Meanwhile, Outside Snookland....A New Kind Of 'MILF'

YouKeepUsingThatWord
IDoNotThinkItMeansWhatYouThinkItMeansVille


Cathy O'Neil is a mathematician and former big-money New York financial world 'quant' who wants to change the banking system for the better.

And she knows how to explain all this stuff, which is evident from her blog titled 'Mathbabe' as well as her recent appearance on PBS's 'Frontline' (see video embedded at bottom of post).

She also has a wicked sense of humour as is evident from this recent passage from a series she calls 'Ask Aunt Pythia' on her blog:


Dear Aunt Pythia,

Do you know you give a new meaning to the acronym MILF?

DrunkGuy.

Dear DrunkGuy,

Now that you’ve sobered up, can you be more specific as to the “new meaning” part? For now I’ll assume you mean “Momma I’d like to Fund (for her open model initiative)”.

Aunt Pythia.



So.

Nevermind  C-FOX morning (or even latenight) zoos, because...

It's the smart women in math (or any other endeavour) who don't pander to anyone when answering 'tough' questions that really 'Rock'.

OK?

________________

Watch The FRONTLINE Interview: Cathy O'Neil on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

.

This Day In Snookland...If You Can't Beat 'Em...

...Censor Them!

_____________

Just a reminder, before we get to the latest bit of censorship from Premier Photo-Op (In Hiding)...Regarding the Auditor General Firing Fiasco, I explain why any fix is up to us, here, and also try to convince you why you might want to consider signing a very reasonable petition....here.

_____________

Bob Mackin has the censorship story:

My (previous) story in Business in Vancouver about the B.C. Liberal government purposely omitting the film, TV and video gaming industries (collectively known as "screen-based entertainment") from Premier Christy Clark's BC Jobs Plan has struck a chord...

{snippety doo-dah}

...Film and TV workers suffering from a lack of work have bombarded Clark's Facebook page with hundreds of passionate pleas for her to help the industry, which has fallen to fourth in North America after Ontario lured producers with lucrative tax credits that B.C. has yet to match. Premier Jobs! Families! is being reminded that many families rely on jobs in film and TV, but there have been fewer jobs of late, meaning hard times for some families...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...However.....(s)omeone in Clark's office cleansed the Facebook page of the comments (which did not appear to me to be be offensive)....

I mean.

What the heck is the (not) Premier afraid of?

It's not like these people are anything like the shock-jocks that she used to like to pal around with or anything.

Right?



_______
You can read a bunch of the deleted comments yourself, if only just to see how reasonable and non-objectionable they are....here.
You know it's interesting, as Laila notes.....Now that the newscycle has come and completely gone the proMedia is actually starting to pay attention to all that previous paling around with the shock-jocks that went down prior to Ms. Clark's recent encounter with 'Drex' over in Courtenay....Although I guess, like David Akin calling codswallop on the Clark's claims of her gov't being #1 in job creation, perhaps sometimes you have to have somebody from outside of the local club get to the bottom of a story....And how come no one at the Fraser Institute and/or the Editorial page of the VSun has denounced a 'free-enterprise' party for wasting (anti) intellectual blood and treasure trying to create' jobs anyway?

.

Saturday Night's Alright For Uke (Cover) Fighting!

There'sNoUke
LikeCoverUkeVille

_____________

Just a reminder before we get to the latest No-Holds-Barred Uke Death Battle...Regarding the Auditor General Firing Fiasco, I explain why any fix is up to us, here, and also try to convince you why you might want to consider signing a very reasonable petition....here.

_____________

First, The Original, from the real originals, especially that Tina Weymouth bop-backed death-ray stare that still knocks me out, even now:

And now, The Cover, from those folks in the formal wear who have taken this stuff to a higher plane indeed:

______
Of course, there's always the fruvooshness of the Ghomeshi and Friends version, here...
As always, the UkePegHead at the top of the post is from our friend and LA Photo maven Ellen Bloom, whose site really is great and fun (it shows up on the blog crawl now too!)...Dug her recent story on sad passing of the real-life inspiration for Groening's 'Howell Heuser' on The Simpsons...


.

The Auditor General Firing Fiasco (ctd)....How To End It?

WhatAreThePeopleToDo
WhenTheirLegilatorsWon'tLegislateVille


Here is how I kinda/sorta ended the last 'fiasco post...

...Given the BC Liberal Party's complete-and-total legislative stonewall on this matter, the ball is clearly in the public's court.

So.

...Either we, the people, put the pressure on the ruling party that controls this committee, or this Auditor General will be disappeared the way of the Progress Board was disappeared to make sure that there are no inconvenient truths unearthed as the 'Sycophants & Fixers For Christy' start cranking up their big money propaganda blitzkrieg for real in the next few weeks in the run-up to the coming election..


But...

What can we, the little people who don't have a big money blitzkrieg to roll out of our garages at the drop of a hat, actually do?

Personally, I think a good first step would be to read the following, from the folks at Integrity BC who have been pushing for provincial electoral campaign reform for quite awhile now:

...B.C. Auditor General John Doyle has not been reappointed to a second term and will step down later this year.

The legislative committee tasked with appointing the government watchdog was unable to agree on Doyle’s reappointment, a decision that must be unanimous, according to Chilliwack MLA John Les, who sits on the committee."

The appointment of Officers of the Legislature requires the unanimous consent of the Legislature. Among these positions are: the Auditor General, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Ombudsman and the Police Complaint Commissioner.

Given the introduction of fixed-date general elections in BC, the term for these appointments should be structured so that re-appoinments or appointments are dealt with by the appropriate legislative committee within six months following a general election...


Sound good (and sensible)?


Well, then, you might want to sign their petition to this effect.


OK?

.

The Auditor General Firing Fiasco (ctd)...Both Sides Are NOT Doing It.

Can'tWeAllJustGetAlong
VSunEdPageVille


Well, whadd'ya know.

According to an unbylined (and somewhat syntactically-challenged) piece in The Province yesterday, it would appear that BC Liberal Party MLA, and chair of the legislative AG Selection Committee, Mr. Eric 'How Do You Like My Office?' Foster has already dismissed the BC NDP's request to have the BCLib Party-dominate committee reconsider their decision to effectively fire John Doyle.

Despite this, and other clear signals from Shane Simpson and Adrian Dix, the VSun Editorial writers can't bring themselves to actually say that this actually all the BC Liberal Party's doing.

To wit:

...Doyle has been an outstanding auditor general. He has identified some serious issues, most recently uncovering the almost unbelievable mess in the running of the internal affairs of the Legislature.

Along the way, he has ruffled a lot of feathers. That is his job. There are thousands of public servants who are paid to quietly go along with politicians and senior civil servants. We need an auditor general who isn't afraid to create some heat.

Has he been confrontational to a fault? The government, and even the NDP on occasion, have dismissed some of his criticisms as being disagreements between accountants.

Maybe some are. But others - Doyle's refusal to allow the province to list debt from the $3.3-billion Port Mann Bridge as self-sustaining, for example - reflect the kind of issues that have led to the downfall of previous governments that have used a fun-with-figures approach to present a rosier view of their own performance. By all appearances, the Liberals on the committee have decided they don't want Doyle reappointed because he has embarrassed them one time too many. Like the Liberals, the New Democrats aren't talking, but party leader Adrian Dix says he expects his followers toed the party line and supported the reappointment of Doyle for a second term....



I mean, seriously, does the Postmedia braintrust actually think that folks are going to pay real money for this kind of pablumized codswallop when they can get all kinds of better stuff for free with the click of a mouse.

For example...

Independent MLA Bob Simpson, in his open letter to Mr. Foster, gets right to the heart of the matter from the get go.

Dear Mr. Foster:

I am writing in support of the reappointment of Auditor General John Doyle. As Chair of the Special Committee to Appoint an Auditor General, I respectfully request that at its next meeting the Committee revisit the decision to not reappoint Mr. Doyle as Auditor General.

Over the course of his term, Mr. Doyle has demonstrated the qualities required to uphold the integrity of this independent office. Public support and trust in Mr. Doyle’s work as Auditor General is apparent; by contrast, the Committee’s in camera decision to not reappoint Mr. Doyle has been met with vocal and widespread opposition.

As Committee Chair you have publicly stated there is no precedent for revisiting the decision to not reappoint Mr. Doyle. That statement is misleading. The Auditor General Act was changed in 2003 to specify a new procedure for the re-appointment of the Auditor General and this is the very first time this new procedure is being used. Therefore there can be no “precedent,” because the process is being tested for the first time. Your Committee is, in fact, establishing the precedent, and unfortunately it is one that clearly undermines the integrity and transparency of the legislative function in British Columbia...


The upshot of all this?

Well, given the BC Liberal Party's complete-and-total legislative stonewall, the ball is clearly in the public's court. Either we put the pressure on the ruling party, and its leader-in-hiding, that controls this committee or this AG goes the way of the Progress Board to make sure that there are no inconvenient truths unearthed when the 'Sycophants & Fixers For Christy' start cranking up their big money propaganda blitzkrieg for real in the next few weeks.

So.

What to do?

Well, we could start by signing Integrity BC's petition.....

...Here.


.

UkeFolkFunkFusionFest (ctd)...The Review.

It'sACrazyMixed-UpWorldWeLiveIn
SoMake(Like)Art(Carney)Ville


There is a wonderful bit in one of Marc Maron's WTF podcast interviews where he gets the magician Penn Jillette to talk about the scene in a crowded bar where he and his partner Teller, and all of their family and friends, sat around eating and drinking and kibbitzing all night long as they waited for the early edition of the NY Times to hit the streets so that they could all then immediately read the first review of the just completed premiere of their Broadway show way, way back in pre-Internet 1987.

Why?

Because if it was a good review they knew they were pretty much set for life.

And/or at least finished with busking and hustling for a living.

****

Anyway.

I didn't stay up all night waiting for Mr. Beer 'N Hockey's review of our little musical show late last week.

But when I read said review on the flickering screen down in the Subterranean Blues Room early last Sunday morning I was probably at least as happy as were Mr. Jillette and Mr. Teller, combined, on that night in Manhattan so long ago.

Why?

Well, because of words like this:

...For the cost of a small donation to an Honduran orphanage in Copan Ruinas (see both Paying Attention or A Closer Look on my sidebar of links if you too would like to count yourself as a supporter) Sonja and I got to see three performances. All three were sort of like the shows an uncle of Sonja's (who was proud to be a drinking buddy of Elmer Q. Tippee) used to perform every Christmas - except better.

First singer of the night was Shonna who sounded pretty good for somebody not nearly recovered from the cold which has half the city sicker than an army on New Year's Day. Except on my record player, I do not often hear an acoustic guitar played. Sounded lovely really.

Next was Ellis who I am guessing started playing guitar the day after he heard Bob Dylan the first time. He stomped his feet in time with the songs he was singing. I like it when guitar players do that. Especially when the room is quiet enough to hear the stomping.

Before long Gazz and his eldest daughter Gazzette took the stage. I had heard both of them sing in person several years ago on the shores of Shout Lake. Since then I have only heard them sing via mp3 through my tin can computer speakers. Was I in for a shock.

Turns out Gazzette has developed a voice everybody should be hearing, not just the people unlucky enough to be snowshoeing along a sidewalk in motherf*cking Montreal, where she is attending school. A pitch perfect one of a kind voice. 

Sonja was as floored by her performance as I. "It's as if we had heard kd lang sing at a kitchen party in Carstairs, Alberta in 1982," is what she said to me on the way home later.

Gazzette even whistled for an extended bit. A rare treat that is. Nobody f*cking whistles any more.

Did "Me and Bobby McGee," my favourite song about Freedom not sung by the Cockney Rejects ("Freedom! There ain't no f*cking Freedom! Riot!") a couple others I forget (If the Dope City Free Press was proper journalism I would have taken notes. That would be no fun.) and her own composition inspired by her walks to school past one of Montreal's many graveyards, in one of which you can find their past hockey glory buried.

Write more songs Gazzette. Write one every day or so like Neil Young. I have no further advice...


Now.

Before, anybody gets us all embroiled in a 'potential conflict of interest' matter here, please realize that, while Beer does have a piece of the songwriting credit on one of our songs, there have been, at least as of yet, no financial rewards from said tune whatsoever.


OK?


______
What is this Buskateerian collaboration with Mr. Beer 'N Hockey you may be asking?....Stay tuned...Live versions of that, as well as live versions of both Bigger E. and littler e. (yes, littler e.!)  originals coming soon...
Image at top of the post is from my morning ride...Have I mentioned that I'm now well over the 3K km mark with my (no longer so) new bike?...


.

This Day In Snookland...It's A Jobs Plan!...For...

...Singapore.

The latest on the SeaBus contract fiasco from the MoCo:

The union representing shipyard workers is questioning why TransLink did not apply for $2 million in federal funding that might have allowed it to build the replacement SeaBus in B.C.

Unions leaders say it would have been cheaper to have a local company build a replacement SeaBus if TransLink had applied for the federal financing...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards was eventually given the contract to build the replacement SeaBus, which takes commuters between downtown Vancouver and the North Shore. Construction of the vessel will be carried out in Singapore.

The first three SeaBus vessels were built in Vancouver and Victoria.

And don't start giving me any of that codswallop about how the Translink Board, which was hijacked by the Campbell-Clark government way, way back in the darkest of dark, turgid hearts of the Golden Era, is 'independent'.

OK?

.

This Day In Snookland...Where Will The Inside Info On The Shipbuilding Program Come From?

WhenYou'reInYou'reIn
AndWhenYou'reOutYou'reWay,WayOutThereVille


For the last couple of days we've noted how it would appear that, with a report from parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page due out soon, the FedCon shipbuilding program just might be moving into rough seas.

Which, of course, could mean a spot of real trouble for the coming jobs-plan propaganda blitzkrieg from The Snook and Company that will be paid for by we the people of British Columbia.

So.

Given the fact that the fine folks within the inner sanctum of Snook & Co are clearly the smartest guys and gals in all of the finest rooms in Lotusland (and/or the local Helijet pads), you'd have to figure that they would want to get the inside scoop on how the FedCons of StephenVille might be planning to chart their way through those potentially rough waters.

Which has us wondering....

Who might the Inner-Sanctumites turn to for a 'job' like that?

Well...

We don't know for sure...

But.

We do know that, after she was turfed out of the cozy confines of the sanctum, former Snook&Co Communications Director Sara MacIntyre was initially very concerned that, as a new and somewhat tenuous member of the outer orbit, she didn't actually have an actual 'job' description:

And then, shortly thereafter,  it appears that Ms. MacIntyre, who before coming to Snook & Co was once a resident of  StephenVille (see image at top of the post, above), did have something (kinda/sorta) to do, which was to provide the inside scoop on the then still coming FedCon-engineered Nexen/Chinapaloozapolistic trade deal.

Unfortunately, in the beginning at least, Ms. MacIntyre had a little of trouble coming up with something solid which led her to apologize to current Snook & Co Sanctumitian-In-Chief, Ms. Athana Mentzelopoulos:

Luckily, a week or so later Ms. MacIntyre came up with an absolutely fantabulistically shiny nugget of foolish goldilockian-type stuff:

So.

How could Snook & Co possibly go wrong(er) if they were to go to that well again in an effort to acquire some real high level hard-stuff on the Shipbuilding Contracts that they could then use to leverage even more glorious puff-pieces from the Goodship Watercarrier himself, and/or a whole new passel of bought-and-paid-for News-Ads to be broadcast down at the local TeeVee Station and Organ Monkey Grinders' propaganda emporium?

Or some such thing.

****

Now.

Am I being overly zealous in my treatment of the flack-hackery here?

Well, I'll let you, the reader, be the judge of that.

However, before you pass judgement, do not forget that, before she moved on to SteveVille, Ms. MacIntyre was first the BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, that group of very, very fine folks that like to slag, at the drop of a hat, all those terrible, no good, awful public sector workers who do nothing but waste the public's precious treasure.

Heckfire, such finest of the very finest slagging was once even performed by the good Ms. MacIntyre herself.

And then, of course, there's this....

______
How do we know all the stuff that is pasted into the post, above?....Well it comes directly from a recently released, highly redacted FOI release from Snook & Co itself...
Interestingly, the current Canadian Taxpayers Federation spokesthingy for BC, Mr. Jordan Bateman, has not made any fuss about all the public money that is being spent to keep the former  Snook/StephenVille/CTF spokesthingy, Ms. MacIntyre in the employ of the people of British Columbia....But, then again, when you once laid the astroturf for a three billion dollar ice bomb maker that was also paid for with public monies, well....Maybe now is the time to lay low on such matters for awhile...
Ironically,  Ms. MacIntyre  also once sounded a clarion call about all that terrible partisan government advertising that was going on around here, circa 2005...
And speaking of  interesting ways to further drain the public purse for the most important of reasons...Didn't Inner-Sanctumite-In-Chief Ms. Mentzelopoulos' spouse once have a most interesting Snook & Co-assisted  job to do as well?
Hey!....Was that enough links and stuff for you 'Anonymous' (from Langley?)....


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AG Firing Fiasco (ctd)...Did Mr. de Jong Throw Mr. Foster Under The Bus?

AllTheSelfRighteousnessThatFits
SixMillionDollarSecretDealManVille


Was stuck in the science geek bunker for most of the day, so it took me awhile to finally read Justine Hunter's latest on the Fiasco in The Globe from early this morning.

And the following, regarding BC Liberal Party backbench MLA Eric Foster's claim that the $78,000 he spent on his constituency office is a 'secret' really caught my eye:

...Finance Minister Mike de Jong offered his caucus colleague (Mr. Foster) little sympathy, saying the public should have access to details of how MLAs spend public money.

“I have long spoken for the need for more transparency and increased public accountability for the dollars that are spent by MLAs and cabinet ministers,” Mr. de Jong said. “It has taken longer than I would have liked to see reform occur, but it is happening now.”..


Now.

Setting aside, for the moment, the fact that Mr. de Jong and his boss and (current) benefactor have done their darndest to make sure that everything about the Six Million Dollar BC Rail Brib....errr....'Deal' remains a secret, I really have to wonder if a calculated decision was made to throw one backbencher to the wolves to keep the BC Liberal Paty Braintrust and/or The-Premier-In-Hiding out of the line of fire on this issue.



______
An added bonus feature in Ms. Hunter's piece is the additional claim by the backbencher Mr. Foster that "learned of Mr. Doyle’s concerns about....(his constituency) office renovation this week"....Hmmmm....That doesn't seem to jibe with what Les Leyne said in his V-TC column earlier today with respect to Mr. Foster having supplied receipts to the legislature in response to Mr. Doyle's letter of concern dated Oct 05, 2012 (we wrote about that matter earlier)...

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The Doyle Firing Fiasco (ctd)...Does The 'Timing' Have It?

OhWhatATangledWebWeWeave
WhenAtFirstWeDon'tSubmitReceiptsVille


Look.

On the larger issue of whether or not BC Liberal Party MLA Eric Foster should have been chair of the legislative committee that recently decided the fate of Auditor General Doyle, I don't think this latest gambit that 'I never saw the letter about inappropriate documentation/lack of receipts' for a big renovation job on his constituency office actually matters.

Why?

Because, in my opinion the fact that Mr. Foster was previously fingered by Mr. Doyle, rightly or wrongly, about the appropriateness of the actual renovation itself means that he should have stepped down from the committee until the matter of Mr. Doyle's future had been decided, regardless.

But.

As to the smaller matter of the 'receipts defense' that the media is all over today, well....

It would appear that a comment from reader Merv Adey gets right to the heart of the matter.

Merv's comment goes like this.


"There's more..

Leyne's piece this (morning) claims sources saying receipts were produced after the Au(ditor) G(eneral) expressed his concern..Those receipts would have to originate with a request to Foster's office.

Unless I'm missing something, I simply don't believe Fosters claims of ignorance."


Now.

According to Rob Shaw's original VT-C piece on the matter from yesterday, the letter from Mr. Doyle to the legislature that raised the matter of the missing receipts was dated Oct  5th, 2012.

Which begs the following two questions....

First, when, exactly did the legislature request the receipts from Mr. Foster?

Second, when, exactly, was the decision made to fire Mr. Doyle?

Because if the answer to question #1 is a date that is before the date that is the answer to question #2, well...

****

Now, the first question should be easy to answer. After all, there must be a record of that at the legislature (and presumably Mr. Leyne's 'sources' could supply it).

As for the second question....

Well, apparently everything the Committee does is super-duper secret, so we don't know for sure.

However, we do know that the committee met at least three times since Oct 5th, 2012.

So.....


_____
GrantG, also in the comments, steps back and points to the big dog in all of this...The Speaker...We note that Alex Tsakumis can also see the light glinting off the spikes on Mr. B's collar...

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The AG Firing Fiasco ctd...Who Left Mr. Foster Twisting In The Wind?

OnACalmDaySpinmeisters
CanSeeForeverVille


Yesterday we wondered why backbench MLA Mr. Eric Foster was left to crank his own Wurlitzer with nary a peep from any other BC Liberals (or the disappeared Premier) over the potential conflict of interest flap regarding the apparent firing of AG John Doyle.

And  now, well, there's this, from Les Leyne in today's VT-C:

Liberal MLA Eric Foster is clear on one point — he had no idea while sitting in judgment on auditor general John Doyle’s fate that Doyle’s team had rapped his office earlier for not submitting receipts for a constituency-office renovation...

{snippety doo-dah}

...A $78,000 bill was submitted for payment by the legislature with only a spreadsheet showing $67,000 in expenses. The lesser amount was paid, on orders from Speaker Bill Barisoff, which the audit considered a departure from standard policy.

That issue was spelled out in a report that has apparently been circulating for some time between the auditor general and the legislature.

It was obtained this week by the Times Colonist. When Foster was asked about it, he explicitly denied any knowledge of the accounting matter.

“I haven’t seen that letter. Isn’t that interesting?

“I never saw that letter ... That has never been raised with me ... I’ve never seen that.”...

Mr. Foster never saw the letter?

Hmmmm....

Isn't that interesting, now that he is the poor fellow taking all the flack and the (not) Premier's name is nowhere to be seen or heard on the matter of the actual apparent firing of an AG that was looking into all manner of matters involving both her government and, potentially, her?


_____
On the actual potential conflict point, to me it does not matter if Mr. Foster was exonerated by Mr. Fraser over the matter of the actual renovations that were done on his office in a building owned by his CA's family....Why? Well,  just the fact that this matter was raised by Mr. Doyle and that Mr. Foster definitely knew about it and had to respond to it should have been enough for him to have been asked by his conscience and, more importantly his Party, to step down as chair of the committee that sat in judgement of the AG...OK?

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Auditor General Firing Fiasco (ctd.)...More On The Foster Factor.

SometimesAWurlitzering
IsSelf-InflictedVille

_____

Update: At the bottom of the post...

Double Secret Probation 'Twisting In The Wind' Update....Here

_____

Earlier today we noted that the chairperson of the Legislative committee that apparently fired Auditor General John Doyle, BC Christy Party MLA Eric Foster, may have been in a conflict of interest when he helped rule on the matter recently.

It all comes down to a previous investigation by AG Doyle that specifically referred to renovations Mr. Foster had done on his constituency office, an office that is located in a building that is owned by the family of Mr. Foster's constiuency assistant.

And, guess what....

It appears that the good Mr. Foster wants to make the story even more newsworthy, at least according to a Tweet late yesterday from Paul Willcocks:

And then there's this, from Sean Leslie, of CKNW:

...Eric Foster says he didn't know Auditor-General John Doyle had concerns about the 78-thousand dollar renovation until this week.

Foster defends the expense and says Doyle's concerns have since been resolved - he won't release documents to back that up saying that would break the law, and he wants to know who leaked the Auditor's letter to the media in the first place.

"This is priveleged, this is a management document that's inside lamc, and that's priveleged information, it's not to be published. Whoever leaked that document to the times-colonist is breaking the law."...


That's right Mr. Foster.

Hide everything!

(while claiming complete and total innocence b/w Mr. Fraser's super-secret-sauce cone-of silence blessing with a cherry on top)



_______
Update: Ian Reid has more on the 'legal' issue at hand, both in the comments and over at his place....

.

Who 'Technically' Did Not Fire The Province's Cartoonists?

TechnicallyWilliamZanzingerWasManagementToo

WholeLottaLevelsVille

Earlier today we linked to cartoonist Dan Murphy's video farewell to his colleagues at The (nolongerVancouver) Province.

So.

Why, exactly are Mr. Murphy and fellow pen-wielder Bob Krieger no longer drawing stuff for The Province? 

Well...

Here is what Mr. Murphy told those crazy kids at 'Deep Rogue Ram' recently:

Deep Rogue Ram: So Dan, what happened at The Province?

Dan Murphy: Management axed the cartoonist job classification. Which, technically, lets them say they didn’t fire the cartoonists, they just fired their jobs. Every time they do say that, though, they owe Joe Heller a royalty.

Deep Rogue Ram: To what degree do you think that decision is connected to the “Enbridge incident”?

Dan Murphy: I really don’t know. I didn’t endear myself to Province brass going public about the paper pulling a web parody at the behest of a powerful advertiser.

And (I) likely didn’t endear myself to the publisher when Dr. Robert Russell, with my endorsement, sent him a public letter to recount the responsibilities of a free press...

Now... 

At first I figured this was a cost-cutting thing coming from the managerial bean-counters at Postmedia corporate headquarters.

But then I noticed that there are still editorial comics in other Postmedia organs, including their other daily in town, the VSun.

So.

Does that mean that, perhaps, it was actually a local managerial decision to technically 'not' fire Murphy and Krieger?

And, if that's the case, does it not suggest that, maybe, this was NOT done to save money?

. 

This Day In Snookland....About Those Shipbuilding Contracts.

AllThePublicPorkThatFits
InsideAFreeEnterpriser'sFlimsyBarrelVille


Yesterday we noted that, based on a CP wire story from Murray Brewster, it is possible that those FedCon shipbuilding contracts that the still-disappeared Christy Clark is likely counting on for a final frenzy of  jobs plan propaganda flinging in the run-up to this spring's election might be in a little trouble.

Well.

As an Anon-O-Mouse in the comments* noted, the Sixth Estate is all over this story, and figures that one of Kevin Page's last acts may be to get the ball rolling on some serious financial scrutiny of the 'program'.

Here's the lede from Ol' Sixth's latest (but I suggest you go read it all, including the links):

"A week ago, I predicted that this year’s military procurement scandal would be the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy: the plan to build 29 new ships for the navy and the Coast Guard, most of them advanced warships, at an official cost of $35 billion but a true total cost that will probably exceed $100 billion. At the time, my speculation was spurred by the news that the Auditor-General would be passing judgement on the file next fall.

But it seems that the ball may get rolling sooner than that. Apparently soon-to-be-unemployedParliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page will be releasing his findings on two of those new ships, the Joint Support Ships, fairly soon now..."


So.

Is there someone, perhaps, in the (not) Premier's inner (and/or slightly outer) sanctum that might be able to give her and hers the inside scoop on this matter?

Stay tuned (and stay away from the gum)...


______
*I think it was the same Anon-O-Mouse who pointed us towards both of the links above, but I'm not entirely sure...Maybe you whiskered-ones could give yourselves defining features of some kind?...Even a number, like those guys in, say, the 'Man From Uncle', would be most helpful...OK?

.

Auditor General Firing Fiasco, ctd...The Foster Factor.

GoingFromTheRidiculous
ToTheLudicrousVille


Paul Willcocks, backed by VT-C pieces by Rob Shaw and Les Leyne, has a succinct description and summing up of the latest plot twisters.

First, the first bit, which is bad enough:

...Liberal MLA Eric Foster, the chairman of the (super-secret) committee that (just) turfed (current Auditor General John) Doyle, was cited for spending and conflict concerns in an auditor general’s report in October - “the only MLA singled out.”

The devastating audit identified widespread sloppy management practices of MLA expenses and $63 million in legislature spending.

And it cited the case of $78,000 paid to the landlord for renovations at Foster’s constituency office in 2009.

Doyle raised several issues. First, there was a possible conflict of interest, he found. The rented office was in a building owned by the family of Foster’s constituency assistant. The renovations benefited the family...


And then the second bit which, apparently, made everything good again:

...Foster took that concern to conflict commissioner Paul Fraser, who cleared him...


But why the clearing from the good Mr. Fraser, given the third bit which, if you ask me, is just one more clear, if in this case relatively small, example of how the Campbell-Clark government operates:

...The October audit (by Mr. Doyle) also found the bill for renovations was "paid without an appropriate level of review for reasonableness and without adequate supporting documentation." 

Foster's staff provided only a spreadsheet showing $67,000 in work, without invoices, details or evidence quotes were obtained for the work to get the best price.

The payment also violated policy on renovations in rented offices, which are to be covered only if specified in the lease. The auditor was told Speaker Bill Barisoff ordered the payment to be made...

And then there is part four, in which Mr. Foster offers up a 50 shades of crazy bit of pretzellian logic that makes no sense whatsover in an effort to explain why he did NOT step down from the committee that just fired Mr. Doyle.

...Foster says he never knew the spending was questioned in the audit...


Really?

Then why did Mr. Foster go running to Mr. Fraser in the first place?

Sheesh.


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And, still, no direct comment from the person who is supposed to be leading this sorry bunch...Then again, given that the current (not) Premier hates the 'sick culture' of Victoria so much, perhaps she doesn't have a clue about what is actually going on inside her own government...After all, based on the evidence, it would not be unreasonable for a reasonable person who has been paying attention to surmise that she thinks that Massive TV Ad Buys + Repeated Interviews With Shock Jocks = Good Governance...Or some such thing.

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