07.29.2010 08:56 AM

Thursday morning bits and pieces

  • RIM copies Apple, Apple copies RIM:  It’s just me, but I’d recommend the two companies stick to doing what they already do very well: RIM manufacturing a terrific device for email, Apple manufacturing terrific touch-screen computer thingies.  I’m not sure they advance their corporate interests by providing a pale version of what the other guy does better.
  • The Giorno Factor: I know Guy and I like him.  I don’t agree with his views on many, many subjects, but he’s a smart cat. The notion, however, that he’s really the Prime Minister, and not Stephen Harper, is mistaken.  Chiefs of Staff are important, but nobody should be under the impression that The Boss is anything other than The Boss: that has always been so.  The character and focus of the Harper government  is determined by Stephen Harper, not his employees.  It was thus for Messrs. Martin, Chretien, Mulroney et al., too.  Remember the names of all of their Chiefs?  Exactly.
  • Goofy story of the day: If John runs, does anyone seriously believe he wouldn’t have the support of his sons? Give me a break.  And, BTW, thanks for messing with the Festival of Joy, guys.  I’ll get you for this.
  • Buck-buck, yawn: The chicken suit thing is so tired and old and hackneyed, states like Nevada have even banned them near polling stations! Personally, I’m all for getting your youth wing folks to tackle the chicken and pluck off his/her outfit.  If nothing else, it’d be entertaining, and possibly provide a free lunch.
  • GritChik: Great new web site.  The fact that she says nice things about Yours Screwly may naturally colour my judgment.  Chik her out!

30 Comments

  1. Carl says:

    GritChik – what a fabulous new blog. The one thing I like about blogs like that and yours Warren is that visitors get what they get. Don’t like it, stop visiting. Like it and jump right in. Those are the blogs that stand out for me. I tire very quickly of blogs hosted by folks on both sides of the political spectrum who invite diversity but whose sensitivities are such that they get insulted by being challenged on their views. Blogs that try too hard to sell me something, whether it be a politician, an issue or a viewpoint are a dime a dozen. Those who frame an issue well and speak to it clearly will get my patronage. So thanks for the new site notice Warren. Very refreshing.

    John Tory would be a great fit for Toronto. I actually think that the notion that he’s struggling with a decision actually works well for him strategically in building momentum and excitement by not even trying very hard. I see all kinds of advantage to him holding on a bit longer.

  2. Paul R. Martin says:

    1) RIM vs Apple had to happen. Neither could afford to stand still.
    2) Columnists are paid to write columns. The accuracy of the opinion piece doesn’t matter.
    3) Blood is thicker than water.
    4) If Tory runs, that chicken is fried.
    5) What birthday party?

  3. Carl says:

    Here’s something you should try just for fun. Actually this whole site is really great at testing how much you know about a zillion issues.
    http://www.sporcle.com/games/livfred/greatest_canadians

  4. Aurelia says:

    The new blackberry had to happen, because no one can type more than 3 words on the iphone or the ipad, making them nice toys for surfing but not business. And these days, larger and larger documents are being marked up, transferred between businesses….and they can’t fit in email!

    So if on the blackberry I can now go to a properly rendered website, download a graphic PPT or a contract or a new website php and make changes with the KEYBOARD or touchscreen and upload it again, or just be able to type a message or a tweet or blogpost or comment, and have long nails? Yeah, I laughed at the Apple store when they told me to cut my nails short to type on the iPad. Steve Jobs is not making my fashion decisions, thanks.

    Which is the problem, Apple is not listening to it’s customers anymore, and RIM is finally listening to it’s customers, after not doing it for awhile. They can’t mesh as companies. Ever I think. Sad tho.

  5. Aurelia says:

    On another note….Happy 50th Birthday! I’ll be in New York that weekend, BlogHer is putting on The White House Project among other events. But I hope the party is great!

  6. Cath says:

    I hear that 50 is the new 40 WK, so you’ve got a lot of good years ahead. Happy Birthday – a bit early of a wish but we’ll be on vacation on the big day. Was Roxy a birthday present?

  7. luke says:

    I think you’ve misinterpreted the Lawrence Martin piece. From my read he doesn’t say anything about the COS being the real PM, but rather that the change in the COS has brought out the worst of the PM and done no good for the CPC in their attempt to expand their vote.

    You could say that he highlights the power of the COS and in this case how he is an enabler rather than a ‘chamber of sober second thought’.

    Put another way, Giorno is no Leo McGarry.

    • Namesake says:

      yeah, we might say that Harper is surrounded by No Men.

    • H Holmes says:

      I think Lawrence Martin missed the point.
      I don’t think Harper is surrounded by Yes men, he surround by a week opposition and he isn’t afraid to have his pull numbers slump in the near term knowing that his political life will be better served in the future.

      Proroguing the parliament in January was a good example of this. He now is control of the senate. How much complaining do you hear coming from the senate now. Nothing. It was brilliant and the liberals tried to score cheap points and were even threatening to remove this power, even though there is a very good chance that we might have to do the same thin in a minority situation.

      The census thing is the same thing. Let the nation news papers scream about this manufactured story. Mean while he is locking up rural Ontario and BC.
      He has given up on Quebec and Toronto so any policy he is proposing are going to reward new immigrants, and suburban votes.

      Again this is totally missed in the article.

      Not a surprise when you write about Ottawa and you,live in the Ottawa, Toronto bubble.

      An election is coming in about 2 months and the liberals are still on the defensive and no one is talking about what any of the policies that they have. I think Harper has easily won the summer.

      Too bad. But this is the problem the liberals have focusing on the “national newspapers” and totally forgetting about regional issues on a regional bus trip.

      There is a reason Harper does exactly the opposite of the Toronto Star writes.

      • Namesake says:

        Holmes own homilies.

        “We” might have to prorogue to avoid disclosing information to Parliament or to stack the Senate? Your concern is touching… the nether regions.

        http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=concern+troll

        • H Holmes says:

          Imteresting, but I believe our parlimentary system is just fine as is.

          Heck its only led to the most successful party in history.

          If you doubt my conviction I am a max donor and an active riding member.

          I happen to live in smaller center on the prairies so I might see things a little different.

          I still think the election is winnable, but we need to play small regional politics.
          The days of one national political plan is ending and I don’t think some of the liberal command understand this.

          The liberal strength is the fact they we still have lots of MPs that were in government and many are from diverse backgrounds. We should be making these people region leaders and have them lead small regional teams. Paul Martin wasw right about Asymetrical Federalism, it is just a scary thought to implement because of the sense of lose of control for the leader.

          It is time to drop wedge issues that target groups within our party and instead come up with regional plans guided by a large national master plan. I would call this Red book plus 6.

          • Namesake says:

            You’re advocating that the Libs decentralize control of its own command structure by establishing a network of regional barons — in effect, a parallel set of Premiers —
            and endorsing a patchwork of different rights and services for Canadians, depending upon where they live… as the means to unifying the Party & winning the next election? And you declare your good intentions by announcing you’re a max. donor? (to which party)? Thanks, Holmesysseus, but I hope our Trojans leave this horse in the pasture.

          • H Holmes says:

            Look Prime Minister Martin was the one that brought up Asymetrical Federalism as a liberal ideal.
            Not me.
            This should have been applied to the gun registry, so that provinces could decide on their own to support the registry. This is not new, the health act and revenue Canadian already lets Quebec part the rest of Canada on many things.

            The concept that what works in Toronto is good for all of Canada is foolish and has led the to the decimation of the party in many areas.
            You can keep your head buried in the sand, you can think that merging parties will solve this problem.
            But we need to come up with plan to suburban and rural votes. What we have been doing for the last 6 years is not working.

            If we don’t have a plan for rural and suburban votes then any Party will have the same problems as the liberal party does.
            This will lead to the next Panacea proportional representation, which will further alienate rural and suburban voters.

            Its too bad that you don’t think I am a liberal, but I am, I have been a card carrying one since 1998, killing debate by raising false flags is one of the major problems I see with the some people in the liberal party.

          • Namesake says:

            Well, it’d be nice to get more rural votes, alright, but it’s hard to believe an actual LPC member would seriously endorse the brazenly self-interested & short-sighted position of the Fraser Inst. & Darrell Bricker (the CEO of Ipsos Reid Canada & the former director of the PMO’s public-opinion research**) that we privatize the collection of our national statistics & outsource those public service jobs to private pollsters, credit card companies, & customer loyalty cards.*

            Just how many parties are you members of?

            * http://warrenkinsella.com/2010/07/leakage/#comment-7431

            ** http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/darrell-bricker/11/459/416

            http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&lang=e&clipID=4288

          • H Holmes says:

            Only one. The liberal party

            Your question sbout census data is interesting.

            Most of the census information can be gleemed from the Revenue Agency.

            Aside from that Airmiles and most other card sell data like shopping purchases and mortgage information.

            Frankly the government should spend the money in processing data rather than in collecting it.

            If the democrats don\t need census information to win an election and were able to directly identify citizens then why can’t the Government of Canada.

            I won’t get into specific about why I am liberal, but I believe the best way to direct the country is through the Supreme Court.
            Things like Gay Marriage wouldn\t have been possible without years of wise judicial appointments.
            Also a liberal senate was vitally important in slowing down the conservative movement.

            I strongly feel that we beed to work at collecting rural and suburban votes.
            You don’t agree with me about the census thats fine but I can’t under stand that Ad Hominem

            If you can’t find fault in the message target the messenger.

          • Namesake says:

            Well, sorry for the shots if you really do think of yourself as a Liberal, but I wouldn’t have accused you of flying a false flag if you hadn’t raised so many red (er, blue) flags in your first posts:

            viz., the cheerleading that Harper’s a briliant strategist for stuffing the Senate in time to push his bills through; the scolding that Libs shouldn’t critique proroguing or try to change the rules on it, _or_ defend the integrity of StatCan and the mandatory Census; & the poison pill prescription that it resurrect a sketchy & largely disgraced Paul Martin* trial balloon that would cause more disarray & justify abandoning central principles like the Canada Health Act so you can be shorn of the Gun Registry.

            * (who you should know is as revered as, say, the fictional town of Wullerton in these particular parts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corner_Gas#Wullerton_rivalry )

            Agreed, the Libs should try to do something positive to address rural concerns. That’s what the tour’s about — to learn what they are — and they’re starting to make some baby steps in this dep’t: see http://www.liberal.ca/issues/rural-canada

            But it’s not as though the Cons. have really done much for rural Canada, either, and the Cons. Gov’t today has incarnated pretty much everything the old Reformers vowed to change in Ottawa. Rather than trying to recreate that bait & switch betrayal, as you seem to be advocating, that’s a narrative the Libs should be hammering home, as well: the “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
            refrain (Meet the new Boss — same as the old Boss.)

            As for your peculiar view that the Obama campaign etc. proves a Census isn’t needed:

            It worked because people signed up to http://my.barackobama.com as supporters & gave their basic ID & contact info., which was then supplemented by other databases, which was presumably permitted by their weaker privacy regs.

            http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/10/obamas-secret-w/

            http://wizbangblue.com/2008/04/29/obamas-database-a-treasure-trove-of-riches.php

            But how is the Cndn. Gov’t — which people aren’t exactly flocking to sign on with as Facebook friends — supposed to get all that basic contact info w/o a census? And there are privacy laws, departmental firewalls, & just plain self-interest preventing the various agencies with databases (incl. Rev. Can.) from furnishing them to the gov’t to pool together w/o people’s explicit consent.

            And the purpose of the Census isn’t to win an election (altho’ it can help with that); it’s to get the info. the gov’t needs to carry out its legislative responsibilities,* and neither the tax returns nor the various commercial databases you mention include all the needed variables for all the population in a way that can be integrated together to track everything they need to know.

            * see http://datalibre.ca/2010/07/19/uses-of-census-long-form-data-question-justification/ for a quick summary of some of these purposes.

          • H Holmes says:

            I think this whole sensus thing was Canard hoisted by the conservatives to bury the fine things that bus tour is trying to accomplish, my point was that we should be nfocusing on what we as liberals will do to help local communitities and fight the census changes when the house sits. I don’t care if the long form stays. It is a small issue to me personally.

            The way the fed handle my data is a much larger issue.

            I have a real pet peave about the way government handles my private information.
            For example there isn’t a single security agency. To get clearance for some projects it is handled by CSIS, other times the RCMP and other times by the individual government agency.
            All of this should go through onr agency so that we can better monitor who has access to private documents.

            I think that all government data should be linked in the same way Revenue, Immigration etc. Other centre left countries like Denmark already do this.
            It might be slightly more intrusive to begin with, but if the government wants to it can get approval from a judge to coordinate this data with out our consent, they can.

            I am for having a checkmark on the income tax form allowing my data to be shared across the government.
            There are others that would opt out and thats fine.
            I don’t think many people realize that the majority of there data is for sale anyway.
            Thsts the beauty of the small print on collectors cards.

            Obama also bought alot of data, that is whre the majority of his money went, or at least that is what they talked about during their election presentations.

            I am very much in favor of the health act. I was using the Quebec example as how asymentrical federalism already works.

            I am also in favor of a hand gun registry. I am just not in favor of a manditory long gun registry, Instead of scrapping it I would think that we could come up with a provincial opt out.
            That would really help to passify rural discontent.

            There are lots of liberals like me.

            I am also in favor in maintaining the Wheat Board, however I think it is time that the crow rate was brought back, and that local marketting was addressed.

            The bus tour is good for rural Ontario, however it would have been nice to spend more time in the Prairies and in BC, I think many places are winnable out here. I think we just need to fine tune the message and make it more relavent to western voters and cut the teath out of the stuff that will precieved as negative to westerners.

  8. Welby says:

    You say that Stephen Harper has own the summer. Where is he?

  9. ghoris says:

    “The character and focus of the Harper government is determined by Stephen Harper, not his employees. It was thus for Messrs. Martin, Chretien, Mulroney et al., too. Remember the names of all of their Chiefs? Exactly.”

    Tim Murphy, Eddie Goldenberg, Percy Downe, Jean Pelletier, Hugh Segal, Norman Spector, Stanley Hartt, Derek Burney.

    On reflection, I guess it was a rhetorical question…

  10. Erik says:

    I’m not an electronics partisan. I’ve had a BlackBerry and an iPhone at different times. Why can’t a=we all just get along? After all, don’t we all share a love for composing tweets on the go?

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