Friday, May 20, 2011

 

Open Courts? Ha! Ask those who covered the recent BC Rail Corruption Trial

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BC Mary comment: If the British Columbia government had been open and honest about the entire BC Rail affair, they would have held the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial in BC Supreme Courtroom 20 which was fully equipped with cameras etc. for the Air India Trial. Or they would have outfitted other courtrooms with cameras and recording devices for broadcast to the province on the government channel.

Without a doubt, the BC Rail Trial is the most significant trial ever held in British Columbia, with far-reaching effects. Every citizen (the actual former owners of the railway) ought to have had access to the pre-trial and trial hearings. 

Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done.

If that simple rule had been followed, there would be no rotting stench left behind by the ugly maneuvering of the Crown and the judge in this trial, no  unanswered questions crying out ... in short, no critical need for a Public Inquiry into the "sale" of BC Rail.  

But then, an open and honest government wouldn't have sold BC Rail in the first place.

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Open Court is a 21st-century idea

 B.C. should embrace technology and establish digital policies to allow cameras in the courtroom; the U.S. has been doing it for years


By Ian Mulgrew
Vancouver Sun - May 20, 2011


For a few hours, I watched on my laptop as Judge Mark Coven of Quincy District Court, south of Boston, plied his trade ... it was real justice meted out in a real courtroom by a real judge in real time.

While jurists in B.C. continue to wring their hands over even restricted camera access to their courtrooms, U.S. jurisdictions are embracing live video streaming of arraignments, pleas, bail hearings, surrender proceedings and other judicial business.

For the last fortnight, a pilot project called OpenCourt has provided live Quincy Court proceedings over the Web and other electronic services thanks to WBUR, the local National Public Radio station, and a $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Massachusetts has allowed cameras in its courtrooms since the 1980s but this is a broader unprecedented experiment.

It aims to foster greater transparency during this transitional time for public discourse in which fewer news outlets have the resources to cover courts and more and more citizens want to “report” via social media andblogs.

While the Supreme Court of Canada has long televised its hearings, the provincial judiciary continues to suggest there are major issues over electronic access to courtrooms that require further debate.

And bloggers are treated for the most part like second-class media wannabes — ask those who covered the recent BC Rail corruption trial.

I think our judges are dragging their feet and defending an out-of-date status quo.

We are living in the past; OpenCourt is a 21st-century idea.Massachusetts is a forward thinking jurisdiction that is adapting to the reality of the modern media environment, court coverage and who can cover the judiciary.

{Snip} ...

Check it out at http://opencourt.us/

The project should help other jurisdictions embrace technology and establish digital policies.

B.C. judges, lawyers and legislators please take note: We should follow this lead.

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Read Ian Mulgrew's full story HERE:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/OpenCourt+21st+century+idea/4819556/story.html#ixzz1MwzCE1v3O

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Comments:
The BC Courts already have the technology to broadcast court proceedings and it works very well – so well, they used it to honour one of their own.

VANCOUVER SUN APRIL 30, 2011

The chief justices of B.C. and Canada gathered Friday at the Vancouver Law Courts with dozens of judges from the trial courts and the B.C. Court of Appeal to remember former chief justice ...

... also attended the special sitting of the court, which was televised by video link to courthouses in Victoria, Kelowna and Prince George. ...


http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=fa7b3fad-5046-4188-a25d-f62f62db65c0

It seems nothing is too good for the inner circle, no slight to the dead judge, but it is an insult to the people of British Columbia that the corrupt BC Courts will not provide make video of the courts for its own citizens.

What are they trying to hide?

People would be flabbergasted if they spent any time at all in the court rooms of BC, the corruption is deeper and wider than just the BC Rail scandal.

The government seems to have lots of money to introduce new health identity cards, even while they admit they have no idea if/how much fraud may exist. [Are these cards going to contain RFID tracking chips too, like the new BC drivers' licenses? Is this just another means of tighter control of BC citizens?].

But no money and no will for broadcasting court proceedings to the plebeians.
 
Thanks, Canadian Canary, for the added information.

I wonder if the "video link" you refer to, is the Video Conference protocol for when an accused person can speak to the courtroom judge via video?

I wonder if it's adequate for the transmittal of a full trial ... what do you think?

The first time I went in search of a witness named Dave Basi in BCSC trial #23299 [HMTQ vs Basi, Virk, Basi, otherwise known as the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial] ...

it was circa 2006 in the little old, inadequate Victoria Court House. And b.t.w., although pre-listed, Basi never showed up and I saw/heard nothing about him or BCRail. Had I but realized it at the time, it was a good indication of how that important trial would be run for the next 4 years. Who could've imagined that?!

But even that little old inadequate Court House had Video Conferencing which I thought excellent because it allowed (mostly young) offenders to speak directly from their place of confinement and in fact more clearly to the judge (and the rest of us); it was almost private, like an enhanced telephone call, somewhat removing "the accused" from the stares of strangers but providing testimony all the same.

I'm certainly not suggesting that the poor judicial sods can't lay hands on the necessary wires and plug-ins to set up a proper system of "Open Court", then or 4 years later. No, they damwell refused to do it for us.

I wrote personally to each of the courtroom lawyers: Berardino and the Defence Lawyers requesting their approval for cameras in their BC Rail courtroom. Not a glimmer of response from any of them.

So you certainly raise a good point: the BC judiciary can do it for their own pleasure and convenience

but they can't even think of it being done to serve history and the public interest.

I mean, we lost a railway ... a beautiful big critically-important, profitable !*&%^$#@$!! railway! Like, isn't that something which demands explanation??????????

But no ... no.

Changes are coming so swiftly, often I can't believe what I'm actually seeing. For example, the impressive Independent MLA Vicki Huntingdon recently spoke in the BC Legislature Debates about the new-fangled "Foreign Trade Zone" (FTZ] being schemed for Deltaport ... she said it was no such thing as a "Free Trade Zone" ... she said ... Get this! ... "it was being set up [on Agricultural Land Reserve] to to protect business from the community. Yeah.

It's as Grant Gough termed it, we're already in a "Third World War, Corporations Against the Public". You must admit -- that takes a bit of getting used to -- with a longterm outlook that doesn't bear thinking about.

And we have to keep asking: WHO is looking after the people???
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That's what gets you. Who is looking after the people?

The BC citizens have to contend with corrupt politicians, courts, judges, police, Elections BC, the propaganda media pro BC Liberal machine.

BC people put up with, lies, deceit, corruption, dirty tactics and cheating to win...That is the BC Liberals mantra. If you can't win, then cheat.

Who looks after the BC people? The blogger's do, and they are all we have.

What really floored me is, the BC judges demanding a salary increase so high, it's out into orbit. The corrupt judicial system in BC, needs a damned good purging.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, Gloria.

Well, something good did happen today. I nearly flipped when I saw it.

Stockwell Day had just last week been denouncing Liberals as the major threat to civilization as we know it. That was FEDERAL Liberals, of course.

Well, after Stockers was treated like a rock star at the Penticton Convention for BC Liberals (a whole different can of worms),

Stockwell must've seen something he really, really liked.

So Stockwell -- our own Stockboy from the Coquihalla -- says he's going to SUPPORT the gang which has been falsely calling itself "BC Liberal".

Oh boy. This should be good.
 
Here's the bit about [snark alert] ... Stocker's exhillarating change of heart:


In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Day said he will campaign for Premier Christy Clark's party, but also believes the party's name should be changed to reflect the reality of its support base.


I'll be back with the link ...
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/05/21/pol-the-house.html?ref=rss



Former Conservative MP and cabinet minister Stockwell Day, who quit federal politics after 25 years in public office, says he won't support the B.C. Conservatives in the province's next election because he doesn't want vote-splitting to result in a NDP government. ((Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press))


But he says he will support the BC Liberals.
 
Stockwell = overpaid, pensioned hypocrit.
 
Odd phrase for Ian Mulgrew to use, that "bloggers are treated for the most part like second-class media wannabes .....".

Does that mean there was a layer of embedded first-class media wannabes that I missed seeing in Court Room #54?

I could go further, but I'm not quite sure if Ian Mulgrew was poking a comment just at bloggers in attendance or other MSM journalists.
 
I dont want vote splitting either. But how can anyone support a corrupt regime such as the Liberals? They LIED

1. about not selling BC Rail (a 990 yr lease, they say. Right. Pass me the bowl)

2. about sharing gaming receipts 1/3 with charities.

3. about class composition. Right now, there are more designated children in class rooms than ought to be. And too many kids! The math they use to excuse this is not acceptable. That is, dividing the whole population of a district by the number of class rooms. The math they ought to use is, if the numbers are over, create a NEW classroom.

Put it this way, If your jet plane carries only 100 passengers, but you have 110 to move, you place another plane into production. You dont leave 10 passengers on the tarmac.

But the BC Liberals would, or make them sit in the wing!!

4. About not imposing HST. They said this to the restaurant association when they KNEW that the HST implementation was imminent becuase THEY were contemplating using that as an election platform, the 1.6M to balance the budget, but thought better of it whence they realised that 12% on everything meant more takes out of your and my pockets and that they didnt need to feed that reality to an electorate that was already clued out on so many other issues, one can only blame the BIG media for (and the official oppositon for, the Useless NDP).

I would like to see election reform. If voter turn out istn more than say 70 turn out, NO ONE gets a gravy train job.

Come on politicians, GIVE us the people something to come to the polls for!!UNtil then, I am not voting for any of the idiots, not the Liberals, sure an hell not the incompetant NDP, and not the radical conservatives, although i may agree with much of their end result, but just not their logic.
 
Why they want to change the name of the BC Liberals party, beats the hell out of me.

Christy is following Campbell's credo to the nth degree. She uses the same underhanded tactics, that Campbell used. She runs, hides and ducks debates as Campbell did. When Legislature was in, Campbell would leave the country, and left Hansen to do his debating, of the HST for him.

Maybe it's just me, I don't see any difference between Campbell and Christy, at all. I can't even tell, where the BC Liberal party starts and the BC Conservative party ends. They are one and the same to me.

Changing the party name, doesn't change the BC Liberals attitude towards the people. We are not going to forget their personal names, We won't forget what they did to us.

To me, the BC Liberals are still corrupt, still lie, and cheat to win. Such as Christy's photo shoot outside the election hall doors. What in the hell has changed?
 
http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/BRDO/appsList.asp

Recent Appointments
The following appointments have recently been made to public agencies, boards and commissions. This page was last updated on May 24, 2011.

• The letters OIC precede Order-in-Council numbers
• The letters MO precede Ministerial Order numbers
• Resumes (summaries) of Orders-in-Council and Ministerial Orders

BC Railway Company
OIC#186/11, May 19, 2011:
• Mr. Grant Main appointed as Director to serve at pleasure.

Transportation Investment Corporation
OIC#187/11, May 19, 2011:
• Mr. Grant Main appointed as Director for a term expiring May 19, 2014.
 
C'mon. Who reported the vetting of the new CJ of the PCBC by Charter nullifier-supreme, Darryl Plecas (RCMP chief of "research")? Who reported the private benefit that Donald Brenner enjoyed at "Farris"' "ADR chambers" after he was allowed to write the elite-centrist rules of the SCBC? Who reported that the 60,000 cases registered each year in the scbc result in less that 500 trials? Who reported that scbc "masters" - prohibited from all conduct other than enforcing the orders of real judges - openly pressure resolution of substantiable claims, to the private benefit of government parties? Who reported that law society of BC rules force 25,000 Rights-bearers to file in the scbc without representation each year? Who reported the abuses inflicted on the 25,000 by lawless "masters"? Who reported the absolute winning streak by government and government connected parties in the tribunals, under BC's corrupt administrative law system?

Nobody reports this stuff. Yet they beat their chest about how hard they work for justice. A PLAGUE on all toadies and jackboot lickers.

THE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK AND CANNOT BE MADE TO WORK WITHOUT THE DEPOLITICIZATION OF COURT-OFFICERS. CEASE DENYING THIS FACT: 0.04% OF THE POPULATION ARE IN BREACH OF TRUST OWED TO 99.96% OF THE POPULATION.

GET OFF YOUR F###ING KNEES AND CEASE ACTING LIKE A PROSTRATE MINORITY. OUR ELITES ARE UNCRUSHED BUGS.
 
BC isnt corrupt. Corruption would be if Basi, Virk were allowed to carry on, then, horros, run for office and get elected!! That would be corruption, beleive you me, and if could have happened.
 
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canada-gets-failing-grade-lax-enforcement-anti-bribery-153603782.html

British Columbia far ahead of the pack. To many "deals" have been made to the detriment of the citizens of this province, and Canada as a whole.
 
"Omibus" (sic), was, most likely, educated better in his/her "communications" or "media" studies programbetter than his/her "folksy" spelling errors, typos and tortured logic on display would suggest. But his masters at the PABlum Brigade probably insist Omibus and his fellow propagandists "hick" it up in order to not offend the semi-literate backwards morons they so obviously take us dumbed down masses to be.

All of us dummies out in the "hurtland" would be offended if we thought these PABsters were educated folk talking down to us! After all being "educated" is akin to being in cahoots with the devil - think of the Harper Government's portrayal of Iggy!
 
... dumbed down masses? Hey, if the shoe fits...

you did after all, vote Campbell in 3 f-ing times. You must be okay with:

1. Lies, a Liar
2. Drinking an driving, a convicted felon for a Premier
3. Lies, a Liar
4. Raw Log exports that do not attract tax or duties

5. Lies, a liar
6. privatisation of hospital services such as housekeeping and foor services
7. lies a liar
8. sinking of the Queen of the North
9. lies a liar
10. class composition compromises ie 5 behavoir kids / dummies per class, over sized classes
11 elementary school budget shortfalls, school closures
12 lies liar
13 Gaming receipts funding general programs and not sports or arts
14 wait lists at hospitals
15 lies a liar
16. privatision of BC rail
17. on and on and on


Yep, you the Masses are dummies alright!
 
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