Toronto Star: pour gas on yourself in public (again)! It’ll help us sell papers!

— 02.07.2012 10:50 AM

Maybe it’s just my twisted sense of humour, but I found this tweet to be the dumbest (and funniest) I’ve seen since, well, the last stupid tweet (there’s plenty).

My questions:

  1. If a photo got someone fired, why would they want to share it again with anyone?
  2. Why would they want to share it with a newspaper, who may republish it, and get that person fired again?
  3. Am I missing something? Next up: send us a copy of your criminal record, so we can put it in the paper! It’ll be fun! Wheeee!


Comments (6)

In today’s Sun after all: goodbye Charlie Brown

— 02.07.2012 08:19 AM

With his intention to rob Canadian seniors of the old age benefits they’ve already paid for, Stephen Harper is in big trouble. But not for the reason you might think.

Politics is all about the effective use of symbols. Ask Jean Chretien or Brian Mulroney, they’ll tell you. Or they’ll show you.

Case study one: Summer 1993. Conservatives have just picked ex-justice minister Kim Campbell to be their leader. Campbell’s brainy, but she also doesn’t take herself too seriously. Earlier, someone circulated a photo in which a coiffed Campbell — bare shouldered — holds her Queen’s Counsel robes in front of her. The photo was republished around the world. One gushing account in Britain’s The Independent carried this headline: “A provocative picture may help Kim Campbell become leader of her country.”

The British paper wasn’t entirely wrong. Soon after her selection as Conservative leader, Campbell became the most popular prime minister in decades.


Comments (14)

Horrific

— 02.06.2012 10:36 PM

I can’t recall, in all my years, a traffic accident taking so many lives.  This is just horrible.  Say a prayer for those left behind.


Comments (2)

“Yesterday’s Man” – not

— 02.05.2012 01:39 PM

I’m on the back stretch of the new book, and have hit a bit of a research roadblock.  I am looking for any and all articles containing commentary about the photo of this young man water skiing, way back on the Canada Day long weekend in 1993.  There is surprisingly little I can find.  Anyone who can help will get my thanks, and a mention in Fight the Right!


Comments (7)

In today’s Sun: the axis of evil isn’t what it used to be

— 02.05.2012 01:00 AM

Here’s the truth.

It couldn’t have been a very good political fundraiser: None of us can now recall who was speaking. Most likely, it was a Conservative — because we were exiled to the furthest corner in the room, with some of the other Liberals in attendance.

While the speaker wasn’t at all memorable, the pleasant woman at our table was. She was employed by a mortgage broker association. Asked what was new in her field of work, she said: “Subprime mortgages. We’re quite worried about them. If things unfold the way we think they might, it could be very, very bad.”

How bad? she was asked.

“They could cause a new recession, we think,” she said.


Comments (46)