The Globe story a lobbyist worked to suppress with threats and dark warnings – successfully?

This one is going to be interesting.

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Heard this for the first time at the March 25 Against Me! show in Kingston with my buddy Richard Warman.  What a night.

My kids love – and I mean love – this song.  Tonight, Boy Two was hollering it as we drove down Queen Street with the pizza and the ‘Avatar’ rental.

Christ, I love punk rock.

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• The Decentralized Centre: CP veteran Steve Mertl – who shares my fondness for big dogs, and less so tiny yappy ones – discovers that Harper’s PMO has now seeped into places other than Ottawa.  Norman Spector, me and a few others don’t ever recall that happening with any Prime Minister, going way back.  When we were in power, we shut down regional ministerial offices.  The Harper guys, meanwhile, expand them.  Interesting contrast.
• Lobbyists lobbying: I’m a lobbyist.  Also lobbyists, or lobbying, are the Salvation Army, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Oxfam Canada, the Lung Association, the World Wildlife Fund and every Canadian university.  What gives lobbyists a bad name, mainly, are people/organizations who try to pretend they’re not lobbying, or registered lobbyists, when they are. It’s only a dirty word if you act like it is.  That, among other things, is the legacy of Rahim Jaffer and his ilk.
• Border buffoonery: During the course of various cross-border jaunts over the years, I’ve encountered some very polite border guards.  Increasingly, however, I’ve dealt with some – on both sides of the border – who are rude and crude tin-pot dictators who, among other things, have used exaggerated “terrorist” threats to justify their rude and crude behaviour.  They need to be reined in, big time.
• Sex sells: Sorry, Adam, but you’d be among the first to say “The provincial Liberals have failed because they haven’t put the brakes on their bureaucrat’s sex ed proposals.”  Instead, you and others are now saying we “failed” because, um, we did. Some days, you just can’t win.  (Even when sex is the subject matter!)
• The iPhone i-Leak: I was a bit suspicious about the story about the over-refreshed Apple employee who “lost” a prototype of the new 4G iPhone in a bar.  I mean, these guys at Apple are more secretive than an invitation-only get-together by the Yakuza, the Cosa Nostra and the NSA.  I grew more suspicious when I saw what the “accident” did to their stock price.  Anyway – looks like others were suspicious too.  And, yes, I’ll get it when it comes out: it may be a trick, but it’s a fun trick.

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Sounds like a name for a punk band.

My view?  If you have an electoral strategy, don’t talk about it.

Say who you are, be who you are, and do what you need to do.  But don’t say you want to have a “war” about anything.

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Ritalin Boy, Davey Snot, Winkie and Rayman: available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and funerals.

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Actually, as an unrepentant Trekkie – to wit, I sleep every night in a room containing, inter alia, a real Tribble and two signed original series Star Trek scripts, worth kabillions – this news makes me very, very excited. It would, you might say, make me live long and prosper.

Hell, I might even consider voting Conservative if they follow through on this one. That’s nowhere I have gone before, believe me.

“You! What planet is this!” I’ve always wanted to say that, even wildly out of context. (Who said it? Which episode? Hint: it’s the one that won a Hugo.)

Anyway. If you grok with me on this one, sign the petition. This is a dream that could become reality, and spread throughout the stars. (Which episode? Who said it?)

Now, beam up your views on my poll!

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Rahim isn’t running again; his name won’t be on a ballot for a long, long time – if ever. So, if you’re an Opposition MP, why spend so much time trying to tar and feather him?

To wit:

“Mr. Speaker, we know now that Rahim Jaffer didn’t disclose his lobbying activity, as the rules require. So why didn’t any of the many, many Conservative Ministers, staff and MPs he met with regularly report him to the relevant authorities, to ensure that the rules were being followed?”

That’s the question.

From the relevant web site:

“…all public office holders, including designated public office holders, [should] verify the registration status of an individual if they believe that he or she may be carrying out registrable activities. If there is no registration, they could choose to ask the individual if registration is required.”

Did any of them do that? Nope.

Why not?

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…it’s occupying the centre, which is where all the votes are.

Very, very good news.

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…except, in this version, the Ontario Conservative leader would prefer you receive this chat when you are in a university graduate class.

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“Sources indicate a bid that includes newspaper owner Torstar Corp. is now emerging as a favourite, since it is expected to involve more cash than other offers.

The publisher of the Toronto Star and 97 other Ontario papers is backed by the deep pockets of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which owns 19 per cent of Torstar.

Torstar would come aboard as the operator of the CanWest papers, but would limit its exposure by contributing a relatively small amount of its own money, while relying on the financial muscle of Fairfax, the insurance company headed by Prem Watsa.

Among the CanWest assets, Torstar is believed to covet the Financial Post to bolster its flagship paper, the Star.”

What’s it mean, if true?

It means the Post is well and truly screwed.  The Star would gut the “National” Post for the only part of the paper that is still read, the FP, and likely discard the rest.

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