Wikipedia is a frigging joke

— 04.17.2013 12:08 PM

A reader directed me over there to take a look at the page that – for reasons I still do not understand – has been devoted to me.  I don’t believe I merit a Wikipedia page, but whatever.

Per usual, it was rife with errors of spelling, grammar and fact. There were so many factual errors, in fact, it’s hard to know where to start. In addition, someone using a false name has been posting all sorts made-up stuff, most of it defamatory.

So I conducted an experiment. I started deleting the libellous/factually-wrong stuff. It kept getting put back up. This went on for a while.  I then went to Sun News to do some hits.

I’m now back, and the page has been “locked.” Meaning, “Warren Kinsella” can’t make changes to the story told about “Warren Kinsella” – “Warren Kinsella” having been the person most likely to have had the greatest acquaintance with the facts of “Warren Kinsella’s” own life – but some pale, pimple-faced nobody who lives in his mother’s basement can.

Ipso facto, as I have been writing for years, Wikipedia is a joke. Always has been, always will be.


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Boston

— 04.16.2013 06:52 AM

It was such a terrible shock, yesterday afternoon.  A Liberal friend was running in the marathon – and, the night before we had been out with her brother and Jean Chretien in Ottawa, talking about her fierce determination and drive.  She crossed the finish line four minutes before the bombs went off.

Here is the face of one of yesterday’s victims – a little boy.  God bless him and his family.


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In Tuesday’s Sun: Liberal bits and pieces

— 04.15.2013 08:42 PM

OTTAWA — Observations and glimpses from the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership announcement:

  • New Brunswick Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc — who contemplated again running for the party leadership, but didn’t — looking simultaneously relieved and regretful, as he stood at the back of the Westin hotel’s convention hall. Regretful for what might have been; relieved for having avoided the humiliation experienced Sunday by Justin Trudeau’s leadership opponents.
  • Deflated and dejected expressions on the faces of those who supported the also-rans — Deborah Coyne, Karen McCrimmon and Martin Cauchon — who, in McCrimmon and Coyne’s case, received about 1% of the vote. They ran, but they shouldn’t have. Contrary to their expectations, their standing in the party was reduced by the outcome of the leadership race, not enhanced. For those seeking the leadership in coming years, the message was plain:Win a seat in the Commons first.
  • A huge number of unfamiliar young faces, outnumbering the old Liberal warhorses, many of whom looked plainly uncertain.  If it has done anything that is positive, Justin Trudeau’s candidacy has made many young Canadians more excited about democracy than they have been in a generation. Even if he fails in his political ambitions, Trudeau will have improved the country by making politics compelling to young Canadians. That’s a good thing.
  • On the periphery of the hot and overcrowded room, dozens of journalists could be seen perched on flimsy risers, impatient with delay. There seemed to be more media interest in the Liberal party’s unsurprising leadership result than there had been in the New Democrats’ just-concluded policy convention in Montreal.  Whether the Liberal party overtakes the New Democrats in the House of Commons remains to be seen — but it appears the parliamentary press gallery considers the Liberal party’s triumphant return to be a fait accompli. When one recalls that most of them have been writing the Liberal party’s obituary for the past year, this is significant.
  • When Justin Trudeau is finally declared leader and gives his too long, too windy acceptance speech, he declares an end to “hyphenated Liberals” and the Grit tribal wars of the past. There is much applause from the younger set, but not from the older Jean Chretien folks. “He wasn’t in Ottawa when they tore the party apart, and it shows,” says one. Evidence of this is found in the disproportionate number of former Martinites in Trudeau’s circle. They are back, possibly with a vengeance.
  • The Conservatives’ Fred DeLorey issues a release attacking Justin Trudeau’s lack of experience at the exact moment Trudeau — onstage, speaking — predicts they will start to attack him. Trudeau reasserts his pledge to never “go neg.” There is not a political veteran in the room who doesn’t see that as a big, big mistake. Somewhere, Stephen Harper is laughing.
  • Afterwards, in the bar, Jean Chretien salutes the many Grits lined up to meet him, or get his autograph. “We’re back, and we’re going to win,” he says. “It feels good to be a Liberal again.”

No one, on this day, disagrees.


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Tonight

— 04.14.2013 09:55 PM

The best part?

I was at the back, and I looked around, and there were all these young people, and I’d never seen any of them before. And they were so excited about what was happening. It was just so, so great.

Also great: having a beer, afterwards, with the winningest Prime Minister in Canadian history.

He says we’re going to win again, and he would know.


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