From my brother Angelo: “Praising Ford for the good campaign he ran is like congratulating the weatherman for a sunny day.”

Brilliant.

Comments (7)

The last press conference he’ll run.

“To me, there’s never been much question that Conservative candidate Julian Fantino is going to handily win Monday’s byelection in a riding north of Toronto.

The question, instead, is why the hell Julian Fantino wants the job in the first place.“

Comments (23)

About a year ago, a Toronto Transit worker was photographed asleep.  If you lived in Toronto, you couldn’t have avoided the photo, or the many stories about the incident.  It even was a subject of debate in the municipal election campaign.

Now this story has appeared, occupying far less space – and being given far less prominence – than the original “napping TTC worker” demi-scandal.

Today, we learn that the man in photo is dead.  He was sick, and apparently sick at the time of the photo, too.  He left the job he loved, ashamed of what had happened, ashamed that he had hurt the reputation of his colleagues.  He had worked for nearly three decades with an unblemished record.

Why am I drawing attention to this?  Because it isn’t the exception; it’s the rule, now.  Because it should make some people – a lot of people, actually – feel ashamed for how this story ended.  Because, when our collective memory is determined by a Google search, and nothing is worth saying if it isn’t expressed in 140 characters, and the “news cycle” is shorter than a sound bite, and analysis is thinner than piss on a rock, this how things are going to be, from now on: someone’s life, captured in a completely unrepresentative moment, is completely destroyed.  And no one gives a shit.

I’m as guilty of this techno-mob rule as anybody – maybe more so.  As I know too well, as I’ve experienced many times, it takes a few seconds to put something out there in the Internet ether – but, as I told a U of T class this week, you can’t take it back.  And it’ll be there forever.  It’ll be there after you’re dead.

I feel sorry for what happened to this man.  He deserves an apology.

But apologies are the only things that are slow in coming, these days.

UPDATE, FROM LOUISE: “I am  proud to say I was related to George and had the privilege to know him and call him “friend”. We always looked forward to seeing him. He was just fun to be around and a kind and decent man. He was a true hero in his everyday life as he always put others first – he showed himself in everyday small kindnesses, not just one or two incidents of which the public has come to know. He was tremendously loved by our family and by his many friends. George was always happy and cheerful, with an open hand and heart. I’ll never forget his laugh and his bright blue twinkling eyes. I never heard George say a bad word about anyone. Wasn’t in his nature. He was a good friend, loving, kind, easy to be with and tremendously funny. A bright light has gone from our lives. He will be missed by all who had the good fortune to know him.”

Comments (24)

BCL has the deets.

Who are the Landowners?  Well, one of their top guys, here, says he’s VP for Randy Hiller’s riding Frontenac-area association.  He’s been investigated by the OPP for making death threats, and is notorious for his white supremacy and extremism.

We all know who he is, and what he stands for.  What we don’t get, however, is why Hudak, Hiller et al. haven’t denounced someone who would write filth like this:

“Typical n****r behavior. Concealed carry would have made the outcome much different. Note if the perpetrators had been White, they would have all got the death penalty for a hate crime against n*****s. And the lieberals wonder why a large segment of Whites hate blacks and distrust them. I am surprised the black bastards did not try to rape them, that is standard fare for n*****s.“

Comments (11)

B.C.’s next Premier?

…she isn’t in the race, yet, but I’ve already heard from many folks – Libs, Cons, you name it – who would jump at the chance to help her.  I know I certainly would offer whatever help I could, in the leadership race and beyond.

Having heavyweights (and, full disclosure, longtime friends) like Messrs. Boessenkool and Marissen at the helm would be a huge asset for a Clark leadership bid, too.  Two of the smartest guys in Canadian poilitics, hands down.

***

“The most intriguing potential candidate remains politician-turned-radio host Christy Clark, who is also said to be seriously considering a run.

She would certainly add some glitz and sparkle to the campaign. During her three-year stint in government, where she was education minister and later minister of children and family services, she was known for possessing superb communication skills.

Ms. Clark also established a reputation for a highly partisan, sometimes confrontational style that made her no friends among teachers in the province.

She is said to have lined up one of the top backroom organizers in the country, Ken Boessenkool, to run her campaign. Mr. Boessenkool has close ties to the federal Conservative Party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose successful 2006 campaign he helped mastermind.

Ms. Clark’s former husband, meantime, is Mark Marissen, a brilliant campaign organizer in his own right who would undoubtedly lend a hand. Her brother, Bruce Clark, is a campaign fundraiser for the federal Liberals and would have a Rolodex, one would think, that would come in handy when it came to raising money. While she is being pushed hard to run, Ms. Clark, a single mother, has apparently agonized over the decision because of the impact it would have on her nine-year-old son, Hamish.”

UPDATE: The fact that she is pictured here with my friend Joey can only be a good thing, in my geriatric punk view.

Comments (10)

Has it really been ten years this week, little one?

Election 2000
National News
Candidates weigh in on creationism After burning for centuries, the debate on evolution versus creation bedevils leaders
CAMPBELL CLARK AND JILL MAHONEY
With reports from Brian Laghi, Heather Scoffield,, Shawn McCarthy and Susan Bourette
740 words
17 November 2000
The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA and EDMONTON — Stockwell Day’s creationist beliefs sparked a rare mixing of religion and Canadian politics yesterday, with some opponents saying the Canadian Alliance Leader’s religious views should be an issue for voters.

While Liberal Leader Jean Chretien touched only lightly on the question, NDP Leader Alexa McDonough suggested Mr. Day’s politics don’t match the values he claims to hold dear.

After a CBC documentary reported that Mr. Day had said he believes in creationism, that the world is 6,000 years old, and that humans and dinosaurs had once co-existed, Mr. Day issued a statement saying there is scientific evidence to support both the creation and evolution theories of the origins of man.

Yesterday, Mr. Chretien gently poked fun at the issue when he was asked about his own religious views. “I am for the creation of jobs,” he told reporters in Saskatoon. Mr. Chretien is a Roman Catholic, but he said he keeps his religion and his politics separate.

Liberal aide Warren Kinsella was more forthcoming, charging that Mr. Day cannot be trusted to keep his religion separate from his political agenda. In a television interview, he brought out a stuffed animal from the children’s TV show Barney, joking he was the only dinosaur to co-exist with humans.

“The Flintstones was not a documentary,” he said.

Comments (3)

The full Monte, plus me and Peggy.  About 25 minutes in.

Comments (9)

Comments (8)

McGuinty ‘very, very troubled’ by video of Ottawa police strip searching woman (Strip-Search-McGuinty)
Source: The Canadian Press
Nov 26, 2010 12:22

OTTAWA – Premier Dalton McGuinty says he’s “very, very troubled” by what he’s heard about a video showing Ottawa police strip-searching a woman in the presence of male officers.

McGuinty says he hasn’t seen the video of the 2008 strip search of Stacy Bonds by Ottawa police, which was released Thursday by an Ontario court.

The premier says most police officers always act in a legal way, but admits video showing a woman having her shirt and bra cut off after struggling with officers is disturbing.

He says “every time something untoward like this happens, it shakes our confidence.”

McGuinty says he wants police to keep in mind that this woman was someone’s daughter, someone’s sister and “for all they knew, this might have been somebody’s mother.”

Last month, Justice Richard Lajoie stayed charges of public intoxication and assault against Bonds and criticized the conduct of police.

Lajoie said he was “appalled” that Bonds was strip-searched in front of male officers, calling it an “indignity.”

The 27-year-old was left topless in a cell at an Ottawa police station for three hours in soiled pants.

Comments (20)

As their token anti-war, anti-gun, anti-Ford-Hudak-Harper, pro-UN, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage secular Communist, I now look forward to duking it out on air!

The Commission approves an application by TVA Group Inc., on behalf of itself and Sun Media Corporation, partners in a general partnership to be constituted and to carry on business as Sun TV News General Partnership, for a broadcasting licence to operate Sun TV News, a national, English-language Category 2 specialty service that will be subject to the standard conditions of licence, expectations and encouragement for competitive mainstream national news services set out in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2009-562-1.

Comments (10)