My youngest – blonde-haired, freckled, skateboarder – is into (wait for it) Bauhaus. And not just the dark British band’s well-known stuff: he’s into B-sides, like ‘Crowds.’
Wow. From seeing them at the Broken Arms in Ottawa in 1980, playing ‘Double Dare‘ and blowing my mind (such as it then was), to being Dad to a pint-sized Goth-to-be, on the beach in Maine. Life is strange, among other things.
Three things.
One, I thought it was gracious of Stephen Harper to offer a state funeral. I wonder if he’s now having second thoughts?
Two: at the time, it was well-known in political circles that NDP organizers were turning that funeral into something other than a funeral, and it was appalling. I wonder why nobody said anything?
Three, that is just a huge amount of money – money that could have been used in many other positive ways. I wonder if Jack Layton himself would have approved?
My guess? No.
The best part is the accompanying photo. Caption contest!
Uh-huh. And after you whistleblow to the OPP and the AG, McKerlie et al. will terminate you.
What a load of bollocks.
One, I am verily informed that Mr. Trudeau is going to run. If accurate, that is great, great news.
Two, I am told the Trudeau campaign will make a point of insisting that all of the team (or its bosses) are under age 40. If accurate, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. (And not just because I’m a boring old fart, either.)
There you go. Speculate and pontificate away!
…this segment, provided early, because this issue continues to follow a woman who is undeserving of the treatment she has received:
“…the Conservatives are in a very large glass house in this case. Over the years, I have personally witnessed plenty of Tory Parliamentarians staggering out of the Parliamentary restaurant, or their office, and troop to votes.
Over the years, plenty have participated in legislative duties while drunk, or stoned, or incapacitated in some way. By maligning a much-loved figure like Fairbairn, the Tories risk a spotlight being shined on the conduct of their own members. They won’t be happy about the outcome. At all.
The despicable treatment of Joyce Fairbairn will be remembered as one of the cruelest episodes of the mean-spirited Harper era. All sides look bad in it.”
KENNEBUNKPORT – Not a bad day.
Ten years ago, just like today, I was on a sunny Maine beach with my kids. A call came through from the ever-efficient switchboard at the office of the prime minister.
“Time for me to go,” said the familiar voice on the phone. “So I will tell caucus I’m going to resign.” Pause. “In 18 months.”
We had a good laugh about that one. The thuggish supporters of Paul Martin would take hours to analyze Jean Chretien’s announcement, and eventually declare themselves satisfied with it, even though they weren’t. The Martinite enablers in the press gallery worked themselves into paroxysms of indignation over what they would call “Chretien’s long goodbye.”
But that was that. By December 2003, the most successful Liberal leader since Mackenzie King would be gone. And Paul Martin — he of the 200-plus seats, he of the “juggernaut” — would set about piloting the Liberal Party of Canada into the electoral ditch.
Mad as hell. Gomery. Income trusts. Separatists running as Liberals. Billions in crazy spending. Promises of constitutional change in TV debates. It went on and on. By the time Martin was done with it, the once-great Liberal party had been reduced to a piddling minority. And then, in the next go-round, bruising defeat. Martin did much to wreck the cause of Liberalism. But he wasn’t solely to blame for what would happen in the next decade.
Anyone got his real email address? Something could get really, really interesting.