Is There Something More Than A Faux Budget Deficit Scare....

WhoBroughtTheBathtub?
DrownEverythingVille


....Behind all this talk of massive cuts to Lotuslandian Healthcare?







(and has anybody spotted ol' Grover hangin' round the Preem's Executive Offices lately)


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Vancity Gets Half It's Marbles Back...

DoingTheRightThing
Kinda/SortaVille


....By backing down on their coercive and duplicitous attempts to have members sign an egregious credit line amendment.

Fiona Anderson has the story in the VSun.

I think the following passage, which is most definitely not stenography, most fully explains why I was so upset by the notice I received from my credit union:

"....Credit line agreements at most other financial institutions already allow for rate increases to be made unilaterally. And holders of those lines of credit have received letters indicating rates have gone up.

But Vancity’s agreement didn’t allow the unilateral change, hence the amendment and the outcry.

What got many members upset was the tone of the letter which said that access to the line of credit could be disrupted if the amendment was not signed. The wording of the amendment was also broad, allowing Vancity to change any of the provisions, not just the rate....."

So.

Now let's see if our CEO Ms. Vrooman has it in her to make things good for all those members we are currently screwing over in the wake of the sale of our online banking arm to a chartered bank that has no members, only clients.



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And thanks for the heads-up from the Powell river persuader on the story from Ms. Anderson.
CBC, which broke the story that 18,000 Vancity members had been sitting on for weeks, also has an unbylined follow-up on the backdown.
Here's the 'official' Vancity version of events.

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Tuesday Night Uke Club

There'sNoUke
LikeCoverUkeVille



The Reverand Paperboy responds.

And fires off a double shot.

I do believe the escalation has begun in earnest.


(sure hope this doesn't end in mutally assured destruction and/or death by a thousand Mad Magazine paper cuts)

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Do We Or Don't We Have A New Earthquake Tax On Condos?

HouseOfWoodenCards
Shakin'AllOverVille

(Please Note: The following is ALL based on the investigatory work Sean Holman at Public Eye)

In case you missed it, the government of Gordon Campbell changed the building code back in January of this year so that the CondoKings could start building cheaper, taller six storey 'wood frame' buildings (the old code called for a maximum of four storey wood buildings), presumably in response, at least in part, to forest industry lobbying.

Which raised safety concerns that Housing Minister Rich Coleman downplayed, including any that may or may not have come to his 'guys' from the Insurance industry:

However, to its credit, and/or its penchant for generating anticipatory pre-press release deflector spin, Mr. Campbell's government....

"....partnered with the American National Science Foundation's Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation program to test a six-storey wood-frame building on the world's largest seismic simulation shake table...."

Well, the simulations have been done, and the recommendations for how to make those taller wood-framed condos safe are in.

There's only one problem - it's going to cost more to make the 'adjustments' for using wood.

Five to eight percent more.

Which means that the Great Manager in the LINO Sky now knows that, while his friends and uncles can make condos more cheaply it will be more expensive to make them safely.

But here's the real kicker:

"....The British Columbia government, which was a partner in that test, hasn't yet said whether it will make that (safety adjustment) method mandatory....."

And as for any and all six storey wood-framed buildings that have already been built?

Well.....

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With Loopholes Like This....

TheGreedheadsCometh
GordCoVille

....Who Needs Hunter S. Thompson.

And/or the dreaded H.S.T.

Rob Shaw, who, unlike more than a few of the other business reporters in this province, is most definitely not a stenographer, had the story in the Victoria Times-Colonist on the weekend.

Here's his lede, and just a wee bit more:

"In a court ruling even the judge admits is likely to tick off B.C. taxpayers, Terasen Gas has avoided paying millions in provincial sales tax because of a crafty legal loophole.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman has granted Terasen its appeal against a provincial government tax bill, freeing the B.C.-based natural gas distributor from almost $4.5 million in PST it owed for building a natural-gas pipeline in southwestern B.C.....

{snippety-doo-dah}

The B.C. government tried to hand Terasen a tax bill of more than $37 million in 2006.

But the company appealed to B.C.'s then minister of small business and revenue, Rick Thorpe, who partially lowered the bill. Thorpe still demanded Terasen pay $4.5 million because the province felt the company had sold, not leased, the equipment to itself. In response, Terasen took the province to court.....

Now.

Please remember that, in the old days (ie. before the advent of Gordon Campbell, v2.0), Terasen used to belong to us.

But then Mr. Campbell sold* it to a gaggle of Bush Rangers and Too-Big-To-Fail Buyout-Boyz, the original contingent of which rose like a mutant phoenix from the ashes of Enron.

Subsequently, The Ranger-Boyz raised a little pre-crash liquidity by selling what used to be ours to Fortis.

All of which is just a round about way of saying that we've been screwed.

With our own assets.

Again.

OK?



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And, just in case you've forgotten, the good Docktor Thompson had his own manifesto for dealing with the greedheads.....
*ilpostino points out in the comments that in reality Mr. Campbell 'looked the other way' when BC Gas was sold to the smartest (remaining) guys in the room given that it was not actually a Crown Corporation at the time. We apologize for suggesting otherwise in the original post.

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Paying Kharma Forward

ThereButTheGraceOfAll
WeGoVille


There is this guy who comes and goes on the campus where I work.

But even when he makes a physical appearance he is only really there maybe one day out of three.

And sometimes I respond to his calls for a hand-out.

But more often than not I don't.

Today I didn't wait for him to ask.

Instead, I bought a big bag of fries from the campus A&W and discretely left it on the bench beside him as he rocked.

Then I went back to work.


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Has Vancity Gone Bonkers?

Isn'tACo-OpOwnedByIts
MembersVille


Last week I commented on a story that the CBC originally broke about what I view to be the extremely underhanded efforts of Vancity to have its members who have lines of credit stab themselves in the back by signing an agreement to dissolve a contract so that the credit union could then unilaterally raise their interest rates.*

And now it turns out that the co-op has decided, apparently, to screw a whole bunch more of its members.

Here's the lede from a press release-worthy bit of stenograpy from the VSun's Fiona Anderson:

"Vancity’s online Citizens Bank is exiting personal banking and focusing on its areas of strength, Visa card services and foreign exchange services for non-retail members, the credit union announced Wednesday.

Citizens will become a non-deposit-taking bank, and as a result is selling the majority of its residential mortgages, personal loans and lines of credit secured by real estate to the Toronto Dominion Bank for an undisclosed amount. Depositers, including those with registered savings plans, will have to transfer their accounts to another financial institution.

Started by Vancity in 1997, Citizens was one of the first online banks in Canada. Today, it has 30,000 members, 45 per cent of them in British Columbia and 35 per cent in Ontario...."

So, what does this really mean for the people who have been using Vancity's online banking services?

Well, we'll let our good friend G.A.B., who left us a message in the comments on our previous post, tell you the real story from a member's point of view:

"HOLD THE PRESSES BATMAN!

Vancity has now seen fit to stop its subsidiary, Citizens Bank from providing personal banking services. It has sold off all of the secured loans and mortgages to TD and anyone who has not transferred their personal banking elsewhere will automatically be rolled over to TD.

I have been with Citizens Bank almost from the beginning. Vancity is offering to take on CB customers. If I were to switch to them, I would be stuck paying $7/month for the same services I receive now for free!

I am trying to get Coast Capital to offer up a switch for CB customers that includes transferring existing lines of credit.

ARGH!......"


Again.

As I mentioned in my original post, C. and I joined Vancity twenty years ago so that we wouldn't be subject to the whims and vagaries of the Mr. Potters of this world.

And because we wanted our money to be used to help, not screw, people.

So.....

Our mortgage will be renewed in 60 days.

And.....

If they don't stop this crap by then, well.....

We're gone.

OK?



(and we assume, Ms. Vrooman et al., that our business, which includes RRSP's, RESP's, chequing, savings, and VISA accounts, is still one of your 'areas of strength')

____
*Just so you know, I am in no way attempting to impugn the good folks who actually work on the frontlines at Vancity here. In fact, a little bird whispered into our ear to 'not sign' the credit line thing when we went in to see about how we should finance our roof repairs six weeks ago.....



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Did Rafe Mair Just Call Out Vaughn Palmer?

PunditsGoneWild
Lotusland


Why, yes.

I believe he did:

"I want to make it clear that I’m not asking that the media agree with any or all of the positions I’ve taken (on Run of River/Private Power). I only ask that they examine the facts plus the motives and actions of the Campbell government with the same thoroughness as, in Vaughn Palmer’s case especially, they brought to the “Fast Ferry” debacle of the last NDP government...."

We await Mr. Palmer's response.

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Does Kharma Trip Forward?

Payback'sNotAlways
SoToughVille


So.....

Because the rains have returned to Lotusland, and because I'm getting soft in my old (middle) age, I drove all the way out to the far western edge of Pt. Grey and actually parked in one of the last remaining old 'B' Lots this morning.

Which means I had to pay.

And because I didn't have five dollars in coins (who the heckfire does?) I had to use the plastic.

Which, for some weird reason wouldn't work.

Which meant I had to hunt around looking for another machine.

In the rain.

As a result, when I finally found the other machine I was doing a slow burn.

Fuming, actually.

And then I looked down and saw it.

The ticket.

Punched in at 7:04am this morning, but good until 2:00am tomorrow, sticking out of the little clear glass window, left there by a kindly soul who paid the five loons for less than two hours pavement rental but who nonetheless saw fit to take somebody else off the hook for the rest of the day.

Which, of course, means I've gotta do something extra nice for somebody I've never met before sundown.

Oh boy.

(I'll report in later)

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Saturday Night's All Right For (Uke Cover) Fighting!

There'sNoUkeLike
CoverUkeVille

First, The Original....

Next, The Cover.....

Those French.....They have a different (set of) word(s) for everything.....

(not to mention teenagers)




_______
As always, thanks to Los Angelino photo maven and prom girl Ellen Bloom for permission to use the image of the hand-crafted (by her brother!) Uke peg head at the top of the post.

And.....Take That Reverand Paperboy San!

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A Clear New Voice In The Bloggodome

MediaMatters
Lotusland

I first became aware of Norman Farrell through his numerous insightful comments that started popping up all over the local Bloggodome a while ago.

But somehow I missed his blog.

It's called 'Northern Insights' and it's good, especially when it comes to critical analysis of the local proMedia scene.

Analysis like this:

"...One does not need to be a sophisticated media analyst to conclude that Canwest Global's Palmer and Baldrey reported on the BCUC in a manner that is entirely below the standard set by Mark Hume. The Globe and Mail faces the same financial challenges as every newspaper publisher but in the western bureau, they employ and deploy high quality staff. Fine writers such as Mark Hume, Gary Mason, Rod Mickleburgh and Tom Hawthorne cover the news of this province with depth and accuracy, particularly in comparison to the competition....."


I suggest you check out Mr. Farrell's stuff regularly.


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If The True Measure Of A Society Is How It Treats Its Weakest Members...

WeAreAllBritishColumbians
NowVille

...Then I Am Afraid That British Columbia's Does Not Measure Up Well

Paul Willcocks has just one story, which he is telling very thoroughly to make sure it does not pass unremembered, that demonstrates how short our society's most important yardstick has become.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"....A child taken away because his parents were poor.

This is a second column about a three-year-old boy. He started life healthy, loved by capable but challenged parents. But he was taken from them, based on legitimate concerns, at three weeks.

The basic problem was they couldn't afford a safe place to live. He moved through three foster homes in five months and then ended up in hospital, with symptoms suggesting he was shaken while living in the third foster home.

Now he's back with his parents. He's blind in one eye, can't walk and has cerebral palsy. His disabilities are permanent...."

And here are the posts to read, in succession, to get the full story that everyone in this province should know by heart when they make democratic decisions that will impact on how we as a society spend and implement our tax dollars.

Post #1

Post #2

Post #3

Post #4

Please read them.

It is a very sad, but very important, story.

Thank-you.

______
It is also important to note that we only know about this story, because of the work of the independent Representative for Children and Youth, Ms. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, whose position was re-instituted in the wake of the Hughes Report (yes that 're' in front of the instituted is for real, because Mr. Campbell originally 'de' instituted it and more recently tried to strangle it after Ms. Turpel-Lafond asked for sufficient funds to actually do her job properly, funds that cost less than 3% per annum what it will cost to put that silly new roof on the Marsmallow or, perhaps more to point, considerably less than the Public Affairs Bureau).

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What If...

CivilityMatters
CommonDecencyVille

What if......

Three strapping young men from, oh let's say, just for the sake this hypothetical, Yemen, spent an entire evening getting hammered and then wandered down Robson until they found an off-duty policeman who they then stomped him for no good reason at all.

Do you think the ringleader of the trio of strapping young men, the one that stepped on the stomped policeman's head would, after his conviction for assault, be sentenced to three weeks of sleeping in his own bed?

I thought not.

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BirtherGate Gone Wild

WeAreAllKenyansNow
Anti-WingnuttiaVille


Ha!

(click to enlarge)

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Want to become an Insta-Kenyan too?.... Go here.
Original Lou Dobbs smackdown sources....Buckets and Impolitical.

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More Braindead Blather From The Birther Brigade

AllTheStoopidThatFits
TheWingnutsInOurHeadsVille


In case you missed it, the Wizards Of Wingnuttia down south are suddenly doing an about face and blaming all this bogus bullcrap about Barry O's birthplace on 'far left' websites like Firedoglake.

Seriously.

****

Now.

Don't think that we up here in the Great (nolongerso)White North are immune to this stuff.

Heckfire....

Regardless who actually fired it up, me, I'm just waiting for the talking point-blasted moment in time when the blinkered and blinded attack monkeys who lurk in the dark at Stephen Taylor's aggregator suddenly start bleating that this 'Republicans for Ignatieff' thing that is filling my Email inbox every morning, is actually a sooper-secret inside job that is being willfully wurlitzered by that evil pixie dust thrower with the highly dexterous thumbs herself, Kady O'Malley.

Or some such codswallop.

OK?

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