Monday, March 24, 2014

The Baldrey Hypotheticals...Who's Crazy Now?





Which, in addition to 2013, got us to thinking...

What if the Dippers had won the election in 2009?

Would Mr. Baldrey have been kibbitzing with the Dean about how British Columbians who were disgusted by the six million dollar deal one year later were, essentially, 'cultists'?

Or.

What if the Dippers had won the election in 2005?

Would Mr. Baldrey have been jumping on chartered planes with David Hahn and would he have still been waving the pom-poms to the bitter end of Mr. Hahn's reign of error five years and a few 'hard landings' later?

Which brings us back to the title of this post...

OK?


.

51 comments:

Grant G said...

Keith Baldrey is a slimy spindoctor, he lost any ethics and or moral compass a long time ago.
Keith Balderdash and the herd of pro-media turds will always try to make all stories about NDP bad,BC Liberals good money managers.

Was inn New Westminster yesterday...

John Horgan has 15 NDP MLAs backing his leadership bid..

Crowd was electric, standing room only, the chant was Horgan, Horgan, Horgan..

I`ll bet dollars to doughnuts that Keith Balderdash, Shitty Smitty(Mike Smyth) and others start painting targets on the man the BC Liberals are terrified of..

One more thing, there is a herded pro-media effort to save Jenny Kwan..

Perhaps long-term planning by media`s advertising departments.



Lew said...

Mr. Baldrey is an amazingly talented wordsmith. In 140 characters or less he is able to perfectly define lack of journalistic integrity.

Anonymous said...

Keith Baldrey is well...... (fill in the blanks)....... all negative comments are correct. Anything that sounds like an old tired so-called journalist trying to get attention...... you're on the right track

Guy in Victoria

North Van's Grumps said...

May we "Call Keith Baldrey Crazy!

Damn right we do. If the NDP won the election in 2013, Richard Coleman would have been a logical target of how the BC Liberals twist the facts.

246 Days of twiddling his thumbs while PHS is set up to Burn. AG Suzanne Anton's John Les patronage and Linda Reid spending spree debacles were the catalyst for Coleman to strike back against the public.

How could anyone miss such a large target on the BC Liberal's backside?

Anonymous said...

SH:

So now, Paltry is the Long Island Medium of journalism??? ... or just afflicted with a more terrestrial condition? :

"Projection": " ... highly Machiavellian people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, since they themselves would be more willing to engage in a conspiracy when placed in the same situation as the alleged conspirators ... " Wikipedia

If only Ochs had twitter:

One of the biggest enemies of yellow journalism in the 1890s was Adolph Ochs ... Upon acquiring the Philadelphia Times in 1901, Ochs had a list of newspaper "don'ts" drawn up ... It states:

No red ink.
No pictures.
...
No free advertisements.
No free circulation.
No free notices to advertisers.
...
No medical advertisements.
No advertisements on first page.
No free ...
No concessions from the advertising rate card.
No personal journalism.
No pessimism.
No friends to favor.
No enemies to punish.
No drinking by employes.
No speculation by employes .
No private scandal.
....
No advertisements
***Of immoral books,
***Of fortune tellers,
***Of secret diseases,
***Of guaranteed cures,
***Of clairvoyants,
***Of palmists,
***Of massage.
No advertisements
***Of offers of large salaries,
***Of large guaranteed dividends,
***Of offers of something for nothing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2009/03/bring_back_yellow_journalism.single.html

Anonymous said...

Baldry and his ilk have been the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, propaganda machines.

Just remember back when, BC was fighting the HST. Baldry, Christy Clark, Good and most of the media, were a disgrace to their professions.

Anonymous said...

SH:

Adrian continues to tilt at windmills...today's misguided defense of Kwan (and his steadfast refusal to step aside) reinforces and signifies to me, the archetype of Adrian as the stalwart, stubborn, bitter, intransigent ,wounded rescuer/avenger a la Pavlovich ("Pasha") Antipov (Wikipedia) in Dr. Zhivago..."

In the spirit of Ian's Reid's message with respect on how to go forward....a little reading for the predictable monsoons: some surprising and inspiring lessons on humility, modesty, hope and humanity-- from Il Papa to Mandela:

Il Papa:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/03/13/five-things-can-learn-from-pope-francis-first-year-to-live-your-faith-at-work/

http://www.hlntv.com/slideshow/2013/09/20/pope-francis-surprising-facts-and-quotes

Mandela:

On ideology

I had no specific belief except that our cause was just, was very strong and it was winning more and more support.

ROBBEN ISLAND, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 11 FEBRUARY 1994

http://therealstory.ca/2013-05-21/bc-liberals/what-is-to-be-done



Anonymous said...

SH

fyi Manela Foundation:

http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography

John's Aghast said...

I wouldn't wish the mess the Liberals will leave on my worst enemy!
Good luck John Horgan.
I think the Lieberals expected to drop this mess on the NDP in the last election and are now dumbfounded that THEY have to manage it themselves.
LNG? Ha!
Horgan will have to be some kind of magician.

Anonymous said...

Just read VP's column on question period in the house on Monday, and Coleman scrum after - not a peep about the 8 month delay in releasing the audit findings!!!

http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Vaughn+Palmer+Liberals+stand+back+struggles/9656699/story.html

Anonymous said...

Sh:


Dix's soft landing for Kwan, makes me ill.

I feel a deep sense of inertia, which takes me back to that black day in May. The stench of this has pervaded news comments and twitter, and this fetid chapter in NDP history will burble up from the sewer for countless years to come...

John Horgan has energetically fanned the faint embers of pride and hope in the Party, and it appears a blasé Dix is turning all to ashes.

And now some levity:

Norman Spector ‏@nspector4 · 29m
A free press is most appreciated when, as in BC, the Gov’t and Opposition are in sync in a coverup http://bit.ly/OW2QVm #bcpoli





G West said...

SH - You have to be careful. I posted a similar comment on Adrian DIx's fb saying much the same and I'm now labelled a liberal ass-kisser. Jeez

Anonymous said...

G West, thanks for the heads-up... did you hear the sound of all those wallets snapping shut???

Take heart: you, and all who hold a mirror up to the NDP elite, do so out of a sense of moral duty and protection for the party we built. The Party was not brought in to existence for the comfort of those who would suckle at the teat of power.

WE, who demand the highest standards from our party are the Liberals worst enemy.

A be-feebled, morally bankrupt NDP will hand the Liberals election after election, and all of our treasure and natural environment to plunder...posting more in a bit.

Anonymous said...

SH:

There must be some reason the NDP behaves as though they think Kwan/PHS will fade away...

Anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of BC politics knows it won't. Dix has opened the flood-gates to this:

http://www.surreyleader.com/opinion/252262701.html#.UzGz3yohHFE.twitter

While the article is not in perfect balance with the facts, the few kernels of truth contained within, lend a certain veracity to it.

The longer the NDP allows this wound to fester, the more people will be both schooled and reminded of the NDP's flawed past...

Case in point: I had forgotten about MLA pensions, and Progressive larding:

"If it [NDP] wants to retain any shred of credibility as it spouts misleading poverty statistics and simplistic solutions, the party must get rid of Kwan, who has two years left to max out her MLA pension.
MLA pensions were a factor in the 2010 ouster of Carol James, who infuriated the old guard by trying to defuse a public backlash against a generous pay and benefits package worked out in private between the NDP and the B.C. Liberals. Kwan would later take a leading role in the caucus revolt that forced James out as leader."

Anonymous said...

SH this link to the Fletcher's Surrey Leader post works:

http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/252262701.html

Grant G said...

Good guys get shot down too, lose the battle win the war(2017 election)

The PHS executives claimed trips were in lieu of a longterm disability pension plan..(self serving rule making, self-serving benefits decision making)

Certainly Jenny Kwan`s Ex would have made that complaint to Jenny Kwan..

No where did Jenny Kwan say her Ex lied, Jenny said he stated monies were out of personal money..

Trips in lieu of a long term disability pension can be perceived as personal money..

Adrian Dix has blown it again, no leadership..

I Have it on good authority that large majority in NDP caucus want Kwan to resign..

And yes, Kwan was key in making Adrian Dix leader..favours for friends must end.

Jenny has max MLA pension, she wont suffer, that riding is a NDP stronghold..

Those wondering why BC Liberals are quiet on Kwan must be stunned, ...Money in the bank, ready made election attack ads.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one"

Spock from The Wrath of Khan...

Or should that be..

"The Wrath of Kwan"?

Anonymous said...

SH:

Bravo Grant G!

So heartened by your affirmative words.

The last thing any self-respecting NDPer would want to be is a dipper-true-believer-zombie, parallel to the long-suffering Con-bots (as per the NDP facebook fan page).

Kwan's family dysfunction has been allowed to bleed into the party--exacerbating the NDP's own dysfunction. All who remain complicit by their silence, contribute in essence validate it.

They call that enabling don't they?

Grant G said...

Yes indeed it is...Enabling that is..

You might be interested in this lively Jenny Kwan conversation..

Twitter away..

@Petesviewpt

Peter Kelly..

@ricenicer


It got a little testy, and desperate by the defenders of hypocrisy.

Cheers

Grant G said...

@vancouversun Breaking: Speaker Linda Reid billed B.C. taxpayers thousands of dollars in first-class flights for her husband. Story to come. #BCpoli


Collapse

Anonymous said...

SH:

Well Grant G, WOW, doesn't look like the tweeting will abate anytime soon.

What really galls me, is the moral authority assumed by the "regime change" Green Trojan.
C'mon NDP wake up. The set-up for the set-up is evident...

A prof once said: power is laying on the floor waiting to picked up...and it surely is slipping from the Party's grasp.

All this self-indulgent rank-closing as the NDP apply cold-compresses and and band-aids in aid of Kwan. Just what about this woman is soooo indispensable when balanced against against the survival of a social justice movement???

Greens are going to march into Dodge and scoop progressive votes. All the more galling because of their Gord love and non-record.

Wakey-wakey caucus--don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
You are all being made to fall on a sword for Kwan, for who, as Grant G has said, has many opportunities awaiting her.

Anonymous said...

SH:
Grant G, G West...afraid this will cause blow-back on Mulcair...fed dippers largely free of tarnish, no?

Grant G said...

I would kill for Jenny Kwan`s pension..

So would 90% of all Canadians..

Whether or not removing Kwan is the right thing to do...

The bigger picture is for the NDP to show real leadership by sacrificing one of their own..

Adrian Dix was tasked to show leadership and he failed badly again.

Getting so effing tired of trying to prop up a group of habitual shoot-themselves-in-the-foot-political-party

Anonymous said...

SH
In my darkest moments I amuse myself with the image of a lefty coup of the faux BC Liberal party...we can't seem to budge the stubborn Dixies, so why not have a little fun pushing the neo-cons to the curb?...

Anonymous said...

SH:

ps RossK...sorry for hogging the comments...it all just makes me too p'eed off to shovel the manure in my stable, when the party is drowning it...

Anonymous said...

CKNW has the story on Linda Reid...but comments are closed. Interesting that comments were wide open on the Kwan story.

Now that's what I call balanced reporting....... NOT.

Guy in Victoria

North Van's Grumps said...

Interestingly, the calling for the head of Jenny Kwan on a platter hasn't come from her Riding Constituents. Could it be they, the "down trodden" would vote for her, again and again.

Just take one look at the newspapers where normally there would be a balance struck between pros and cons, the news media (the Province and the Vancouver Sun) has chosen to only accept (reject??) negative vibes.

North Van's Grumps said...

Yesterday I went to the Legislative Assembly website for MLA finder. My intent was to go through the Alphabet therein to discover if there were any skeletons in their closets:

A is for AG Anton..., Suzanne
.....
R is for Speaker Reid ...., Linda
The Honourable (LOL) Linda Reid, MLA has built her reputation in the BC Legislative Assembly on her professional background ......

North Van's Grumps said...

59th commonwealth Parliamentary Conference 2013

Linda Reid's Section 7. Spouses/Partners.

Spouses/Partners of delegates and SOCATT are welcome to participate, provided they have registered and paid the fee of US$ 1300 to cover the costs of accommodation, meals, internal transport, tours and social functions. No provision will be made for children of any age. A local sight-seeing programme to various places of interest in Gauteng Province will be arranged for the spouses/partners during the period of the Conference. Please note that those registered as a spouse/partner will be expected to share a double room with the relevant participant.

“South Africa awaits you”

BC Taxpayers too

Anonymous said...

The Sun: " Reid could not provide the cost of her husband's trips Tuesday, and has twice refused to answer written requests by the Sun over the last month for additional information about her out-of-province travel.
She said she's currently compiling the financial figures, and won't have them until the end of the month. "

Let me sound a bit like the right wing nuts who commented on the Kwan story.

You mean to say she doesn't know what it cost her husband ? How can a married couple not know these types of expenses ? Did he not question his wife as to who was paying for all this 1st class stuff. And finally... Linda Reid needs to resign now.

Back to reality for a second... why is it taking so long for her to get all these expenses together to reveal the total ? Did she not know this at the end of the trip & when she handed in the expense claim. Is there not a section at the bottom that say's "Total".

Watch the Liberals defend this...and the CBC is quickly burying this story unlike the Kwan story that stayed there all weekend. Does nobody work at the CBC on weekends....after all "Canada Lives Here"

Guy in Victoria

Grant G said...

Linda Reid has just announced she is paying back $5500 dollars..

Also revealed Raj Chouhan (NDP deputy speaker) also went to South Africa with his wife..No word from Raj yet..

Well well well...

I guess this explains Adrian Dix is now a wafflemaster and it explains why the BC Liberals didn`t pile on Jenny Kwan..

We need a forensic audit of all members of the legislative branch, government and opposition..

I SAY THEY ALL NEED TO RESIGN.

I believe a dust-filled empty room with cobwebs could give British Columbia better Governance than this batch..

Screw all of them..

Grant G said...

According to a high up NDPer...

Raj Chouhan flew economy class, stayed in a Holiday inn and..

And offered to pay for his wife`s travel portion...And when he offered to pay Linda Reid told Raj that no payment was required..

Raj Chouhan`s entire trip for two cost..$6400 dollars..

Linda Reid`s trip was a total cost of $18,000.00 dollars

Keith E. said...

I was wondering about the silence from the libs. and the NDP, but now it is a bit clearer. The speaker and deputy with Coleman not looking so good on the oversight of the PHS who it seems have been having a jolly good time one way and another for quite some time while he sat on the report. Almost like it's an understanding neither will rock the boat on each other.

However, it would do the dippers a world of p.r. good to give J. Kwan the old heave - ho, both now and for the future as an example of their stance on unethical behaviour as opposed to the libs track record on such matters.

With the added bonus of getting shot of an embarrassment past the best before date. No short term pain and all gain. Can't understand why it's taking so long.

G West said...

Yep! Kwan needs to go. The sooner the better...and you're right about her pension Grant - she'll be fine.

Helena Handcart said...

I must be a bit stupid. I thought that the PHS was a non-profit organisation to help poor people in the DTES. I did not know that it was a division of the NDP. Maybe some bright wiz kid can tell me why this can of crap is being tied to the NDP's tail. Does the current government have no oversight in the management of PHS?

Grant G said...

MR.West...Are you being facetious?

Perhaps you could email me.


Cheers

RossK said...

Hey.

Thanks for the good and interesting discussion (and links) everybody...

Have been stuck in the sci-geek bunker for a couple of days and it was great to be brought up to date.

.

Anonymous said...

Linda Reid's work is important. Important-- got that? She's workin' for democracy y'all, but hey, she's sorry if she gave the taxpayers another wedgie, and will toss some coin back in the jar...

So, now the frenzied-feeders have graduated beyond the predictable: "but they do it too" -- larding has evolved to the positively collegial:

"Reid said the assistant deputy speaker, New Democrat Raj Chouhan, was on the same trip and took his wife along.
NDP caucus chairman Shane Simpson said Chouhan intends to discuss the matter with the Speaker ... Chouhan, who offered to pay his wife's costs at the start of the trip, was told by Reid it was Speakers' office policy to pay the costs..."

"Simpson said political life can be difficult on families and relationships due to large amounts of travel and lengthy absences from home, but there must be some right balance that allows families to thrive while not abusing taxpayer dollars."

Well, Shane, our community has been drained of many family members, young and old, male and female, who have joined the diaspora to the lonely oil fields and elsewhere to work--on their dime, no family support, no travel expenses, no special family visits, no write-offs, no special pensions, no luxury hotels, meals, bouquets and vino.

Want to talk about emergency service widows/widowers???: many $2.00 an hour on call part-time paramedics "volunteer" in communities other than their own, because in their great wisdom, the government has decreed that the part-timer route is the only career path to a full-time job ... baby steps to being real ... No gas/lunch money. And heck, not even muffins.

Many paramedics, after working another full-time job to support families, then travel, often great distances to provide an essential service for rural communities.

So, Shane where is the NDP's concern that the Ambulance service has been in limbo since before Christmas, when
top BCAS executives Fisher and McDougall were yanked over a serious personnel matter by the ubiquitous "fixer" at PHSA?

Paramedics have endured, and endure, a stagnant morass of cronyism, and fiscal sloppiness (still unpaid wages), while the taxpayers have an air ambulance with out clear objectives, financial and otherwise as noted by AG Doyle. I won't even start about the shocking absence of decent care in the North.

Meanwhile... taxpayer dollars freely flow into a legal investigation by a high-powered mind, prime-time wages for the COO and CEO while they are on administrative leave.

NDP how about some concern there?

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/25/linda-reid-bc-speaker-pays-back-husband-flight_n_5031409.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/03/21/air-ambulances-risk-auditor-general_n_2927701.html

http://globalnews.ca/news/1045358/two-men-tasked-with-overseeing-bc-ambulance-service-put-on-paid-leave/

Anonymous said...

SH = 8:20 (above)

Keith. E. said...

Today's 26 March Times Colonist front page softballs Linda Reid.

Les Leyne extremely concerned about earthquake preparations. But when the Jenny Kwan episode hit the news they were all over it.

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-kwan-neglected-to-do-her-duty-1.916455
Good grief!!

British Parliamentary tradition expects the speaker to be above any form of suspicion, rules on the conduct of the house members, and generally be a separate entity, not be the trough with them. The prior waste of space speaker was rooming with gordo.

Doesn't matter who, what or how much, the issue should be the ethics and independence of the speaker, and not the "we are learning" and "moving forward" cobblers, or, spinning a line the mugs will buy and soon forget about it.

G West said...

SH:
On the money side - donations that is - I expect it will have an effect....it certainly gives me pause.

Recovery is possible and I may bring out the chequebook again - but not until I see some action.

Cheers.

islandpapa said...

If Keith Baldrey and his "girl friends" had gone after Gordon et al the same way they attacked Glen Clark, would we even be having this conversation

Anonymous said...

Mike Smyth kicking butt on NW now!
Who'd a thunk?

Guess when all the Emperor's naughty bits are showing honesty is the only default position.

cfvua said...

Coleman's infatuation with the natural gas business must have caused his blindness to this file. No one ever said he was competent. The amount missing from PHS and Reid's travel pales in comparison to Coleman's gifts to his Calgary friends. And hardly a word. Kwan is quickly using up any points earned when only her and Mcphail were in the house.

Anonymous said...

There are no party lines they are all in it together has been my thoughts for a very long time.

Dix during his 'nice losing campaign...I think Christy is a very nice person and I think she is doing a good job....

The Greens never failing to support the BC Liars every so-called election....

....as so too do the public enemies # 1 the CORPorate mainstream media all year round.

Jenny needs to move on and so does loser Dix who should have been gone the morning of the 15th of May, 2013.

e.a.f. said...

If the NDP had won the elections, there would not have been questions by Keith B. There might have been a question, whatever happened to Keith B.

Doesn't matter what Keith and his ilk say, B.C. still has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada, spends more money on "projects" which aren't benefiting society as a whole, not spending enough on education, has not provided for the children of this province and now are removing nurses from hospitals. Oh, time to move to quebec. There they only have Ms. M. and she is most likely to be gone shortly.

Anonymous said...

SH:
e.a.f.: re Quebec as an alternative: last week I spoke to a relative in Montreal who was at the hospital emergency department last month, there were dozens of over-flow patients in the hallways. She said that health-care in Quebec is really bad.

Add to that: food and gas is far more than in Ontario.

Perhaps you were thinking of moving to a community where those factors are not issues?

Eleanor Gregory said...

46 comments! Is that a record?

Anonymous said...

In the news: two BCAS heads resign for unspecified reasons.

Anonymous said...

This is all stonewall BCEHS BCAS) is saying after CEO and COO resign after their hiatus on admin leave since Dec: no "criminal" or "financial" wrong-doing. ( ? ) Will McDougall or Fisher have to pay back the combined 3 months of luscious wages? Did the special-hire club supplicant boys survive?...
How much did THREE months of legal investigations cost taxpayers? ... as BC Turns:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Ambulance+officials+quit+following+investigation+into+personnel/9670358/story.html

Anonymous said...

RossK still waiting for your streaming-danger bike cam.

In case you missed this:

Anonymous said...

SH don't know why the link didn't show. Here it is:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bad-drivers-of-vancouver-exposed-on-youtube-channel-1.2588748