Barbarians At The RailGate!

AllTheCitizenJournalists
ThatFitVille


Yup.

That's right.

The RailGate Trial is scheduled to sputter back to life Monday.

And if the wrangling of all the legal cattle careening down the chute does not derail things once again we're scheduled to have the previously privilege-protected Bankers on the stand next week.

So......

Our wall-to-wall, trestle-to-trestle, caboose-on-the-loose coverage starts right now!

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To start things off, we take you to the Maple Syrup Revolution in which I try to explain the crux of the thing to our National Citizens' J-School correspondent, the Reverand Paperboy.

Here is how the good Reverand described our conversation recorded a few weeks ago:

"....Herr Doktor Professor RossK of The Gazetteer gives Rev. Paperboy a lengthy primer on the BC Rail kerfuffle and the two discuss the BC media and blogosphere....."

You can hear it all here.



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Next up: We will take you through Bill Tieleman's 'A to Z' compendium of RailGate's major players and try to give you a little more information regarding who did what where, when and how....And, maybe even some context into......why.
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And if you want to hear the Rev's and my wide-ranging conversation on how we got into blogging, that one is here...


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Please Excuse My Cynicism, But....

There'sNoSpin
LikeDeflectorSpinVille


....I can't help but wonder if the most timely announcement of the Pickton Inquiry by the mostest illustrious government of Premier Gordon Campbell and his merry band of PABsters wasn't designed, at least in part, to be a brand-new shiny bauble to distract all those suddenly persnickity pundits 'round here.

Or some such thing.


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And, just in case anyone is concerned that I am being dismissive of truly fixing what really went wrong during the abysmal police response to the longterm serial murder of women on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, please read this.....

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Our Busking Year, Week 35: "Just Call, And I'll Coming Running...."

We Three Buskateers' 6th video of the year was filmed on one of the last sunny days of the Summer of 2010 at Beacon Hill Park/Dallas Road Dog Park along Victoria's waterfront.

This time we cover The Swell Season's "When Your Mind's Made Up", which is one of the other songs from Once. We (well, actually, I) also butcher Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere".

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Bigger E played her ukulele and sang, while littler e. was behind the camera....

Mom C. can be seen recuperating from her toe surgery...

Rosie plays the part of the Whack-A-Doodle wandering in and out with the other canines...

And former Yeti guitarist, and current Armed & Hammered gun-for-hire, Uncle C., makes a very brief guest appearance in the closing segment filmed in Grandops and Grandma-Ants basement rec. room....

*****

The real Swell Season can be found here...

And, finally, a for real live version of 'When Your Mind's Made Up' can be found here...




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And just in case I didn't make it clear before.....My kids......They really do slay me.....OK?


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Do You Have To Pay HST On FOI Requests?

WhoSaidIronyWas
DeadVille

Many people in British Columbia have railed against the egregious costs of making a Freedom of Information request to the government of Gordon Campbell these days.

But sometimes, when you plug one leak by putting the cost out of reach for small operators and individual citizens, you open up a whole avalanche when you force people, including people from proMedia outlets, to work together because of ridiculous requests for remittance to do the people's business.

A case in point was the recent release of all thos HST-related documents that went to eight media outlets instead of 'just' the CBC with a rather interesting result.

Paul Willcocks has the details in a footnote to a recent HST post of his own:

...The (HST) documents topped the news reports in all the major media in the province on Thursday, thanks to another government bungle. CBC Radio reporter Jeff Davies submitted the FOI request. The government said it would charge $800 to produce the material. Davies approached seven other news outlets to split the cost and all receive the documents at the same time. The result was an avalanche of bad news....

Ha!

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Three Buskateers Labour Day Weekend Mini-Tour!

Quittin'MyDayJob...
ForThreeDaysStraightVille


Yup, that's right.

We're hitting the road.

Or, more accurately, forking out all our dough to BC Ferries so we can make the trip across the Strait of our fair Georgia to Victoria.

Which means you can catch us....

Friday Night on the 8:00pm sailing of The Queen of New Westminister (Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay run)....Usually we hang out near the stern to get out of the wind.

Later Friday Night @ Auntie R and S's Birthday Party (yes, they're Twins!) in Sidney ....Somewhere near the Airport.

Saturday Morning @ Beacon Hill Park, hopefully by about 11:30am....Either on the very top of the Hill or down front, at the Dallas Road Dog Park, because we'll have the Whack-A-Doodle!

Saturday Night @ Grandpops and Grandma-Ants place out in Colwood....If you're walking the Galloping Goose near the Cemetary you might be able to hear us, with Special Guest Uncle C., from the Trail as darkness falls - Ha!

Sunday Morning on the Swan Lake Nature Trail....Maybe.


Moving pictures, with sound, to follow.

And, unless I've missed my guess, you'll be able to find them....

Here.


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Shills, Fixers and Toadies....

AllTheSelfInterest
ThatFitsVille

....In The Gambling Business is One Thing.

But do we really want them making important decisions about prescription drugs as well?

Sean Holman, of Public Eye has the most recent chapter of that story:

....In the past, the University of British Columbia's Therapeutics Initiative was responsible for conducting the scientific work that informs the government's decisions on which drugs PharmaCare should cover. The initiative's conflict of interest guidelines state its "members and their immediate families shall have no direct or indirect financial interest in the company sponsoring an application or trial." The government has now given other groups and individuals a chance to compete for that work - which ensures taxpayer dollars aren't wasted subsidizing drugs that don't provide good value for British Columbians. But successful bidders won't necessarily have the same ethical standards as the initiative.

According to the government, "individuals who declare possible conflict of interest information are not automatically excluded from participating in the drug review process.".....

Or.

Put another way....

"We the members of the BC Liberal government of Gordon Campbell really are fully prepared to co-opt absolutely everything."

OK?



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Paul Willcocks saw the (very badly scrawled) writing on the wall for the Therapeutics Initiative some time ago.

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Just In Case You Missed It...

What'sReallyGoingDown'Round
HereVille

....Venerable left-sider Ian Reid is kicking butt and taking, as well as naming, names on his new municipal/provincial poli-blog he calls 'The Real Story'.

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Who The Heck Wants To Play Rockband...

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....When You Can Actually Play In One.

Which is what I did last night.

Sort of.

I have this young friend, a fellow-science geek at the top of his game, who recently built himself a sound-proof studio in his garage.

And last night we played.

And within 3 minutes (OK, maybe 4 if that's how long it takes to get through a very, very bad cover of this) I was 18 all over again.

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As for today?

Well, I've landed with a thud back right smack-dab back in the early part of my sixth decade.

And as for my throat.

Well.....

It's about a hundred or so.


OK?

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Darkness Will Always Be The End Of Summer For Me

AreTheyStillRacin'
OutAtTheTrestlesVille


Which is also my real New Year.

Because every time I open my book, it just means more work for me and mine too....

Or some such thing.

OK?

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Words of Wisdom From Bigger E....

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"August?..... I dunno....It's kind of like Sunday."

Sure is.

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What Is He Doing In There?

SometimesLithiumIsNot
EnoughVille


Just charging the batteries for one last run at RailGate's big return....

Perhaps Sunday Night with The Swell Season and Black Francis on the lawn in the Malkin Bowl will be that last jolt I need to get going again for real.....

Serious stuff that pixie-dust, no matter where it comes from or when it arrives.

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Talk to you all about heavier stuff soon enough.

In the meantime, our good friends Laila Yuile and Norman Farrell have an interesting new venture going down here, as does Ian Reid here.



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For those wondering about the state of 'The Three Buskateers'.....Bigger E. now has a busking license to call her own and is playing at Granville Island quite regularly these days ....So if you're down there shopping keep an eye and/or ear out for her.....Me, the proud Papa?...You betcha!


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Charlie Brown And The Gang Are HST Exempt...

....Who Knew!

What the heckfire am I talking about?

Well, as our good friend North Van Grumps has informed us, it would appear that a certain brand of 'Peanuts' are HST-free:

"Here on the north shore, at the local Wildbirds Unlimited store, they have a note on the counter, for all to see, that their shelled peanuts are Province HST free because they meet another high standard, this time set down by the Federal government...... they're salt free."

Ha!

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Gordon Campbell's Harmonized Sales Tax...

....Is Now One Month Old.

So........

Has the price of one single thing that you buy gone down yet?

Why do I ask?

Well......

Remember the StatsCan report that predicted Mr. Campbell's Stephen Harper-assisted tax would cost the average family $521 per year?

That number WAS predicated on prices falling.

And if they don't?

Fall, I mean.

Well.....

The cost could be, in the estimation of Paul Willcocks, something on the order of $1800 per year for a family of four:

"....Basically, the HST will cut taxes for businesses by $1.9 billion a year and increase the taxes paid by individuals and families by the same amount - something like $460 a year per person...."

Finally.

Please remember also that, as our commenters recently established, a number of the heads of those businesses in this province that are reaping the benefits of this act of corporate welfare gave Mr. Campbell literally millions during the last two election cycles.

Happy BC Day!



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Oh, and don't forget, the Fraser Institute's attempts to low-ball the impact of this egregious act of corporate kleptocracy was completely discredited right out of the gate. Interesting that, don't you think, especially given that it would appear that the fine folks from the FI have been the number one button-pushers of the fact-challenged noise machine that was designed to discredit Statscan on the longform census issue.


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Japan's Loss Is Our Gain

TedBaxterWasNeverANewsman
InkStillStainsSomeWretchesVille


Because our good friend, and good old fashioned newsman*, the reverand paperboy is coming home......

Which is good news indeed.



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*Of course, the good reverand also knows all the right moves in the new media too.

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The Hardest Writing Journos In Lotusland...

SomeWretchesAreStained
WithInvisibleInkVille

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Post-show update at bottom of post....
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....Are On The Radio This Morning

Yup, that's right.

It's pixel-dust wretches Holman and Oberfeld, together on the same radio show.

You can catch it live here starting at 8:00am Sunday morning.

Or catch-up with it later on the pod, here.

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Now......

Here's the thing.

A journalist who works hard is not the same thing as one who writes/reports hard.

Although the two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

But getting both in the same package is getting pretty darned rare.

Especially 'round here.



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That's the legendary, and long gone, hard working/hard writer Mike Royko in the clip above....Another lifelong dualist of the form, Daniel Schorr, just passed away last week.
Post-show update: One of the items that came up was the recent 'interesting' goings on at the Oil and Gas Commission.........Now this fine Commission, and the fine folks who have worked for it and/or its predecessor, is something I've written about before, including back in those long gone times when the Blogasauri stomped on the Lotuslandian Terra and the Fraser River flowed East (ie. in 2004).....Anyway, the discussion on Mr. Holman's show this morning led me to exume a report from Auditor General that was published back in February of this year (warning pdf)....Lots of interesting gloves-off stuff in there....More to come later.

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