"The difference in price for a secondary residence pre-HST and post-HST is dramatic. An Australian recently bought a unit in this building behind me for $777,000. He paid just over $93,000 in HST. If he bought it pre-HST, he would only have paid $52,000, a difference of $54,000."Accuracy. What the hell, too much bother! Recommend this post
"BC Ferries boss David Hahn making no apologies for his wealthy pension plan and overall compensation. . . .Hahn says the BC Ferries Board made it clear when he was brought in it wanted a private sector approach to cleaning up the fleet."David Hahn:
"It's probably, umm, a lot more than most people would like to see me being paid - and the other, ah, key members of the team - but, on the other hand, the results, ah, speak for themself."Terry Schintz:
"Hahn says people are starting to forget about the never ending ferry line-ups from years gone by. . ."The audio clip of Hahn used on NW's prime 4 o'clock news was taken from Bill Good's talk show earlier that day. There Skipper Hahn got the usual deferential - or is that reverential - treatment.
"When it comes to the safety factor, exactly what arrangements are made to help those who are struggling to climb the stairs? Will they be assisted in case of an emergency?"The answer is no. Executive salaries and pensions are more important than elevators and customer service staff.
"The European Commission has apologised for decades of an EU fishing policy so disastrous that the next generation of children may never see fish on their dinner plate.Recommend this post
". . . We cannot afford business as usual. Maybe 10 years ago, the past, it was easier for us, in the European Commission, in governments, in the sector, to close our eyes. We cannot do that anymore because if we do our children will see fish, not on their plates, but only in pictures."
"[Las Vegas] a congenial city to set up shop and even raise a family. And restaurant workers who can’t afford a comfortable middle-class life in most big cities—dishwashers and servers—discovered they can in Las Vegas.
"Because so many of the hotels are unionized, many restaurants are unionized too—something both rare and contentious in cities like New York, where restaurateurs can’t afford the wages or, they say, the inflexibility that unions impose.
"Workers who have to hold several jobs in New York or Los Angeles can work one in Las Vegas, and keep it for years—a stability almost unheard-of in the restaurant world."Imagine, an ordinary family able to live a comfortable and stable middle-class life. Radical eh?
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| What the Plutocracy Prefers for Us |
"I think the way you know that it's absolute B.S. is because The Province and The Sun both thought it was good. So, you know automatically that it is not good. And the same with their supporting the HST: to vote no, that gives you a clear indication that all the indications are you should vote yes.
"There's no higher authority than the other side of what they say."Recommend this post
"Thirty-six years after Richard Nixon testified to the Watergate grand jury, a federal judge yesterday ordered the first public release of the transcript about the break-in that drove him from the presidency.Recommend this post
"The 297-page transcript will not be available immediately but will be held until the government decides whether to appeal . . .
"The Obama administration opposed the transcript's release. . ."
"The share of national income going to the bottom half of earners in Britain has fallen dramatically over the last 30 years. These ordinary workers have seen their share of GDP fall by a quarter, at the same time as the share going to the top 1% of earners increased by half."
"Democracy depends on compromise and the American government depends on all branches working together. The Tea Party movement shuns both, preferring instead to drive the state into bankruptcy. On principle."
Greenpeace GreenwashDesmogblog writer Richard Littlemore made a generous effort to defend friend Berman mostly by slagging her critic Macdonald Stainsby. That weak effort attracted legitimate and powerful reproof for Littlemore in the Desmogblog comments, including this statement by yours truly:
Greenpeace International hires torchbearer Tzeporah Berman as chief climate campaigner
by MACDONALD STAINSBY
As the world turned their attention to the spectacle of the 2010 Olympics, Greenpeace International played another kind of game, appointing Tzeporah Berman as their new energy and climate campaign director. As a result, she will inherit their “Stop the Tar Sands” campaign and take responsibility for 110 Greenpeace climate campaigners in 28 countries. In the last few years Berman has been known to accommodate corporate interests, provided they make minor concessions and release joint statements. Greenpeace itself, by teaming with Olympic corporate sponsor Coca-Cola, has made clear this strategy also falls within their overall corporate strategy.
Berman, a former Greenpeace BC campaigner, was recently appointed to the BC Liberal government as an “adviser” on free market-based “green energy” initiatives. She immediately conferred an award to BC Premier Gordon Campbell’s “leadership” in fighting climate change while at the Copenhagen negotiations. This, even though BC was the only province in Canada whose tally of greenhouse gas emissions for the year 2009 was higher than the year before. While Berman was on the inside at Copenhagen handing an award to Premier Campbell (whom she now worked for), tens of thousands of activists calling for real action on climate change were being arrested, beaten and tear gassed. According to the Vancouver Sun, Berman “decided to apply for the job after reconnecting with Greenpeace representatives at the Copenhagen climate conference last December.” Her decision came roughly the same time as Greenpeace International was releasing their statement with Coca-Cola.
. . . She has previously demonstrated in both word and deed that her strategic deployment is to work in tandem with corporations and neo-liberal governments, not to oppose or resist them in any way. Berman’s likely corporate engagement strategy, which could include tar sands giants and experienced greenwashers Shell and Suncor would negate the possibility of carrying out the chant of anti Olympics demonstrators to “shut down the tar sands.”
"Reputed environmentalists quite properly have credibility questioned after they start cashing cheques from governments and private industry and when they are seen to be promoters of questionable projects and organizations. Particularly groups that aid greenwashers or astroturfers.By the way, I retract the statement about Stainsby being unqualified. His website Oil Sands Truth is a worthwhile site that has been around for some years. Recommend this post
"I agree with your comments on Stainsby and think CBC was unconscionably careless in presenting an unqualified guest to slag anyone. Nevertheless, you are too gentle with Ms. Berman who deserves criticism for becoming a BC Liberal partisan and a promoter of river despoilment. IPPs have used their financial muscle to reward a handful of former environmentalists and media pundits. Recipients are worthy of disrespect."
"to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God?"By the way, World Vision Canada had ten executives earning more than $10,000 a month in 2010, including the CEO who was paid about $20,000 monthly. The head of World Vision International receives about twice that amount. Poverty is a bitch.
". . . he has confidence in Elections BC to oversee the vote.Remember though, there was not a chance in the world that Liberals would interfere with the judicial process in the fraudulent sale of BC Rail. Except, they did. Blogger Ian Reid revealed part of the real story in his excellent indictment of Liberal politicians and BC media.
"This is getting increasingly ridiculous," said Falcon. "There's not a chance in the world that we're going to interfere with their [Elections BC] independence or start telling them how they should run and oversee a referendum."
". . . affidavits showed that Gordon Campbell’s deputy minister Ken Dobell had violated the terms of the court ordered protocol for vetting potentially privileged documents relevant to the investigation. The violation was not an innocent mistake as Dobell helped draft the vetting protocol document under the auspices of Chief Justice Dohm.Political interference was the order of the day:
". . . Dobell was not one of the five people entitled to see documents and Dobell had not signed any confidentiality agreement at the time he saw the documents in question. Under the terms of this legally binding protocol Dobell was not allowed to see these documents in the context of the case.
"Along with the documents Dobell was given a list of the questions the RCMP intended to ask Cabinet Ministers Collins and Reid and other government employees as well as a short note briefing him on timing and other issues.
"In other words the senior member of Gordon Campbell’s staff was provided with documents the RCMP thought relevant to the investigation along with the RCMP’s questions about those documents and how they related to the sale."
A candidate or their official agent can appoint candidate representatives (scrutineers) to observe voting, registration in conjunction with voting and ballot counting for an election.However, long established fairness rules do not apply to the HST referendum. In the regulations, part 4-16 states:
After voting ends on General Voting Day, the Voting Officers open the ballot boxes and count the ballots from general voting and advance voting. This is called the initial count.
Candidates and their representatives can watch the initial count.
The only individuals who may be present at a place where counting proceedings are being conducted areIn other words, BC Liberals and the officials they appointed at Elections BC say,
(a) referendum officials, and
(b) individuals authorized to be present by the chief electoral officer.
"Trust us folks. We may not have been truthful about certain other matters, but this time, we'll be honest. Really, we will."
". . . Natural Resources Canada scientist Scott Dallimore had to wait for "pre-clearance" from political staff in the minister's office in Ottawa to speak about a study on a colossal flood that swept across northern Canada at the end of the last ice age.Recommend this post
"Researchers, who used to be free to discuss their science, are now required to follow a process that includes "media lines" approved by communications officers, strategists and ministerial staff in Ottawa. They vet media requests, demand reporters' questions in advance and decide when and if researchers can give interviews. . . "
"On 4 May a rally drew approximately two thousand students, many merely curious onlookers. National Guard officers ordered the protesters to disburse, shooting tear gas into the crowd. Next more than one hundred armed guardsmen advanced on the students. The troops moved toward the protesters, up a hill, and then down to a practice football field. Reaching a fence at the far end, some knelt and aimed their weapons. Students retreated into a parking lot between several buildings, but some lobbed rocks and tear gas canisters back at the guardsmen.
"After ten minutes the troops moved back up the hill. When they reached the crest, a group of twenty-eight guardsmen turned quickly and shot in the direction of the parking lot and the main group of protesters. They fired sixty-one rounds of ammunition. Of the thirteen people killed or injured, only two were actively participating in the confrontation. One student was killed while walking to class, and another ironically was an ROTC student. Others were more than one hundred yards away.
"As news spread Kent State and nearly five hundred other colleges were closed. Ten days later another shooting occurred, this time at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Police and state patrolmen fired into a dormitory at the all-black school, killing two students and wounding nine others. The lack of attention given to the deaths at Jackson State embittered many in the African American community."
China’s economy soars on one side of the planet (though with a multitude of half-hidden problems). . . On the other side of the same planet, from Greece and Ireland to Spain and Italy, Europe shudders and fears run wild. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., the president and Congress have headed the economy merrily for the nearest cliff, while money is lacking even to keep court systems running in some parts of the country.In February, former Forbes editor Robert Lenzner blogged:
"Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff [predicts] that the high unemployment rate and high levels of debt in the U.S. will sooner or later trigger serious 'social unrest from the income disparities in the U.S.'July 26, the Pew Research Center reported:
“. . . I don’t understand why people don’t wake up to the crisis they are creating,” . . .
"The median wealth of white households is 20 times greater than that of black households and 18 times greater than that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research analysis of newly-available data from a 2009 government survey. These ratios are the largest in the quarter century since the government first published such data. "
". . . Since moving here I've learned that the BC and Canadian right is less about uninformed whackos as in my former home in the US, and more about cold-hearted, steely-eyed men who know exactly what damage they're doing. That's far more dangerous."This is a fine example of what makes The Tyee so valuable. We get BC's best political writing and almost unrestricted commentary by readers, much of it reasoned and precise. Recommend this post
Koch Industries Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) are among companies that would benefit from almost identical energy legislation introduced in state capitals from Oregon to New Mexico to New Hampshire -- and that’s by design.Recommend this post
The energy companies helped write the legislation at a meeting organized by a group they finance, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington-based policy institute known as ALEC.
"How have the people been convinced that debt and deficits—medium and long-term problems to be sure – have suddenly become a short-term crisis? Especially since every economist not employed by a right-wing think tank is practically screaming that austerity in the midst of a jobs crisis is a form of self-destructive economic insanity.Despite current efforts to shift the financial impact of government away from wealthy citizens, the rich are now paying a far lower share of their incomes in taxes than at any time since World War II. And, even as their share of the nation’s total income has withered, the tax burden on the middle has grown. Today’s working and middle-class taxpayers are shelling out a bigger chunk of income in payroll taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes than thirty years ago.
"Finally, how can deregulation and tax cuts for the rich be posited as a solution to the recent economic catastrophe, when these were the very policies that caused it?"
"How does B.C. Ferries boss David Hahn's salary compare with that of his counterpart in Washington state? The answer: There is none.
"Hahn bagged more than $1.1 million in total last year. By comparison, David Moseley, the top executive at Washington State Ferries, made $144,768 in 2009, the most recently available figure.
". . . The bottom line: We're getting ripped off. Big time."Readers of Northern Insights already knew this, and more. In 2010, Carry on cruising, carry on regardless examined executive salaries at BC Ferries and made comparisons to other large ferry operators:
"To repeat, David Hahn is paid almost eight times the salary of the WSF CEO and is paid more than the CEO of Stena AB, an international corporation far larger than BC Ferries. By any measure, BC Ferries is paying far too much executive compensation, particularly since operations of the company are no better managed than in earlier years. The Spirit Class ferries built in the early nineties remain the largest and most efficient ships in the fleet and outperform the Coastal Class ferries acquired more recently by Mr. Hahn and his helpers."Read also Giant paydays proved unsinkable where we examined the BC Liberals' promise to slash top salaries at BC Ferries. Of course, that turned out to be just another meaningless political promise.
Mr. McGuinty said he is worried about Ontario’s place in Canada with a federal Conservative government “based in western Canada,” Source: The Globe and MailBy the way, the current Parliament of Canada has 72 Conservative Party members from the four western provinces. That is 23% of the 308 MPs now serving in Ottawa. The oppressed Province of Ontario, by itself, has 73 Conservative MPs supporting the ruling government. Recommend this post
"DFO manages fisheries in accordance with the roles and responsibilities outlined in the Fisheries Act, using credible, science-based, affordable and effective practices. Key priorities for fisheries management in Canada include:But, for a dose of reality, Alexandra Morton offers a stunning analysis of how the protectors of fisheries actually operated.
- environmental sustainability;
- economic viability; and
- the inclusion of stakeholders in decision-making processes."
"[Dr. Dick] Beamish is a very influential, recently retired DFO scientist. He was the Director of the Pacific Biological Station, Head of Salmon Interactions and he received the Order of Canada. . .Read Morton's entire article and try to answer the question she poses:
". . . Was Beamish influenced by policy or other pressures, not science, in his reporting to the Canadian public why millions of Fraser sockeye failed to return in 2009?"I can deduce schemers who would eagerly suborn senior politicos and ranking fisheries scientists, if given the opportunity. We don't know that happened here. Perhaps DFO chose to boost west coast fish farming at the expense of wild fisheries. Perhaps the department made that decision internally, perhaps they were instructed by political officials. Maybe, they believe that open net fish farms pose no risks and evidence to the contrary is mistaken.
"Policy drove DFO to overpower its own scientist who was warning the collapse was coming rapidly and who advised on how to avoid it. No one in DFO was held accountable for this even though the cod collapse was avoidable and is robbing entire generations of a food resource, jobs and stable communities. (Hutchings et al 1997)"Recommend this post
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the nation’s largest lender, will pay investment-banking employees bonuses of about $4.4 billion for last year, or an average of $400,000 each, a person close to the bank said.
Jul. 19 (Reuters) -- Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, on Tuesday reported a second quarter net loss of $8.8 billion.Recommend this post
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| Ray Grigg |
". . . The salmon farming industry, meanwhile, has been doing its legal best to prevent the release of privileged information it has been forced to divulge to the Commission, arguing that this release to the public could cause them "reputational and economic damage". The public availability of such confidential information previously hidden from open environmental scrutiny, it contends, would create a "media circus".
"Media circus" is the industry's term for losing control of a public relations agenda that for decades has been construing conspicuously damaging environmental practices as harmless. ISAv could blast that benign image out of West Coast waters. Indeed, a whole minefield of bombs are ticking under the industry's open net-pens."Recommend this post
Do they have Wal-Mart in CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY?
Is this for real? Am I getting old or what? Note the broad community support in the form of numerous police vehicles and an ambulance! Prom dresses sure have changed since I was in high school! What is that around her neck? More police in the background, more community support I meant. There is a Buick with missing seat covers somewhere in The Hood. Wonder if Boy George knows where his hat is. What's holding those up? No comment. Yikes!! DOUBLE YIKES!!!! Who let him in? And, last but not least: |
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