In my Opinion

WAYNES WORD ON COMMON SENSE The Conservative government move to crack down on drug addicts and drug addiction and move away from harm reduction is so misguided it seems ridiculous to even answer to it, but here goes.  What drugs are illegal is mostly an accident of where you were born in the world, in western countries alcohol, prescription drugs, and the odd little anomaly such as peyote are legal, in the middle east and much of the rest of the world, the Moslem world in particular alcohol is illegal and marijuana, hashish are legal. Each society does what it can to maintain this illusion of control over it's citizens choice of poisons. The reality is that all society's past and present pretty well do as they please in respect to their personal choice of drugs or combination's of drugs, be that alcohol, opiates, marijuana, hashish, mushrooms, chemicals, glue and solvent snifters, or one of the new designer drugs that come out each and every day. Regardless of the various draconian methods used to control their appetites and addictions whether it be death, incarceration, beheading or whatever the local fanatics can come up with to stop their illegal, possibly self-destructive ways. The lunacy and the injustice of this policy  is quite obvious to me. Millions of people use alcohol, marijuana, opiates, and countless other drugs moderately with no real harm to anyone.  There is about 5 percent of any population that seem to be genetically predisposed to addiction and they can become addicted to any number of substances or even human emotions such as depression, caffeine, sugar, nicotine or physical urges such as sexual addiction or even pain. There seems to be no limit to the things some humans can become addicted to.  The injustice comes when you realize that if a person becomes addicted to most of these self-destructive behaviors such as sexual, alcohol, prescription drugs, depression, obesity, bad eating habits (sugar, fats or even foods that we know to be loaded with poisons) these are all self-destructive dependency's and  we should help them to overcome these addictions with companionate understanding and medical treatment and there is no doubt that some of them will never beat or recover from their addictions no matter how much care or treatment we bestow on them, some will inevitably fall by the wayside and live out a sad pathetic existence and then die before their time, but never the less there is hope and treatment for those persons that have the courage to change their self-destructive lifestyles whether they are addicts because of their genetic predisposition to the condition or they have been purposely addicted to get them into prostitution for example or just to be a captive income source for some drug dealer.  Then you have the other group who happen to be born in the wrong country and are addicted to what is deemed to be an illegal drug, you might not even be addicted to the substance but just a casual user but if you get caught you go to jail and in America if you get caught three times you will be in jail for the rest of your life.  It won't only be the jailed person who suffers but the family and friends of the unfortunate individual who is punished, unlike the other legal drug group who gets treatment and can then reenter his or her life, back to the job that the company he works for might even have paid for their treatments, our jailed sick person on the other hand after two or three years of cruel and unusual punishment will be sent out into a world were they will probably not be able to use the skills or training he used before going to jail, it will if he can get a job at all will probably be a minimum wage job at best, most decent jobs a worker has to be bondable and you will just not qualify, the chances are you will be right back at your self-destructive ways within no time at all. Never mind the lost potential of these individuals, they are very likely to be a costly burden on society for the rest of their lives the billions of dollars that it costs to incarcerate them, the the billions of dollars it will cost in collateral social costs such as welfare for their families. The cost of all the lost tax dollars as they will likely never again be a really productive member of society. Their children will be brought up in poverty and chances are will fall victim to the very same stresses that the parents fell victim to.  What an injustice, what a waste we all know alcoholics and other addicts who finally got their lives in order without going to jail, I don't know anyone who went to jail and got their life right after that experience. Life is hard enough without the handicap and stigma of a criminal record never mind the inevitable negative mental changes spending any amount of time in jail is sure to cause (beatings, rape, drugs). It was up till 1929 and you could get cocaine in what were called soft drinks at the time (CocaCola) and opiates were available in grocery stores (laudanum) and the drug addiction rate was probably better than it is today with the so called war on drugs. Prohibition has repeatedly been shown to be ineffective and in fact makes the problem worse because there is so much money to be made by purposely addicting people. You simply have to take the money out of drugs by legalizing them and have the government selling pure drug compounds only to adults as liquor is sold today. We must have education and treatment for the individuals who fall victim to there affects, which there most surly will be just as individuals fall victim to alcoholism now. You will always have a massive resistance to this idea, first you have the drug czars who of course want to keep making their billions of dollars of ill gotten blood money, then you have the corrupt politicians who are paid to turn a blind eye to the problem, then you have the police who know that police forces could be reduced by up to 80 percent if they didn't have the farce called the war on drugs, and then of course you have the religious wing nuts who are against anything and everything that resembles common sense. Let the sanity begin.

Misplaced Loyaltys

It would seem the legend about the difference between Americans and Europeans is definitely a fact, the legend goes that in European countries the government is afraid of their people but in America the people are afraid of the government. 
In spite of the fact that there are occupy protests in over 70 major American cities and over 600 occupy protests in other communities the American Congress refuses to extent the middle class tax cuts past the new year which will affectively mean tax increases for over 160 million already hurting middle class familys. The sad fact is that 1 out of every two Americans is already living below the poverty level, but Congress is more afraid of the 1 percent that keep them in the style they are accustomed than they are afraid of the American middle class, the very people that really pay the bills. 

In their arrogance the one percent is confident they can keep the system firmly under their control, before the end we could see the American military just back from Iraq occupying American cities and Predator drones cruising Wall street and Main street looking for home grown enemies of the state, the long suffering middle class. 

In the end the American elite are more than likely destined to find out why the European governments fear their populations.


Least we forget the last figures I saw claimed there are 7 guns for every man women and child in America, best not to antagonize the sleeping tiger. 


P.S. America has just officially become a police state with the passing of the national defence authorization act. 


P.S. March 2012 Things have just gotten decidedly worse with the driving in of the last nail in the coffin of freedom, with the passing of the authoritarian 
anti-protest law H.R. 347 which allows fines and jail terms from 1 year up to 10 years for being involved in a public protest. 
If you want to scare the crap out of yourself read the actual legislation or the final destruction of the American Constitution. 
Which is almost redundant considering the other draconian laws just passed which gives the government the right to literally kill people without due process or legal redress. 


Wayne Clark

1984

If anyone has any doubts about how far the one percent is prepared to go to preserve the status-quo one only look at the present legislation being considered in the land of the free, the good old U.S.A. 

A provision in the National Defence Authorization Act would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial, and would include indefinite detention.

The measure would effectively extend the definition of what is considered the U.S. military’s battlefield to anywhere in the world, even the United States.
It would seem that our southern neighbour is about to flirt with fascism in an attempt to control the unrest of the 99 percent. 

As if that isn’t scary enough the government of Steven Harper thinks it would be a good idea for Canada to sign on and become a party to this draconian insanity.  

Quote “ They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”  Benjamin Franklin

Let the Americans build their 6 thousand mile fence because by the direction they are moving it will undoubtedly protect Canadians much more from them, than it will them from us. 

PS No wonder America is in financial distress when you see the stupid ideas they have to squander $100 billion on a useless iron white elephant that will not make them one bit safer.
I wonder how many bridges roads and other needed infrastructure that money could finance.
There is no doubt about it Americans are their own worst enemy.

P.S. The national defence authorization act is now the law of the land.

Wayne Clark

Oligarchy by Quisling

Canadians are so lucky that we have such a democratic caring government that is so closely tuned to the wishes and needs of the Canadian people and it’s economy. 

It’s popular stand on things close to the hearts of the majority of Canadians like spending billions on much needed new prisons to put all those new criminals and who can forget Mr. Harpers brave stand against doing anything about climate change and making sure nobody else does either. Lets not forget his insightful fight to turn a blind eye to the endangered blue fin tuna or polar or grizzly bears, or Canada’s caribou or his ever popular quest to continue the highly subsidized seal slaughter that makes us so popular in the world.

How can we forget his ultimate gift to the Americanization of Canada which will undermine every civil liberty and right that Canada has taken for granted for most of it’s history. Canada’s charter of rights is about to be super-ceded by the draconian American patriot act. 

It seems Mr. Harpers government which is supported by 16 percent of Canadians thinks it is another great idea to hand over Canada’s laws and very sovereignty to America, a country on the brink of financial and social collapse. 

Why Canadians would willingly hitch our wagon to a country that is in free-fall on every front is totally incomprehensible.

It is time to tell the Governor general to immediately dissolve parliment and every Canadian voter to vote for anything other than the NeoConservatives while we can still call Canada our own.

Wayne Clark

Back to the Centre

As political centrist and traditionally a Liberal voter I have been feeling more and more estranged from my political comfort zone, partially since Gordon Campbell highjacked the BC Liberal brand. 
I can no longer hold my head up when I am asked what party I support at least provincially. 

Provincially at least I am and have been a man without a party and I have been slowly pushed to the closest party to the centre of the political spectrum that exists in BC at this time in history, the centre left BC NDP. 

Provincially at least I have finally made the decision to join the NDP party.

BC needs desperately to return to the centre, centre left, centre right where it has been for most of my life we have to stop the privatizing at any cost, stop the lies, deceit and corruption, get rid of the HST as the people of BC voted for now, stop the free ride for business and sweetheart deals they have enjoyed under the so called BC Liberals, Stop the current shell game with the deficit and BCs budget, no more disastrous P3s, and last but not least the gutting of workers and the unions rights has to stop immediately and allow the much needed worker and union input into the economy, the provincial government must stop their lap dog attitude with Mr. Harper especially on things like the tried and failed concept of making the monetary sinkhole penal system Canada's only growth industry. 

Communism failed with the collapse of Russia and now predictably NeoCon Capitalism and it’s VooDoo economics has suffered the same fate as well, the centre or sweet spot is in the centre of the two extremes and it is time for us to get back to a fair, rational system where we can all thrive and prosper, without the crushing decimation of the middle class and the grinding poverty of the poor, a fair living wage for a mans honest labour. 

Is that unreasonable or to much to strive for ?

Wayne Clark

Democracy was never easy

I have been looking at the disturbing pictures and reading the reports about the suppression of the democratic occupy movement and I can assure you that we have seen nothing yet. 

The full power, control  and money has yet to be seen that the super rich 1 percent is undoubtedly prepared to unleash to maintain the status quo, which means keeping the worlds people powerless and enslaved in their miserly quest for the riches of avarice. 

Contrary to popular belief most of the really big money is inherited and that top one percent owns more than the other 99 percent combined, to the point that you are seeing increasing numbers of people moving down the economic ladder. A consumer society needs a large healthy middle class to keep the wheels of commerce moving.  How many cars can a super rich drive or buy, how many cokes  can he drink, it is that large middle class with disposable income that drives the economy, most super rich probably don't even own an American car.

The one percent masters of the universe have had a great con going for the last 30 years consolidating their power and wealth, and if anyone thinks that they will just give up all the power and money they have accumulated just because the 99 percent want a piece of the pie you are wrong, there will be plenty of blood spilled before this is over. 
We have witnessed the fact that  the chosen few certainly don’t mind spilling the 99 percents blood from Vietnam to all the way to Libya, as a matter of fact it is one of their main sources of income, as long as it isn’t them or their children.

General Eisenhower was right the military industrial complex will be the downfall of America, it will fall from within at the hands of the 1 percent. 

The government is controlled by and for these chosen few which means they control the media, military, the police, the courts, just about everybody, it will escalate and without a doubt get bloody before the end. 

The 99 percent will win in the end for the simple fact that the present system is not sustainable, never mind all the other injustices such as, simply not conducive to a just, democratic, egalitarian society. 

Wayne Clark 

Tunnel Vision

Re: The news November the 16/2011

Mr. Banov you might have run for the Marijuana party but from what I see other than the one anomaly about Marijuana, that I actually agree with, you are otherwise without a doubt a big C Conservative. 

Maybe we could go over a couple of your beliefs and see if we can find a few holes in your reasoning. 

Your contention that somehow rightwing capitalism somehow ensures democracy is obviously just plain wrong. Democracy can be an integral part of most political systems other than dictatorships and other such closed systems.

First the government does set a rate for a persons labour it is called the minimum wage and in BC up till May 1/2011 it was $6.00-8.75 an hour for a persons  labour, but lets keep it real and work with the minimum wage as of Nov 1/2011 $9.50 an hour is what our government deems to be a fair wage for an hours labour now, lets see $9.50 x 40 hours $380.00 a week $380.00 x 52 = $19,760 a year for a person working full time. The poverty level for a couple and two children in BC is $35,471.00 so a person working full time will make just over 1/2 the poverty level for his labour and his family, you obviously see no problem with that. 

Well not to worry we will leave it up to the corporations to give workers a fair living wage, lets take a big multibillion dollar company like Nike for instance, they went to Taiwan to manufacture their $100.00 plus shoes and the workers received $2.50 a day for their labour thats fair isn’t it, Oh maybe not, as a few years later they moved their business lock stock and barrel to Vietnam where they could not only pay $1.00 a day for 14-16 hour days, not only that but they didn’t have to worry about those pesky labour unions as they are illegal in Vietnam. As of July 2011 Nike stated that 2/3 of it’s factories producing Converse products still do not meet even the companies standards for worker treatment. 

It has been reported that Michael Jordan was paid more to endorse Nike than all the people that made them.

How low can you go, I don’t think many Canadians could compete with that level of exploitation on any level, living on 99 cents a day could present a few problems such as starvation or exposure.

I find it interesting that the right only sees in absolutes there is only COMMUNISM OR ULTRA-RIGHT CAPITALISM  they don’t even consider the vast territory between those extremes.

It would seem that capitalism isn’t much more sustainable than that other ism, communism was, it is just taking a little longer to collapse under it’s own weight and unjust excesses.

Wayne Clark

NeoCon mouthpiece

Re: Occupy Vancouver just another squat. The News Nov 9/2011

Mr. Fletcher has to take a little credit if people are seriously disenchanted with capitalism, with his unflinching support for ultra-rightwing capitalism, the rich corporations and the 
rich 1 percent that derives most of the wealth and benefits from unrestrained capitalism. 

Mr. Fletcher and the chosen few have shown nothing but contempt and disrespect for the 99 percent of the workers of the world that actually do the work and produce the products of the global economy. 

They use derogatory insults designed to pacify, demoralize and marginalize honest workers saving their most contemptible insults and lies for union workers and real democracy, heaping words like anarchism, pathetic self-serving, financially illiterate, lazy, unambitious even suggesting at times that people like firemen and paramedics are less than real men. 

Mr. Fletcher slavishly supports any and all taxes that increased taxes on workers and decreased them on business and the wealthy 1 percent such as HST calling anyone who dares to disagree with his opinion financially illiterate, ignorant.

It is the Tom Fletchers of the world that think sending 300 high paying jobs to Ontario or any other meaningful employment offshore to the country with the lowest wages to make businesses more efficient ( which means profitable) not only makes sense but actually is a good idea economically.

Mr. Fletcher and the one percent will not be happy until the whole world is a third world country with the chosen few 1 percent with 90 percent of the wealth and everyone else a giant slave pool that they can exploit at their leisure.

You can squeal all you want but the writing is on the wall Mr. Fletcher, the worm has turned, the pendulum has gone as far right as it can and now it has began to swing back to the centre and with it will come a revitalized middle class and a little justice for the workers of this world, and if you want to call this reality another of your favourite slurs, that old boogyman socialism feel free because no reasonable person listens to your NeoCon dogma anyway.


It is Mr. Fletcher and his NeoCon co-conspiraters that have brought the world to it's knees and they still insist that their VooDoo economics is the answer to all the worlds monetary problems, we just have to give the one percent yet more money and everything will somehow be all right.

I would say that for all the real news you produce your seat in the legislature is nothing more than a SQUAT. 

Wayne Clark

Going the wrong way

The more things change the more they stay the same. 

Canadians were the people in North America who were fine with taxation without representation in 1776 and now it seems many Canadians do not even believe in or practice democracy. First barely 50 percent even bother to vote in Federal and provincial elections and now according to the polls many do not support people exercising their democratic right to peaceful protests such as the occupy movement. Apparently protesting not only upsets them but also inconvenience them and somehow embarrasses or threatens their peace of mind and way of life. 

Canadians have allowed archaic Federal and Provincial electoral systems which allow huge majority governments with a minority of voters support. 

I find it hypocritical that the Canadian people as well as our government applauded Egypt and other countries for protesting for freedom and democracy but when Canadians practice democracy somehow it is stupid and frivolous and even illegal such as the G20 and all the occupy demonstrations taking place in Canada and all over the world. 

It seems if things keep going in the same direction that very soon if Canadians want to live in a democracy they will have to move to Egypt.

Well at least we will have lots of new prisons to incarcerate all these malcontents thanks to Da Fuhrer and his draconian vision of Canada. 


Here is an added caution to the people that are suggesting the government use Canadian troops to disperse these protests, with the new rules anyone arrested by the military would be considered a terrorist, with all the loss of rights that comes with that particular designation. 

Wayne Clark

Failed Ideology

What the Occupy movement is about is an awakening to the fact that we are now living in a pure unrestrained Capitalist system where the 99 percent of the people or labour has no power, lobby or input into the system. 

Big money the one percent has the money therefore the lobbyists and ultimately control over the politicians. The crucial missing ingredient that has made capitalism work as well as making the system sustainable, unions has been crushed so labour has literally no voice 

( 7 percent in America all the way from 36 percent), no lobby, no value. 

If you put a graph of the decline of unions and the decline of the middle class together you would see they match perfectly.

Worker productivity has increased 400 percent since 1950 and prior to the 1980s productivity gains and workers wages moved in tandem. 

Since the 80s the only wage increases workers have received came from working longer hours until Americans now work 137 hours more than Japanese workers 260 hours more than British workers and 499 more than the French.

One of the main reasons why the recession drags on is that the vast bulk of workers do not have the disposable income or purchasing power to drive our economy, I believe 70 percent of Americas economy is generated internally and I believe BCs is closer to 80 percent. Every person who wants to work should be able to have meaningful employment and to do that everyone should work less, and every job should pay at a minimum the poverty level.

If Capitalism can no longer put fair value on honest labour it has obviously outlived it’s usefulness. 

For you Canadians that believe that this issue has nothing to do with Canada, the reality is the income inequity gap is growing faster in Canada than in the U.S.A., and Canada had the forth biggest increase in the equity gap among it's peers. 

We have to put labour back in the equation, love them or hate them unions are a crucial component in making Capitalism palatable to the 99 percent, we need union worker representatives on all company and corporations boards of directors to address workers concerns and issues such as wages, hours of work, holidays, benefits, health benefits, sending jobs offshore, anything that affects workers and their families livelihood.

After all isn’t that is what a society is all about families, raising children providing a good nurturing environment, food a roof over their head, proper schooling right up to university, good health care and a pension and social safety net to take care of the old or sick, 

or is it just about how super rich we can possibly make a chosen few. 

The apologists talk about the rich being rich because they are smarter, take more risks, work harder are more inventive, but the reality is not near so noble, it is mostly because daddy was rich because he was a bootlegger or some other such lucrative enterprise, and their descendants either squander that inheritance or build on it, it has very little to do with being smarter or better than other people, it is about money and connections. 

I think the chances that someone would be rich are pretty good if he just happened to inherit $400,000,000 from his father.

American companies now pay more for lobbyist's than they do in taxes.

Money makes money.

Wayne Clark

Stand Against Greed

Isn’t it curious that for the 30 years that the super riches taxes plummeted from 91 percent to 36 percent there was no talk about class warfare, but now that because of a national budgetary crisis at least partly attributable to the fact that the rich now pay less taxes than the rest of Americans, CLASS WARFARE is the latest right wing buzzwords. The right is great at coming up with these gut grabbing buzzwords such as " THE RIGHT TO WORK" or FREEDOM OF CHOISE" they all sound so good, even right but the reality is anything but. 
It was even suggested to me once that if we had real freedom there would be
A RIGHT TO DISCRIMINATE.


The rich paid many hundreds of millions to lobbyists and politicians of all stripes over the last three decades to achieve this inequity and now because of a national monetary crisis they are still unwilling to step up to the plate and pay their fair share. 

It seems the rich are not all that patriotic and would let the whole country plummet into bankruptcy and depression rather than start to pay their fair share. 
I would say it is time for the rich to give their  head a shake and willingly start acting like a patriotic concerned American citizen that has obviously done a lot better than most other American citizens thanks to an economic system that has been slowly turned even more to the super wealthy’s economic advantage. 

This is an undeniable fact that the gape between the rich and the rest of America grows farther apart every day, did the rich really believe that know one would notice or the day of reckoning would never come. 

America has become what is known to the rest of the world as a third world country with all the inequities that third world countries are known for, other than the fact that it still has a militarily that can incinerate the world 2 1/2 times over, but in the end even that will inevitably become just one more casualty of this crippling monetary crisis, as the military requires gratuitous gobs of money to carry on as well, the American dream is long gone. 

Time for the rich in America as well as Canada to step up to the plate and make the dream a reality once again.


Unfortunately this is not likely to happen as most of the supper rich are misers and will never willingly give one inch. It will take some strong politician like Franklin D. Roosevelt to force them to carry their share of the load or burden.
Wayne Clark

NeoCon Fantasy

Re: Multinational corporations provide good jobs The News October 26/2011

Either Cherryl Katnich doesn’t know how many 0-s are in a billion or she is suffering from Anncoulteritis a syndrome which is contracted by binging on to many Ann Coulter DVDs and or cramming to many of her books, this turns the brain into a void like pablum that eagerly aborbs any and all right wing silliness thrown at it, it is diagnosed by the following symptoms, the sudden enlarging of the adams-apple, the uncontrollable urge to spontaneously regurgitate verbal diarrhea (otherwise know as ultra-rightwing rhetoric), the irresistible urge to write volumes of unbelievable political science fiction. This embarrassing disease is not to be confused with the similar affliction Lushlimba syndrome which is similar but is also accompanied with a pronounced swelling of the stomach and an acute craving for prescription drugs as well as the total inability to say you are sorry or could have been wrong. 

Last but not least it could be that debilitating degenerative disease Glenbeckons disorder which is very similar but sufferers also have an irresistible urge to preform bizarre religious rituals and believe vast conspiracy schemes. 

Surely Mrs. Katnich is not claiming the average Canadian union wage of $20.36 an hour or what amounts to a $42,348.80 annual income is closer to the 1 percent that are billionaires than they are to the poor, that truly would be silly .

Wayne Clark

Tough on Crime

We all know people that never seem to learn the lessons not only from their own mistakes but others peoples mistakes either. 


It is quite clear that Steven Harper is one of those individuals that can not learn from statistics, documented facts, others peoples and countries experiences and failures or even just good old common sense. 


Mr. Harper is getting flack from the poster child of failed crime legislation, Texas a state that has gone about as far out on "tough on crime as humanly possible", having one out of twenty of it’s citizens behind bars, on parol, or probation, it still has the death penalty and they use it liberaly. In spit of this failed draconian states past crime legislation the state has had double the crime rate of other states for three decades. 


This policy has cost Texas so much money they finally have had to face the fact that this so called tough on crime just does not work and accomplished quite the opposite of making Texans safe and literally bankrupted Texas's economy. 


Since changing to a new direction with drug crimes channelling money from incarceration and mandatory sentencing to treatment, harm reduction and probation Texas has seen a double-digit decline in both prison incarceration rates and most importantly the crime rate, at one-tenth the cost. 


Unfortunately our Mr. Harper is guided more by ideology and keeping his ReligiCon base happy than any old dry facts, statistics, or others countries mistakes and experiences, so he will probably do as he always does, whatever he wants with his Conservative majority, common sense be dammed.


Wayne Clark

Municipal election

So far I have 3 candidates that I will definitely be voting for Corisa Bell, Carly O'Rork, and Christian Cowley I am particularly anxious to remove some of the old crowd that are steeped in particularly obvious conflicts of interest such as Al Hogarth.

My choice for mayor will have to be Ernie Daykin as I do not think it would be a smart move to elect a mayor that is for all intents and purposes a lobbyist for the exploitation of the Albian agricultural land reserve. Let the developers pay for their lobbyists.

I am still in the process of working on my slate of candidates.

Wayne Clark

Change is in the Wind

A fresh spring breeze is about to liven up the municipal political scene in our beautiful Maple Ridge.

We all know Corisa Bell, she is the brave affable young wife and mother of two children that stood up front and centre for us in the fight against an un-mandated, unjust, unpopular HST government tax grab and won, not only surprising a whole lot of people but making history in the British Commonwealth by doing so.

Regardless of your stance on the HST, you have to admire the political courage and freshness of someone willing to stand up for what they believe in. 

I first met Corisa Bell in the fight against the HST and was immediately impressed by Corisa’s winning personality, boundless energy, drive and high moral standards that even stops her from taking campaign contributions from businesses, all because she does not want to owe someone that could become a conflict to her high ethical code. 
Corisa is smart, attractive, articulate and not afraid to speak her mind, comfortable in a position of responsibility and wants more than anything to serve the people of Maple Ridge to the best of her ability, which we have already seen is quite considerable.

It is my opinion that Corisa would be a most valuable asset as a Maple Ridge councillor for the citizens of Maple Ridge.

In the coming weeks get out and meet Corisa or you can read her website CorisaBell.com and if you like what you see and hear, support her in the coming municipal elections.

I certainly know my X will be going next to Corisa Bell in the next municipal election and I expect great things out of Maple Ridges council because of that decision.

Wayne Clark
Maple Ridge

The definition of Insanity

Never mind the millions spent fighting Insight the Vancouver harm reduction site, forget the 6000 mile white elephant fence to be built between Canada and the U.S., forget all the money to be spent building and maintaining 16 billion in new prisons to house our many drug users, recreational and otherwise. 


I have just seen pictures that prove beyond a doubt the absolute futility of our present drug policy. 


A raided Mexican drug lords mansion contained over $22 billion, yes thats BILLION dollars in boxes of cash scattered about the home, and enough gold plated assault weapons to wage a large war, there are reported to be at least 27 other fortresses just like it in Mexico alone, these people can afford to buy armies bigger than the government, buy politicians, judges, police departments whatever they need. 
One Mexican cartel reportedly has an incredible 250,000 soldiers.


To put this into prospective Canada could buy it's 65 F35 stealth fighter jets and a brand new Nimitz class aircraft carrier and still have change left over, how can you fight this kind of money. 


You have the same situation all over the world from Afghanistan, Columbia to name a couple, there is just to much money in drugs to control it, prohibition never worked with alcohol and it has obviously not worked with other drugs. 


I know the hardheads, knuckle draggers and religious fanatics as well as the gangs and other criminals that reap the rewards of this destructive business will never change but the rational citizens of north America have to wake up and stop this failed insane social engineering experiment. 


People have always used drugs and most do so with little or no harm, there will always be those that have addiction problems, and you can become addicted to almost anything it does not have to be a drug, and there should be education and human harm reduction treatment for those who suffer from any addiction, it is after all a health problem not a legal problem. 


We have to move to a rational, workable system to not only take the obscene profits out of drugs and put control and profit of the drug markets back in government hands where it belongs and can be regulated. 


Albert Einsteins definition of Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Wayne Clark

Political Bewilderment

Re: NDP record no better than Liberals


Mr. Bulpit I hardly need political science advice from someone that believes, Quote "Conservative is considered centre of the political spectrum and can have left of centre or right of centre that leads to a more liberal point of view" unquote. 

What can I say ( only in BC you say) if you say it enough times it becomes reality. 
You keep moving me farther to the left every time you write, I can only speculate that your
"hard left stance" comment took me all the way to being a Communist, really do you have any grasp on reality at all. If so try to keep your personnel dilutions at least within this galaxy.


Please do not blame me for your headaches or your twisted understanding of politics, possibly  it is simply the stress of trying to make sense of all your flawed beliefs and perceptions.


Prerequisite to be a NeoCon, be able to believe the unbelievable and deny the undeniable. 


Can’t be easy.

Wayne Clark

YES MAN

Re: Recycling jobs program suddenly reinstated. Times Sept 20/2011

Once again I see Mr. Dalton stating those familiar words Quote “ it wasn’t handled well ” unquote, what does that mean if it was handled differently, it would have been the right thing to do terminating 29 handicapped people. 


I have to wonder where was Mr. Dalton when these decisions were made, we know that neither him nor most of the Liberal MLAs were involved or invited to the secret dark rooms where the HST was hatched, never mind the opposition party but the fact that he only new about the HST two days before we did, did not bother him in the least. If this is indicative of the way our government functions, I have to wonder why we even bother with elected representatives at all. 


More than likely it is the representative that is the problem, it is an automatic yes no matter what the issue and if they get away with it fine but if the shit hits the fan, it was just handled badly or it is just to political to talk about or one of the many other excuses we hear why our MLAs are not doing their jobs. 

This should never have gotten to the stage it did BC has a hard enough time finding jobs for 8.2 percent of workers already, but they will just slip the handicapped in with all the rest of the unemployed and everything will work out just fine. 

Does it ever occur to the Liberals how callous and stupid these halfwitted, cold-hearted screw-ups make them look.

Wayne Clark

Family's First

So this is what families first means to the BC Fiberals, giving pink slips to the developmentally disabled that are gainfully employed at the recycling plant, cutting off funding to the big brothers, and all the  big sisters, meaning no more mentoring or any of the other many critical services these organizations have provided the families and disabled of BC over the years. 


Well at least we do not have to worry about that other seriously needy industry, the casino owners of BC as they at least got their $400 million dollar care package from the BC Fiberals. (You can bet your sweet bippy the BC Fiberal war chest will be full to the brim come next election).


This just keeps getting more and more surreal as new family first policies unveil themselves, each one stranger and more disgusting than the last. 


I am glad to see the BC Fiberals have their priorities straight. 


Wayne Clark

Undeserved Honour

History is a maiden, and you can dress her however you wish.


Why Gordon Campbell does not deserve the honour of the Order of British Columbia, let me count the reasons. 


As a political centrist or what would in a proper world would be a Liberal I find if not the first, but the one item that  Mr. Campbell has affected me the most negatively, his destruction of BCs political centre. 
Mr. Campbell literally highjacked the Liberal brand, in one of his many examples of deceit, because he recognized that provincially Conservatives could not be elected in BC, so he  engineered one of his many political coup-de-tats and deposed Gordon Wilson a real Liberal as leader of the BC Liberals and managed to drag them to the Ultra right of the political spectrum, leaving BC with no political centre. I can never forgive him for that particular deception as that will probably be the reality for the rest of my life. 


All the rest of his DUIs, lies, deception, breaking the laws, manipulations, arrogance, BC Rail, HST, his purposely bankrupting of BC Hydro and countless other abuses of power that we will probably not even find out about for years to come, are just more of the same and are to be expected of a man of Campbell's elitist character who considers himself above the laws and constraints of mere mortals. 


The fact that he managed to be elected 3 times is a glaring testament to how undemocratic and antiquated our present electoral system is. 


If people like Mr. Campbell do deserve the order of BC and are touted to be a positive role model for the people and children of BC I have to wonder of it’s significance or value at all, which is very sad because there are many that actually do credit to the honourable Order of BC. 


Wayne Clark

Political Honesty

Can you believe the chaotic state of politics in BC? 

First you have the NDP that occupies centre left which is as it should be, then you have the Conservatives on the right which is also as it should be, then you have the BC Liberals on the right of right which is about as far from the real Liberals historical place in the political spectrum as you can get. 
Maple Ridge for example has a so called Liberal MLA Mark Dalton that was far to Conservative for even the Conservative party, now Christy Clark wants to replace him with a federal Conservative Terry Becker, which undoubtedly would be a small step in the right direction at least. 
How can you believe anything the BC Lieberals say when even their brand is a lie. 


The BC lieberals should for the sake of everybody in the middle of the political spectrum at least change their name to something more in line with their true nature ( pick one), then maybe a legitimate  centrist party could emerge for those of us who are literally out in the cold at this time in history.  

For all intents and purposes the provincial Liberal brand is ruined as far as a centre, center-right  political vehicle and will be for at least the next few decades, something is desperately needed to fill that political vacuum, and give BC voters a clear honest choice for which party they mark their X on.  

Looking back it was a sad day for the Liberal brand and centrists like myself when Gordon Campbell deposed Gordon Wilson as the Liberal leader.  

Wayne Clark

The people have spoken, get over it

Oh what a tangled web we weave,when at first we practice to deceive!

Kevin Falcon still doesn’t get it, he was right and we the public are wrong and now we are to be punished for our stupidity. 

I definitely do not want this man on any BC government negotiating team dealing with the the ultimate resolution of the defunct HST, he rants on about the billions that the citizens of BC will have to pay the Federal government. 

First the Federal governments hands and in particular Mr. Harpers are definitely not clean in the brazen attempt to undemocratically impose this huge HST tax grab on the citizens of BC, Steven Harper was all to aware how totally wrong as well as undemocratic this whole failed tax grab was, and the $1.6 billion would have just been another transfer payment for a have-not province thanks to the gross financial mismanagement of BCs economy under the BC Fiberals, never mind all the extra money that has already been collected with our supposedly revenue neutral HST.


I might remind Mr. Falcon that the citizens of BC have already been punished financially, paying hundreds and in many cases thousands of extra tax dollars in HST over the last year and will continue to do the same for another 1 1/2 to 2 years. 

If the BC Fiberals or the Federal Conservatives have any thoughts about punishing the citizens of BC further for the democratic rejection of the undemocratic HST outrage foisted on to the people of BC, they had better rethink their strategy as the other foot has yet to come down. 

If any of them want to survive this fiasco they had better make it go away as quickly,  quietly and painlessly as humanly possible. 

The Fiberals are the bad guys here, not the voters of BC. 

Wayne Clark 

Sorry to see you go Michael

I first met Mr. Michael Sather MLA down at the dyke enjoying one of his passions, bird watching and the great outdoors. Since that time I have watched him fight the good fight many times no matter who it was with, with passion, integrity and a lot of common sense, he always seems to be on the right side of an issue. He elegantly fights for the underdog, social injustice, heath care issues, environmental recklessness, lies, hypocrisy, corruption,  financial irresponsibility, he was always there when asked to voice my concerns in Victoria, and contrary to popular belief I am not NDP but am definitely moving in that direction lately. 


Unfortunately the one thing this particular BC Liberal government can’t tolerate is the truth and because of that fact Mr. Sather has paid the price for not doing as many as his fellow MLAs do, just polish a seat with their high paid butts and yelling out YES whenever prompted, basically just putting in time until such time they can collect that gilded pension. 
This was not easy for Mr. Sather as our present government has ways to punish anyone that speaks out against it’s policies, it might surprise you that our MLA Mr. Sather was for example not invited to the official openings of the Pitt river bridge or the Golden Ears bridge, but he showed up anyway, that is how they keep the sheeple in line, ostracize, shun, exclude, they tried everything but it never once cowed Mr. Sather, he just kept doing what he knew was right.  


Maple Ridge and it’s human as well as wildlife inhabitants and yes BC as a whole will sorely miss Michaels unshakable ethics and unfaltering passion for the underdog and the environment. 


I know if BC had even a dozen warriors like Michael no matter what their political strips I would find a lot less issues to pick up a pen and register my disapproval or disgust whatever the case may be. 


Thank you Michael for your exceptional service you will leave some big shoes to fill, I am sure we have not heard the last of you even if you are no longer in politics. 


Wayne Clark

Broken record

Tom fletcher never ceases to amaze with his own particular paradox of ultra right-wing blather. 

It seems Mr. Campbell was once again just a victim of circumstance with the HST, although I would agree that Steven Harper is the main instigator for the HST, which diminishes Mr. Fletchers case that it was the provincial budget that triggered Campbell’s panicked grab for the HST. 

I am always amazed how the right goes whichever way the wind blows, it was a bad, economically disastrous, stupid NDP idea to encourage and foster shipbuilding in BC but now that it is a rightwing idea, what a great idea. It seems that it isn’t the idea that matters at all but who comes up with the idea. 

Your customary dig at public servants, the teachers and the "No Tankers” sign makes for a good sound bite, but as you well know what they are talking about is SUPER TANKERS and no one in their right mind would consent to those exclusively deep sea designed craft 

(oil bomb) plying the fragile inland waters of BC, only someone with a total disregard for the ecology of this province would promote this guaranteed recipe for disaster. 

I guess you once again failed to notice that Greece, iceland, Ireland all failed because they tried to emulate the same right wing voodoo economics you Mr. Fletcher rattle off religiously every week, the same failed system George W. Bush and a lot of help from the likes of Goldman Sakes and their masters the CIA managing to bring Greece and the rest of the the world to it’s knees with the same old discredited trickle down nonsence, low or no taxes, deregulate, deregulate, get the government off the backs of business, give business whatever they want no matter what the cost, the rich pay nothing, you keep what you steal, the man with the most toys wins. 

You said a while ago that if anyone had a better idea to tell you, but I am afraid you can not fill a cup that is already full, and the only direction you can possibly fathom is further to the right.

Wayne Clark

Consider the facts not the lies

Re: HST voters should consider facts, not emotion The Province July 29/2011

Mr. Falcons column is a clear reason why everybody should be voting YES on the HST referendum, he has obviously not learned one thing from this whole undemocratic costly nightmare, he continues to lie to our faces
quote "if you are in favour of lower taxes and a 10 percent HST, you should vote “NO’ on your ballot” unquote. 

Even if the HST is reduced to 10 percent in 2014 ( highly unlikely ) you will still be paying 100 percent more taxes on hundreds of everyday big and small goods and services. 

How is it physically possible to double taxes on hundreds of goods and services and yet pay less taxes, is it or is it not a 2 billion dollar tax shift on to consumers, never mind the some $800 million dollars extra that his revenue neutral tax has already managed to suck out of the pockets of BCs workers, families and especially seniors that have been some of the biggest losers with this badly thought out tax grab. 

Mr. Campbell and Mr. Falcon and those like them are quite happy the way BC politics is and has been played for the last decade, or in particular since this crowd got power and literally turned BC into a dictatorship ( 253 consecutive days the legislature did not sit ).

There is a watershed moment in political history available to the voters of BC, we can do as usual and turn the other cheek ensuring that politics in BC will carry on as usual, sleazy unethical, corrupt or we can literally change the way politics is practiced in BC, by setting a new higher standard for public officials, that says yes you shall be accountable for your actions, yes you shall pay a heavy price for lying and stealing. 


We are at a crossroads and it is up to you whether all the effort to get to this crossroad is just a minor blip in same old game, or a new more honest, accountable form of democracy. 


If you want a new era of accountable honest politicians, where elections are more than meaningless wastes of taxpayer money that less than half the voters even exercise their right to participate  because they are seen to be just a sick joke at best.

We need politicians that are expected to be more honest,  ethical and transparent, politicians that as a matter of course know they need to get a mandate from the people for any new polices they want to introduce. 

Vote yes to not only extinguish the HST, but for a whole long overdue new direction for politics and democracy in BC. 

PS Sadly the last illusions of democracy have been crushed, the peoples wish and lawful effort to extinguish the HST has been totally ignored by our government. We will just have to learn that we have to do what the government wants, anything else is just a fanciful  illusion, wishful thinking back to a time when Canada actually was a democracy. The people just have to learn those days are gone, democracy has outlived it's usefulness. 
Welcome to the Oligarchy of Canada.


Will the voters of BC really let this stand.

Wayne Clark

Fantastic snow job

Re: Campbell made BC fantastic The Times July 21/2011

I would describe the people that voted for Mr. Campbell as a ultra- rightwing minority, after all only 48 percent of registered voters even voted and I would remind you that Americans voted for George W. Bush twice.
Maybe you think he made America FANTASTIC also. 

Do you really believe it was only the HST that brought 91 percent of BCers to vehemently disapprove of the man and his ultra-rightwing polices. 

He has single handedly brought the Premiers office into total disrepute with everything from DUIs, lies, sleazy machiavellian dictatorial ( 253 days legislature is out of session ) politics, a total lack of personal ethics and has probably had more corruption on his watch than has happened on any 3 previous premiers combined. 

Maybe you could tell me what Mr. Campbell's positive legacy is other than the fact that he has sold off all the family jewels and tripled the provincial debt all in one decade, 7 deficit budgets, 5 federal transfer payments not counting the 1.6 billion he got for the HST and they still had to raid the coffers of ICBC for another 1 billion and still another deficit and BC once again a have not province. 

How many decades will the taxpayers of BC be paying for the 5th lane on the Port Mann bridge after it is torn down, how much did his flying by the seat of his pants privatization at any cost polices cost the taxpayers of BC. How many jobs did he turn from $14 to $18 dollar an hour meaningful employment jobs to $8 to $10 an hour Macjobs with his illegal contract breaking and union busting agenda. 

Tell me one thing Mr. Campbell did that looks anything like a province building legacy. 

Like say W. C. Bennet who built a legacy that endures to this day despite Mr. Campbell's strenuous efforts to tear it all down. 

We will have nothing to show for Campbell's efforts but poorly constructed P3 projects like the Golden Ears bridge that will be lucky to still be standing in 30 years and will never be paid for, ever. 

He has accomplished nothing other than making a few people at the top of the public gravy train filthy rich while seriously diminishing the middle class and the poor and seniors and that is a whole other ongoing saga of loading on more and more taxes, fees and tolls.

His only real legacy is to see to it that everything more than paid for itself, going to the park, user fees etc. many other new fees (not taxes) gas taxes, electronics taxes, green taxes transit taxes etc., tolls, doubling and tripling of existing fees and inventing dozens of new ones, doubling medical premiums,  tripling of tuition fees, doubling retirement home fees, charging HST on medical procedures, the ongoing process of privatizing public health care and hydro, cutting more and more social programs, giving $400 million to casinos and cutting the social programs that money usually paid for, the list goes on and on. 

Is this a legacy that most people would want to be remembered for, I think not?

Wayne Clark

Who's it hurting

Multi-Millions of public dollars in BC are squandered on everything from fraudulent elections, to coverup trials, to unfair unbalanced referendums where truth, justice, accountability are nothing more than meaningless buzzwords used to placate a cynical, jaundiced, battered electorate. 


In the end after the many millions of dollars of constant brainwashing most of us just hang our heads in submission and if they even bother to vote, just wait for the next inevitable political outrage to show it’s ugly face.


This Greek tragedy always stars the same sad cast of characters that never fails to make a mockery of democracy, justice and the laws of this land and our very trust in those institutions. 
We all know their names and their apologists that claim they only do these evils for our own good, and of coarse the other guys would be worse so quit your whining and just accept the fate they have chosen for us no matter who it hurts. 


Maybe you honestly think the HST will not cost you any money and of coarse Self-interest is a powerful motivation, but think about this even if that were true ( which I don’t believe for a minute) think about this quote from Alex de Tocqueville 
Quote, Self- interest “properly understood” It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone’s self interest, in other words the common welfare is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being.
Basic fact looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul-it’s good for business” Unquote.


Wayne Clark