Maybe.........

.......... an armed revolution is needed. Well, would not that please VANOC and the Olympic organization.

Grumpy...

Just after they take all your rights, they will cut off your left arms too...

errata

should be it 'is' in first sentence.
Sorry.

CanWestGlobal to the Rescue

Who needs private corporate political donations when Campbell already has the press in his pocket. CanWestGlobal (owner of all of BC's dailies and many weeklies) donated $50,000 to Campbell's last election. David Black, who owns the other half of BC's media (most of its weeklies) was appointed by Campbell as chairman of the BC Progress Board, complete with a handsome stipend I assume. A Liberal creation full of right wing self praise .

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/archive/2001-2005/2004OTP0077-000817-Attachment1.htm

How these two media companies differ from a state controlled media is hard to fathom. So lets get rid of ALL advertising and political contributions. Campbell's Liberals would get all the press, and rule in perpetuity. Can't wait!

Great coverage Tyee.

There will be an election one year from today

In order to eliminate and end whatever this bunch is currently trying to do it's absolutely necessary that the campaign against the Campbell party begin today and roll on with increasing intensity until the actual election.

Only by turfing out Gordon Campbell and his crew of sycophants will there be an opportunity to clean up the mess and begin to rebuild the destruction that 7 years under the iron heel of this government have inflicted upon the people, the traditions, the culture and the fabric of this province.

All the rest is just window dressing - they have to go. There is one year to bring this about – it doesn’t matter, at bottom, who is elected in his place – the rallying cry could be ‘Anybody but Campbell.’

I invite respectful comments to my posts here at Tyee.

G West

...the sad part is we have

...the sad part is we have no effective opposition with Carole James and the sheeple of BC will vote El Gordo in again next May....even from communities that have lost forestry jobs. They may complain but in the end will not vote NDP...

Free neocon advertising

Campbell and his cohorts are notorious for twisted partisan slanted pro liberal, public paid British Columbia government advertising up to and including the election. This would be worth millions in free advertising and no limits.

We all know BC's Big Media have marked Neocon bias.

http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/73
..The_Death_of_Canadian_Journalism.html

This gives Campbell and his gang a huge third party advertiser not covered by their planned legislation. Again millions in free biased advertising and completely free.

NDP Obama

We need a new leader for the NDP - an inspiring person of impeccable ethics. Does anyone like that exist?

who needs a picture

How ever did we manage before picture id?

Just fine I'm sure, considering voting has been around a lot longer than driver's licenses.

It's a bit more than simply jumping through hoops if you lack a home or an address... but still live in the city. Why should poverty equal the removal of franchise? Too convenient by half if you ask me.

perhaps

As Seth has pointed out: MSM and government expenditures on advertising constitute election advertising.

Perhaps if this law is ever enacted, we can challenge the courts to shut down CTV, Black press and Asper's Canwest-global. Certainly their unbalanced, pro-Liberal reporting constitutes election advertising.

The spending of public funds by the Liberal government when they always tell us what a great job they are doing with our money is also election advertising and this must stop too! It should be challenged in the courts with the Liberals having their own rediculous laws used against themselves.

Every day I look for banana plantations to begin being started down in the lower mainland: we are certainly moving toward being a banana republic.

Yeah Jeffrey J. even the CBC

It is frustrating at times to see the CBC give Campbell such an easy ride. Back in the 90's every interview by and NDP Minister was followed by an interview from the Liberal Opposition, now interviews are followed by government members. If it happens at all, as it did today, that James is interviewed by the reporter last on an issue, Mark Forsythe acts like he's the critic for the liberals and raises all the points that a liberal member might raise to counter her position. I'm no fan of James but fair is fair.

everyone relax a little

This is all good, read between the lines,the only reason this is being done is the fact that gordon(the gargler) campbell doesn`t believe the ipsos reid and mustel polls.

The ndp are not going to lose any of their seats but campbell is going to lose the 3 vancouver island seats they have--they will lose their delta seat--they will lose 2 surrey seats( because os surrey memorial hospital and gas tax)--they will lose maple ridge over run of river--Falcon is losing his seat!---north burnaby seat campbell will lose( thanks to mayor corrigan)--and if you all remember campbell himself barely won his own seat in point grey in 2005( now because of the giveaway to the musqueam,spirit park,point grey school closing,the major churches in point grey want gateway stopped, and he`s pissed off the golfers!

Also this bill will be squashed by the court! So ignore luke skywalker,ignore the polls,the gargler running scared,in fact there`s even a rumour floating around that campbell gargler might cancel the carbon tax!

seniors are voting campbell out--the middle class is voting campbell out--true enviromentalists are voting campbell out(sierra club and suzuki foundation members are merely looking for money but they won`t be voting for campbell)

Many liberal voters are going to abstain from voting!

Remember who comes out and votes in big numbers--seniors-middle class and there`s not enough rich voters to offset the tide of unhappy!

So life is good --Gordo is scared-half the back benchers are resigning and you can`t tell poor people that they are really rich!

Attack on Democracy

Most people on here would not understand what a serious and structural attack on democracy this is for those who live (and die) in the lower socio-economic classes.

The BC government, as a matter of policy and practice, denies income assistance clients the human right to obtain identification. If welfare has copies on file, they will not fund replacement ID. That in itself is a violation of people's human rights. With the pittance people receive on income assistance, or disability, there are thousands and thousands of citizens who are marginalized by the BC Liberals already. To use this structurally embedded circumstance and to now push through this legislation, which will disenfranchise (even more) of these citizens is a Charter of Rights violation, as well as quite likely a violation of Canada's commitment to several United Nations Charters.

This exclusion and barrier to full participation in society will now disproportionally disadvantage and disenfranchise individuals with disabilities. There is a new UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, I suggest all of these clever lawyers around consider working to put together a case to present at the new UN Committee about democracy, inclusion and justice for marginalized citizens BC Liberal-style. I'm sure the UN would be quite interested to hear about Mr. Campbell's (and his backroom masters')plans and they might even have some feedback for him and his ilk.

Mr. Oppal, if you allow this legislation to be passed, as a learned jurist and now as the Attorney General, you have ceased to have any relevancy as a man of justice, democracy and as a representative of the public good in BC. You will also go down in history as the man who excluded generations of BC citizens from their right to participate in democracy and be included in the province of BC. You should resign if they push it through in spite of your disagreement as the AG. And then, you should write a great "tell-all."

http://whistleblowersbc.blogspot.com/

Ifs Its Not Broke Don't Fix It

Wise words but not for the Libs they have been Fixing up everything since they got into to power and now its really costing the tax payer. So what does the premier want to fix here or better yet fix it so he doesn't have to concern himself with the needs and wants of his lower income citizens. Is that what he's trying to fix? Say like when he had that radio broadcast where he tried to fix the views of its listeners. Yes sir our premiers a fixer just got to hope he doesn't have his fix on you. Didn't his aid tried to fix that rail deal. And what about that translink deal thats a fix?

ID--not a problem

The ndp have a great grass roots orginization and they will make sure the voters vote--bc id always worked in the past, and another voter can vouch for a voter with an oath of truth!

Campbell(lushwell) is just trying to get every edge he can because he`s running scared!

Welfare stubs will work,with a voucher-but its really not the issue !

would campbell be freaking out if he was so popular!

the biggest voting block is seniors and middle class, young people don`t vote!--and there`s not enough rich people to offset the ndp vote!

I could imagine campbells next move is to use DIEBOLD touch screen voting machines( a la george w bush) Campbell(old yeller)is scared , don`t listen to luke skywalker!

Best place in the world for propaganda

The poor businessmen could have been getting their business message out through various advertizing agencys. Now they will have that money and nowhere to put it! "I know, lets give it as a donation to somebody instead" .
So by doing this, they have tightened their grip on advertizing agencys, and stuck themselves in as the "middleman" in business advertizing during that period.
There will be even more room in the media for endless "best place in the world" bs because business will not be competing for advertizing slots because they are not allowed.
Incredibly bad actually.

Voter ID

This is not something unique to Canada: they are just pushing the neo-con line from George Bush and co (well, we always knew that Campbell and Harper were Bush's poodles).

As in the following editorial from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13tue1.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

May 13, 2008
EDITORIAL
The Myth of Voter Fraud

...There is no evidence that voting by noncitizens is a significant problem...

....There is, however, ample evidence that a requirement of proof of citizenship will keep many eligible voters from voting. Many people do not have birth certificates or other acceptable proof of citizenship, and for some people, that proof is not available....

... the driving force behind strict voter ID requirements in general is not a genuine effort to prevent fraud, since there is virtually no evidence that in-person voter fraud is occurring. It is, rather, the Republican Party’s electoral calculations. Barriers at the polls drive down voter turnout, especially among the poor, racial minorities and students — groups that are less likely than average to have driver’s licenses, and that are more likely than average to vote Democratic.

The last thing we need is more technology

Voting happens once every 4 years at both the provincial and federal level.

We should never have moved away from door-to-door enumeration and the idea that we can't manage to count a few million ballots in each province a couple of times in four years is utterly absurd. Succumbing to the appeal of technology as a solution to everything is a dangerous tendency – one that’s actually got our society into the mess we’re in today in no small part.

Looking to the mess that technology has brought to voting in the United States ought to be enough to convince everyone that such trends work to disconnect communities from their own governance and enable the kind of machine politics which characterized the sponsorship scandal, the Mulroney payoffs and the current corruption of electoral financing in Conservative ranks…not to mention the manipulative way Gordon Campbell practices the game.

We need more doctors and more community centered health care - not a bunch of useless smart cards.

Even an nominal shill for the government like Vaughn Palmer realizes that Campbell is going too far.

I invite respectful comments to my posts here at Tyee

G West

Technology will be coming

http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-559075

Implanted at birth, whether we like it or not, it's here:

http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-559094

realisticman

You have such a cheery outlook. Its kind of like reading Orwell's 1984 from the other side.

Realisticman

Neither link works.

About as effective as the Orwellian idea that any of this stuff is 'good' for anyone.

People can, and should, push back. There is no need for such utter nonsense which merely plays into the hands of the manipulative monsters who've got us to this pass already.

What's needed is more direct democracy, community organization and less overweening power militated not 'for' the public interest but in favour of special interests.

Especially in this province, the need is for all parties to give up the cash cow of corporate or union hegemony and return to the people for, and from whom, their power and responsibility emanates.

I welcome respectful comments to my posts at Tyee.

G West

Links

Funny, the links don't work. That technology again!

Go to:
http://www.privacyinternational.org

On the right, in the Search box type in:

Identity Systems and Identity Cards

Click SEARCH.

Go to the third featured document and click on it's link:

PHR2006 - Privacy Topics - Identity Systems and Identity Cards

To see the other article on RFID technologies, go to the very bottom of the page and click on the red-linked;

PHR2006 - Privacy Topics - Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

have a gander at

Everyone if you would like to have a pleasent surprize read vaughn palmers vancouver sun column today, also have a gander at michael smyths column in the vancouver province today!

something happening at canwest global(bc liberal blood in the water)

Canwest global knows campbells goose is cooked!

and no I am not whacked out on gunga weed ,something been happening!

Brian

Keep on smokin' fella, 'round about Sept-Oct, after yer convinced they're really not so bad after all, they'll slowly shift back into Drive, and by December they'll be reminding us all of the dangers of "Communism",just in time for the election.

Works every time. LOL

the dangers of communism

governments who ignore economic reality in favour of ideology?

amorphous promises of a better future with no underpinnings of fact or reason?

autocratic leaders who brook no dissent?

Sounds like the dangers have already arrived.

Hypocrisy and a 'Fish to Fry'

While these types of duplicitous and hypocritical actions on the part of the B. C. Liberal government are regretable and should not really surprise anyone, they are small potatoes compared to the 'elephant in the room' in our municipal elections. I am, of course, referring to the use of electronic voting machines in our local elections, the government that, on a day-to-day basis, affects us the most. A story that, even with repeated nudging, The Tyee showed no interest in pursuing.
It is bad enough that there is at the very least a perceived conflict of interest when municipal councils appoint the people to run our local elections but when you couple that with the use of electronic voting machines, poor understanding of same by councils and most election officials (leading to ineffective election bylaws, glitches and security risks) there is cause for great concern.
The provincial government has set no standards with respect to electronic voting machines and the widely disparaged (and easily hackable) Diebold Accuvote-OS machines were used in 30 B. C. municipalities in the 2005 municipal elections. This is becoming a very large issue in the U.S and yet, in typical fashion, here in Canada, no one seems to be too worried. Is it really too much to ask that our election officials be impartial, our election bylaws be designed to prevent/detect fraud and our electronic voting machines be tested and certified so that our votes can be counted fairly?
For much more on this, go to http://www.blackboxvoting.org and http://www.bradblog.com

An Invitation to Premier Campbell

I find it amusing that this pathetic little man could spend so much time in a dark little room with his pathetic little friends drafting a bill that none of them would have the guts to paraphrase, i.e., "Just shut up," in a face to face interaction.

I suggest he try it the next time he visits Vancouver. I invite him to stand on the corner of Main and East Hastings Streets for one hour and say those words to everyone who passes by. He'd be wise to book an appointment with his plastic surgeon for the next day.

I could rant on this for hours, but that's all I will offer. For, as Napolean Bonaparte said, "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

The slick million dollar

The slick million dollar marketing campaign unveiled by the unions is response to this issue shows why you need these rules.

The hypocrisy over this issue is hillarious. It's bad for any company to donate a few thousand to the Liberals. But a union can spend millions on a slick marketing campaign for the NDP and its alright.

Do you even listen to yourself?

JIm

Pls check out the difference between the two pieces of legislation.

The NDP 3rd party advertising law was meant to apply in the 28 days prior to a general election.

If you'd taken the trouble to understand the Campbell bill you might have noticed it covers a 4 month period prior to a fixed election date: It is clearly an infringement upon freedom of expression.

Furthermore, the hypocrisy of the Campbell Party, in view of the role of corporations and corporate lobbyists in among its supporters is quite profound. In addition, the disingenuousness of Campbell and Oppal’s public defence of the bill as an attempt to prevent the horrors of an American campaign is risible.

The NDP is on record as being supportive of a move to ban all but individual contributions.

There is a not small difference.

The Campbell Bill is offensive - as unions and the press - among others - have noted.

DO you even read?

I always invite respectful comments to my posts here at Tyee.

G West

JIm

That's why I love you JIm, hyperbole. Businesses support the Libs to a degree higher than any union spending yet you put your fingers in your ears and actually try to tell us unions outspend business.

Now that I've stopped laughing I applaud your worthy post and look forward to more as soon as you can pull the next chestnut out of your ass.

workers v corporate elite

To all possible Liberal shills: Jack, Luke, Jim, rikia etc.

In LaPointe's Mel Hurtig Tyee article (this week) we learn:

Heaven forbid any of the lowly working hordes band together and pay some of their three percent of the Canadian wealth pie to big businesses like Canwest-Global to show their side of the story. It just wouldn't be fair now would it. We can't possibly allow the working people to have a say in how they think things are being done or ought to be done. Why, it would be democratic! Heaven forbid!