustees on the BC Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) board with its own administrator?

2) Appoint its own negotiator in the middle of the current round of bargaining?

3) Replace the senior staff at BCPSEA?

Guess we know 'why' now.

Indeed.


________
What is clear, going all the way back to at least 2005, is that the BC Liberal government and the Wizards running them, want this crap...Why?...In my opinion it's because they have weighed the odds and have come to the conclusion that it is a winning issue for them...More specifically, they think that turning public sector unions into evil gollums will stand them in good stead, both now with the screamers (i.e. read the 'comments' at the end of any 'serious' newsstory on the subject) and later when they drop said gollum on the Dippers' doorstep in 2017...And if the Snooklandian Wizards have to screw over a bunch of kids and parents who can't afford to send their kids to publicly-subsidized private schools in the process?....Well...So be it.


.

This Afternoon in Snookland: The Fourth 'R'.....R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It's an oldie but (very) goodie from Bob Krieger.


______
Need a little background (and/or memory refresher)?....It's here, courtesy Colin Welch.
And Mr. Krieger was good enough to let us post this up here for almost free...All he asked for was a donation...To the Foodbank...We've obliged, feel free to do so too.

.

Teacher's Strike...Who Benefits?

Gosh.

Wedge issues on silver platters.....

Guess they're not just for Knotty Gordians and Snooklandians...

Anymore.


.

This Day In Snookland...In Which The 'Dean' Struggles To Not Be A Gov't Apologist.

The real question is....

What is the good Mr. Palmer struggling so hard with that it keeps him from stating the obvious?

(And stating it unequivocally)



.

New Logo In Snookland...All Hammer, No Sickle.

On the brightside...

There is a wrench and a hard hat, I think.

And, just in case you think I'm making this up.



______
Thanks to Mr. Mickleburgh, I think, for the heads-up, on the Twittmachine.


.

This New Day In Snookland...The Latest With LNG.

AllYourDeansAre
TheirsVille


From Norm Farrell:

...Get ready taxpayers and citizens, assume the position. No trillions of dollars for the next generation. No bonfires of bonds on a barge. I know that, you know that, Vaughn Palmer knows that. He just won't write about it...


Indeed.


.

This Day In Snookland....Every Five Means (Less Than) Zero.

SplittingFromTheHerd
HunterVille


I just love it when the powers that be (at the tail end of a long weekend?) let Justine Hunter of the Globe go.

Below is Ms. Hunter's latest lede, but this one is well worth wasting one of your free 'ten' so that you can go read all the details of all the non-progress on each and everyone of our fine Premier's 'Big Five' on Northern Gateway:

Two years ago, the B.C. government put a price on environmental risk, saying that the $6.7-billion it can expect to earn from the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline is too little.

A “fair share” of the economic benefits was among the five conditions Premier Christy Clark said would need to be met before her province approves new heavy oil pipelines.


With the federal government expected to approve the Enbridge project in the next few weeks, Ms. Clark is upbeat about the progress that has been made toward meeting her terms.

And there has been headway – in the sense that Alberta, Ottawa and industry are not snickering at Ms. Clark’s demands any more.

Yet not a single one of the five conditions has been met...

The thing is...

All of those useless blogger cultists were on to this from the very beginning for what it really was.

Which was a useless PR stunt that meant less than zero from the very beginning.

But, then again, what the heckfire do we know.

Right?



.