MKO chief says witnesses and evidence in Beardy death not required, plays race card

Better late than never...

A coverage triple crown of city hall, under the big dome and around the blogosphere stand as proof the alternative media leader tells you what you need to know and tells it like it is.

At 510 Main, it was loan guarantees and garbage fees; meanwhile the NDP Premier extolled the virtues of a Maple Leaf Foods "Centre of Excellence For Bacon" (not that there's anything wrong with that) while putting Energy and Conservation together under the man who promised to end hallway medicine (and we all know how that turned out). Over in cyberville, award-winning blogger Graham Hnatiuk explained to a former city hall insider the business basics of the lopsided Forks-North Portage parking fee scheme that extracts substantial game night profit margins out of the pockets of Forks restaurants, as well as a listener blasting another blogger for his performance in a radio studio.

Then we get to the good stuff.

The Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak expressed outrage that the Geraldine Beardy manslaughter charge was dropped by the Crown against a Korean storeowner in the Centennial neighbourhood 3 blocks from the Health Sciences Centre.

MKO's David Harper, the deceased's cousin, told CBC there was "no need for such cases to be dropped".

Oh really. Who needs the witness, who skipped a border to avoid their own arrest? or anything like, say evidence against Mr. Kim ? Apparently not Chief Harper.

Today's podcast applies some of that logic to other recent justice system examples such as Premier Selingers favorite rapper, and refutes Harper's comparison of this shoplifters' death to a single case of a missing or murdered woman.

We also mine some classic comments from the Free Press' record 683 online contributions, and explain why any Beardy lawsuit is on thin ice compared to the Brian Sinclair family suit, in which they are kicking the WRHA's heinie by pointing out the court can't allow an institution to precipitate a customers death and then claim his rights didn't exist.

Shout-outs today to TGCTS alumnus Shannah-Lee Vidal, Josh Grummett and David Shorr, who have gone on to notable careers with Mix 100 FM CJCD, APTN-TV, and the Manitoba Liberal party respectively.

The trio were producers and contributors to our show for many years and are an example of the quality of people who interned with TGCTS on 92.9 Kick-FM in citizen journalism and talk radio, while taking the Red River College creative communications course. (Welcome back Shannah-Lee)

The link to the Wednesday podcast is here:

http://tgctspod.podbean.com/2011/10/19/mko-chief-says-witnesses-and-evidence-in-beardy-death-not-required-plays-race-card/

Vote for best story of Year 3! and Manifesto Monday tomorrow

Young Josh has reviewed the list and has determined the following 10 nominees for Story of the Year.

You can register your vote at talk@kick.fm
and one lucky voter who picks the winning entry will get a special prize package courtesy of TGCTS and 92.9 Kick-FM!

The nominees are:

1) Porkgate - the Winnipeg Free Press never once covered the story of how taxpayer-funded food for the poor, mysteriously arrived at the picket line around their building, and was later the cause of public health warnings due to the fact it had already thawed and was reportedly re-frozen.

2) The real story of the New Years Eve "Vigilante"/hate-crime" beating of a carjacker on Horace Street by concerned citizens defending the occupants of the warming vehicle, a mother and her baby.

3) The Meth Caller- a friend of meth addict Daniel Van Den Bosche explained her view of his shooting himself when cornered by cops, only hours after a raid uncovered illegal guns to which he was believed linked. She told of the deep-rooted meth epidemic in the city often overlooked by MSM and politicians

4) Two-Tier justice: a man accused of an attempted home invasion on a Crown Attorney, where nobody was injured, got sentenced to 57 months; meanwhile, a 15 year old who, with 2 accomplices, stormed an Alexander Avenue West house that his sister had been evicted from, stabbed the new occupant and nearly killed him, got only 27 months.

5) Inside the Free Press union conflict: the battle between rank-and-file CEP members who felt frozen out of strike negotitation and later tried to initiate job-sharing, and the arrogant union leadership.

6) Bill Blaikie exclusive interview: TGCTS scored the only extensive interview with the former MP who successfully held the Elmwood riding for the Doer NDP in the byelection. Our interview was the first time anyone heard of a commitment for additional funding from the NDP to keep the Disraeli Freeway open during re-construction.

7) The death of Gail Glesby: Not only was the Health Sciences Centre caught hiding proof about her multiple falls suffered while in the emergency room, we exposed how at one point Glesby was left in a hallway, strapped into a wheelchair and dying of a brain bleed, while her frantic family was told she had been discharged and an HSC operator hung up on them. Questions were asked in the Legislature and the Winnipeg Sun also picked up on our story.

8) Cox2 studies faked by leading anaesthetist- Unreported in mainstream media, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass. asked medical journals to make retractions because its former chief of acute pain, Dr. Scott S. Reuben, had faked data used in 21 studies purporting that COX2 drugs such as Vioxx, Celebrex and Effexor XR were safe.

9) Aurtarlia- to this day, the Free Press has never corrected their mistake, leading to our determination that they must have discovered a new continent. Subsequently on October 30th, Adam West accepted the role of Consul-general of Aurtarlia and announced the initiation of diplomatic relations with the fictional town of Quohog, Rhode Island, of which he is the Mayor on Fox-TV's Family Guy.

10) Exposing the Public Trustee's Office - the story of the Knizat family, who discovered the Kremlin-like tactics used by this unaccountable agency to fleece the father's estate of $7000 every 3 months, while he was left without proper medical care in Riverview under their 'authority'.

Listeners can certainly suggest other stories, such as:

- forcing Justice Minister Dave Chomiak to apologize to Mayor Sam Katz after falsely claiming Katz was opposed to photo-radar refunds;

- relevations about the Parking Authority bullying employees, as well as inner-city residents and businesses, and how all tickets issued since last year under the G4S contract may be invalid; and...

- our shows on how panicked Manitoba Hydro executives are violating the Whistleblower Act.

Monday at 4 PM:
- we kick off Year 4 with Manifesto Monday, in which we set out our theme for the coming year.
- As well, a Lesson in Journalism about Manitoba Hydro;
- the Canadian MSM ignores emails proving pro- Al Gore scientists invented "global warming" data;
- inside the Transcona murder of Nolan Norman;
- and Spirited Kenny joins Frank the Italian Barber and Brad Harrison to preview the Grey Cup game between Saskatchewan and Montreal.

And how about that Brett 'Vikings are 9-1' Favre ?

CBC finally wakes up to 2008's story of the year - Cheez Whiz

Despite the stunning revelation by Free Press columnist Dan Lett that Premier Gary Doer kept Dave Chomiak in the pressure-cooker Justice portfolio even after his wife committed suicide, which resulted in his long-time confidant struggling to even get through a basic day, the CBC decided the most important issue was something we first reported over one year ago.

Here's what they refused to report for the past 14 months:

"While making excuses for the NDP's refusal to support a Private Members bill of Liberal Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster) to establish a fixed price for fresh milk and make that staple affordable to Northern Manitoba, (keep in mind the price of beer is, by law, the same as in Winnipeg but milk runs up to $22 or more for a 4-litre), Marcelino stated that the people of the North were ingeniously using other products to ensure their children get calcium in their diets.

Specifically: Cheez Whiz.

Which, as our science specialist Spirited Kenny is going to tell us on Friday, is barely recognizable as a food.

Here's the excerpt from Hansard:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/hansard/2nd-39th/vol_65a/h65a.html#sr

Marcelino: ... However, I noticed that if you can be creative and practical, there are other alternatives to milk if you just want calcium. I saw in Gods Lake Narrows this school where supplies are delivered. They have several boxes of Cheez Whiz which is also a derivative of milk product containing calcium. I saw lots of bread. I thought without even thinking about this bill that this is a good alternative for milk.

So these children and adults from remote communities who, with this product which could be stored for a long time, these people from the northern communities are not without calcium in their diet. They may not have the actual fresh, chilled milk in the morning, but they have Cheez Whiz and other milk-derivative products that could be stored.

We are still searching for proof that the calcium in the standard serving size (2 tablespoons or 33 grams) of Cheez Whiz is an effective preventative measure for cavities in 2 year olds, or that the benefits of Cheez Whiz outweigh the excessive saturated fat, sodium, and other dubious nutritional qualities of that unnatural processed concoction.

But on the other hand, the government keeps beer affordable ..."

That story was published over one year ago. The MSM ignored it.

But once Marcelino was appointed a Cabinet Minister, CBC ran to the wayback machine.

This much is clear to even a rookie Red River College Cre- Comm student: if these ridiculous utterances of this NDP MLA was newsworthy yesterday, it was newsworthy when it was first reported. By us. Last September 9th.

It.

was.

news.

This story could have been told when it was first discovered.

When native people and northerners were first insulted.

Before anyone even thought that Premier Selinger was going to deem Marcelino qualified to ascend to cabinet.

Why wasn't it?

Did it really require the insertion into the issue by CBC of an 'activist', Joan Hay, to justify CBC exposing the complete absurd political posturing by Marcelino, who was running interference for a milk policy that flies in the face of the avowed NDP commitment to children, to the north, to 'healthy living'?

Or did CBC, and every other MSM outlet, deliberately ignore our 2008 Story of the Year as a finding of "the lesser media", even though a substantial number of them listen to our show and read our blog?

Last evening, at the conclusion of Sheila North-Wilson's report, CBC anchor Janet Stewart intoned "Now, Flor Marcelino just called us to say she apologizes and she now says Cheeze Whiz is not a good alternative to milk. She says she wants meet with Joan Hay, the activist we talked to, to apologize in person."

Forget that spin, CBC. You missed the boat again.

Her first act as Minister in the House should be to rise and apologize on the record, to ALL Manitobans. CBC should insist on it. We will.

This episode also begs the question, why did CBC deign that l'affair Cheez Whiz was more newsworthy instead of asking if it was in the public interest for Gary Doer to use a stressed-out high-strung widower to make important decisions on public safety and enforcement policy?

Or to ask why Doer left Chomiak to flounder in the face of Winnipeg regaining Murder capital status, the lost gang database, the photo-radar ticket debacle, and the 1999 NDP Election Finance Scam he presided over as campaign chairman?

Oh ya. Cause we reported it first.

Watch for it on CBC News at 5, 5.30 and 6 -- in about 14 months time.

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Thanks to MPI's Brian Smiley, Liberal MLA Kevin Lamoureaux, and Tory leader Hugh McFadyen for appearing on the show yesterday. Smiley, in particular, will be scheduled in the near future to debate the MPI rationale and business case for their massive capital builing plan with some listeners who told him the numbers were being spun and the building of new service centres is not justified.

- Today at 4.05 PM Alternative Media Perspectives with Triallo.com's Darryl Walsh

- at 4.45 PM Greg Oliver and Jon Waldman join the show to discuss the exciting launch of their new Slam!Wrestling book, Shocking Stories of the Squared Circle.

I will be hosting the launch event, at McNally Robinson Polo Park, at 7 PM. Then we will be off to the PCW card 'HellBound" at Dylan's on Pembina. For those who wish to attend next week's Kerry Brown Tribute Show fundraiser tickets will be available at both events.

(Thank you to CJOB's Hustler and Lawless, for having me on their show last night at the Pier 7 Pony Corral to talk about Kerry's life and the card being held to honour him. Also thanks to Laurie Mustard for mentioning the cause in his Sun column.

For tickets email martygoldlive@gmail.com and/or listen to TGCTS for ticket giveaways every day until showtime!)

Doer five-steps question: who told him about refund scam

The Marx brothers continued their starring run on Broadway today, as Premier Gary Doer side-stepped questions about his knowledge of the 1999 election refund forgery on 5 different occasions.

"Who was it that made the party aware?" of the fraudulent misrepresentation of union workers as a legitimate election expense, was tossed in various forms at Doer again and again by Consevative leader Hugh McFadyen.

'Groucho' showed off his vaudeville skills, tap-dancing around the serious issue by claiming the Election Manitoba official answered the questions in committee (he didn't), that the Tories spent more than the NDP did (as if that's an excuse to cheat the public), and that his government banned corporate and union donations as proof of their piety.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Dave 'Chico' Chomiak waved documents, pointed at words on paper, and demonstrated the unique skill of bulging his eyes out of his head, when forced to field questions directed to Finance Minister Greg Selinger about his own knowledge and role in the scam.

Tory MLA Len Derkatch wanted to know what was true- that letter from the NDP exonerating Selinger of any involvement in the fraudulent shifting of salaries on declaration forms to a subsidy-eligible expense, or was the premier correct when he said earlier this week that Selinger was in fact involved?

Derkatch also pointed out that Selinger was linked to withholding information about the Crocus Fund that was circulated in departmental memos predicting the funds' insolvency in 2000.

Chomiak, who invented a new word "constit-uations" in his diatribe, was worked into a lather by the pointed Tory attacks on his role as campaign chairman of the NDP 1999 victory. "His performance in this House shows he has no credibility on this issue", said Derkatch.

With 'Harpo' Selinger glued to his seat and Chomiak gasping for syllables, Doer once again took the spotlight, stating " Elections Manitoba is always right!", before launching into a bar mitzvah speech about how proud he is of the Justice Minister, in particular for his having coddled car thieves to the point innocent Manitobans were forced to install immobilizers to solve his failure to protect their safety.

It would be comical were it not so sad.

Elections Manitoba is NOT always right.
They are, if anything, TOO independant.

Manitobans do not buy their wall of silence, that somehow legally hides the justification for prosecuting Tory election spending scofflaws but not the NDP government that, conveniently, ensured a handsome pay raise for Richard Balasko. His organization ensured the public did not learn of this scheme to defraud taxpayers with false expense claims until well AFTER the 2003 election that saw Doer, Chomiak, and Selinger et al returned to office.

Who holds Elections Manitoba to account? What are the links between their officials and the players in the 1999 NDP expense-claim scam? Did Doer know and approve of the attack by NDP officials on the career of David Asselstine, the auditor who red-flagged the long-standing practice of bilking taxpayers for zer0-cost union workers?

Today at 4.10 PM, Liberal MLA Kevin Lamoureaux, who was first to ask Doer about who he learned about the scam from, will join the show.

At 4.35 PM, Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt makes his first appearance on TGCTS, to explain his letter to the Free Press extolling the virtues of David Asper's proposal for a new infrastructure tax, at the same time as the NDP has hidden a tax break in Bill 30 for Asper's new stadium if it is built at a University.

And at 5.10, Kelly Dehn of CTV joins us with his weekly Crimewatch report.

Plus news about a new Free Press column, our comments about their "award-winning journalism", we'll tell you about a great blog post comparing two FP columnists, plus the Harv-Al sports report at 5.23 PM!

****************

We've already paid for 5 days worth of meals - please join TGCTS and 92.9 Kick-FM us supporting this worthy cause!

MYS NEW CAMPAIGN “FOOD FOR A DAY” WILL
SUPPORT YOUTH EMERGENCY SHELTER

WINNIPEG, June 10, 2009 – Macdonald Youth Services (MYS) is excited to launch “Food for a Day”, a new campaign to support their Youth Emergency Shelter, which provided 1171 overnight stays to youth in 2008.

“The goal of this campaign is to have at least 365 people donate $18.00 each, which will essentially feed the shelter for a year,” said Sean Crawford, Manager of External Relations at MYS. “This will enable more of our existing budget to go to other elements of the shelter, such as conflict resolution and crisis counseling - which are provided to youth who need these services."

“We don’t want to see the youth in our community go to sleep hungry, cold, or without the basic resources they as youth deserve,” said Dr. Erma Chapman, Executive Director at MYS. “For as little as 18 dollars per person, we as a community can make an extremely large difference for these youth.”

To donate to “Food for a Day”, visit mys.ca and click on the Give Now tab to select the Food for a Day Campaign, or call 477-1722.

MYS fosters hope and opportunities to empower children, youth and families
throughout Manitoba to grow and heal through safe, caring, respectful and collaborative relationships. To learn more about MYS, please visit our website at http://www.mys.ca/

-30-
For more information, please contact:

Sean Crawford
Manager of External Relations
Phone: (204) 477-1722
Fax: (204) 284-4431
Email: sean.crawford@mys.mb.ca

Chomiak's non-answer to Refundgate questions smells like an answer

Justice Minister Dave Chomiak faced renewed questions in the Manitoba Legislature today about his knowledge of the taxpayer-fleecing accounting switch pulled off by the NDP in 1999, when he was campaign chairman for the Doer victory.

After earlier jousts between Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen and an increasingly frazzled premier Gary Doer about the timeline of who knew what-and-when about the scam, Liberal leader Jon Gerrard followed up, zoning in on Doer's admission last week that he had known since 2001 that alterations to the election returns of 13 candidates had been done without the knowledge of the official agents.


Dr. Gerrard accused Doer of playing "hide and seek" with the public and asked whether he will call a public inquiry.

Doer repeated from the diversionary themes handbook - that the refund of the disallowed expenses was published in 2004 and tabled in the Legislature without a whimper from the opposition at the time, which goes hand in hand with "the government had banned corporate and union donations so this can never, ever happen again."

Gerrard then directly asked if the Premier had been apprised of this scam by the Justice Minister himself, who had been campaign chairman? After another non-answer by Doer, Chomiak finally rose to respond to the question of Liberal Kevin Lamoureux, asking him directly if he knew about the fraudulent change-up when it happened.

Chomiak went on to refer to the changes to donations laws, refered to the Monnin inquiry comment about "liars", and said "Every party has repaid and refiled (returns). It's in a report that's 5 years old. It's not very secret."


But what is a secret, and one Chomiak did not want to tell, is what he knew, and when he knew it, about the trick played on well-trained NDP official agents.

Someone altered the placement of union workers salaries on declaration forms, so that the party could get half the money deposited back as a subsidy into party coffers.


Whereas the government continues to spin this as a "disagreement" with Elections Manitoba, the public is seeing a now serious breach in the NDP cabinet along the lines of ethics and optics.


Finance Minister Greg Selinger will not rise on any questions about his refiled return, or about his demand for a letter of exoneration. Nor will he explain if he took his concerns about the possible (past) election deception that cost taxpayers to senior department officials.

In a scrum last week, Selinger confirmed the account of whistleblower Jim Treller, that agents and candidates had no idea they had been put on the hook for falsified expense claims until a meeting in April 2003.

Justice Minister Chomiak portrays an equivalency between the other parties past refilings and what the NDP did in 1999- taking donations from unions to pay for campaign workers, then tried to get another 50% of the wages refunded on top of it. The opposition parties never pulled that one.

And although the bare-bones numbers were published in a report 5 years ago, it is the circumstances of that refiling - that the party jeopardized the legal position of 26 innocent loyalists via trickery, in an attempt to scam taxpayers - that was a secret.

Given the legal costs for the Conservative candidates nailed for election finance misdeeds in 99 ran up to $15,000, that was a hell of a chance someone at NDP HQ took with other peoples private lives. It was so serious, Selinger insisted he be kept off the hook (not caring what happened in the other 12 ridings).

Chomiak will not answer questions about when he learned about the scam, which took place under his watch over the rise to power of Gary Doer in 1999.

Doer will only say he learned of it in 2001, sees no ethical problem, and thinks we should move along. He refuses to answer who told him about the scam being red-flagged by the auditor David Asselstine.

Selinger admitted to what he knew, and clearly he saw a problem if he demanded a letter from party HQ attesting to his non-role in the scam.

By Premier Doer not answering the question of who told him, alongside Chomiak totally avoiding the issue of when he himself found out about the scam, the public is being led to the obvious conclusion.

And given the optics of the non-answers of Doer and Chomiak when compared to Selinger's belated epiphany, voters are waiting for the next NDP whistleblower to come forward. Who knows when Dave Chomiak knew about Refundgate?