Hawaii 5-0

[mbarrick]

If only I could take credit for this, but alas, someone mailed it to me at work.

Frankly, however, I'm with Ryan on this one. This is just a witch-hunt by the people who are happy to blame the mess left by the last government on the poor sod stuck cleaning it up. This has jack shit to do with his job, other than the fact the guy deserves a good bender. Drunk politicians are a Canadian tradition, for crying out loud. Look at that statue of Vancouver's founder down in Gastown: what's he standing on? A beer keg. Sir John A. MacDonald himself, the "Father of Confederation" was a notorious piss-tank and there isn't a history book on the shelves that will deny the fact that his repeated boozing-up of the various Premiers who signed on to Confederation was instrumental in the creation of Canada as a nation. If hypocritical morons paying lip service to democracy were doing things like fire-bombing your wife's office in anarchistic attempts to influence your policy wouldn't you get hammered on vacation? At least he isn't an appointed Premier spending millions on scrap iron (wanna buy a slightly used fast-ferry anyone?) and making up random budget numbers, eventually leaving an impossible fiscal mess behind. If you really want moral guide-posts for political leaders how about we just do away with that separation of church and state thing and go back to tea-toatalling theoretically-celebate bible-thumpers in charge?

Comments

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

while i agree it's a witch hunt and you can't blame those who want to see him go down, i think there is slightly more to the equation than just the drinking...i don't think anyone would disagree that the premier should be allowed to drink on his own time...it's socially accepted, and hell he should even be able to smoke pot if he so desires...but he went a step beyond drinking and drove knowing he was drunk...he willingly broke the law and has to pay those consequences...so people have a right to question his judgement as he showed a clear lack of good judgement by his decision...no matter what his habits and vices he is entitled to them...but if he breaks the law and is caught that's a different story...our society is obsessed with celebrity, a product of the 'hero' cult...and many politician's use the 'false-hero' image to get themselves elected...they purport to have more integrity, more honour, and be more trustworthy than their rivals...yet time and again they fail that test when they have the chance to prove it...i think more people are insulted by his hypocrisy, he set himself up for a higher standard and then tried to slip it by the masses by spinning it...problem is people aren't that stupid, and it's insulting that he assumes we are...people in the spotlight are so sure that we will just eat what we are fed by them without question...no matter how indigestible it may be...and of course the news will run with it...they have to fill up programming time and they know scandal sells...it's what the public wants, so it's what the public gets...another fact we cannot ignore...mr. campbell knows that's the case, as do we all...personally i don't care about people's private lives...as i don't care about celebrity either...he could have chosen an indiscretion which had far less consequences, he should've just gotten his rocks off...people can accept that, but drinking and driving is a contraversial subject and one guaranteed to bring out strong emotions...and the public's not yet cynical enough to let it slide by...

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

and don't tell me you believe that any of those teetotallers were any less corrupt than anyone else...they're famous for their scandalous indiscretions...look at the shape the church is in...

[dream-king.livejournal.com]

While I am extremely against the idea of drunk driving, I myself rarely drinking and my girlfriend's mother almost becoming a paraplegic and now 2 back fusions later becoming more and more confided to a chair am absolutely against it. However the idea of saying one who is drunk made a consciouse decision to drink is wrong. If one is drunk they lack that ability to think properly.

I think he should televise his AA meetings.

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Personally I think the miserable turd should have ended up dead due to driving off the road (that would have learnt him his lesson real good).

But despite being the staunch opponent of the Liberal regime that I am, I don't see his drunken ways any reason to resign. Even without El Despot Gordo, we'd still be stuck with his hardline cronies and their disasterous policies until the next election.

I'd much rather see him lose to the ballot box and the wrath of the voters than get off scot-free by resigning.

witch-hunts

[taoboy.livejournal.com]

I completely agree that the media and all those opposed to Campbell are using this incident to try and force him out of office. It's the first real event that can completely be used against him. Lets not forget though the cuts to health care, income assistance, women's support organizations and the rest of the social net that many B.C.er strongly desire. It really isn't an issue about what he did. The fact that he did something that is considered against the law is the chink in the armour that can be exploited. And personally I think it should be used. If it get him and the liberals out (which I highly doubt) so much the better. At the very least it will give the other parties some good ammo for the next election.

Nothing new

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

> it's what the public wants, so it's what the public gets...another fact we cannot ignore

Nor should we. This sort of fanning of the flames by media demagogues for the sake of selling yellow newspapers and commercial time during the news hour is indicative of the decline of parliamentary democracy. This is a decline in the very worst elements of Greek democracy. Aristotle's politics covers the slippery slope from democracy to tyranny quite effectively. The law exists to punish him for the crime, not the press. There is no due process in villifying someone like this. Look at Clarke - he was guilty until proven innocent in the courts. There so many things wrong with that it is frightening.

Is he up for charges here in British Columbia? He made a lapse of judgment while abroad on personal business, got caught, and paid the fine per the local laws - those *are* the consequences. Period. The media circus in inappropriate and counter-productive. It has very little to do with the issue at hand and everything to do with the lowest common denominator. The fickle fallability of that lowest common denominator is precisely why we don't elect our higher officials directly.

Re: witch-hunts

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

> the social net that many B.C.er strongly desire

And can't afford... While it may be true in the province that money grows on trees, a lot of them are dead from pine-beetles, the ones that are alive have tree-huggers attached and the rest have a 27% U.S. duty on them. If the politics in the province didn't swing back and forth governments like this one wouldn't have to cut everything back in compensation for the previous social over-spending. Just once I'd like to see a fiscally austere government like this one followed up with a sensible, middle of the road government that can actually maintain a viable balance between provincial income and social spending, rather than yet another knee-jerk swing back to fiscally-irresponsible, happy-feel-good, have-your-cake-and-blame-the-next-government-when-you-have-to-pay-for-it socialists.

Overplaying something like this in the press is just feeding the greated problem and encouraging yet another 180° swing. It's inicative of the very worst aspects of a decadent popular democracy.

[saturn13.livejournal.com]

one of the reason's we can't afford the social programs that we used to have is the major tax cut to the rich he gave when only a week into office saying that it would pay for itself. surprise it didn't. now to balance the budget, he is clawing back the cut with user fees, liscence fees, medicare premiums from those of us who can least afford it. have you had your eyestested lately? the cost of an eye exam has eaten up almost half of what why tax break was. he inheited a balanced budget (this fact supported by the auditor general) yet in his first budget came up with a 4 billion $ deficit and will not be able to balance the budget until their fourth year in gavernment. so much for the balanced budget law!

the fact remains cambell committed a criminal act! if you have committed a crimianl act you can not enter the united states. how can he represent bc's interests in negotiating a new softwood lumber pact if he can't go to washington to neegotiate? that is a fact that has not been brought up anywhere.

also if the shoe was on the other foot, he would be screaming for joy's head. he claims to be honourable and is very self-righteous. actually i think he should stay on. all of his arogance is going to help the one party that cares about the little people and not the rich corporations who paid for his election.

s13

Time and place

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

> if you have committed a crimianl act you can not enter the united states

...if it is a felony. First offence DWI is a misdimeanor. It no more prevents entering that U.S. than a speeding ticket.

The point is this does not affect his job. What you think of his policies (which I agree are too far right and as inherently flawed as those that are too far left, don't mistake me on that one) and his ability to do his job are precicely the criteria he should be judged on and the time an place to make that judgement is at the polls. B.C. has an unfortunate history of exchanging one brand of idiots for the other, producing enourmous waste and confusion. Running a business in this province is like playing a game with a toddler making up the rules as you go along. Toss federal restrictions on secondary industry on top of that, spasdic regulations from autonomous regulatory bodies with excessive authority, fickle municipal governments, American governmental and lobby-group meddling, and what-are-we-against-this-week? luddites on top of it all and it's no wonder there is no money to go around.

[mediavictim.livejournal.com]

I think that is one of the major problems with Canadian politics
No-one wants to drink the sour medicine. Liberal/NDP/SOCRED
They all have a 6 year plan to get done in 4 years. The problem is that the plans are implimented. We all get the sour taste of the worst.. then we don't like it so we call for a New leader who changes everything and impliments his new plans before we can reap the benefits of our suffering

and all the financial woes are blamed on the rich/poor/government without anyone really thinking
"... you know ..If I can just sit tight and be patient... we can ride out this economic storm and reach clear blue waters , maybe if we stoped changing Navigators we could find our way out of this mess"

I say 6 year terms.. cause 4 years don't work. I say once a community makes up its mind .. the MLA should stay there for the long haul without being moved.

...but the difference is that the MLA should be judged once he leaves office - not while he's there.

"okay Mr Smith .. you lost 14 million dollars due to bad investments of taxpayer money .. so you have to pay it back or
face prison"

"ok mr Jones .. you lost 60 million in taxpayers money and were found drunk with a young intern... but you also saved 200 million dollars in health care and raise 400 million for schooling and education... you're free to go"

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Changing the rules in the middle of the game doesn't do anybody any good.

[dream-king.livejournal.com]

The fact remains that before the tax break there were people who were just hiding it either legally or illegally. High taxes destroy the economy. Just remember how your shopping went down once the GST came into play.

The NDP over spent and had no accountability.

The thing that I believe has saved his ass that he didn't hurt anyone, he called an immediate press conference in which he allowed questions to be asked, checked himself into rehab as well as did not commit the crime on the Taxpayers watch.

Campbell will get elected for another term at least. The one thing which we have found in BC is that the voter has a short memory, they elected the NDP three times, it was only after 2 major scandles did they come crashing down. Similar with the Socreds, and we can't forget what happened to the leader of the liberals that started their ball rolling, the honourable Gordon Wilson and his extra marrital affair with speaker of the house Tiabjy

Re: Nothing new

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i hope you are giving the public the thumbs down and not me...ha ha...i have no faith in what we purport to be 'democracy'...it is lowest common denominator, and i don't know if electing the leader directly would be any better...it's all a matter of personality...otherwise how would you explain reagan??? and in the states they have degenerated into electing an official directly who proceeds to appoint all kinds of unelected 'advisors' who hold positions of extreme power...what used to be a cabinet of elected officials is now nothing more than a bunch of patronage appointments...therefore it isn't the will of the people that is reflected but rather the will of the individual elected...i'm not saying the media circus we are experiencing is justifiable, but with the decline in our civilization it is not surprising...and yes glen clark was vilified and then found to be innocent in a court of law...but then again many guilty people are found to be 'not guilty' in a court of law...loads of money buys a good defence, even for those who aren't worthy of it...the media and the public judges people outside of the sphere of the court...but what is funny is even the conservative media who supported gordon in the first place are feeding on his carcass...money talks louder than principles, especially when you're selling newspapers...

Re: witch-hunts

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

there is also the question of what running a deficit really means...after all if we look to our neighbours in the south they are perfectly willing to implement a huge tax cut and increase military spending and live with a huge deficit...subsequently they, through the international monetary fund and the world bank, expect other countries to pay down their debts and curb their deficits...and yet even with their huge deficit people are still willing to put their money in the states...deficits really don't make much of a difference one way or another...it is all dependant upon what you spend them on...the tax cut they implemented didn't stimulate the economy any more than had they not cut taxes...b.c. is a resource based economy and it runs cyclically, from high to low on a pretty regular schedule...we have been hurt by many things which we have little control over...duties and a downturn in the world economy to name but a couple...it's true the times they are a changin', and we will have to move away from some of our resource based sectors to new industries...it used to be that companies came in and built a strong base and contributed to the community...with the advent and multiplication of the corporation this isn't often the case...they clamour for tax breaks but then move the extra money out of the local economy to their head office...and if they can negotiate a better deal elsewhere they up and move their operations...therefore encouraging this self-destructive competition of lowering their tax burden and responsibility to the local community...in the '50s and '60s corporations paid 40 - 50% of the tax base...now that falls on the backs of the working class...there has to be a balance...if corporations paid their fair share of taxes we could support some of the very programs we hold dear and can't afford today...i say we pay a flat tax, across all levels and including business...of course we would have an exemption for those in the lowest income groups...

Just some fun food for thought...

[valerian.livejournal.com]

Our first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald was a notorious drunkard. Macdonald was quoted to have said, in regards to his Liberal political rival George Brown,

"The nation prefers John A. Macdonald drunk to George Brown sober."

On another occasion, when he (Sir John A.) was called on to speak in a close meeting hall, he rose unsteadily to his feet and promptly threw up. When the mess was cleaned up, he returned to centre stage and apologized. Then he pointed to George Brown and said, "I couldn't help it, that man always makes me sick."