Stephen Harper, Rob Ford and Tim Hudak do:

Time will tell how Harper’s summer call for the completion of a Conservative trifecta in the October provincial election — by painting Toronto, Queen’s Park and Ottawa Tory blue — will resonate in the ballot box. But there is already no doubt that his comments have illustrated how essential a piece the Ontario vote is going to be in the Canadian puzzle of the next four years.

The October 6 vote may be the most important Ontario election in recent history. It will determine just how much of a free hand the Prime Minister will enjoy to put his Conservative stamp on Canada and the federal government.

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Worth a read. “Specious.” That about nails it.

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From Sam Sutherland’s much-anticipated Canadian punk book, I surmise:

“With increasing local media attention, word-of-mouth gigs regularly draw hundreds of kids. Bars that had previously ignored punk begin to take notice. The first Calgary one to offer punk a home is on the main floor of the rundown Calgarian Hotel that caters to the local King’s Crew Motorcycle Club and First Nations population. It’s a dive somehow eking out an existence on a seedy block of an otherwise upper-class town. Located downtown on Seventh Street S.E., hard-drinking punks of the Calgary Hotel have the run of the bar’s back room for whatever riotous noise they want to make, so long as they bring their own PA, and patrons at the front don’t get too freaked out by the influx of underage, short-haired military-looking goons.

“Our first show, this little guy comes up and stares at us for a song, and we just keep playing,” says Kinsella. “Finally he walks away, and our manager walks up to us and says, ‘Do you know who that was? That was the head of the King’s Crew.’ Apparently some of the bikers were pissed that we had taken over their bar. And he was deciding if we were going to live or not.”

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Great one! So, Fratboy Tim blows up his announcement with an admission that could’ve been gotten out, quietly, way before this. The story then becomes how he’s a hypocrite, and not really tough on crime.

But we all knew that already. Didn’t we? Yep.

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From the watchful Sun:

On Tuesday, Terry removed a picture of a T-shirt he had posted to his site in January 2010, which featured the Vatican coat of arms and text reading “Pope Dev I Touched Me Praise Jeebus”.

Terry says he would understand if someone was offended by the image, even though he never intended it to do so.

“I’d respect that. That’s their choice. It’s obviously my taste in humour,” the father of two said. “I’ll admit, that one’s a bit off-colour,”he said. “I’ll admit that. I would say I respect your position on that and I’m sorry if I offended you by that.

 

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How very interesting!

In her headlong rush to dispose of core Dipper principles, look who else Andrea Horwath is tossing overboard!

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Saw Stiff Little Fingers last night, again, at Lee’s. Jake Burns and Co. are a lot older than they used to be, but I guess the Hot Nasties would look a bit older, today, too.

Back in 1979, Jake and his ‘Inflammable Material’ shook our demi-monde in the way that the first Clash LP did (the UK version).  It was the most political record we’d ever heard.  The Nasties started playing ‘Suspect Device’ after that, and it always blew my voice out (in the way that Jake’s does on ‘Ulster,’ in the video below).

Anyway, it was great, great to see them last night. And the opening chords still send chills up my spine, thirty years after.  God, what a song.

Oh, and I feel old.

Nothin’ for us in Belfast
The Pound so old it’s a pity
OK, there’s the Trident in Bangor
Then walk back to the city
We ain’t got nothin’ but they don’t really care
They don’t even know you know
They just want money
They can take it or leave it
What we need is

(Chorus)
An Alternative Ulster
Grab it change it’s yours
Get an Alternative Ulster
Ignore the bores, their laws
Get an Alternative Ulster
Be an anti-security force
Alter your native Ulster
Alter your native land

Take a look where you’re livin’
You got the Army on the street
And the RUC dog of repression
Is barking at your feet
Is this the kind of place you wanna live?
Is this were you wanna be?
Is this the only life we’re gonna have?
What we need is

(Chorus)

They say they’re a part of you
But that’s not true you know
They say they’ve got control of you
And that’s a lie you know
They say you will never be

Free free free

Alternative Ulster
Alternative Ulster
Alternative Ulster

Pull it together now.

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Rob Ford just finished a meeting with Dalton McGuinty.  Here’s what one veteran reporter had to say about what happened:

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First they disrupt a speech by a statesman like Bill Davis – and then they call families “ridiculous.”

Quote:

“TORONTO – The Dalton McGuinty government is promising a Family Caregiver Leave that would allow Ontarians to take up to eight weeks off work to care for a sick or injured family member…

Tory MPP Jim Wilson said the premier provided scant details about his election-style promise…Wilson said: “It’s a ridiculous announcement if you ask me.”

“Ridiculous.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that families, and families caring for family members, is “ridiculous.”

Does Tim Hudak also consider families “ridiculous”?  And, while we’re at it, will he apologize to Bill Davis for sending our three of his candidates with HQ-prepared signage to disrupt a non-partisan event?

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