L E T   ' E R    R I P !!!

I'd like to publicly thank Alaxandra Morton for her efforts in getting a Crown prosecutor to take on her case against the open net fish farming off BC's coast. This could be the year we finally get something done about that thanks to her efforts.

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(April 20, 2010, Port Hardy) Today, Todd Gerhart of the Department of Justice, stayed charges laid by biologist Alexandra Morton against Marine Harvest, the largest Norwegian fish farm company in the world, for unlawful possession of wild salmon. In a landmark initiative Gerhart advised the Court that on April 16, 2010, DOJ filed a new indictment against Marine Harvest, including the original charges laid by Alexandra Morton as well as new charges for unlawful possession of herring reported in October 2009. Mr. Gerhart will be the prosecutor.

My complaint for the roads this week is that I wish they would open up some of the sight lines on the highway. Places like microwave hill south of town has fantastic viewscapes of the Fraser Valley blocked by about 100 meters of trees... and a gravel mound that runs parallel with the highway.

Why not open up the sight lines when we have nothing but beautiful countryside and amazing river valley to show off?

Currently a tourist will report back that they saw nothing but dead trees. With the sight lines opened up a tourist would tell the world about the scenes that were burnt into their mind from the natural beauty of the area. Its costs next to nothing and the appearance makes all the difference in the world to the perception people have of the place. It would be nice if it happened anyways.

Also if a bridge was built in the Lower Mainland how many people think it would take multiple years before the approaches were properly landscaped... the new Fraser bridge surprises me how they left it all gravel and did nothing to add to the appearance to what is essentially the gateway to our city.

Seems like two standards when it comes to the aesthetics of road construction in BC.

An important couple of articles considering the geo-politics of pending world war these days.

Can the U.S. Beat Israel at their Game?
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/25/can-the-u-s-beat-israel-at-their-game/

The Petraeus briefing: Biden�s embarrassment is not the whole story
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/14/the_petraeus_briefing_biden_s_embarrassment_is_not_the_whole_story

I think it would be handy to number the posts

When General Motors went down they had 100,000 working employees but had 1,000,000 past employees on the payroll collecting various benefits. Everyone realizes that scenario was unsustainable. In a way General Motors problem is a reflection of the current Global recession. The way we were can no longer be. The huge debt crisis has caused all governments that are responsible to look at cutting services and raising money. And while we all have a distrust of all things political and tend to blame your own provincial politician the problem is universal. So when your opposition parties whoever they may be demand no school closures, better health, higher wages, better roads and infrastructure, more funding for every program then aren't they really saying more taxes? It is very easy to say we need more money for everything but who will pay for it?
As they say the times they are a changing. I personally will vote for the party that promises me the least. The party that gets my vote
has to answer five basic questions: What are they trying to do, how are they going to do it, why is it going to work, where are they going to get the money, and how much is it going to cost? And until you answer those five questions then it is just words.
So when they come to your door to sign the ANTI HST petition ask them a couple of questions. Ask them what programs they think should be further cut and what taxes should be raised to take care of the debt. If they can't answer that question then they are just playing the game and don't have the answers.

I have been really concerned about our air quality and what is being done about it. Has anyone else noticed that this issue has become very quiet and swept under the table so to speak? I really feel like WE should not let up on this. Everyone involved got away with not telling us there was a problem and now they are forgetting about US. In my opinion the law was broken on the provincial government, our city council and PGair levels. I was watching our city council on TV the other night and it was brought up and dismissed very quickly with no discussion. There should have been charges laid in this matter and the deceit involved was sickening to say the very least. No one was held accountable and probably never will be.

I had a break in at my business last night and when I asked the cops what can be done they said basically nothing unless you catch the thieves red handed, if you can't identify them then tough they won't take anytime trying to unravel anything or ask any questions.
Its almost worth it to buy a doberman or a rotteiller and let the thieves deal with getting ripped to pieces by a guard dog, or to buy a gun and wait for the buggers to try again, but if I do that then i go to jail for trying to protect my property. i guess crime does pay.

Yes,apparently crime DOES pay highlanderpg!
More so now than ever, it seems.
I am also starting to think the proceeds of crime flows uphill,given the lack of desire to do anything about it!

RIP... while that is all well good, there would not be such an uproar if

A) The Gov't didn't lie and slime their way into power and then our bank accounts. If they were up front with us, people might have a bit more respect for the Liberals and what they are proposing.

B) It would also help if they didn't spend so much money on stupid projects. There is no extra money for the things you mentioned like education, and heath care (etc), but there's enough money in the kitty to spend $400 million on a new retractable roof on BC Place that's located in a rain forest?

That kind of Gov't stupidity drives people over the edge.

I think the anti-HST has more to do with reminding the Liberals who the boss is.

My road gripe this AM isn't so much about the condition, but the crappy repair work that has been done in the past.

I'm finding more and more places that have already been "repaired", coming apart and leaving deep holes behind. Example, the intersection of Edmonton St and 12th Ave (by the hospital), is coming apart again for the 4th time in a year. The city crews keep coming back and re-filling the same damage.

Wouldn't the city be saving money by repairing the roads correctly just one time? Or is this a "make work project" by the crews to keep themselves employed?

I think those of you interested in the HST campaign should atleast take some time to read the following link. Atleast it gives you an idea of what your working towards and may clear up some misunderstandings.


http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/referenda-recall-initiative/initiative/hst/

It's a beautiful day in Mr Rogers neighborhood so smile and enjoy it.

To highlanderpg
A friend of mine while living in the US was having equipment stolen off his racecar constantly. The police could do nothing. So he and his hunting buddy loaded up some 12 gauge with rock salt, installed a microphone under the hood and waited. They blacked out the basement windows and played cards waiting for the right time. Finally they heard the hood being opened and the thieves commencing their work. My buddy and his friend came around each side of the house and there in the dim light were two scum bent over in tight jeans dismantling equipment off the car. My buddy's friend had a very short fuse. He said "Halt, Bang" and the guy dropped. My buddy ran down the other guy and had him on the corner on the ground with the 12 gauge barrel in his mouth saying "Don't Shoot"
My buddy's friend came up, looked down at the thief and said "Mines dead, how's your's?"
The thiefs pants instantly darkened. They let him go. A while later the sheriff came by and asked if they had heard a gun shot. They replied no it must have been a backfire. The sheriff then said "You guys have been having a lot of theft problems off your racecar, haven't you".
"I noticed some fresh blood beside the car you must have cut yourself. Have a good evening fellas, I hope you used rock salt and not the real stuff" and then he walked away.

In the past week I have counted over 40 people driving while on their cell phones. You would think with the new money grab, er.. law, the police would be catching these folks.

And on that note, the people who get a call and break suddenly or swerve to the side of the road to answer the call are the dangerous ones out there.

on the side of taxes
think of Greece, that country is in crisis but according to CBC new 80% of Greeks don't pay their taxes and they don't want to give up early retirement.
hmmmmmm!

Why do we keep bashing the government. We pay our taxes, and then these people are suppose to look after our interests.

That is the way it should be. Thus if he/she does not do a good job, stop voting them in. A good case and point is Dick Harris. We all complain about him, but that useless twit keeps getting back in. Thus it is true that the encumbant always has an advantage.

I would like to find out how many people who signed the anti HST petition, voted in the last election. That should be the measuring stick. If your not socially responsible enough to vote, than you really should not have the right to complain.

I have seen a local girl driving a Dodge mini-van(dark blue)with a baby in it talking on her cell phone numerous times.
Saw her again yesterday...blah,blah,blah.
Me thinks our cops are not paying attention.

HST

Vote for me, There will be no taxes at all. No PST, No corporate taxes, No personal income tax.

No government employees, no public schools, no public hospitals, no social services, no road repairs, no control over private enterprises.


Yes there will be schools,and hospitals and all that stuff we take for granted. but it will be for those who can afford it. All roads will be on a toll basis.

Thus there will be a larger gap between the haves and have nots. It does not bother me, I am almost there, and should be able to do good in a few years.


So, we all have a choice in what kind of country we want to live in. It is a democratic country, we can choose our destiny. We can sign on or not sign on.

I ranted about this before but man it bugs me for some reason. All the tree's on the corner of O,grady and Domano were destroyed to make way for the so called outdoor store which is "coming soon". It's been "coming soon" for a year now. Why are developers allowed to create such an unsightly mess and then do nothing with it. There should be a bylaw saying you can only clear the land when your actually going to do something with it.

Vocer, how about you can not cut down the trees at your front yard with out an OK from the city.

We have enough rules. Its there property, as long as they did not leave it in a dangerous manner. I say its OK.

Hespoke: "That is the way it should be. Thus if he/she does not do a good job, stop voting them in. A good case and point is Dick Harris. We all complain about him, but that useless twit keeps getting back in. Thus it is true that the encumbant always has an advantage. "

I would agree with you, except the fact that the other parties don't even try to put anybody decent in to compete against Hill or Harris. The other parties in effect surrender those ridings every election.

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"I would like to find out how many people who signed the anti HST petition, voted in the last election. That should be the measuring stick. If your not socially responsible enough to vote, than you really should not have the right to complain."

Bingo!

He spoke - Thats hardly an argument. If I am cutting trees down in my yard it would be followed up right away with something cosmeticaly appealing. This is a clear cut in plain view which has not been touched in a year. Why tear it down until your ready. If looking at a clear cut everyday is ok with you then your sense of neighbourhood pride is a little skewed

That "clear cut" is a lot prettier then looking at the back end of crappy tire across the street. :)

Have you contacted the city to see if there are any bylaw violations happening? Not that the city will do anything if there is but it might make you feel better.

"according to CBC new 80% of Greeks don't pay their taxes"

Everyone who buys anything in Greece pays taxes. Their "value added" tax rate is reported as 19%. There are some reductions for food, etc.

One of the advantages of a sales tax. No questions asked. Someone else collects for the government.

The income tax rates for low income people are coming down, the VAT is going up and those earning more than EUR 60,000 will be paying a levy of EUR 1,000+ based on income.

Just think, I make 60,000, pay 25% income tax and have 45,000 left to spend.

I spend the 45,000, pay VAT and get 36,500 of product. So, in the end I am left with 61 cents on the Euro.

Not that much different from Canada actually.

The moral of the story, if people are not paying taxes the government collects, then get another collector, the merchant. :-)

If they lowered the HST to 10%, it would still do all the good things for business that they say it will, while at the same time keep the tax approximately the same for the people.

They would still get the 1.6 billion bonus from the Feds.

So what's the problem? Nothing except that they want additional money from the consumer to cover their pet projects.

How can you tell when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving! This HST only makes the underground economy more appealing to alot more people, don't really see it turning the economy around and putting everybody back to work.

my2bits... no I have not contacted anyone and dont plan to. I just think developers should hold off on ripping and tearing the ground apart until they are actually going to use it. It's just a friday free for all rant about something that irks me. Thats what were here for.

"the other parties don't even try to put anybody decent in to compete against Hill or Harris. The other parties in effect surrender those ridings every election."

This is not necessarily the case. In the election before last the NDP had an extremely good candidate from Tumbler Ridge to run in that area, but he was still defeated despite a great deal of hard work. The reality is that in some ridings a majority will always vote for the candidate of a particular party, in the two PG ridings it is almost any right wing party. That is the basis of "safe" ridings. A centre or centre-left party has little chance of success except in extraordinary circumstances (Brian Gardiner for instance). I assure you it is not for want of trying - from personal experience as a campaign manager.

I turned my back for a minute yesterday and they raised the price of gasoline. Methinks it is because of Greece and the state of their finances. The Euro is in trouble. Any excuse to raise gas prices. They are only limited by their imagination with a side of greed attached. Gas prices? Just wait til Iran gets what is coming to them.

A buck ten a liter! I can't wait for summer...Wonder if they'll break a buck fifty this year?

Vocer. I agree with you.

I do not think the owner cares about what the people who look at the site ever day think. They look at the site from a sales point of view. Does it look better for those in the market for property or a space to rent. People who are interested in the building can visualize the building size much better if they can see the property rather than looking at trees which obstruct the property lines.

We are no longer living in an era when trees are wanted by a developer. They want a flat, bare piece of property and will reluctantly plant 10 foot high "trees" here and there to make the city happy.

People 30 years from now will then enjoy mature trees, just about the time when the building is ready to be torn down and a new development put up with trees removed and new 12 foot high plantings put in place.

:-)

THIEF ALERT - be on the lookout for an older white Ford van with black roof racks cruising rural areas. Was in the neighborhood when buddies Rhino side by side was stolen in Salmon Valley. Van has been spotted 3 times in the local area since. I like the rock salt post!

Thanks for the info Deneen. I think we just have to all look after each others back, nail these crooks and show them good old justice.

We need to take back our city.

fax man, will it hit a buck and half.

It all depends on how they want to spin the accident in the Gulf of Mexico. I think, the right price for our Petro should be a bout a buck a liter. Enough for people to be able to buy it, but expensive enough that we don't waste it by idling the vehicles, or driving around for the fun of it.

I think we have to be smarter consumers, stop buying fruits that are normally out of season. We have to get back to the basics, and be more aware of what we are doing and how it is impacting our health and wealth.

Why do I need to buy fresh berries in the middle of the winter. Should I have the right to because I have money, what is the carbon footprint of that strawberry traveling 3000 miles.

Vocer, i do believe most of that wood was dead pine, or crappy Aspen. Thus the pine becomes a public safety issues, of it being blown over in windy conditions. Thus likely need to be cleared off. You can't lay down just the pine an leave it, because than people can get hurt walking around it or it becomes too much of a ground fuel issue. You really cound not effectively skid out valueless wood. Knock it all down and haul'er away.

idealistically, one could save a tree on the perimeter of the property, but eventually the wind will knock it down.

I think trees are important, I think we need to plant more trees in our community in public areas. We need to have more green in green spaces. We can work with the developers to have green space, but, ultimately its their pocket book. Trees, clean up our air and it just plain looks good.

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

He spoke....My point was based on what I think should happen. Leave it alone until you use it. It's not specific to the property I mentioned. Having said that those trees are (or were) part of a block of trees that still extends furthur down O'grady and are not in any way an issue. I walked through today and the stand is fine. There is no beetle kill and all the aspen is blooming and green. No to beleaguer the point but I dont think a developer should create an unsightly mess in an urban area unless there going to do something with it right away. I understand it's better to see the property as it would look for bulding but enough with the looking its been a year and nothing. Also todays technology could easily be used to show what a property would look like for building purposes. Either way you have your opinion but it looks like hell and I aint changing my mind.. nope... no way.
:-)

Regarding the clear-cut on O'Grady, wouldn't be nice if everything in life went to according to plan?

Maybe the company who owns the land ran into some unforseen issue which delayed construction. We do not know the whole story. It may have been that construction was to start the spring after the trees were removed. Who knows?

You want to see a clearcut? Drive to the end of Malaspina in College Heights, park your car, and then walk. Unbelieveable what has happened there. A huge swath of dirt and it is sickening.

Eagleone I suggest you get more information about salmon farms before knocking them. Get your information from more than one source. Salmon counts are down all over, not just in the area of farms. Pinks have been at times at the highest levels ever seen in the area of farms. Reports also showed that sea lice numbers on wild salmon in areas away from farms were about the same, and sometimes more, than on wild fish in areas with farms.

The B.C. salmon farming industry employed roughly 6,000 people directly and indirectly, contributing $800-million to the provincial economy.

Farmed salmon, is the province's largest agricultural export - and B.C.'s fish farms were the world's most highly-regulated aquaculture operations.

Farmed salmon yum yum.

"I would like to find out how many people who signed the anti HST petition, voted in the last election. That should be the measuring stick. If your not socially responsible enough to vote, than you really should not have the right to complain."

I think that in light of the fact that the premier lied to get elected by saying his government would not be bringing in the HST that even the people who didn't vote can in good conscience sign the petition. Tit for Tat.

Apathy is one thing, but outright bold faced lying to the people of this province is another thing all together.

When is the recall for every sitting MLA?

RIP commonsense wrote:-
"The party that gets my vote
has to answer five basic questions: What are they trying to do, how are they going to do it, why is it going to work, where are they going to get the money, and how much is it going to cost? And until you answer those five questions then it is just words."
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Lets see how an "honest" BC Liberal candidate (there's an oxymoron, if ever there was one!) in the next Provincial election might answer those questions:-

1. "What are they trying to do" ~ "Uh, I really don't know. Beyond getting elected to a job that pays well, I really haven't got a clue. Premier Campbell hasn't told me yet, but don't worry, you can always count on me to vote just as he tells me to."

2."How are they going to do it" ~ "Well, I think he's going to spend just enough of that $ 1.6 billion we got from the Feds to make it look like we know how to turn the economy around."

3."Why is it going to work?" ~ "Oh, that's easy. The other Party hasn't got $ 1.6 billion to play with."

4."Where are they going to get the money?" ~ "You gotta be kidding, right?"

5."How much is it going to cost?" ~ "Cost WHO? You'll have to be more specific." (...while he looks in Liberal campaign manual for the appropriate "Party line...) "The HST will be 'revenue neutral' and result in new investment and greater productivity for BC industries, creating more jobs for BC workers..... "

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RIP continued:- "So when they come to your door to sign the ANTI HST petition ask them a couple of questions. Ask them what programs they think should be further cut and what taxes should be raised to take care of the debt. If they can't answer that question then they are just playing the game and don't have the answers."
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It'll probably be lost on you, RIP, since your 'commonsense' is indeed dead and buried, but those of us who are against the HST would like to know just what YOU would like us to do WITHOUT when a 7% increase in "our" costs on over 70 different goods and services has to come out of an income that hasn't increased?

And what is going to happen to those who provide those goods and services when WE start to do WITHOUT them? Have YOU thought about that? Or are you as ideologically narrow minded and nearsighted as our Premier?

Get your facts right before posting such garbage Seamutt! Nothing in your post is true. What Salmon farming company do you work for?
6000 jobs and 800 million $ makes it ok to destroy wild salmon runs? Get real.
You and yours are going to lose this fight Seamutt. Perhaps you can explain how the Norweigan salmon farmers have destroyed the wild runs in their own country and are well on the way to the same result in Chile and are now working on BC all in the name of corporate profit for an overseas company. Do some real research Seamutt and then come back and post some facts.

Farmed salmon is the most tasteless bland and toxic protein on the face of this planet. It takes 3 pounds of other types of fish that are caught from our oceans to produce 1 pound of farmed salmon meat.

I should have said ...It takes 3 pounds of other types of fish that are caught from our oceans that are used as feed for farmed salmon, to produce 1 pound of farmed salmon meat. Hows that for efficient.

Dragonmaster settle down you are going to give yourself the big one. Garbage, nice reply. I can tell you have no personal experience what so ever with the farms. Read my post again. The runs are down on the whole coast not just in the area of the farms. Sockeye are the species down the most. Pinks have had some of the biggest runs ever recorded right in the area of the farms.

I quite enjoy farmed, being a fattier fish its great on the barbie and smoked. You should try it sometime. I can tell you haven't.

Toxic, it has no more toxins than any other salmon, most times less.

Do you know that fish is used in the feed of other farmed animals and pets. Farmed fish actually use less protein to grow than other farmed animals because of being cold blooded and not fighting gravity.

I suggest you get your facts straight.

Oh by the way I have fished Rupert and guess what, lice, long ways from any farms. Farmed fish actually get lice from wild fish.

I would be careful using facts from Morton, I have been told she sometimes cherry picks her results. I also wonder if she may apply some bias, follow the money.

"Oh by the way I have fished Rupert and guess what, lice, long ways from any farms. Farmed fish actually get lice from wild fish"

There ya go Seamutt you are now posting a fact.

However you are twisting it in your favour.

There is no disputing that sea lice are natural in the environment and that any salmon in that environment will be infected with lice.

The issue as you well know Seamutt isn't where the lice came from but the fact that the farmed salmon have caused the sea lice populations to explode beyond anything anyone has ever seen in history. That explosion in numbers is what the problem is.
Thats a documented fact. Stop spreading your lies to protect your investment Seamutt. Anyone that knows anything about wild salmon knows that farmed salmon is as I have explained above. Tastless, bland, toxic and has artificial color added to it to make it appear like the real thing. Health Canada recomendations for the amount of farmed salmon people should eat are way lower than any wild salmon ever has been. You can carry on eating that crap all you want. Those of us that have no stake in the farmed salmon industry know better.

Oh, and Morton isn't all alone in this. She has many other professionals helping investigate and spread the truth about your industry. You will lose, get used to it.