A crime family depends on its enablers - rerun

I quoted from a Lewis Carroll poem The Walrus and the Carpenter in a comment thread at the Vancouver Observer. My obvious suggestion was that Tzeporah Berman had been like oysters that naively went for a stroll on the beach to be consumed by their ushers, the walrus and the carpenter. It will not surprise regular readers that I think Lewis Carroll gave us important words. Here is a rerun from a year ago that provides more of the poem, with polemics added by me.

Premier Gordon Campbell, his political colleagues, back room puppet masters, greedy co-conspirators and all paid-up members of the BC Liberal Party are devoid of honor. Campbell, titular head of this west coast crime family, long ago lost integrity and his moral compass. His aim has been to convert public resources and assets to private control for private benefit. Soulless self-dealing manipulators, operating in the shadows, put Campbell in place to achieve their goals of personal enrichment. In the past few years, their appetites have grown because they sense the end nearing with curtains of concealment becoming threadbare.

We see many rewards, taken in the form of extravagant salaries, consulting contracts, directors' fees, meeting fees, expense payments, sports event tickets, travel junkets, pension top-ups, severance payments, etc. What better example is there than the BC Rail insiders, executives and directors, scooping millions for their allegedly sophisticated management skills, while they collectively managed less business than does a neighborhood Canadian Tire store operator. Despite the richly paid executive, Liberal insider Patrick Kinsella dipped his substantial wick in the easy takings as well. The always understood quid pro quo is silence, loyalty and kickbacks to the governing party.

The major received wealth of those granted privileges by the Liberals though is through private influence peddling where people of ordinary skills, except for the ability to operate in the shadows of government corridors, draw fees and incomes that would leave ordinary citizens gasping, if revealed.

Near the worst of enablers of the Campbell crime family are backbench Liberal MLAs, many previously honorable people who aimed to serve the community for good. Now, they are merely fleshy fungi, kept in the dark, fed an individually designed diet of composted droppings, hopeful their bright white heads will one-day poke above the putridity.

But four young Oysters hurried up,

All eager for the treat:

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,

Their shoes were clean and neat--

And this was odd, because, you know,

They hadn't any feet.

Worst of all are the seasoned professional pundits, claiming to report objectively as servants of the public, but in reality, little more than water carriers, supporting the party line, helping sustain the comforts of British Columbia's ruling class. Vaughn Palmer issued a typical example in his September 16 column, HST was 'game changer' in plan to reduce deficit.

This fits right in to the new Liberal strategy. First, they said this "revenue neutral tax change" was "the single best thing we can do to stimulate the economy." That did not fly when their shill economists were discredited and the real story was revealed from the government's own studies: Consumers face five years of higher costs without offset. Therefore, the Liberal spin machine designed a new strategy. The ever loyal Bill Good and Christie Clark ran with this for weeks. They needed HST to avoid cuts to social programs and no alternatives existed. This story stumbled a bit because a self-described revenue neutral tax measure can hardly ensure continuation of government programs.

The latest story rolled out is the need to reduce deficits, those unfair impositions forcing future generations to pay for our current benefits. Inarguable supposedly, although they feel zero remorse for loading future citizens with electric power rates much higher than reasonably speculated. Liberals gave all the upside to private producers and all the economic downsides to tomorrow's power consumers.

Vaughn Palmer has been beavering away for the Liberals these past few weeks. He's a crafty old pro who sells only a part of his soul, unlike many media colleagues, Bill Good for example, who wanders only between government apologist and government cheerleader. Palmer leads his story with a pre-election memo written by Campbell's agent at the Finance Ministry, Graham Whitmarsh. The story reinforced is that HST was not on the Liberal radar, but it might be later if conditions dictated the move. Sure enough, days after the election, the conditions existed. According to Palmer, a "pissed-off" Premier demanded options to meet the promised $495 million deficit, a figure they already knew to be impossible. Two days later, a deal with Ottawa was set, including a $1.6 billion federal transition payment.

Palmer is no fool. He knows how slowly negotiations grind between governments and that underlings do not make major policy commitments without directions and notice to superiors. If appointed functionaries could do that, political masters would have abdicated their traditional responsibilities. No, Palmer knows the real story; he simply will not report it. That is not in the BC Liberal interest.

Does anyone else find it strange that Liberals gave Palmer the Whitmarsh memo but did not include it in any of the FOI responses to which it would have belonged, if it were real? No, this is simply crass news management by a dishonorable government aided by a partisan reporter.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--

Of cabbages--and kings--

And why the sea is boiling hot--

And whether pigs have wings.

Diogenes, for the uninitiated, was a Greek philosopher born in the late 5th Century, BC.  An influential member of a school of philosophy known as the Cynics, Diogenes believed in living a simple life of virtue in harmony with nature.  The image of Diogenes most familiar to the modern world is that of a man walking through city streets in broad daylight and carrying a lantern in search of an honest man.  Reports of Diogenes’ search efforts indicate that he did not find that which he was seeking.

I had opportunity to listen to Friday's Dull Edge from the Ledge. Wow. Online political and media critics are no longer merely nincompoops. Now we are akin to anonymous child pornographers and conveyors of malicious libel. The elitist triplets do not like to be held to account for their wobbles, fearfulness and shaded truth. Good is consistent. After complaining about critical internet voices, he introduces featured and favorite caller Sam. Good old reliable Sam. No embarrassing discussion of media failures from him. Why would there be?  He has his own ticket to the front of the parade.

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:

"I deeply sympathize."

With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size,

Holding his pocket-handkerchief

Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,

"You've had a pleasant run!

Shall we be trotting home again?'

But answer came there none--

And this was scarcely odd, because

They'd eaten every one.

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