Confidential emails revealed potential for “life-safety risk” in Olympic Village late last year – but was it ever rectified?

Alex Tsakumis has a rather shocking story this evening, the  subject only being trumped by the apparent lack of response from the great City of Vancouver  with regards to the safety of everyone inside the Olympic village. To be exact, I’m referring to the fact no one at city hall seems to have been able to, or wants to, answer his very pointed questions … from his latest post:

In the fallout from the January 21st dismissal of nationally recognized and highly respected Vancouver Chief Electrical Inspector, Ark Tsisserev, are some very compelling reasons to believe the endless accusations that Vision Vancouver have allowed City Manager Penny Ballem, who they hired just over a year ago without an open process, to politicize the city staff at an unprecedented–and entirely unhealthy–level.

This writer has obtained confidential emails between Mr. Tsisserev and various colleagues, wherein the former Electrical Safety Chief is most concerned that the fire alarm systems used in the Olympic Village may be “problematic” and asks for “immediate steps” to be taken. These emails are as recent as the waning days of November 2009. In them, the alarm in Mr. Tsisserev’s words is utterly palpable.

…..

In one pivotal excerpt, he writes:

“If the system fails (i.e. it behaves as described…), the equipment must be rejected (emphasis added) under Rule 2-026 of the CEC Code.”

….

In another frightening excerpt from an email, again by Mr. Tsisserev, a clear description of the problem:

“When a radio is used within about 1 ft. of an annunciator, it causes the LCD screen to go blank, then the panel to go into a reboot mode and the LCD zones to look like a Xmas tree, which appears to require a manual reset to get the panel up and running again.

This condition was confirmed numerous times, on 3 annunciators in different buildings at the site.  While the panel was in this mode, it did not register new alarm activations, and new activations did not trigger an audible alarm.  The annunciators operated normally after they were reset, but the same reboot process started again when a radio was used near them.”

….

Thus, any first responder (fireman, security guard, manager, etc.) would not be able to approach the unit with any walkie-talkie or two-way device for fear of inducing electromagnetic interference that would cause a system failure…

 

Alex spent a good portion of the day trying to get a response from the city, but received no response as to the status of the system by time of posting.

 Read the rest of this post from the source, Rebel with a Clause, and I suggest you follow for updates in the days to come.

” Someone can write a negative story by taking a picture of someone in a doorway,but we have some things to celebrate.” ~ Rich Coleman

   

 (Well, Rich, you sure know how to give a good quote ! )

 ******* UPDATE – FEBRUARY 07th, 2010.

 Last year I bookmarked a page from The Province’s Operation Phoenix series that I found to be particularly authentic, and   Several days ago, the link disappeared and ‘ this story was no longer available.’

  To be honest, it seemed rather odd  to me that this story in particular was gone, because  the Operation Phoenix section still has many other stories from that series. But then again, this Opinion editorial by Chief Bill Wilson is not as flattering to the perception of positive change in the Downtown Eastside as many of the others, nor does it agree with the BC governments  Propaganda Information Booth’s viewpoint that things are improving and their many initiatives are making a difference. In the downtown eastside, as with other areas in the lower mainland plagued with persistent poverty and drug addiction, perception is everything. Take Whalley for example - site of the  Surrey 2010 Olympic Celebration – and Newton, to which some RCMP have remarked to me, is beginning to look like the next Downtown Eastside. 

Many people think that I am anti – Olympic, but really, I’m not. It would more accurate to say that I am anti- bullshit, and the amount of bullshit  that has been passed onto the people of BC leading up to these games has been far more than I find palatable.

I  do think  that it is important to support the athletes within the games with our spirit - many of them have worked hard blood, sweat, tears and financial sacrifice to get here, but  I also think it is important that we do not try and hide the reality of what life is like in all our cities while the spotlight is on us. (In that same vein, nor should we try to hide or diminish the  truth behind the horrific budget cuts and employment loss our premier and government have dealt the people of BC, within the last year, nor refuse to answer questions surrounding the amount of money being spent on this two week party for the world.)

 The Downtown Eastside is as much of a reflection on who we are as British Columbians, as the effort put in by thousands of volunteers who – without their tremendous amounts of effort and time –  these games would not be happening. So please, scroll down to the bottom of this New York Times post and read the Chief Bill Wilson editorial about the downtown eastside that can no longer be found anywhere on the internet, except for the one location I did manage to find it still in existence in a cached form. While I may not agree with everything Bill says, I do think  he touches on the most important reasons this poverty and addiction still persists in the DTES- it’s all a huge industry with no product.  

***********

Thanks to my lovely and well-read daughter for finding  and sending me this timely little story featured in the New York Times!  Yes, I know I’m a little behind, but I’m into a big story, and many of my readers are across Canada and the rest of the world and might find this fun.  ( I guess that tuition bill is going to good use after all! )  Notice how the lovely little propaganda booth didn’t escape any notice, and the mention of coverage in other international papers.  Here are excerpts from…

In the Shadow of the Olympics

By GREG BISHOP

Published: February 4, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — In this urban oasis widely considered one of the most livable places in the world, the Downtown Eastside is about 15 square blocks of something else.

At the corner of Main and Hastings, residents of the poorest postal code in Canada passed a recent Tuesday afternoon. One man lighted a crack pipe, inhaling deeply. Another urinated on a wall. Another burned a book of matches, muttering at the flame. Two men started fighting. One brandished a bicycle seat, the other a salad that spilled onto the sidewalk.

“All that over drugs,” a passer-by said. “Welcome to the Downtown Eastside.”

That scene unfolded five blocks from the site of the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics, scheduled for next Friday, and a five-minute drive from the athletes’ village.

By bidding for the Olympics, Vancouver invited the world to visit. Now city officials are trying to redirect the international news media spotlight from this blighted neighborhood in the shadows of the picturesque North Shore Mountains.

News accounts throughout the world have zeroed in on the striking juxtaposition of the Downtown Eastside with the Winter Games.

“North America’s festering sore of what do with its homeless and disenfranchised is crystallized in a few short blocks,” The Sunday Times of Australia wrote. The Daily News of Egypt wrote, “Just be careful not to stray too far south of Gastown into the city’s notoriously squalid and poverty-stricken notorious Downtown Eastside, where drugs and prostitution are rampant.”

In response, British Columbia and Vancouver officials opened an information center in the neighborhood, with hopes of managing the way the story is told. Fact sheets are being distributed, and journalists are urged to consider positive developments in the neighborhood.

“Someone can write a negative story by taking a picture of someone in a doorway, but we have some things to celebrate,” Rich Coleman, the minister of Housing and Social Development, told reporters last Friday.

Now, go on.

 Read the rest of this telling little tale HERE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/sports/olympics/05eastside.html?ref=todayspaper

Then read some local reaction to this that I just found here on the TYEE yesterday : http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Olympics2010/2010/02/05/media-attention-2010-downtown-eastside/

******************************************************************************************************************************

‘A huge industry with no product’

 Downtown Eastside reminds him of the Department of Indian Affairs, says native chief

 

The ProvinceOctober 8, 2009Comments (21)

 

Operation Phoenix is a year-long project by The Province, CKNW 980 and Global B.C. We hope to engage the community in seeking solutions to the issues facing our most vulnerable citizens in the Downtown Eastside.

- – -

Operation Phoenix asked Hemas Kla-Lee-Lee-Kla (Chief Bill Wilson) what he thinks needs to be done on the Downtown Eastside

I was recently led on a “tour” of Skid Row by one of my nieces and another good friend. I was familiar with the area, having come to Vancouver to go to university in 1962, frequenting it with relatives and friends and then driving a taxi in town for five years while still at the University of B.C. The place has changed.

In the ’60s, it was not dangerous to visit. Sure, there were the drunks and those addicted to the other drugs, mostly heroin. There were the pimps and the prostitutes and poor people who were not accepted in other parts of Vancouver.

Except for the pimps, a disproportionate number of the people there were aboriginal. At least 90 per cent of those aboriginal people were in no way involved in drugs or prostitution. This remains true today, yet it is still the “white” impression that every native woman seen in the area is a hooker and every native man is a drunk, a junkie, a pimp or a pusher. Prejudice, racism and ignorance are alive and well, especially when it comes to society’s view of my people.

—

I have been asked many times why so many native Indian people live in the Downtown Eastside. The answer is obvious. Native Indian people have never been welcome anywhere else in Vancouver, even when they could afford it. I remember a trip I took to Vancouver with my father, mother and sister Donna in the late summer of 1950. We drove down Vancouver Island from Comox to Nanaimo in my father’s new luxury Packard car and caught the old C.P.R. ferry to Vancouver. As native Indians, we were not allowed to leave the car deck except to go up to the stern of the top deck. This I never understood, and it made me mad because I wanted to get something to eat.

We tried to register at the Hotel Vancouver, where we had a confirmed reservation. We were sent away quite abruptly with the recommendation that we would be more comfortable in the East End. We tried all of the good hotels until we ended up on the edge of Skid Row, where very early the next morning we finally found a cheap hotel that would take us, but only after my father paid in advance for the week, left a large damage deposit and had to swear that he would not have any wild drinking parties. Funny, my father never drank in his whole life.

My recent tour of Skid Row was depressing at best and extremely frustrating at worst. I must admit that, despite the good company of my two companions, I could not wait to escape the horror of the area. My frustration resulted not just from the human carnage that the new drugs have exacerbated but from the simple realization that all of the money spent there and all of the glorious plans announced have made absolutely no difference! Nuts!

Perhaps the thing that angered me most was the fact that the horror of the Skid Row area fuels a huge industry with no product, just like the Department of Indian Affairs. My friends informed me that at least $1 million is spent down there every day! How can this be, without any visible improvement? Is it because our society really does not care? Is Skid Row just the garbage dump for our living human waste? Out of sight, out of mind? And now, with the Olympics, we seem determined to push our rejected off their six-block-square human garbage dump.

The six-square-block area is very different from what it was in the ’60s. There are now “police free” zones where police do not make arrests for drug deals. Drugs and cash change hands out in the open with apparent immunity. Is this not the same thing as “legalization?”

I was informed by my niece that the zones and the injection sites, while a good idea on the surface, represent a danger to women and are starting to be shunned. Apparently men prey on women who they identify as having drugs in the zones where they are not protected by the police. Their appearance at the injection site also makes them targets. Many women actually feel safer injecting in the alleys. Madness!

My guides pointed out to me the many “service-delivery” offices and organizations in the area. I was amazed at the number, and these included only those in the six-square-block area. There apparently are five times as many more in the Downtown Eastside, all supposedly ministering to the suffering of Skid Row people. Many of these groups deal with the disproportionate number of aboriginal people there. In fact, there are more groups dealing with aboriginal people there than the number of aboriginal people I saw on my tour that day. My niece provided me with a list of groups and government agencies that numbers in the hundreds. Why so many?

I really have no idea what all of these groups do. The increased human horror makes it perfectly clear that they do very little. It is so much like the Department of Indian Affairs that it makes me want to puke. I am particularly disgusted with the multiplicity of aboriginal service groups that overlap in their mandates and compete with each other for funding to supposedly serve the same people. Has anyone heard of the “economy of scale?”

Fact is that the perpetuation of the horror is the foundation of their economy. Failure is actually the real mandate, for without it there would be no need for more money. It is with great disgust that I mention the fact that the Department of Indian Affairs budget this coming fiscal year will exceed $12 billion and yet the living conditions of my people have continued to worsen.

The sad situation on the reserves and in the Downtown Eastside has produced a lower life form known as the “welfare pimps.” They are the lawyers, consultants, social workers, healers, gurus, mystics and other so-called experts, many of them aboriginal, who have crawled out from under their rocks and thrive on the suffering of my people. They breed as cockroaches feeding on decaying flesh.

What can be done? I am not an expert on the subject, but it is patently obvious to me that drugs must be legalized and controlled by the government. We basically have this now, without the control. We must go further and take the gang profit out of all the illicit drugs. How many more shooting deaths do we have to witness on our streets before this sinks in?

Legalization is, of course, no panacea, but it would free up human resources and be a source of revenue to deal with the problems of drug abuse which are rapidly increasing under the present system and which will never go away completely.

Let me conclude by dealing with the crazy multiplicity of service groups. The suggestion has been made that a “czar” be appointed to rationalize the number of groups and agencies who purport to service the needs of people in the Downtown Eastside. Provided the czar was given the proper mandate and support, I would agree.

An independent Downtown Eastside aboriginal czar is also necessary. His or her specific task would be to evaluate the work of all the aboriginal groups based on success, not failure. He/she would be given a mandate of no longer than a year to do the work based on a commitment by government that the funding would be allocated in accordance with the findings. Recommendations about the rationalization, streamlining and efficiency of service delivery would have to be enforced.

—

There is no need for all the groups and agencies to be stumbling over each other and scrapping about the funding, all trying to service the same people. This would not be an attempt to save money. Rather, it would be an exercise in making proper use of the present funding and actually making a difference in the horror that is Skid Row and the depression that is the Downtown Eastside.

Obviously, this individual could not come from any of the groups or agencies presently working in the area. He/she would have to be a strong, independent person who could get things done without relying on committees or other time-wasters. No usual bureaucracy or “representative” political body would be necessary. This would be one aboriginal person with a clearly defined mandate and sufficient funding to get the job done in a year or less.

Consultation with the community would be required, but the major job would be to examine all the aboriginal groups on the basis of successful service delivery and make funding decisions in accordance with the proof of concrete, positive results. No positive results, no more money.

Hemas Kla-Lee-Lee-Kla (Chief Bill Wilson, BA, LLB) is a B.C. native leader with 50 years of service in aboriginal politics across Canada. He is most proud of the fact he helped to draft and successfully argued for the entrenchment of aboriginal title and treaty rights as the first amendment to Canada’s new constitution in March of 1983.

*** one of the most telling comments below that post is this one :

Very well stated regarding the numerous fiefdoms suppling ”services” to those in need. I personally do not know any person , who as a child dreamed of living in the downtown eastside. Responsible service providers know that the existing system  serves the the executive directors needs first, then their organization and finally the “client”.Has been like that for years, and all levels of government know it too. It is time to revamp the services, move many of them out of the downtown eastside , almalgamate these non-profits, to reduce administration, and increase services to “clients”. All levels of government should take a time out from charging each  other for having the resposibility to those people and streamline their funding streams so that there can be a continuim of services. It is time to seriously understand that many of the people in the downdown eastside suffer from multiple issues which have created mental health issues for the “client-base” down there. I am from the Coast Salish Nation, living in the urban enviroment, and as a rule do not believe in the welfare economy and culture that has kept our people down. We certainly have to take responsibility for assisting ourselves and family, and government has a responsibility to work with us. The real issue, is there the politcal willingness to do so? At any rate good on Operation Phoenix for interviewing Chief Bill Wilson, he has done more for off reserve Aboriginal People than anyone in the history of this province.

Fight for B.C.- Fight the HST! Elections BC gives approval to begin Citizens Petition April 6th – sign up now!!

 

Wonderful news  for all of you HST haters out there, and it was no surprise to anyone came on one of the warmest, sunniest days so far this year!    

Elections BC has given approval to the Citizens Initiative Petition, which gives  FIGHT HST organizers 90 days to collect 10% of registered voters  signatures in all ridings – starting April 6th, until July 5th of this year!  All to kill the HST ( Hated Sales Tax)!  For full details of the press conference, head over to my friend Bill Tielemans blog : http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/2010/02/fight-hst-launches-bc-citizens.html 

If successful, the petition will force the government to do one of two things:  hold a province wide referendum on the HST( in essence, the opportunity to say yeah or nay to the HST ) – OR -  legislate an end to the HST in the legislature. 

Either way, over 1500 volunteers have already signed up, and now that Elections BC has given approval to this petition, even more  people are likely to see how easy it can be to stop this tax  by  the very simple task of gathering signatures  from other registered voters who are outraged at the prospect of yet another dig in their wallets. 

This is an important moment in BC, one that  must signify to Premier Gordon Campbell that we are indeed a democracy in B.C., and the people will have their say. In my experience, there is nothing more powerful than a group of people working together for a common goal, and this is your chance to be a part of history and say ” No More! ” to  Campbell.   What could be simpler than handing someone a pen and asking them to say No with you? 

If you would like to sign up and volunteer along with myself and thousands of others across BC, head on over the FIGHT HST website and click on the Volunteer banner highlighted in red near the top. It’s that easy. You don’t even have to know your riding, all you need to know is that you want to stop the most Hated Sales Tax ever, the HST !! 

FIGHT FOR BC – FIGHT AGAINST THE HST !!

September 2009 Stop the HST rally - Vancouver

 

Now, scroll down and see one of the most interesting reports on the 2010 winter Olympics I’ve read yet.

” Vancouver’s Olympics head for disaster” ~ The Guardian

This link is appearing everywhere online, and has been sent to me by a number of readers. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/31/vancouver-winter-olympics-police

An interesting commentary, it at first appears to be an overseas Op-Ed, but on further examination the author turns out to be a local freelancer, who was in fact interviewed by CBC yesterday! ( thank you C.!)  ** note how many links it has from local sources documenting the harsh financial realities of our fair province, an amalgamation of why so many people are feeling more concern than excitement.  Although the author tends to- as one reader put it- hyperbole, I still think it presents a fairly accurate representation of how many people are feeling in these days before our world debut.  ( someone might do well to stick this right on top of Bill Good’s desk – I hear many are getting tired of his incessant nattering over the lack of enthusiasm over the games. Reality check Bill- we don’t all live in fancy condo’s on the harbour and have two jobs to count on, let alone one for the many laid off and out of work people all over the  province )

An excerpt:

              It’s now two weeks until the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic games, a city-defining event that is a decade in the making. But a decade is a very long time. Much of what seemed sensible in the early 2000s has proven to be the opposite: for instance, allowing investment bankers to pursue profits willy-nilly was acceptable when Vancouver won the bid in 2003, but is now viewed as idiotic. So it comes as no surprise that just days before the opening ceremony, Vancouver is gripped by dread. Not the typical attitude for a host city, but understandable when you consider that everything that could go wrong, is in the process of going wrong.

~snip~

            “The Bailout Games” have already been labelled a staggering financial disaster. While the complete costs are still unknown, the Vancouver and British Columbian governments have hinted at what’s to come by cancelling 2400 surgeries, laying off 233 government employees, 800 teachers and recommending the closure of 14 schools. It might be enough to make one cynical, but luckily every inch of the city is now coated with advertisements that feature smiley people enjoying the products of the event’s gracious sponsors.

Conservative estimates now speculate that the games will cost upwards of $6bn, with little chance of a return. This titanic act of fiscal malfeasance includes a security force that was originally budgeted at $175m, but has since inflated to $900m. With more than 15,000 members, it’s the largest military presence seen in western Canada since the end of the second world war, an appropriate measure only if one imagines al-Qaida are set to descend from the slopes on C2-strapped snowboards. With a police officer on every corner and military helicopters buzzing overhead, Vancouver looks more like post-war Berlin than an Olympic wonderland. Whole sections of the city are off-limits, scores of roads have been shut down, small businesses have been told to close shop and citizens have been instructed to either leave the city or stay indoors to make way for the projected influx of 300,000 visitors.

While  most of the local media are pushing the feel good, rah- rah, “it’s all good” mantra, we are begining to see the international media descend in droves and are looking for other stories about the impact of the Olympics from residents and freelancers alike. Keep your eyes peeled…

An Olympic sized Canadian bail-out for Intrawest could mean all Canadians pay for the 2010 games – whether they want to or not.

From the NY Post :

Fortress says it is negotiating with the Canadian government, which it says promised to make it whole for the time Whistler/Blackcomb mountain is used for the Olympics. Intrawest is trying to get roughly $90 million, and wants to be paid before the Games start on Feb. 12, a source said.

If it does not get paid, Fortress plans to start legal proceedings, the source added. It is unclear if that could disrupt the Winter Olympics.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/ski_venue_cold_cash_CI7Dzm00ESILjSYEvdc0YN#ixzz0eJDxF26L

 

CBC has also picked up the NY Post story, featuring it HERE.  

 

So,let me get this straight…..Stephen Harper makes everyone stop playing in the big government sandbox because someone uncovered a few turds in the sand that his camp couldn’t manage to hide, yet someone still managed to promise a private corporation  $90 million Canadian taxpayer dollars? All  so the 2010 Olympics can continue as planned?

 

HELLO, Stevie, did you ask anyone if they wanted to pay for this? Shouldn’t we have a vote on this?  Good God, what next?

 

( in a funny Olympic twist, it turns out the torch run in Surrey is going to travel right through my neighbourhood…. but the kicker is that it travels right by no less than 4 well-known crack houses  on a stretch of 60th avenue that are  not only huge eyesores in this lovely neighbourhood, but also an ongoing threat to both residents and schoolchildren alike.  RCMP are routinely patrolling the areas and the break ins  have increased along with petty theft from area homes, and residents and the local PAC have complained loudly, to no end.

 

Should be interesting to see those olympic photos, and you can count on me to be on the route that afternoon with my camera in hand to see if the addicts come out to cheer the runners along or not… and how they intend to cover that crap up. )

 

 

Two popular political Facebook pages started by columnist/political commentator Bill Tielman disappear under suspicious circumstances…

…and the implications of this are looking more and more ominous in the face of no answers from Facebook administration. ( I thought I lived in Canada, but this seems like something the Chinese government would do)

********UPDATE: Bill has advised that the NO BC HST page has reappeared as mysteriously as it disappearred, however the AXE THE GAS TAX page is still gone. No official explanation from Facebook as of yet.  Head over to Bill’s place for more information. 

Bill T. has all the details and will be posting updates as he gets information- or a lack of it!  From his site:

UPDATE: Another large Facebook group I created in 2008 – Axe The BC Gas Tax - has also completely disappeared! I have again filed an inquiry with Facebook but this is looking more ominous indeed.

On Friday afternoon NO BC HST - the biggest Facebook group in British Columbia, with over 130,000 members – suddenly disappeared without a trace!

It’s a total mystery and to date inquiries to Facebook have not explained what has happened. Links to the group on Facebook have also disappeared and external links like the one above only lead to a Facebook home page…

….a 130,000 member HST protest group can’t simply be made to disappear – can it?

Historically, there have been instances of  attempted “cleansing”  of  online bad press, protest groups or politically charged issues associated with all Olympics around the world. But again, this is Canada- we live in BC, in an allegedly democratic society where freedom of speech is a right held by all.

Or is it?

Head over to my friend Bill Tieleman’s site right now- be sure to follow the comments, as always an interesting read and source of information- and why not give Facebook a shout too ? Here are a couple email address’ to try:

privacy@facebook.com

privacy+dup7f6p@facebook.com , although I personally got the fasted response via calling California….

Now, since it is raining and dreary today, scroll down and read all the recent posts in the last week.

” Campbell’s cellmate: The story The Sun wouldn’t publish”

Part 2 of  the 4 part series currently being published online at The Legislature Raids is  a must read for this rainy weekend, so grab a hot drink and settle yourself down for a wild ride.

 ” BC  Premier’s Public/Private P3 Lifestyle “  is the latest of  installments that takes a  deeper look at the roles played by the media in manipulating what the public’s perception is of the premier and his Deputy Chief of Staff, Lara Dauphinee , pictured in this photo( credit to Patrick Tam, Flunging Pictures, who was so nice to allow me to buy and use two separate photos last year…)  :

Lara’s official role with the premier is  a somewhat contentious one, dogged by lurid allegations and unanswered questions for years.

  However, this installment brings yet another telling story about our premier,one that some would prefer to disappear forever – and this time,  from an anonymous poster in the comments section below the post: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=27776136&postID=4285230520503754100&isPopup=true

 Excerpt:

From Monday Magazine, reported by Brian Salmi

CAMPBELL’S CELL-MATE: THE STORY THE SUN WOULDN’T PUBLISH

Last week, a mysterious brown envelope arrived at the office of the Terminal City Weekly, an alternative newsweekly in Vancouver. It contained an article, written by Vancouver Sun veteran reporter Petti Fong, with an anonymous note attached.
“This is their newspaper article that the Vancouver Sun senior management, at the behest of publisher Dennis Skulsky, refused to publish because they thought it made Premier Gordon Campbell look bad,” read the note.

The article, which Fong confirmed was hers, quoted excerpts from an interview she conducted with a man who was in the drunk and when the Maui cops opened the door early in the morning of January 10, and told the drunken and disheveled Premier to make himself at home.

Fong opens her piece thus: “Premier Gordon Campbell swayed as he tried to find a place to rest and fell asleep quickly on a soiled mattress the night he was arrested, according to a petty criminal who shared his Maui jail cell.” According to Fong’s source, a 33-year-old male indentified as Frank Alconcel, Campbell was hosed.

 Got your attention? I thought so. Now go read this, and everything else she has on The Legislature Raids.

Local credit unions back BC Liberals with political donations

There has been a lot of talk in the blogosphere in recent months about using our collective consumer power to make an impact on the BIG BAD BANKS by withdrawing funds and investments and moving them to one of the local credit unions. But this  link to Elections BC political contributions over the last several years may make you think twice. According to Elections BC, the following credit unions have donated to the BC Liberals in recent years:

Coast Capital Credit Union, Envision Credit Union, Island Savings Credit union, North Shore Credit Union, Prospera Credit Union( Ocean Pointe branch), Spruce Credit Union, Valley First Credit Union, Vancity Credit Union, and Westminster Savings Credit Union.

In fact, the only credit union that donated to the NDP, was Khalsa Credit Union! 

Considering that  new customers must buy shares when you open an account or investment with a credit union, you are in effect, in a trickle down way, supporting the BC Liberals by doing so. 

Food for thought, and if any of you bank with a credit union on the list, I would be very interested to hear  their response should you ask them their policy on political contributions.

Now scroll down and read about what some are calling a clear conflict of interest in the media,with links from Sean Holman and Harvey Oberfeld.

” In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ~ George Orwell

In the course of conversation with several  acquaintances recently, the topic of media bias – or lack of it, shall I say -  popped up. Of course, I thought it pertinent to ask whether anyone was aware that  the company that owns both our big  local papers , and other media conglomerates, have  made donations to political parties.

To say that everyone’s faces were shocked, is to understate the reaction.

  ” No! The media isn’t allowed to do that! Isn’t there a law against it? How is that fair?” 

Shrugging my shoulders, I told them there is no law against it. Sometimes the donations are quite large, as well. One example is Canwest’s $50,000 donation to the BC Liberal party in 2005.  Rogers Communications Inc. , owners of various media outlets, donated $20,o00  to the Liberals in 2007. 

While newsroom editors might make the claim that no organization or political party can or will influence how the news is reported,how can the public be sure this is true?   Neither company donated to any other political party, only the BC Liberals were on the receiving end of such good will.

The  Vancouver Province and  The Vancouver Sun have  also long-held lucrative government advertising contracts that generate significant revenue, and  if there was ever a video that demonstrated more clearly how the BC Liberal government manipulates the media in BC, this is it. Watch  Charlie Smith from the Georgia Straight  host a very telling interview with Gordon Campbell.

This week,  Sean Holman of Public Eye Online and The Tyee, has revealed yet another instance in which the integrity of unbiased news reporting by The Sun and The Province newspapers is again under fire… here is an excerpt:

    Sun, Province to Promote Governments’ Homeless Message

CanWest newspapers co-sponsor government-run public relations centre in Downtown Eastside during Olympics

Vancouver’s two major newspapers are sponsoring a government-run centre that will tell international media covering the 2010 Winter Olympics about how the province is dealing with homelessness issues in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside.

Media observers say The Vancouver Sun and The Province should investigate the veracity of the information that will be presented by the centre, not sponsor it. But The Province’s editor-in-chief has said that sponsorship deal would only create a conflict of interest if it had been arranged by the paper’s newsroom — which it wasn’t.

~ snip~   

“It’s a conflict of interest. Newspapers shouldn’t be in the business of promoting anything like that. They should be reporting it. And, if they do report on it (now), it becomes suspect because they’re involved in it,” he said.

“If this centre turns out to be a bust or whatever, they’re not going to report on it honestly because they’re part and parcel of it. There can’t be arms-length reporting of something in which you’re involved.”

Four firms connected to the real estate development industry have also signed-on to sponsor the centre.

READ the entire article by Sean Holman, HERE, or HERE, and as usual I recommend that you also check out the comments section that follow. Sean has also posted an update to this story HERE, listing  some of the other( real estate) companies involved in sponsoring the booth.

Retired reporter turned blogger, Harvey Oberfeld, has covered another aspect of such interference in unbiased and unadulterated news reporting, and that is the medias involvement in the news during the 2010 Olympic Torch run. In this blog post, Harvey makes a good point about why broadcasters should not have accepted positions as torch bearers during the run across Canada:

Talk about conflict of interest! Surely the public could be forgiven if they fail to believe that, after accepting this  ”honour” at the Olympics,  these on-camera  “talent” will also give us an honest or critical assessment of what’s really going on during the Games … and not just  hype  designed to support and project  a positive image of happenings at the Olympics. 

I have no problem with individuals, companies, community organizations, public organizations supporting the Games. I personally hope they work out terrifically for Vancouver, B.C.,  Canada and all the athletes and participants.

But the media who cover the games and activities should NOT also take part in them.  Period!

Harvey has continued to follow this issue in his most recent post, ” 2010 Freebies: Media MUST Come Clean “, where he calls on the local media to divulge any and all freebies they have received from VANOC, the Olympic sponsors( Coca- Cola, RBC, etc),and government agencies/crown corporations, prior to games reporting. This, so we know from what angle that reporting comes from. Here’s an excerpt:

To ensure a “clean” Games from a journalistic point of view, I believe the media MUST come clean beforehand.

Has VANOC or Games sponsors provided any free passes to simply VIEW (not professionally cover) events for any media staff: whether executives, managers, staff  or their family members and friends?

Has VANOC or Games sponsors  assisted (even if they paid for them) any media executives, managers, staff or family members and friends to obtain TICKETS to any sporting events or social gatherings?

Have VANOC or Games sponsors provided ANY KIND  OF FREEBIES to media members???  ANY KIND OF FREEBIES!

Have any government bodies, Crown agencies,  companies  or individuals provided any FREEBIES related to the Games to media members or assisted in obtaining TICKETS to any events?

The media must come clean!

In the most gracious manner, Harv has even offered the use of his blog as a confessional of sorts, for the local media to set the record straight.

So far, the silence has been deafening.

It is important to note that the Society of Professional Journalists have posted on their site, a code of ethics.  Among these voluntary guidelines, are sections devoted to  acting independently, and being accountable :

Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.

Journalists should:

 —Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

 — Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
— Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
— Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
— Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
— Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Clearly, one has to wonder what new journalism graduates must feel like when they enter todays newsrooms. After all, you spend 4 years being taught ethics, morality, and the importance of unbiased reporting, find yourself  full of youthful righteousness  ready to show the truth…. and  then step on the newsroom floor only to find the news you are assigned to report is very different from the news you should be reporting. That you can’t piss off the advertisers. That there isn’t enough of a budget to do a diner review, let along an in-depth investigative piece on the real story of non-profit billing practices. That bad government news stories are run on Fridays and good news ones they want to pump are run on Mondays, and that all those  other clever young journalism graduates  of past are now nothing more than flunkies paid to shill for the “bad guys”.

How disappointing the reality of some modern news organizations values can be, how tragic the consequences are. Citizens are now often faced with having to decide for themselves what is truth or spin, what is real or altered, what is contrived or motivated by hidden factors they have made public.

Sadly, it would appear the famous words of George Orwell are still as relevent as they were when first spoken:

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

May I recommend…

Some ” light” reading, over at BC Mary’s place, The Legislature Raids ?

BE SURE to scroll down and read …

“The question you never heard asked, when Gordo met the press after being jailed in Maui for drunk driving “

Come on.. you know you want to, so as Nike would say: ” Just do it.”

And whatever you do, do NOT forget to read the comments that follow….about a little bird. Jane Bird that is…hmmm. Where have I heard that name before …?