Thursday, March 18, 2010

 

BC Rail: Full circle with BC media

.
[Queen of the] North trial is another case of justice delayed
 

By Michael Smyth
The Province - March 18, 2010

Here we go again, with another case of B.C.-style "justice delayed." ... But it's only the latest example of a high-profile B.C. case where the wheels of justice don't exactly spin like the tires of a runaway Prius. 

Consider the B.C. Rail corruption saga. This is what RCMP Sgt. John Ward said on Dec. 29, 2004, [sorry, Michael, it was 2003 - BC Mary] after police executed search warrants at the B.C. legislature: "Organized crime has stretched into every corner of B.C. . . . It is not an exaggeration to say that organized crime is a cancer eating away at the social and moral fabric of British Columbia." [Yeah sure, nice to see you remember it now, Michael, but  remember how often media hacks tried to deny, ridicule, reject what Sgt Ward had said? Look back at Gary Mason's puff piece entitled "There's nothing to these charges", Dec. 2006.]

More than six years later, the case finally slouches toward court. If the B.C. Rail trial begins as slated May 3, it will be something of a miracle.  [Why? Was the case supposed to be swept under the carpet by now ... like, tra la, just another lost railway? or some such thing?]

Or consider the case of ex-solicitor-general John Les. B.C.'s former top law-enforcement officer has been under criminal investigation over suspicious land deals for nearly three years ...  [It's now years later for you, too, Michael ... and it seems to me that you could have spent lot of media time looking into what Sgt Ward had told us that terrible day in B.C. It might have saved a lot of grief ... so how about telling us now: what was it that made the whole BC rat-pack media gang up against that? - BC Mary.]


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Comment from Kootcoot:


Perhaps folks don't remember, or ever realized - after all BC is a memory hole controlled by Canned Waste - Glow Ball and the PABlum Brigade - but the morning after the sinking (and heroic rescue of almost everyone by the locals during the night)that no one was allowed near the scene until representatives of the BC liaRs, the lawyers for Herr Hahn and some of the BC liaRs spin doctors were able to fly in.

Now in any non-Banana Republic dictatorship, safety and accident inspectors from the DOT would be the first on the scene. Indeed anyone else would be seen as a potential case of evidence tampering. But then obstruction of justice and abuse of process are just business as usual in British Columbia, the land that justice forgot.

I also recall that there were suggestions that instead of just trying to point fingers at individual crew members, not that they weren't possible negligent, some attention should have been paid to the possibility that Hahn's Navy had been expecting crew to use new navigation equipment WITHOUT allowing (or indeed REQUIRING) sufficient training on the new equipment.

The entire BC Ferries system, including the Inland Ferries (which in the Kootenays are essentially highways) have deteriorated since the ascent to the throne of Lord Gord. Just like the rest of W.A.C.'s legacies.

The only people who have benefitted from the re-organization (PRIVATIZATION) of the inland ferries have been the friends of government, who gained who have been showered with benefits (i.e. cheap vessels, monopoly on service, free timber and real estate)and let maintenance levels deteriorate, knowing their buddies in Victoria will bail them out when the inevitable breakdowns occur and locals are forced to stay at home or take outrageously long detours by land.

The inconvenience laid on residents of the North Coast and Haida Gwaii by Admiral Hahn's disrepectful lackidasical approach to replacing service was in-excusable. It would have been SIMPLE to provide service by freighter, just like it was done in the sixties and seventies while looking for a replacement ferry. Instead they left these people virtually stranded (except by air or fish boat) while muttering about finding a vessel to fit a particular landing set-up. Hey goofs, there are docks all over the North Coast that accomodate the typical cargo ship, which in turn can accomodate vehicles, though it has to load with a crane and cage - they only did it for decades. At one time vehicles traveled between Prince Rupert and Massett/Charlotte City by either the Northland Prince or RivTow Barge, either approach could have been used while looking for a replacement for the Queen of the North. 

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Comments:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/court+administration+needs+overhaul/2687669/story.html
 
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/time+shine+light+justice+system/2679758/story.html
 
All these writers and broadcasters have a huge hidden agenda Mary. They are looking out
for their asses! I accuse all of them, the police, and the prosecution team of lying,
stonewalling, and diverting. They are all guilty. Shame on you Smythe, good, christie
cluck, palmer, till, and the rest of you ass-kissers. Just do your job properly, no more lies,
no more cover ups for the drunk king gordo and all his minions.
 
Perhaps folks don't remember, or ever realized - after all BC is a memory hole controlled by Canned Waste - Glow Ball and the PABlum Brigade - but the morning after the sinking (and heroic rescue of almost everyone by the locals during the night)that no one was allowed near the scene until representatives of the BC liaRs, the lawyers for Herr Hahn and some of the BC liaRs spin doctors were able to fly in.

Now in any non-Banana Republic dictatorship, safety and accident inspectors from the DOT would be the first on the scene. Indeed anyone else would be seen as a potential case of evidence tampering. But then obstruction of justice and abuse of process are just business as usual in British Columbia, the land that justice forgot.

I also recall that there were suggestions that instead of just trying to point fingers at individual crew members, not that they weren't possible negligent, some attention should have been paid to the possibility that Hahn's Navy had been expecting crew to use new navigation equipment WITHOUT allowing (or indeed REQUIRING) sufficient training on the new equipment.

The entire BC Ferries system, including the Inland Ferries (which in the Kootenays are essentially highways) have deteriorated since the ascent to the throne of Lord Gord. Just like the rest of W.A.C.'s legacies.

The only people who have benefitted from the re-organization (PRIVATIZATION) of the inland ferries have been the friends of government, who gained who have been showered with benefits (i.e. cheap vessels, monopoly on service, free timber and real estate)and let maintenance levels deteriorate, knowing their buddies in Victoria will bail them out when the inevitable breakdowns occur and locals are forced to stay at home or take outrageously long detours by land.

The inconvenience laid on residents of the North Coast and Haida Gwaii by Admiral Hahn's disrepectful lackidasical approach to replacing service was in-excusable. It would have been SIMPLE to provide service by freighter, just like it was done in the sixties and seventies while looking for a replacement ferry. Instead they left these people virtually stranded (except by air or fish boat) while muttering about finding a vessel to fit a particular landing set-up. Hey goofs, there are docks all over the North Coast that accomodate the typical cargo ship, which in turn can accomodate vehicles, though it has to load with a crane and cage - they only did it for decades. At one time vehicles traveled between Prince Rupert and Massett/Charlotte City by either the Northland Prince or RivTow Barge, either approach could have been used while looking for a replacement for the Queen of the North.
 
Hi Mary,

NOT FOR PULICATION



Just a little more information about cameras in the courtroom, this morning CTV and CITY TV were getting the message out.

Text at the bottom of the page (just by memory this time),

CTV - AG pushing for cameras in the courtroom for civil and criminal cases in BC

City TV - cameras in courtrooms may be up and running by the fall


Maybe THEY are going to make a spectacle out of the bad guys on TV every night to show how effective policing is in BC.

And maybe even some dissenters, like from the Internet. The biggest threat to Campbell and friends. Always pushing for the truth. Unlike the other media, opposition, other authorities, police or courts.

To use a poker term… Campbell and other assorted con men/followers have been ALL IN for many years now.

I feel they would do what ever it takes to make this all go away (for now) and shutting down the chatter from blogs may be in the cards.

Maybe I’m a bit paranoid (?) but Campbell is down to the river card (last card-Texas Holdem) and he’s on a untimely bluff, so to win, he has to push all his chips into the pot and hopefully bluffing his opponent into folding, thus keeping him alive in the tournament.

Campbell’s bluff in reality is his crimes, his tournament life, is not being charged with those crimes, the last card to come out is the Internet and his opponents are the people of BC.

His backers for the tournament entry fee are also pushing for the win.

With no opposition in the leg. we are the only ones stopping this whole affair from fading away from the memories of the few that followed it.

Campbell and fans of his must really hate that they haven’t controlled/manipulated the Internet to the levels that would be necessary to shut down the talk of crimes committed.

Well, I guess the judge is doing her part to slow the chatter but I still don’t understand exactly what is going on with that ruling?

Lets hope lots and lots of press from all over the world come and take in the court proceedings (what an tremendous opportunity we had when the press were here in our province).

OH YA,WE STILL HAVE RECALL!!!!!

Take care Mary

Wayne
 
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23671458
Just saw the above.

But they'll never allow them in the trial of the century I'll bet.
 
People could write in, demanding that the BCRail trial be heard in BC Supreme Courtroom 20 which is already set up with the latest in broadcast equipment (Air India case).

That way, every citizen in every corner of B.C. could follow the proceedings. BC Rail belonged to every citizen in B.C., after all.


CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: March 18, 2010
Cameras coming to B.C. courtrooms

Cameras could soon be broadcasting trials from B.C. courtrooms, if the province's attorney general gets his way.

Mike de Jong believes putting cameras in B.C.'s provincial courts would make the legal system more open and accountable to the public.

Currently the only court with permanent cameras inside the courtroom is the Supreme Court of Canada, but several lower courts across Canada have allowed media outlets to record and broadcast some rare proceedings in recent decades.

De Jong, who is a lawyer himself, wants to see a pilot project in place within a year and has already begun talking with lawyers and judges about the idea, but he has not released any details about how the project might work.

He compared it to the television broadcast of the provincial legislature, saying, "the legislature belongs to the people and the courts belong to the people."

As an cabinet minister, de Jong said he's not always thrilled everything he says in the legislature goes straight to air, but he still believes the public deserves to see it.

"There are days at the legislature where I'm actually not thrilled, after I've misspoke myself or said something that didn't quite come out right," he said.

System is archaic

UBC sociology professor Christopher Schneider says broadcasting trials would help bring the archaic court system into the 21st century and help the public better understand how the legal system works.

"You can put the trial on something like … YouTube, and you could broadcast the whole entire thing, unedited, no sound bites," said Schneider.

"I don't know a whole lot of people who would watch the whole thing, but the fact that you could watch it in your living room and not have to actually travel to go to the public trial, that's amazing," he said.

If the province goes ahead with the idea, other provinces and countries would be quick to follow suit, Schneider predicts.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/termsofuse.html#Rss)
.
 
Fantastic Mary.....And Kootcoot,you are an artist.

"The rat pack media"

Enough said.


Cheers
 
Just a little more information about cameras in the courtroom, this morning CTV and CITY TV were getting the message out.

CTV - AG pushing for cameras in the courtroom for civil and criminal cases in BC

City TV - cameras in courtrooms may be up and running by the fall


Maybe THEY are going to make a spectacle out of the bad guys on TV every night to show how effective policing is in BC.

And maybe even some dissenters, like from the Internet. The biggest threat to Campbell and friends. Always pushing for the truth. Unlike the other media, opposition, other authorities, police or courts.

To use a poker term… Campbell and other assorted con men/followers have been ALL IN for many years now.

I feel they would do whatever it takes to make this all go away (for now) and shutting down the chatter from blogs may be in the cards.

Maybe I’m a bit paranoid (?) but Campbell is down to the river card (last card-Texas Holdem) and he’s on a untimely bluff, so to win, he has to push all his chips into the pot and hopefully bluffing his opponent into folding, thus keeping him alive in the tournament.

Campbell’s bluff in reality is his crimes, his tournament life, is not being charged with those crimes, the last card to come out is the Internet and his opponents are the people of BC.

His backers for the tournament entry fee are also pushing for the win.

With no opposition in the legislature, we are the only ones stopping this whole affair from fading away from the memories of the few that followed it.

Campbell and fans of his must really hate that they haven’t controlled/manipulated the Internet to the levels that would be necessary to shut down the talk of crimes committed.

Well, I guess the judge is doing her part to slow the chatter but I still don’t understand exactly what is going on with that ruling?

Lets hope lots and lots of press from all over the world come and take in the court proceedings (what an tremendous opportunity we had when the press were here in our province).

OH YA,WE STILL HAVE RECALL!!!!!

Take care Mary
 
Just because you may be paranoid, does not mean they're not out to get you! Can't remember who said it first, but they were right.
 
Leah, it was Thomas Pynchon, or at least the first to use it (SFAIK) in a literary context. In Gravity's Rainbow, it's one of the Five Proverbs for Paranoids. Another one is "since the conspiracy out to get you is all-powerful, there's nothing you can do, so relax and have a drink". Or something to that effect.
 
Pynchon would be just the guy to novelize this whole sorry and sordid history we're unravelling. He's incognito, a recluse, nobody knows what he looks like (not even his agent), but takes on philosophy and conspiracy and realpolitik like no one else. Add in BC's taste in drugs, sex and wacky religion and it's a stew I hope he learns, somewhere along the line, to savour and regurgitate. I've often said it may take a non-Canadian to tell this story and in the process unveil the evils inherent in the Canadian system without yielding to the maudlin impulses that, frankly, so many of us on the nationalist "left" tend to have....all that hand-wringing, sheesh....

Someone I saw somewhere compared Douglas Coupland in passing to Tom Pynchon; it was a Canadian reviewer of course. Coupland has written on Vancouver how many times? And how much political truth or cultural mystique has he really conveyed in the process? How many of our "literary figures" have said much, at all, about the realities of Canadian politics? Margaret Atwood? Don't make me laugh.....

The political story in BC is SO complicated, it IS worthy of attention by a major writer, but it also has to be someone familiar with ALL the details of the story. I guess I'm hoping that in Pynchon's voluminous readings and research he's somewhere along the line taken an interest in politics and history of the neighbouring Canadian province (he lives somewhere near Tacoma).

I'd settle for Tom Robbins, though. Or Tom Wolfe....where's our Hunter S. Thompson? Our Mark Twain?
 
Good question Skookum...shall we send out a search party for writers of their quality? Are there any left?!
 
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