the million dollar question

Why?
As happens often in my experience with blogging, writing about one topic invariably opens the door to another.Last week I blogged about the gun registry – in particular, how using domestic violence or spousal murder as a reason for continuing the registry is not only ridiculous, but dangerous. The responses here on the blog were [...]

Bits and Bites, Wednesday November 4th, 2009

You know what?
There is so much to talk about that is making my blood boil that I did not even need to turn the furnace on this morning. So, without the usual chatty preamble, I’m going to start with  the closure of 5 legal aid offices in B.C. 
That’s right, offices in Prince George, Surrey, Victoria, Kamloops and [...]

Just when you think you have heard it all…

You see something like this, courtesy of Neal Hall, the Vancouver Sun:
The Mountie who repeatedly Tasered Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport two years ago has filed a libel lawsuit against the CBC.
The legal action by Constable Kwesi Millington claims that CBC’s coverage of the incident since Nov. 4, 2007 has caused him to suffer “serious [...]

In the same vein,RCMP contract expenditures report enough to make you go hmmmm…

Since I’ve been talking about following the money this morning ( scroll down for the Canwest story), how about we take a look at how the RCMP spend theirs.
In an effort to improve public confidence in the administration of public funds,the government of Canada implemented a policy in 2004, of  proactive disclosure on  many items relating to [...]

” Gordon Campbell implicated in alleged fraudulent deal with Haisla First Nation trial, which resumes Monday, Oct. 26, 2009″

Wow, a gal gets swamped for a couple weeks, sequestered away from the news and looks what happens…. yet another implication of less than upstanding behavior on the part of our premier, Gordon Campbell?
When I say this on BC Mary’s site this morning, I couldn’t believe that this was apparently overlooked by our local dailies, [...]

” “Random” Police Checks Will Erode Freedom” : Harvey Oberfeld

You would have to be a toad under a rock somewhere to not remember that bastion of old-school reporting, Harvey Oberfeld. You know what I’m talking about- the days when reporters asked  the good,hard questions rather than lobbing softballs, and politicians would sweat when they saw a certain reporter headed their way. That was Harvey, [...]

” I believe reasonable and prudent Canadians would see in them evidence leading to allegations of criminal breach of trust, criminal fraud in the use of public money, criminal violation of fiduciary duties, and the criminal destruction of evidence…”

An open letter of interest to all British Columbians, received by email today:
October 5, 2009
       Gary Bass, RCMP Deputy Commissioner, British Columbia,
       and Commanding Officer E Division,
       5255 Heather Street, Vancouver, B.C.  V5Z 1K6.
       email address: gary.bass@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
                (some of the people to whom copies are sent are listed at the end of the letter)
       Dear [...]

RCMP announce preliminary probe into missing emails, same day as Times Colonist editorial declares:” The people who ordered the records destroyed have no place in government…”

Quote of the week, from the Times Colonist editorial of July 18th, 2009 (  thanks to Gazetteer for this heads up )
“ ….No one employed by the government could be unaware of the charges against Dave Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi. It is beyond belief to think that any senior government employee would not know [...]

Things we can’t do during the Olympics.

1)  Get sick or Have any kind of elective surgery – up to 4000 surgeries will be cancelled in the Lower Mainland, over a 4 week period during 2010 – even serious operations could be impacted. ( 2000 in Vancouver Coastal Authority + 2000 Fraser Health Authority)
“ For those interested, a reduction in services during this time will allow physicians, nurses [...]

Bits and Bites – Wednesday,June 10th 2009

Good morning people! I’m still not used to being back- something about all this noise is really hitting me hard! Damn, even the suburbs are ridiculously noisy all the time, which is why my 5 am run this morning was such a pleasure. Simply put, it was quiet. Which reminded me again why I must [...]