Corporate Greed in Politics

This is a picture of Don Regan, former Merrill Lynch CEO, telling Ronald Reagan to speed it up as shown in Michael Moore's movie Capitalism a love story. He became the
treasury secretary under Regan. That's when things began to change.

Henry Paulson was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and became the US treasury secretary under George W. Bush. Many felt issuing the bank bail out was a conflict of interest.




Likewise, Goldman Sachs became Obama's #1 Private Contributor In Michael Moore's movie he talked about three interesting leaked Citibank documents referring to Plutonomy.

I don't think we should go back to the days where the rich enter a 90% tax bracket. I think no matter how much wealth you have the government shouldn't be able to take more than 50% of it. Yet I do think they should tax off shore accounts and all the hidden funds. Donald Trump bragging about paying zero income tax is treason.

Vince Ready's Second Decision

Speaking of dirty rotten scoundrels, this is a copy of Vince Ready's second decision in the TWU screwed over it's Secretary Treasurer for complaining about the misuse of union dues case. I understand that the failed TWU under Darth Siduous' direction still isn't following this decision and has now hired Roper Greyell to represent them and got rid of lawyer Tom Beasley. So where is the financial accountability there? Spending even more union dues on a higher profile lawyer to screw their own just like they did to Lila Hacket. Surely there should be a cease and desist order against the fallen TWU for spending more union dues oh more expensive lawyers to let them break the law. That is such a corporate tactic. Bruce Bell would be proud.

A world without Murdoch

Mind how ya go. The expanding wire tap scandal has been in the news of late. I do find it very disturbing that as the scandal began to uncover police and government involvement the death of the whistle blower was announced. Nevertheless, one Youtuber remixed a Wonderful life to a humorous speculation about what the world would be like without Rupert Murdoch. It's good crack so it is.

Free Collective Bargaining Rights

I was talking to some people on the picket line at the Extra Foods strike in Maple Ridge today and heard some interesting news that might help Canadian Postal workers. We were talking about back to work legislation and how Postal Workers were recently screwed by Stephen Harper's over reaching back to work legislation.

One of the members on the line claimed their mother was a nurse. She said the Campbell government legislated the nurses back to work and basically threw out their collective agreement. Please note the difference between back to work legislation for essential services and over reaching back to work legislation that throws out existing contracts and clearly removes free collective bargaining rights. Anyways, they claimed the Supreme Court over ruled the over reaching back to work legislation and they were compensated for it.

I checked it out with the HEU. Sure enough, the BC Provincial legislation called Bill C 29 was indeed overturned by the supreme court. This is a copy of a bulletin about the ruling and this is a copy of the actual decision.

There's more. The HEU claim other Unions were also affected by the legislation and the Supreme Court Decision. They also claimed the BC Teachers recently successfully used their decision as jurisprudence. Sure enough, I found a copy of that decision.

The recent teachers decision is dated April 13 2011 and cites the June 6 2007 decision. The teachers decision argues:

[3] The health services legislation was challenged by various health workers‟ associations as being contrary to the freedom to associate, constitutionally protected by s. 2 (d) of the Charter.

[4] Initially the health workers were unsuccessful at the trial and appellate levels, and the health services legislation, Bill 29, was upheld.

[5] The case went on to the Supreme Court of Canada where the workers ultimately prevailed. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada held that collective bargaining was protected by s. 2 (d) of the Charter: Health Services and Support - Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, 2007 SCC 27, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 391 [Health Services]. Professor Hogg described the impact of this decision as “a 180-degree shift”: Peter W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada, loose-leaf, 5th ed. (Toronto, Ont.: Carswell, 2007), ch. 44 at 44-6. The Supreme Court of Canada had previously held that collective bargaining was not protected by the Charter guaranteed freedom of association: Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada v. Northwest Territories (Commissioner), [1990] 2 S.C.R. 367.

[6] In Health Services, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down several provisions of Bill 29 as being unconstitutional by reason of the legislation‟s interference with the workers‟ freedom to associate guaranteed by s. 2 (d) of the Charter. Some provisions were found not to be unconstitutional.

[7] The teachers brought a court challenge to Bill 27 and Bill 28, similar to the challenge brought by the health services‟ workers. This challenge waited on the sidelines while the Health Services case wound its way through the courts. Now the challenge to the legislation affecting teachers‟ collective bargaining has come before this court for decision.

[8] In this case the legislation dealing with teachers was modelled on the same provincial government theory as in Health Services, namely, that the government had the right to impose legislation which unilaterally overrode provisions of existing collective agreements, and which prohibited collective bargaining on the same subject matters in the future. The legislation was enacted without any prior consultation with the teachers‟ union.

[9] For the reasons that follow, I have found that most, but not all, of the challenged legislation is unconstitutional as violating the s. 2 (d) freedom to associate and to engage in collective bargaining. Specifically, I have found that ss. 8, 9 and 15 of Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 3 [PEFCA] (Bill 28) and s. 5 of the Education Services Collective Agreement Amendment Act, 2004, S.B.C. 2004, c. 16 [Amendment Act] are unconstitutional. I have not found s. 4 of Education Services Collective Agreement Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 1 [ESCAA] (Bill 27) to be unconstitutional. (page 6 Griffin decision 2011 BCSC 469)

Yes this was an over reaching provincial legislation that was over turned by the Supreme court but it was successful through the use of the Federal Charter of rights. I'd say this is very applicable to Canadian Postal Workers.

Personally I see this a ray of light piercing through in a dark cloud of oppression. What Stephen Harper and Canada Post did was dirty. Stealing pensions is wrong and threatens the future prosperity of the entire country.

Big Corporations want to save money any way possible so they can make more and more profit. For a time, Big Corporations saw the large amount of capital sitting in their employees pensions and desperately wanted to get their greedy little mitts on it to use and invest in other things so they could put it to use and profit from it. People objected and said pensions are sacred and not to be invested in high risk stocks.

Then came the corporate brain storm. They thought well then, pension compound into a significant amount of capital. If we stopped paying employees pensions, we could take the money we were putting aside for pensions and put it into another account just for us. That way we'd have the entire fund as well as the interest.

Frightening but true. This was what Moya Greene's pal Catherine not too Swift boldly declared in her letter to the new CEO of Canada Post. Claiming to represent Big Business, she said the private sector has had to make many sacrifices during the recession. She claimed that since many private sector employees don't have a pension, Canada Post and Stephen Harper should steal Postal Workers pensions. She claimed that immoral theft constituted good business. Au contraire.

Just like Moya Greene's Short Term Disability program, it is very short sighted. The STD program said it's not fair employees who have been working with the company for many years have accumulated unused sick leave when new employees don't. Their answer was to steal sick leave from their employees and create a Short Term Disability program where if an employee gets a long term illness they go on EI. I kid you not. This is a Big Corporation trying to save money and make more profit by having their employees go on government Employment Insurance if they have a long term illness instead of paying for sick leave. Ya think that in the long term this will have a draining effect on government taxes and resources?

If employees don't have pensions they contribute top that their employer also contributes to, that will put a further demand on government pensions which are minimal at best. When Moyas Greene rewrote the previous Postal contract she bragged about how she had changed the establish precedent of matching employee contributions. She said the fund had performed so well one year, that the corporation didn't have to match employee contributions that year. She wanted to save money by stealing their pension. That is exactly what she had her friend Catherine not too Swift from the Empire strikes back club confess to.

Let's hope these new Supreme Court decisions will return a fraction of democracy to our lop sided system that obsesses over profit and rolls back wages and benefits at every opportunity. Democracy is good. Free collective Bargaining is good. Stealing pensions is bad for everyone.

UK Pension Strike

Thousands walked off the job over pension protests in England today. British teachers and public service workers swapped classrooms and offices for picket lines Thursday as hundreds of thousands walked off the job to protest pension cuts.

The government insists everyone must share the pain as it cuts 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending to reduce Britain's huge deficit, swollen after the government spent billions bailing out foundering banks. It is cutting civil service jobs and benefits, raising the state pension age from 65 to 66, hiking the amount public sector employees contribute to pensions and reducing their retirement payouts.

The government spent billions bailing out foundering banks which was a result of investment fraud and they spent billions on the fraudulent invasion of Iraq to find Weapons of Mass Destruction they knew were not there, and now the citizens have to give up their pensions to repay that debt. That is a crime against humanity. It is a fraud. It is a scam. It is a manufactured emergency.

Extinguish the HST

They say if you bang your head against a wall long enough, you'll end up with a sore head. There is a lot of tax dollars being spent on HST advertising. I find it very upsetting. Almost like it's a waste of time talking about it. Many people oppose the HST for good reasons. Yet they don't have big budgets to spend on advertising. Nevertheless, in a democratic system a poor man's vote is equal to a rich mans vote. Or shall we say in this case, a rich corporation.

Stephen Harper is a Compulsive Liar

Eventually Stephen Harper's lies are going to catch up with him. No lie can live forever. We've made it pretty clear that Harper's back to work legislation is not back to work legislation, it's pension theft legislation.

Canada Post locked out their employees for voting 94.5% against the theft of their pensions and Canada Posts contempt for health and Safety. Yet Harper boasts "The government stood behind the back-to-work bill, saying that small business and other organizations like charities were being choked out by the mail dispute." That is an offensive lie.

Harper doesn't give a rat's ass about small business. His HST crippling the restaurant industry trying to pull it's way out of a recession is proof of that. Harper only cares about the big corporations that exploits workers and send jobs overseas. That does not help Canadians or the Canadian economy. Harper is a liar.

Charities? Harper rewards Canada Post for bringing the mail to a grinding halt and somehow twists that indisputable fact with the insane claim that his pension theft legislation is someone in support of charities? That is an offensive lie.

Denis Lemelin said the government’s assertion that its legislation was necessary to protect the economy is illogical. He said postal workers had offered to return to work. “The government has attacked our right to freely negotiate the conditions we work under,” said Lemelin.

Remember how Harper screwed Newfoundland which cause their Conservative Premier to launch an anything but conservative campaign against him? Well Harper has done it again. He's screwed Newfoundland again after tricking them by claiming he's help fund a hydroelectric dam in Newfoundland which caused them to stop their boycott.

He's closing the province's maritime rescue centre. The demonstration was organized by a coalition headed by provincial labour unions, and organizers estimated that about 2,000 people took part, including many local and provincial politicians.

"We rely on search and rescue every single day to save the people that we love at a time of distress," said Jones. "We're asking Stephen Harper to not put a price on the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians."

The premier, however, said that Harper rejected a plan that would split costs between the province and Ottawa to keep the centre going. The federal agency maintains that public safety will not be put at risk by the closure.

The demonstration comes only a day after a man was pulled dead from the waters about 60 kilometres east of St. Anthony, N.L. Four other men, who were working on a fishing vessel that was in distress, were rescued.

The search and rescue operation was started after a call was made to St. John's Marine Search and Rescue station. A helicopter from Gander was used, in addition to coast guard vessels from St. Anthony and St. John's.

Harper sleeps on couch as bill debated

I am not a fan of filibustering but I'm not a fan of pension theft either. Harper's Postal legislation is not back to work legislation. It's pension theft legislation. The union didn't go on strike. Canada Post locked them out. That brought mail services to a grinding halt.

The union held token rotating 24 hours strikes that did not stop the flow of mail. The union offered to stop the rotating strikes if Canada Post agreed to reinstate employees medical coverage. Canada Post refused and locked them out. This is clearly a manufactured emergency ultimately designed to legislate theft.

What would happen if the House took their summer break without passing insanely worded back to work legislation? Well let's see... the union would go back to work as promised as long as Canada Post reinstated their medical coverage. Problem solved.

When the right wing says business needs less interference from government that is true. If Harper wasn't in collusion with Canada Post to aid and abet their pension theft, the free collective bargaining process would succeed. Instead, Harper has robbed that process by lying and creating a manufactured emergency.

Canada Post continues to make consistent profit. It's not a matter of balancing the budget or bringing Postal workers wages and benefits in line with couriers. It's about stealing pension and corporate greed which says profits are not enough we continue to want more and more profit. Then the final act of treason is to sell off that profit making public asset so they can break another union while they lose that tax revenue and increase consumer tax as a result. It is simply bad business.

Harper appoints Campbell

Speaking of unbridled evil, Stephen Harper has appointed Gordon Campbell to be Canada's ambassador to England so the hated Gordon Campbell can represent Canada at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. I feel cold...

The Vancouver Province asks: "Should Prime Minister Stephen Harper have rewarded a career diplomat with the post, instead of a washed-up ex-premier who resigned with the lowest job-approval ratings in the history of B.C. opinion polling?"

The Evil Step Mother of Treason

Well Moya Greene, the evil step mother of treason, has sure been paid well to murder one quarter of the jobs at the Royal Mail. No, she didn't get thirty pieces of silver. She got £780,000 of silver including a bonus the same size as the Prime Minister's salary. All this when horrific layoffs at the Royal Mail were rationalized because she claims the Royal Mail is insolvent.

That is pure, unadulterated treason. No amount of poison will disguise her true character. Stand against Moya Greene. For God and Ulster, stand against Moya Greene. Lundi was a saint compared to that evil witch. Remember remember the fifth of november.

Christmas Gully

Well it turns out what I thought was Christmas Gully, wasn't Christmas Gully. I made another attempt today with crampons and an ice axe and it turned out I was trying to climb a waterfall. OK I never said I was very bright.



I finally broke trail through some steep terrain and made it to the top. It is way easier hiking up the ski trail. The view is awesome though. Aside from seeing the Lions and Howe Sound you can see back country mountains as afar as the eye can see.







Whitecliff is still awesome too.

Harper Reveals the Death Star Plans

What an offensive scam. This is bad for Canada. Canada Post submitted a mandate to steal their employees pensions. They even had Catherine Not Too Swift document her support for that theft. The employees voted 94.5% no. The Union held off going on strike. They wanted to negotiate a contract. Canada Post refused to budge.

The Union started a token rotating strike. 24 hours in once place then back to work and 24 hours in another place. The mail still went through. It was a token objection to their offensive theft in a time of consistent profit. Even though everyone was still working Canada Post cut off all their medical benefits.

The Union offered to stop the strike and return to work if Canada Post would resume medical benefits but Canada Post refused. Instead they locked them out and demanded the government intervene with back to work legislation. Knowing that theft would get a biased arbitrator to grant them their pension theft.

So the Harper government introduces back to work legislation with a legislated wage settlement less then what Canada Post offered to punish the employees for voting against the pension theft and the heath and safety contempt.

Then they appoint a biased arbitrator and tell them that compromise is not an option. Each party writes a contract and you select which one will be used. That is evil. That is corrupt. That is outrageous.

I am glad I got my money out. I am glad I got my pension out of their hands. But I am disgusted in this government. Harper likes to laugh and name call referring to everyone who doesn't vote for him as a socialist. I may not be a socialist but Stephen Harper is a devil just like his partners in crime Brian Mulroney and Gordon Campbell. History has recorded that fact.

When will Stephen Harper give up his pension? Stealing pensions from the public purse is more tax than a socialist would ever impose.

The New Evil

The Vancouver riot and the volunteers who came out the next day to clean up and rebuild are a pretty clear example of good versus evil. Sometimes it's not always that clear. Everyone will pretty much agree theft if wrong and stealing from little old ladies is cruel. That means pension theft is evil.

Yet there's another evil and it represents the death of democracy. Stealing a workers right to free collective bargaining in a free market is evil. I'm not just talking about the right to strike because let's face it, there are essential services out there although Canada Post is no longer one of them. I'm talking about imposing a settlement from a biased arbitrator.

After the election Canada Post's position at the bargaining table changed dramatically. All of a sudden they demanded huge roll backs including more pension theft and they absolutely refused to budge. They knew they could get a Harper majority to legislate a settlement. Locking employees out then legislating them back with an imposed settlement is evil. Completely and utterly.

It's somewhat ironic that Harper's corporate theft sponsors claim everyone that doesn't vote for Harper is a Socialist. It's ironic because he is the one that is stealing from the public purse and abandoning democracy. We're still waiting to get the $2 million back that Brian Mulroney knowingly defrauded the Canadian people out of.



It took two terms for the public to finally see the real character of Harper's hero Brian Mulroney. Mulroney went down in history as a liar, a cheat and a scoundrel. Just like Harper's pal Gordon Campbell. I was amazed it took two terms for the public to finally see Campbell's corruption yet in the end they did and he went out with the lowest approval rating of any Premiere in history.



Perhaps all is not lost. Perhaps it will just take two terms before Harper's hiding reveals his true character and he goes down in history to be an enemy of democracy just like his accomplices Mulroney and Campbell did. After all Stephen Harper is aiding and abetting Canada Post stealing employees' pensions after 16 years of consistent profit and that is evil.

Howe Sound Crest Trail

Still lots of snow but the trail is finally starting to thaw out.



Christmas Gully is freakin steep. Ya need cramp ons and an ice axe. I forgot mine. I thought the snow would be too soft.



I ended up sliding half way down the gully.



I'll bring them next time.

Canada Post Locks out Employees

So how does this work? Lock out your employees then get a Harper majority to legislate them back to work with a legislated contract. That seems so Stalin.

Canada Post wanted to steal the employees pension. The employees voted 94.5% against the treasonous plot. Canada Post had an agenda and refused to budge. The Union started rotating strikes. The mail still went through but it was a symbolic gesture objecting to their obsessive roll backs after 16 years of consecutive profit.

Canada Post claimed mail volumes were down and started alternate day delivery. Then they saw this wasn't going to accomplish their goal of stealing the employees pensions so they decided to lock them out and get a legislated settlement allowing them to steal the employees pensions. That is sad.

Then they throw in the we don't want to be a burden on the tax payer lie. Canada Post has made a steady profit for 16 years. Canada Post has not been a burden on the tax payer during that time. Instead, Canada Post has been a cash cow for the government paying record tax and dividends.

Privatizing Canada Post like they want to will lose that tax revenue. Privatizing Canada Post to their friends like the BC Rail scandal will force an increase in taxes to compensate for the lost tax revenue. It's time Canada Post stop lying. Clear cutting profitable jobs from the Canadian economy is a bad precedent for everyone.

Canada Post will profit from labour peace

Those were the immortal words of former CUPW National President Dale Clark: "Canada Post will profit from labour peace." Indeed they have. Yet he was also right when he said just because Canada Post makes a profit, doesn't mean they will be fair and responsible to it's employees. How true.

In times of record profits Canada Post now wants to steal pensions and dramatically roll back wages and benefits for the next generation of employees. That will not help the future Canadian economy. It will only help to clear cut the jobs from Canada and force us to increase taxes to compensate for the lost tax revenue.

So now we hear Canada Post complain that the rotating strike is costing them millions. Then why did they refuse the union's offer to return to work? Because they want to provoke a strike then get back to work legislation and an imposed settlement from a Harper majority. Their con is simply theft driven by lies.

Deepak Chopra and Deepak Patel

Right after Moya Greene derailed Canada Post Deepak Chopra was hired as CEO of Canada Post February 1st 2011. In less than three months Deepak Chopra contracted out 300 call centre jobs at Antigonish, Fredericton, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Ottawa to a company that specializes in outsourcing jobs to India.

If I was from Ireland and if I became CEO of Canada Post then shipped those same jobs to Ireland that would be a conflict of interest. Canada Post is a public service. Yet these corporate entities are determined to remove public accountability entirely from public services and give up our sovereignty to corporate machinations.

We were shocked and ashamed TELUS contracted out Canadian jobs in a time of record profit. Yet Canada Post has made steady increased profits for 16 years. This is not the time to clear cut the Canadian economy.

Moya Greene thinks the public is stupid. Her mandate is to remove public accountability from public services at all costs. She will even go so far as to lay of sales staff so she can complain about lost revenue so she can justify privatization. This is treason.

Moya Greene is a Nutbar

Take a look at this picture. I did not photoshop it at all. This is what Moya Greene chose to wear and the background she chose to address the world on a Youtube video. It's no wonder mental health is her charity of choice. That's not a sari. It looks like the living room drapes. This isn't the Sound of Music. It's the sound of one hand clapping. Moya Greene giving herself a standing ovation.

The Royal Mail is preparing to slash nearly 40,000 jobs over the next five years as it seeks to combat the inexorable decline in postal volumes and privatisation. That's one in four workers.

The postal operator has already agreed a three-year deal with the Communication Workers Union to cut headcount by 8,000 a year until 2013. But Moya Greene, who became chief executive last July after leaving Canada Post, is expected to drive through a further 15,000 by 2016.

Come on England! That woman is a freaking nut bar! Look at what she did to Bombardier! Look at the mess she created with Canada Post then ran away from.

David Cameron is a psychopath. Privatizing the Queens mail? Have you no self respect? Liberating all public programs from State control? That is the Devil's lie so it is. Removing public accountability and handing over our own sovereignty to multinational corporations?

Where on earth is Winston Churchill because this is a worse assault on British Sovereignty than Adolf Hitler. Only this assault is a treasonous plot from within. Maggie what have we done? What happened to the post war dream? There are two suns in the sunset alright and one of them is England. Rise up my English Rose. Remember remember the fifth of November. Are we not King's men?

God Save the Queen. Help Stop Moya Greene.



Ulster Says No to Moya Greene.

Rise up Rose, Thistle and Dragon. Wave your Flag.

Canada Post Employees Strike Back

Canada Post is determined to steal the employees pensions and sick leave and completely wreck havoc on the work floor. As a result the employees voted 94.5% to reject their dastardly scheme.

Nevertheless, the Union has been determined to negotiate and has kept putting off a full strike. Yet Canada Post won't budge. They rather lie in press releases and send fake business reps to try and sway public opinion to believe stealing pensions is good for the country. That is sad.

As a result the Union has finally served it's 72 hour strike notice. It will be rotational strikes starting midnight tonight in Winnipeg for 24 hours then rotate somewhere else. This means the mail will still continue and the rotational strike is more of a symbolic exercise to show how the employees not just the Union are opposed to such drastic roll backs.

The declining mail volume is a fallacy. Routes are structured by mail volume. If the mail volume of a route goes down, that route becomes longer so the employee does more work to make up for it.

The Union chose Winnipeg as the place to start the rotational strike because that was the source of the pilot project which has destroyed the profitable functioning postal system and replaced it with absolute chaos. Moncton was the next place they tried to implement that insane system. However, since the drastic changes resulted in chaos they lost an arbitration which halted the insanity temporarily.

Now Canada Post wants to change key words in the existing contract to allow them to implement that chaos unilaterally and the employees have voted 94.5% against it. The union has agreed to deliver welfare and pension cheques during the labour dispute.

Canada Post: Still lying after all these years

I was always shocked at the outright lies Canada Post got away with telling the media. Canada Post would say something absolutely false and the media would repeat it simply because Canada Post said it and there was absolutely no consequences whatsoever for lying to the media.

Evey round of contract negotiations Canada Post would send out a press release and say that horrible union has so many demands it would cost us millions of dollars to pay for all their demands. This round they are saying it again only that perpetual compulsive lie has become so absurd it is now offensive.

Canada Post is Demanding the employees take huge roll backs again. They already stole the employees severance pay. Now they want to steal their pensions and their sick leave. That is offensive. Someone in some office had the bright idea that if they did away with pensions and sick leave they would save a lot of money. So here's the math. Canada Post makes an absurd and offensive demand saying that they want to steal sick time, steal pensions and greatly roll back wages for new employees. They calculate how much money their roll backs could save then they tell the media that the Union's offer of maintaining the status quo will cost them $1.4 billion. Billion!?

The Union wants the status quo. The Corporation wants huge roll backs. The Union objects and Canada Post tries and makes it sound like the Union is asking for more things that will cost over a billion of dollars. That is an absurd lie and because it rationalizes their plan to steal sick leave and steal pensions it is an offensive lie.

What has Moya Greene really done?

Winnipeg Pilot Project disaster

Moncton Arbitration Decision

Catherine not too Swift

Put on your Game Face

CEOs got a big raise; how about you?

Coming out of a bruising recession, the average CEO in the U.S. got a 24% pay raise. The average American worker? Just 3.3%. What does the widening pay gap mean for investors?

Catherine not too Swift

Well, Catherine not too Swift from the Empire Strikes Back Club strikes again. She wrote a letter to the new CEO of Canada Post telling her to save money by stealing sick time and stealing pensions. Brilliant. Pensions are sacred. Stealing pensions is wrong bobblehead.





Catherine the Wise vs Catherine not too Swift. Two different worlds. Catherine Austin Fitts is good at business. Catherine not too Swift is not. Catherine not too Swift is a bobblehead scoundrel who wants to steal public pensions. Catherine Austin Fitts is a saint who wants to save the economy.

Hemlock Valley

I didn't realize how close Hemlock is to Harrison. You can get a glimpse of Harrison from Hemlock just like you can get a glimpse of the Indian Arm from Seymour.



They're a little bit more Nazi on Hemlock about hiking around on "Controlled Recreational Areas." Every other local mountain has BC Parks trails you can hike on during the off season. I'm not sure why I would buy a home on Hemlock if I wasn't allowed to hike around. Kinda silly really.

Cypress from Jericho Beach

Here's a picture of Cypress from Jericho Beach yesterday. You can see # 1 is Black Mountain where they held some Olympic events last year. # 2 is Mount Strachan the other ski hill with the Sky Chair that gives you a great view of the Lions and Howe Sound. #3 is Hollyburn Ridge that you have to snowshoe up. Many years ago they used to have a ferry to west van and people had to hike up to the chair lift. In the /60's it was very popular. Cypress was full of cabins made by the public. Some still remain today but the property tax is crazy and there is still no electricity or running water in the cabins.

Ski to Sea

Fresh snow on the local mountains again this morning. Since the ski area is closed now I cut across the ski hill to the Howe Sound Crest trail. All the trail markers are under 10 feet of snow. Even the map shelter at the base is buried.



The way up was magnificent. Not much visibility at the top the the way up was worth it.







Then instead of waiting in rush hour I went over the White Cliff. Now that is what I'm talking about. The best things in life are still free.