Boxed
CompassVille
What's with the pre-8:00am traffic jams on Blenheim, anyway?
I mean, I know Lotusland is becoming a North-South kind of place, but this getting ridiculous.
Or.
Has the Westside suddenly developed some sort of (notreallythat) early morning work ethic-type thing?
.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Monday, September 12, 2016
Where Everybody Knows His Name...
ATrueAssetTo
BritishColumbiaVille
Norm!
Writing on BC Hydro in The Tyee.
Here is Mr. Farrell's kicker:
...BC Hydro came into existence because private enterprise failed to meet power needs and a premier stood up for citizens who faced electricity prices set at punishing levels.
Now, badly managed BC Hydro is trending toward failure unless electricity prices are raised to punishing levels. Unlike W.A.C. Bennett, B.C.’s current premier is not standing up for citizens and small businesses.
With more than $50 billion in contractual obligations to private power producers, billions committed to Site C construction and billions in deferred expenses that will have to be covered in the future, BC Hydro faces a crippling financial crisis.
Special interests and private companies are benefiting. And the public will pick up the bill...
If you haven't already, go read it all.
.
BritishColumbiaVille
Norm!
Writing on BC Hydro in The Tyee.
Here is Mr. Farrell's kicker:
...BC Hydro came into existence because private enterprise failed to meet power needs and a premier stood up for citizens who faced electricity prices set at punishing levels.
Now, badly managed BC Hydro is trending toward failure unless electricity prices are raised to punishing levels. Unlike W.A.C. Bennett, B.C.’s current premier is not standing up for citizens and small businesses.
With more than $50 billion in contractual obligations to private power producers, billions committed to Site C construction and billions in deferred expenses that will have to be covered in the future, BC Hydro faces a crippling financial crisis.
Special interests and private companies are benefiting. And the public will pick up the bill...
If you haven't already, go read it all.
.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
The Bloggodome Files.
YouCan'tReadItInThe
SundayPapersVille
What with summer holidays and all, I fell a little behind in my reading of the best of the local long form blogs over the past month or so.
And the best of those just may be Paul Ramsey's 'Clever Elephant'. A few weeks ago Paul gave us an in-depth breakdown of our New Era government's latest expenditures on IT outsourcing:
...(I)n this year’s analysis of IT outsourcing we have a surprise result: total spending on IT contractors by the BC central government actually fell in the 2015/16 budget year.
The fall-off is almost entirely the result of a collapse of billings to the central government by IBM, though Deloitte had a small fall-off also.
Other IT contractors continued to bill heartily, including massive category leader HP Advanced Systems (HPAS) who billed a very respectable $163,499,787. For comparison, that’s more than was spent on the Ministries of Energy & Mines, Agriculture, Small Business, and International Trade, combined...
{snip}
...The fall-off is almost entirely the result of a collapse of billings to the central government by IBM, though Deloitte had a small fall-off also.
Since 2010, IBM’s billings to central government have fallen in four of the last six years, which leads me to a question: what’s the matter with Big Blue?
After further research, the answer is this: nothing at all. Big Blue is doing just fine. It turns out that the fall off in IBM billing to central government has been more than offset by a massive increase in IBM billing to the Provincial Health Authorities...
{snip}
...When Health Authority spending is taken into acount, IBM revenue from the BC government has not fallen at all. It has instead been on an almost unbroken tear upwards, taking total government IT outsourcing spending to just under $700 million dollars in 2014/15...
Paul also chronicles how underwhelming the spending has been for locally-sourced IT companies.
'Cause that's where the real jobs for real British Columbians isn't, right?
And speaking of real jobs for real British Columbians in the Clark government portion of the Golden Era (i.e. the entire five years, not just the last bubble-driven year which the Klout Club loves to trumpet, even as those numbers, too, are now starting to fall off), Dermod Travis of Integrity BC has the direct comparisons with the other big four provinces:
Mr. Travis, who is indefatigable, is also breaking through regularly into the proMedia, which is a good thing.
And, of course, regardless your employment and/or bus pass situation, in British Columbia that tax shift away from the de-regulated money piles of the cronies onto the backs of the citizenry just keeps on keepin' on, which got Harvey O hopping uppity recently:
...The Liberals LOVE to tell you … and the investment world … how LOW our TAXES are.
Unfortunately, you can’t get that deal … if you live here … without buying the rest of the package.
And adding those extra costs on to your “low” provincial income taxes will cost you plenty … MUCH more than they advertise!
Just this week, ICBC announced yet another price hike for MANDATORY basic coverage: 4.9% … on top of another 5.5% increase last year … and, if you drive, no way to avoid it.
I don’t know about you …but I surmise whether you are employed or on pension ..YOUR income has NOT come close to rising that much over the past two years!
ICBC blames rising costs related to accidents, injuries, claims.
But don’t forget: the BC government … like an organized crime syndicate … has also shaken down ICBC for more than HALF A BILLION DOLLARS since 2012 in ”dividends”. Vito Corleone would have smiled at that!
Let’s face it, that “dividend” is just another tax.
This year …nothing to do with the coming election, I’m sure … the BC government says it will forego its $160 million “dividend” from ICBC. Are we really supposed to be grateful? I wonder if re-elected, they’ll make up for that next year …and the year after …and the year after?...
And then, of course, there's that small matter of Hydro rates and MSP premiums which Mr. Oberfeld also goes into.
Speaking of Hydro, to digress from the chronicling of the blogs themselves (but not necessarily blog writers) for a moment...
This!
Somehow I do not think that Norm Farrell and/or the actual consumption numbers support the good Ms. McDonald's claims.
Speaking of Site C, Laila Yuile had Roger Bryenton of the BC Hydro Ratepayers Association explain the magnitude of the 'mistake' over at her blog recently.
Turns out it's not the just cost of the dam that will keep us paying and paying and paying...
And paying some more, despite what the Ol' Turdstormer said back on April Fools day:
..The “numbers” for the cost of power from Site C, delivered to the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, locations of most of the power users, is $145/MWh, based on Eoin Finn and Erik Andersen’s numbers we have developed. This is in sharp contrast to the Minister’s email from April 1st, stating that the cost would be $64/MWh. Either he is badly informed or he is lying. The $145 is also much greater than the IPP’s have been criticized for selling to BCH, at $100/MWh...
And, as Norm Farrell has explained ad nauseum, the ridiculous 'contracted' prices of IPP electricity is already costing us dearly.
Merv Adey, the blogger who elicited the comment from the BC Hydro CEO above, ended his summer with an excellent post on the 'weathervane' governance practices of the Clark government:
...The BC Liberals in their approach to public education have long since abandoned any pretense to a realistic appraisal of needs in the system, though their own finance committee has repeatedly recommended raising public education spending after a decade and more of cuts vs inflation.
Likewise, the philosophy of deregulation in real estate has reached a predictable and absurd end in which a culture of criminality has permeated a most important industry to government revenues, and the government has decided it’s time to take a bigger slice of the pie, while nibbling at the margins of the real problems driving housing unaffordability throughout the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island...
Changing gears, but only a wee bit...
In the wake of a NaPo story which noted that the private Cambie Surgery Centre provides care for worker's compensation board clients, the notorious NVG had this to say:
...(Cambie Surgery Centre's) Dr. Day is funding his legal challenge to privatize the health care of all Canadians using funds 'earned' from the BC Provincial Government coffers...
Imagine that!
And finally, local philosopher king Mr. Beer 'N Hockey, who has an important post up today about root causes, also had this to say about those lemmings without a cliff who have been mindlessly partaking in the summer's already fading fast fad:
...Sonja and I went for a picnic. More of a wine-nic really. Eventually I had to water my horse so I walked over to the sh*thouse while Sonja kept an eye on the wine.
There were a lot strange looking motherf*ckers in the vicinity of the sh*thouse. They appeared to be lost. As if their smartphones were all acting up or something.
I asked one of them, "Pokemon?"
He nodded.
Motherf*cking morons...
_______
Ol' Turdstormer?....Well...You know.
.
SundayPapersVille
What with summer holidays and all, I fell a little behind in my reading of the best of the local long form blogs over the past month or so.
And the best of those just may be Paul Ramsey's 'Clever Elephant'. A few weeks ago Paul gave us an in-depth breakdown of our New Era government's latest expenditures on IT outsourcing:
...(I)n this year’s analysis of IT outsourcing we have a surprise result: total spending on IT contractors by the BC central government actually fell in the 2015/16 budget year.
The fall-off is almost entirely the result of a collapse of billings to the central government by IBM, though Deloitte had a small fall-off also.
Other IT contractors continued to bill heartily, including massive category leader HP Advanced Systems (HPAS) who billed a very respectable $163,499,787. For comparison, that’s more than was spent on the Ministries of Energy & Mines, Agriculture, Small Business, and International Trade, combined...
{snip}
...The fall-off is almost entirely the result of a collapse of billings to the central government by IBM, though Deloitte had a small fall-off also.
Since 2010, IBM’s billings to central government have fallen in four of the last six years, which leads me to a question: what’s the matter with Big Blue?
After further research, the answer is this: nothing at all. Big Blue is doing just fine. It turns out that the fall off in IBM billing to central government has been more than offset by a massive increase in IBM billing to the Provincial Health Authorities...
{snip}
...When Health Authority spending is taken into acount, IBM revenue from the BC government has not fallen at all. It has instead been on an almost unbroken tear upwards, taking total government IT outsourcing spending to just under $700 million dollars in 2014/15...
Paul also chronicles how underwhelming the spending has been for locally-sourced IT companies.
'Cause that's where the real jobs for real British Columbians isn't, right?
****
And speaking of real jobs for real British Columbians in the Clark government portion of the Golden Era (i.e. the entire five years, not just the last bubble-driven year which the Klout Club loves to trumpet, even as those numbers, too, are now starting to fall off), Dermod Travis of Integrity BC has the direct comparisons with the other big four provinces:
Mr. Travis, who is indefatigable, is also breaking through regularly into the proMedia, which is a good thing.
****
And, of course, regardless your employment and/or bus pass situation, in British Columbia that tax shift away from the de-regulated money piles of the cronies onto the backs of the citizenry just keeps on keepin' on, which got Harvey O hopping uppity recently:
...The Liberals LOVE to tell you … and the investment world … how LOW our TAXES are.
Unfortunately, you can’t get that deal … if you live here … without buying the rest of the package.
And adding those extra costs on to your “low” provincial income taxes will cost you plenty … MUCH more than they advertise!
Just this week, ICBC announced yet another price hike for MANDATORY basic coverage: 4.9% … on top of another 5.5% increase last year … and, if you drive, no way to avoid it.
I don’t know about you …but I surmise whether you are employed or on pension ..YOUR income has NOT come close to rising that much over the past two years!
ICBC blames rising costs related to accidents, injuries, claims.
But don’t forget: the BC government … like an organized crime syndicate … has also shaken down ICBC for more than HALF A BILLION DOLLARS since 2012 in ”dividends”. Vito Corleone would have smiled at that!
Let’s face it, that “dividend” is just another tax.
This year …nothing to do with the coming election, I’m sure … the BC government says it will forego its $160 million “dividend” from ICBC. Are we really supposed to be grateful? I wonder if re-elected, they’ll make up for that next year …and the year after …and the year after?...
And then, of course, there's that small matter of Hydro rates and MSP premiums which Mr. Oberfeld also goes into.
****
Speaking of Hydro, to digress from the chronicling of the blogs themselves (but not necessarily blog writers) for a moment...
This!
Somehow I do not think that Norm Farrell and/or the actual consumption numbers support the good Ms. McDonald's claims.
****
Speaking of Site C, Laila Yuile had Roger Bryenton of the BC Hydro Ratepayers Association explain the magnitude of the 'mistake' over at her blog recently.
Turns out it's not the just cost of the dam that will keep us paying and paying and paying...
And paying some more, despite what the Ol' Turdstormer said back on April Fools day:
..The “numbers” for the cost of power from Site C, delivered to the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, locations of most of the power users, is $145/MWh, based on Eoin Finn and Erik Andersen’s numbers we have developed. This is in sharp contrast to the Minister’s email from April 1st, stating that the cost would be $64/MWh. Either he is badly informed or he is lying. The $145 is also much greater than the IPP’s have been criticized for selling to BCH, at $100/MWh...
And, as Norm Farrell has explained ad nauseum, the ridiculous 'contracted' prices of IPP electricity is already costing us dearly.
****
Merv Adey, the blogger who elicited the comment from the BC Hydro CEO above, ended his summer with an excellent post on the 'weathervane' governance practices of the Clark government:
...The BC Liberals in their approach to public education have long since abandoned any pretense to a realistic appraisal of needs in the system, though their own finance committee has repeatedly recommended raising public education spending after a decade and more of cuts vs inflation.
Likewise, the philosophy of deregulation in real estate has reached a predictable and absurd end in which a culture of criminality has permeated a most important industry to government revenues, and the government has decided it’s time to take a bigger slice of the pie, while nibbling at the margins of the real problems driving housing unaffordability throughout the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island...
****
Changing gears, but only a wee bit...
In the wake of a NaPo story which noted that the private Cambie Surgery Centre provides care for worker's compensation board clients, the notorious NVG had this to say:
...(Cambie Surgery Centre's) Dr. Day is funding his legal challenge to privatize the health care of all Canadians using funds 'earned' from the BC Provincial Government coffers...
Imagine that!
****
And finally, local philosopher king Mr. Beer 'N Hockey, who has an important post up today about root causes, also had this to say about those lemmings without a cliff who have been mindlessly partaking in the summer's already fading fast fad:
...Sonja and I went for a picnic. More of a wine-nic really. Eventually I had to water my horse so I walked over to the sh*thouse while Sonja kept an eye on the wine.
There were a lot strange looking motherf*ckers in the vicinity of the sh*thouse. They appeared to be lost. As if their smartphones were all acting up or something.
I asked one of them, "Pokemon?"
He nodded.
Motherf*cking morons...
_______
Ol' Turdstormer?....Well...You know.
.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
The Money Shot From The Latest Vancouver Real Estate Piece By Kathy Tomlinson.
WhyGovernmentPolicy
ReallyDoesMatterVille
From Ms. Tomlinson's piece this morning in the Globe:
...The papers that (whistleblower) Mr. (Demetre) Lazos provided The Globe paint a fascinating picture, revealing a network of players – local and foreign – who are parking money in Canadian real estate. They also show how loopholes and lax oversight make it easy for the speculators to play the system – and profit tax-free – by obscuring their ownership and earnings, all the while treating the properties as commodities, not homes...
The point?
This is entirely OUR (and our elected representatives') doing.
Not to mention 'our' banks.
.
ReallyDoesMatterVille
From Ms. Tomlinson's piece this morning in the Globe:
...The papers that (whistleblower) Mr. (Demetre) Lazos provided The Globe paint a fascinating picture, revealing a network of players – local and foreign – who are parking money in Canadian real estate. They also show how loopholes and lax oversight make it easy for the speculators to play the system – and profit tax-free – by obscuring their ownership and earnings, all the while treating the properties as commodities, not homes...
The point?
This is entirely OUR (and our elected representatives') doing.
Not to mention 'our' banks.
.
Friday, September 09, 2016
Welcome To The (End Of) The Working Week...
SoYouBetterGetToItVille
The day the work week started it sure seemed like summer, from a weather point of view of least, ended also.
And, just as suddenly, there were kids everywhere at the place I work.
Kids that, at least in part, it is my job to teach a thing or three.
Which always scares the bejeebuz out of me for the first few days or so.
Anyway...
When I finally got back to the non-teaching stuff near week's end, I found myself staring at the word 'forgot' as I was writing an Email to a colleague.
Because it just didn't look right.
That word, I mean.
And, given one of my New (School) Year's resolutions, this time I eschewed the Google and instead reached for my wee little pocket Oxford dictionary.
Which, when I stuck my thumb in it opened directl to the page above.
Gosh.
Do you think the non-digital parallel universe of real things was trying to tell me something?
_______
Earworm from the header?....Try...This!
And, ya, I stayed away from the Loverboy on purpose, especially given the fact that I was recently informed that even the cowbell might not be real on the original track.
.
This Day In Clarkland...How Do They Get Away With It?
They'llHuffAndThey'llPuffAndThey'll
BlowNothingDownVille
How do they get away with things like this ferry switcheroo thing, I mean?
More specifically, how do they keep getting away with first creating problems of massive proportions and then subsequently claiming that they've created a brand new victorious solution that had nothing to do with the original problem they created when they reverse course years down the road?
Well, Les Leyne of the VTC, thinks they do it because of 'gall':
...It takes a certain amount of gall to disguise a complete capitulation and about-face on a transportation initiative as a major forward step, but that’s what the B.C. Liberals are trying to pull off.
Even the slightest rueful expression of regret was missing from Tuesday’s announcement that they’ve given up trying to make do with the pathetic stand-in service that was concocted three summers ago when they decided the ferry service to Bella Coola was too expensive. In fact, they didn’t even acknowledge the original reduction. Instead, the planned restoration of service to some kind of respectable level was pitched as an exciting, brand-new idea...
Personally, I think a big driver in the Clarklandian calculation here is the knowledge that they will get away with it.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Because, despite the initial piece by Mikey-Mike and the follow-ups by Mr. Leyne and the Dean, the Clarklandians know that our fine local proMedia will now move on as if nothing has happened.
And when it happens again they (the local proMedia) will act surprised and pretend that this business of using past self-created pain for future faux feel-good photo-ops is NOT the Clarklandian way.
Now.
With that in mind, is anybody willing to give me long odds on the (very likely) fact that there is a small gaggle of wizards holed-up somewhere trying to figure out the photo-op sequence of events that could be used to roll out a fake reverse bus clawback strate(r)gy?
______
Meanwhile, the CEO of BC Hydro has the 'gall' to go on the Twittmachine to tell Merv Adey that, in fact, Site C power is actually needed by actual British Columbians...
.
BlowNothingDownVille
How do they get away with things like this ferry switcheroo thing, I mean?
More specifically, how do they keep getting away with first creating problems of massive proportions and then subsequently claiming that they've created a brand new victorious solution that had nothing to do with the original problem they created when they reverse course years down the road?
Well, Les Leyne of the VTC, thinks they do it because of 'gall':
...It takes a certain amount of gall to disguise a complete capitulation and about-face on a transportation initiative as a major forward step, but that’s what the B.C. Liberals are trying to pull off.
Even the slightest rueful expression of regret was missing from Tuesday’s announcement that they’ve given up trying to make do with the pathetic stand-in service that was concocted three summers ago when they decided the ferry service to Bella Coola was too expensive. In fact, they didn’t even acknowledge the original reduction. Instead, the planned restoration of service to some kind of respectable level was pitched as an exciting, brand-new idea...
Personally, I think a big driver in the Clarklandian calculation here is the knowledge that they will get away with it.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Because, despite the initial piece by Mikey-Mike and the follow-ups by Mr. Leyne and the Dean, the Clarklandians know that our fine local proMedia will now move on as if nothing has happened.
And when it happens again they (the local proMedia) will act surprised and pretend that this business of using past self-created pain for future faux feel-good photo-ops is NOT the Clarklandian way.
Now.
With that in mind, is anybody willing to give me long odds on the (very likely) fact that there is a small gaggle of wizards holed-up somewhere trying to figure out the photo-op sequence of events that could be used to roll out a fake reverse bus clawback strate(r)gy?
______
Meanwhile, the CEO of BC Hydro has the 'gall' to go on the Twittmachine to tell Merv Adey that, in fact, Site C power is actually needed by actual British Columbians...
.
Thursday, September 08, 2016
This Day In NOT Clarkland...
ImagineIfWeHadGovernmentByPolicy
RatherThanPressReleaseVille
Just in case you missed it, given the ensuing (manufactured?) flap over his pipeline comment, yesterday opposition leader John Horgan spoke to British Columbians like they are adults about the Lotuslandian real estate situation through his open letter to our fine premier.
Here is a good chunk of that letter:
...Unfortunately while you and your colleagues were denying the very existence of a problem in the Lower Mainland real estate market, conditions worsened. Moreover, in the month since your government passed the hastily written Bill 28, we have seen numerous reports about the many ways in which your tax on foreign nationals is both failing to address the real problems facing Lower Mainland residents and creating significant unintended consequences.
During debate on Bill 28, my colleague David Eby proposed several amendments to the tax that we believe will have a meaningful impact on affordability in the Lower Mainland. While you rejected those amendments out of hand, subsequent developments have both validated those concerns and underscored the need for significant improvements.
First, we proposed amending Section 3 of the bill to define foreign national as an individual who has not paid his or her worldwide income tax in British Columbia for the most recent complete taxation year. It is now clear that such a change would significantly extend the reach of the tax to individuals who may have residency status in British Columbia, but who derive their primary income from foreign jurisdictions. This amendment would make the tax more effective and ensure that its effect was focused on individuals income sources rather than on their nationalities.
Second, we proposed that the Bill be amended in section 3 by redefining foreign national to exempt individuals who hold federal or provincial work permits. It is now clear that your tax on foreign nationals has effectively penalized individuals who are working and paying taxes in British Columbia but who continue to hold foreign passports. This measure is both discriminatory and counterproductive in that it effectively punishes people with unique skills such as visiting university professors and international researchers who are critical to building an educated workforce. Worse still, your Bill makes it even harder for growing BC companies to recruit international talent to the Lower Mainland.
Third, we proposed that the Bill be amended in section 3 to remove the loophole that allows foreign capital to use bare trusts to avoid the current or amended property transfer tax. We can only assume that you chose to leave this well-known loophole in place in an effort to encourage the sale of commercial and multi-unit residential properties to international buyers. However given the crisis in the Lower Mainland rental market, this measure makes little sense and creates an uneven playing field for those who have the financial wherewithal to establish and administer bare trusts...
I mean, honestly...
Can you imagine having a government that actually thought, hard, about what it was doing before it did it?
.
RatherThanPressReleaseVille
Just in case you missed it, given the ensuing (manufactured?) flap over his pipeline comment, yesterday opposition leader John Horgan spoke to British Columbians like they are adults about the Lotuslandian real estate situation through his open letter to our fine premier.
Here is a good chunk of that letter:
...Unfortunately while you and your colleagues were denying the very existence of a problem in the Lower Mainland real estate market, conditions worsened. Moreover, in the month since your government passed the hastily written Bill 28, we have seen numerous reports about the many ways in which your tax on foreign nationals is both failing to address the real problems facing Lower Mainland residents and creating significant unintended consequences.
During debate on Bill 28, my colleague David Eby proposed several amendments to the tax that we believe will have a meaningful impact on affordability in the Lower Mainland. While you rejected those amendments out of hand, subsequent developments have both validated those concerns and underscored the need for significant improvements.
First, we proposed amending Section 3 of the bill to define foreign national as an individual who has not paid his or her worldwide income tax in British Columbia for the most recent complete taxation year. It is now clear that such a change would significantly extend the reach of the tax to individuals who may have residency status in British Columbia, but who derive their primary income from foreign jurisdictions. This amendment would make the tax more effective and ensure that its effect was focused on individuals income sources rather than on their nationalities.
Second, we proposed that the Bill be amended in section 3 by redefining foreign national to exempt individuals who hold federal or provincial work permits. It is now clear that your tax on foreign nationals has effectively penalized individuals who are working and paying taxes in British Columbia but who continue to hold foreign passports. This measure is both discriminatory and counterproductive in that it effectively punishes people with unique skills such as visiting university professors and international researchers who are critical to building an educated workforce. Worse still, your Bill makes it even harder for growing BC companies to recruit international talent to the Lower Mainland.
Third, we proposed that the Bill be amended in section 3 to remove the loophole that allows foreign capital to use bare trusts to avoid the current or amended property transfer tax. We can only assume that you chose to leave this well-known loophole in place in an effort to encourage the sale of commercial and multi-unit residential properties to international buyers. However given the crisis in the Lower Mainland rental market, this measure makes little sense and creates an uneven playing field for those who have the financial wherewithal to establish and administer bare trusts...
I mean, honestly...
Can you imagine having a government that actually thought, hard, about what it was doing before it did it?
.
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Sometimes At The End Of The Day...
...You've Just Got To Let Things Go.
A while back, somewhere in the comments, I let it slip that I've been freaking out a little bit recently because a whole bunch of labs have jumped, feet first, into a small field that we pretty much started awhile back.
For all kinds of reasons, including the fact that, in the science geek business at least, there are no prizes (or grant money) for those who publish second.
But, on the flipside, I'm learning that there is heckuva lot of satisfaction in seeing the stuff you've been working on take-off, world wide (albeit to a very selective, narrow-casted audience).
****
I have no idea if world wide recognition on a grand scale is what Jason Isbell was looking for when he got upset about the fact that Dierks Bentley had ripped off the melody from a tune of his called 'Razor Town' and then overlaid it with some of the most insipid lyrical hogwash ever.
But that was back in the days before Isbell cleaned himself up and realized that he didn't want to end up dying in a Super-8 motel for no good reason at all...
______
One of my favourite bits of Isbellisiniariam on the YouTubes is this riveting exposition on songwriting.
.
This Day In Clarkland....Are The Quicksters Still Winning?
AllYourInfluencers
AreUsVille
Hey!
Look which former 'public office holder' just registered as a lobbyist in British Columbia:
Now, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't Ms. Haakstad's boss in three of those 'public office' positions our fine Premier?
So....
Who, precisely, has the good Ms. Haakstad registered to lobby?
Bingo!
______
Tip O' The Toque to uncle Bob Mackin on the Twittmachine.
What's it really all about Alfie (the quick winning part, I mean)?....Well....You know.
.
AreUsVille
Hey!
Look which former 'public office holder' just registered as a lobbyist in British Columbia:
Now, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't Ms. Haakstad's boss in three of those 'public office' positions our fine Premier?
So....
Who, precisely, has the good Ms. Haakstad registered to lobby?
Bingo!
______
Tip O' The Toque to uncle Bob Mackin on the Twittmachine.
What's it really all about Alfie (the quick winning part, I mean)?....Well....You know.
.
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
This Day In Clarkland...The Reverse Sparkle Pony.
ThePovertyLineIsNot
OneDimensionalVille
Apropos of yesterday, Travis Lupick has a good comparator up of the various BC political party's plans for the minimum wage up in the GStraight.
The NDP have called for raising it to $15 per hour by 2021, the end of their first mandate, which is the same schedule as Seattle.
As per their usual modus operandi (government by press release not policy) the Clarklandians are pretending to be progressive on this issue but the miniscule increase announced for later this month will put us on a path to $15 by 2034.
Gosh.
Aren't we supposed to have a trillion dollar LNG windfall by then (as opposed to a $15 billion dollar Site C debt)?
Interestingly, this is what he who is the progressive vote splitter that the Clarklandians are counting on had to say about the $15 dollar minimum wage issue:
...The B.C. Greens don’t yet have an official position on the minimum wage. In a telephone interview, Green leader and Oak Bay–Gordon Head MLA Andrew Weaver dismissed the Liberals’ minimum wage as “unacceptable”, and he also criticized the NDP for its position.
“How do you know that $15 is the right minimum wage?” he asked. “It’s just a number that’s round.”...
Not to folks that are living below the poverty line it isn't.
______
Of course, if the proMedia press herd turns on them (which it likely won't), the Clarklandian wizards and their Klout Klub sycophants are sure to set the surrogates screaming about how Horgan's plan will destroy the economy...Which is why Seattle's being a wee bit out front is helpful in the extreme for those that care about actual reality (not that the herd will pay much attention to that, either).
.
OneDimensionalVille
Apropos of yesterday, Travis Lupick has a good comparator up of the various BC political party's plans for the minimum wage up in the GStraight.
The NDP have called for raising it to $15 per hour by 2021, the end of their first mandate, which is the same schedule as Seattle.
As per their usual modus operandi (government by press release not policy) the Clarklandians are pretending to be progressive on this issue but the miniscule increase announced for later this month will put us on a path to $15 by 2034.
Gosh.
Aren't we supposed to have a trillion dollar LNG windfall by then (as opposed to a $15 billion dollar Site C debt)?
Interestingly, this is what he who is the progressive vote splitter that the Clarklandians are counting on had to say about the $15 dollar minimum wage issue:
...The B.C. Greens don’t yet have an official position on the minimum wage. In a telephone interview, Green leader and Oak Bay–Gordon Head MLA Andrew Weaver dismissed the Liberals’ minimum wage as “unacceptable”, and he also criticized the NDP for its position.
“How do you know that $15 is the right minimum wage?” he asked. “It’s just a number that’s round.”...
Not to folks that are living below the poverty line it isn't.
______
Of course, if the proMedia press herd turns on them (which it likely won't), the Clarklandian wizards and their Klout Klub sycophants are sure to set the surrogates screaming about how Horgan's plan will destroy the economy...Which is why Seattle's being a wee bit out front is helpful in the extreme for those that care about actual reality (not that the herd will pay much attention to that, either).
.
Monday, September 05, 2016
Labour Day Jukebox...1913 Massacre.
SeeWhatYourGreedForMoney
HasDoneVille
The miners of Calumet Michigan had been on strike since July of 1913.
One of the things the striking workers wanted was support beams in the mines. The copper bosses said no. After all, dead miners in cave-ins cost them nothing.
That Christmas the Women's Auxiliary held a big party in the town hall for the miners' kids to make sure they had some cheer that miserable, penniless winter.
Tragedy ensued and Woody Guthrie wrote a song about it in 1941.
This is a cover of his son Arlo's version, mostly because our Dad brought the album home for Christmas 1972...
_____
Of course, 1972 was a very good year for working people in British Columbia...
.
HasDoneVille
The miners of Calumet Michigan had been on strike since July of 1913.
One of the things the striking workers wanted was support beams in the mines. The copper bosses said no. After all, dead miners in cave-ins cost them nothing.
That Christmas the Women's Auxiliary held a big party in the town hall for the miners' kids to make sure they had some cheer that miserable, penniless winter.
Tragedy ensued and Woody Guthrie wrote a song about it in 1941.
This is a cover of his son Arlo's version, mostly because our Dad brought the album home for Christmas 1972...
_____
Of course, 1972 was a very good year for working people in British Columbia...
.
Sunday, September 04, 2016
Still Looking For Labour Day Songs To Cover...
WaitingForTheGreatTune
ForwardVille
...Sent out the call on the Twittmachine earlier today.
Suggestion so far are:
Joe Hill (Trad)
John Henry (Trad and JIsbell/DBT)
Power In A Union (BBragg)
Cumberland Blues (GDead)
1913 Massacre (WGuthrie)
Ginger Goodwin (GCarter; Local Story)
(I'm betting scotty on denman has about a million)
_______
Monday Night Update...scotty and all kinds of folks come through in the comments...
.
ForwardVille
...Sent out the call on the Twittmachine earlier today.
Suggestion so far are:
Joe Hill (Trad)
John Henry (Trad and JIsbell/DBT)
Power In A Union (BBragg)
Cumberland Blues (GDead)
1913 Massacre (WGuthrie)
Ginger Goodwin (GCarter; Local Story)
(I'm betting scotty on denman has about a million)
_______
Monday Night Update...scotty and all kinds of folks come through in the comments...
.
Who Has Benefited Most From The Lotuslandian Real Estate Bubble?
TheBestThingsInLifeAreFree
ButYouCanGiveThemToTheBirdsAndBeesVille
It's a question that came up on the threads to a recent post.
Hmmm...
Let's see.
Is it possible that that the main beneficiaries just might be the fine folks that have given the most to a particular provincial political party that did all it possibly could over the last fifteen years to inflate said bubble.
From a Douglas Todd VSun piece published in June of this year:
"...In the decade up to 2016, the B.C. Liberals took in $70 million in large corporate and business donations (while the NDP accepted $11 million from unions).
Roughly $12 million of the Liberals’ corporate donations came from the real estate industry, more than double the rate of contributions from the next biggest donor sectors, mining and forestry..."
What's that thing you are supposed to follow again when you are trying to figure out what is really going on?
_______
SubHeader got your ear worm turning?...This!
.
ButYouCanGiveThemToTheBirdsAndBeesVille
It's a question that came up on the threads to a recent post.
Hmmm...
Let's see.
Is it possible that that the main beneficiaries just might be the fine folks that have given the most to a particular provincial political party that did all it possibly could over the last fifteen years to inflate said bubble.
From a Douglas Todd VSun piece published in June of this year:
"...In the decade up to 2016, the B.C. Liberals took in $70 million in large corporate and business donations (while the NDP accepted $11 million from unions).
Roughly $12 million of the Liberals’ corporate donations came from the real estate industry, more than double the rate of contributions from the next biggest donor sectors, mining and forestry..."
What's that thing you are supposed to follow again when you are trying to figure out what is really going on?
_______
SubHeader got your ear worm turning?...This!
.
Saturday, September 03, 2016
The Real New Year Is Coming...
HeyYouKids
GetOnMyLawnVille
One of the things I really like about my real job is that I get to hang around a bunch of sharp young kids who keep me up to date with all the latest goings on in the real (i.e. non-academic) world.
But the other day, after a lab meeting where we discussed what we had to do to analyze our latest set of CRISPR clones, for some reason I got to blabbing about what it was like back in the old days when we first moved back to Vancouver.
Which led me to tell the story about how the offshore owner of the little house we were renting in McKenzie Heights/almost Dunbar offered to sell it to us for $255,000 dollars back in 1997.
Then I told them how I told said owner that I wasn't crazy enough to spend a quarter of a million dollars for a little patch of dirt and a bungalow that was, essentially, a tear down.
At that point, of course, the kids started to speculate about what that patch of dirt would be worth today, after which it got real quiet.
And that's when I realized I had been an idiot old, 'when I was young we lived in shoe box'-type guy.
Because I'd set all those kids around the table to thinking about how there was no way in heckfire that they were ever going to be able to buy any chunk of dirt of their own in this town.
What a dope I am.
Next week, the latest batch of young kids, most of whom are now younger than our oldest kid, shows up.
Happy New Year!
.
GetOnMyLawnVille
One of the things I really like about my real job is that I get to hang around a bunch of sharp young kids who keep me up to date with all the latest goings on in the real (i.e. non-academic) world.
But the other day, after a lab meeting where we discussed what we had to do to analyze our latest set of CRISPR clones, for some reason I got to blabbing about what it was like back in the old days when we first moved back to Vancouver.
Which led me to tell the story about how the offshore owner of the little house we were renting in McKenzie Heights/almost Dunbar offered to sell it to us for $255,000 dollars back in 1997.
Then I told them how I told said owner that I wasn't crazy enough to spend a quarter of a million dollars for a little patch of dirt and a bungalow that was, essentially, a tear down.
At that point, of course, the kids started to speculate about what that patch of dirt would be worth today, after which it got real quiet.
And that's when I realized I had been an idiot old, 'when I was young we lived in shoe box'-type guy.
Because I'd set all those kids around the table to thinking about how there was no way in heckfire that they were ever going to be able to buy any chunk of dirt of their own in this town.
What a dope I am.
****
Next week, the latest batch of young kids, most of whom are now younger than our oldest kid, shows up.
Happy New Year!
.
Friday, September 02, 2016
This Day In Clarkland...It Can Be Done.
GovernmentBy
PlaqueVille
Bob Mackin, with an FOI-assist, had the money quote in BIV earlier this week:
...(W)e can do this, however the crew to install the plaque has to travel from Edmonton to do the installation. They will have to travel over the [Victoria Day] long weekend to do this work so we will incur a cost premium, but it can be done..."
What's it all about this time Alfie?
Well...
This was someone in the Transport Ministry who actually does transportation-type stuff talking, by EMail, to someone who doesn't (i.e. a PAB-Botian-type communications person) about the installation of a plaque about nothing that would be installed in the middle of nowhere that would commemorate a meaningless anniversary for no good reason at all.
Except, of course, that it would have the name or our fine Premier, and the name of her Minister with the fluffy hair, on it.
The cost?
Sixty-five thousand dollars.
Which, if you are still keeping track, is 1,250 bus passes for the disabled.
Precisely.
_______
EMail, you might be asking?....Hmmmm...Wonder if anyone has stomped the transport employee's phone to bits yet?...After all, it's not illegal as long as nobody lies to the ghost of flying Phil Gagliardi about it.
.
PlaqueVille
Bob Mackin, with an FOI-assist, had the money quote in BIV earlier this week:
...(W)e can do this, however the crew to install the plaque has to travel from Edmonton to do the installation. They will have to travel over the [Victoria Day] long weekend to do this work so we will incur a cost premium, but it can be done..."
What's it all about this time Alfie?
Well...
This was someone in the Transport Ministry who actually does transportation-type stuff talking, by EMail, to someone who doesn't (i.e. a PAB-Botian-type communications person) about the installation of a plaque about nothing that would be installed in the middle of nowhere that would commemorate a meaningless anniversary for no good reason at all.
Except, of course, that it would have the name or our fine Premier, and the name of her Minister with the fluffy hair, on it.
The cost?
Sixty-five thousand dollars.
Which, if you are still keeping track, is 1,250 bus passes for the disabled.
Precisely.
_______
EMail, you might be asking?....Hmmmm...Wonder if anyone has stomped the transport employee's phone to bits yet?...After all, it's not illegal as long as nobody lies to the ghost of flying Phil Gagliardi about it.
.
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