April 30, 2007 – The book is finished!

Here, on the shores of the lake, on the last day of April, I finally wrestled the thing to the ground. It was a bastard, but it’s finally done. The Dundurn Publishing folks tell me it’ll be out in the Fall – right around the time that my friend and former boss, le Petit Gars, will have his memoirs out. In a shrewdly counter-intuitive move, I plan to flog his book, and he mine.

Apropos of nothing, I was at the keyboard this morning, as the wind howled outside. Quite a storm out there. I looked up at one old tree, bending back in the wind. All of a sudden, it broke at the base and smashed into another big tree, cracking its base, too. The two of them now lean against a big old birch that has been dead for months.

I can tell that a few of you are expecting me to provide a useful tree-related analogy, or somehow connect the finishing of the book to the finishing of the trees. I can only say that I merely wished to pass along that the book is done, and that a couple trees bought the farm. That’s it.

It’s only a stupid blog, people. Sheesh.

If had a bottle of champagne up here with me, I’d crack it open to celebrate. Lacking same, I will have a couple Oreos and a glass of milk instead.

 

April 29, 2007 - Before I head to the woods near Bancroft for a while, I draw this to your attention. This is the point I tried to make last week both here and on CFRB: John Baird's declaration of war on Kyoto was a huge, huge political mistake.

John might think, in doing so, he was targeting Stéphane Dion. In fact, he was picking a fight with most of the (warming) planet.

As much as I know and like John, he's not going to win a debate about climate change with Al Gore. He just isn't.

I don't know if John kicked a hornet's nest, or merely stepped on one. But the end result will be the same.

Could an international treaty become an election issue? Another treaty was in 1988, as I recall. But this one might have a very different result.

 

April 28, 2007 - My friend Justin is getting ready for an important speech. But here is his first foray into the blogosphere...welcome.

 

April 28, 2007 - Man, am I choked. Bouncing Souls and Strike Anywhere were completely sold out last night. I figured I'd swing by nineish or so and see if I could get a scalped ticket. Then I learn that it was an All Ages show that started three hours before that. Damn.

Paul Wells has patiently explained to me that no one understands my preoccupation with punk rock, at my age, but I soldier on, nonetheless.

 

April 27, 2007 - Wonderful story, even though it had a sad ending.

 

April 26, 2007 - Big news!

 

April 26, 2007 - Here is the first paragraph in today's Post column, as originally rendered:

...

"My first clue that something was decidedly amiss - that something truly revolutionary was happening - came recently, on a placid and tranquil Saturday afternoon chez Kinsella. As I re-read the National Post - happy that it had not been reduced to an inky, squint-inducing pamphlet by reader-hating fanatics - our eight-year-old let loose with a feral scream that could be heard for blocks, if not in Eastern Manitoba."

...

April 25, 2007 - Here's the new Liberal spot. My buddy did 'em. I won't reveal his identity, even if you torture me.

Well, okay, if you force me to listen to James Taylor, I'll tell you.

(The James Taylor reference is a dig at our newest Daisy person, Katherine.)

 

April 25, 2007 - Thanks to all who participated in my little online survey about the Globe's new look. I have attempted to capture as many comments as possible; I couldn't get all of them - there were simply too many. The vast majority, as you will see, don't like it. As with previous surveys, I am struck by (a) the number of guys who read who read this web site and (b) the number of guys named "Graham" who read it.

Survey said...

• Tim McAnulty - My dear Warren, we should all be happy that the Grope and Flail finally has its Mini-Me.
  
  
• Former editor, name withheld on request - Pour moi, the new body type is fabulous - and I say this as a guy with near zero chops in graphics and design. If a idjit like me gets it, it must be good.
  
  
• David B. Granner - The advent of the Post with its catchy graphics and quite exceptionally good political writing, with the superb Andrew Coyne and the much-missed Mark Steyn leading the way, caught my attention - and my subscription dollars - and I have NEVER looked back. Nowadays, when I look at the Moan & Wail, I have no idea what I ever saw in it.
  
  
• Bill King - Sorry Warren, can't help you. Cancelled my subscription when they made half a dozen factual mistakes on a family obit, then refused to make the correction.
  
  
• Michael Platonov - At first it was almost surreal: here is a newspaper calling itself the Globe, yet clearly it is not. It reminded me of the satirical/spoof papers distributed in university - I almost expected an "April Fools" edition when I read it.
  
  
• Bill in Arnprior - Well.....due to the poor quality of ink its the only paper I can wrap picture glass and table top glass in and expect the masking tape to stick....does that count as a plus?
  
  
• Don Collie - Warren, I've been a Globe & Mail subscriber for years, and honestly when I picked it up off my doorstep on Monday, I thought I was looking at USA Today. Which ain't a compliment.
  
  
• Scott MacKay - In other words, the paper no longer represents a national audience like it did in the past, not to mention, the damage their brand suffered from getting too close to the talking points of Paul Martin's regime during the last two elections.
  
  
• Rick Butler - The new format is uninviting ,cluttered ,confusing, and too small and/ or crowded print. For whatever reason, the Sudoku puzzle is now in HUGE print versus the previously small but compact format (which I liked)--go figure !!! I did eventually get use to the new Macleans format but methinks this one will take a lot of time perhaps too much so that I will have to return to reading the National Post and high blood pressure.
  
  
• Ted Whipp - I agree, the redesign Globe looks bad. I find it intense, and I'm baffled. With so much good design out there, so much talent, so much software and other technology, how can this newspaper look like it came out of the 70s, with all these lines, thick borders and such?
  
  
• Graham Loughton - Ugly masthead colours. Pages have this weird, smudged, grey hue thing. Too many dark lines dividing articles. Have you seen the pics for the columnists? Christie B's pic makes her look like the Grinch. The new layout still doesn't come close to the Post's.
  
  
• Graham Milner - Just have to say that I am a fan of the G&M as it gives an alternate opinion to the National Post. Having two "national" newspapers is clearly the best way to see an issue from all points of view.
  
  
• Paul R. Martin - It does seem a tad flimsy; however, the content remains much superior to the Star. Reading the Star for an unbiased opinion is impossible.
  
  
• Bob Tramley - As a long-time subscriber, I don't care for the new format either.
  
  
• Don Patten - Oh!, was that the Globe & Mail, I thought it was Beach Metro News bi-weekly gone broadsheet.
  
  
• Graham Watt - Very much like an English paper (Guardian) where the smaller type size seems to imply more thoughtfulness, more importance on the word itself, rather than its type size. Less bellow in the headlines, and a magazine-like disciplining for readers, harder to skim, but seeming to put more worth on the articles and pieces.
  
  
• D'Arcy Butler - As far as the Globe goes I like it. It will be easier to read on crowded subways, given that it's about an inch and a half less wide. It's also going to use a lot less paper, which is never a bad thing in this day and age. I think it looks sleek and well designed, and the new layout makes it much easier for me when I make my initial scan before settling in to read the paper.
  
  
• Jason Cherniak - I think it looks more like a web page. It's probably meant to attract younger readers.
  
  
• Harry Richardson - You're w-a-y too hard on the G & F. The uses to which this illustrious publication can be put are legendary. The following are a few: It is excellent for lining the bottom of large tropical cage-birds. When shredded (oh, thrill - oh, thrill!) it makes perfect bedding for domesticated rodents. Screwed-up into a ball it is an effective window cleaner which is really ironic when one considers that the editorial content has such a propensity for clouding the issue.
  
  
• Bill Nygren - What did they do to my paper? Contrary to the design rationale I find it harder to read and don't find the new look blazingly more modern and up to date...frankly I think it looks cheap. Don't mind the idea of a new section and actually enjoyed a few of the articles in the new Life this morning but boy do I miss the look and feel of my old Globe.
  
  
• R. Sinclair - To hell with the G & M. Where's the Johnny Rotten interview you conducted sometime ago?
  
  
• Tony Miller - I grow weary of Ed Greenspon's windy, paper-making editorials. No one reads them. Ever. But, I did fight my way through his self congratulatory piece on Saturday, in which he went on and on about how bloody marvellous the new design is. Well, it's not. And it's harder to read. And less attractive. My mother, an educated woman of nearly 68, has trouble reading the type. As she said "Your father and I are the prime target of the Globe, and they made it harder for us to read it!" You'd think they might have focus-grouped this "de-design."

 

April 25, 2007 - You want to know (again) why I think the new guys are mostly smart, and why the guys who immediately preceded them are scumbags? The first snippet is a news story from today's Post. The second snippet is from my web site, back in November 2005:

...

"Chretien asked to represent Canada at state funeral for former Russian president

National Post
140 words
25 April 2007
National Post
National
A8
English
(c) 2007 National Post . All Rights Reserved.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien, pictured, and Gerald Comeau, deputy leader of the government in the Senate, have been asked to represent Canada at the state funeral of the former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. The funeral will take place today at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, at 2 p.m. local time. The former Russian president died on Sunday of heart failure in Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital. He was 76. Mr. Yeltsin was Russia's first freely elected leader and overthrew Communism. On Dec. 8, 1991, he dissolved the Soviet Union. Mr. Yeltsin famously climbed atop a tank in Moscow and stared down a Communist coup. He retired on New Year's Eve, 1999."

...

"November 10, 2005 - Yeah, and we really honour Rabin's memory - which deserves to be honoured, far and wide - by sending the guy who was Prime Minister for about ten DAYS, as opposed to the one who was Rabin's friend, and who was Prime Minister for ten YEARS.

These people make me puke.

Date: November 10, 2005
For Release: Immediate

FORMER PRIME MINISTER JOHN TURNER TO ATTEND THE COMMEMORATION CEREMONY FOR YITZHAK RABIN ON BEHALF OF PRIME MINISTER MARTIN..."

...

 

April 24, 2007 - "Would you like a toy newspaper with that McHappy Meal, sir?"

Okay, maybe I'm being too mean to the old Glib and Frail. It's just that the self-described "national newspaper" doesn't look very...substantial anymore, you know?

But I could be wrong, and I often am. What do you think about it? Do you loathe and despise it, like I do? Are you astonished that Lives Lived is no longer where it used to be? Drop me a line at wkinsella@hotmail.com and I'll post the best reviews.

 

April 23, 2007 - Hey - did anyone else have a toy newspaper called the Globe and Mail on their doorstep this morning, like we did? Weird.


April 21, 2007 - Now that the Manitoba election has been called, I can disclose that Hugh McFadyen is a friend.  We used to work together at Brokeback Consultants.  When he told me, in confidence, that he was leaving to return home to Manitoba, I told him he was crazy.  If he stayed, I told him, he'd be Ontario's Premier in no time.

Now, of course, I see that I had the right church, but the wrong pew.

April 20, 2007 - I am delighted to report, through intermediaries, that aspiring Liberal candidate Ms. Simson is being asked - by senior folks - to apologize to Mr. Chrétien for likening him a criminal.

So I'll take down the last two posts to give her time to do so. I hope that she does so.

 

April 20, 2007 - In politics, big graves are dug by small shovels. Around the watercoolers of nations, they don't talk about standing committee business. They talk about stuff like this.

Of course, in order to capitalize on it, you first need a functioning Opposition. Yep.

 

April 19, 2007 - I do not understand what John Baird is doing, at all, on this anti-Kyoto effort. When your opponent has a winning brand - as Kyoto is, not only in the US and worldwide, but also domestically - don't keep talking about your opponent's winning brand. Talk about something else.

Change the channel. This isn't changing the channel. It's leading with one's chin, big time.

Big mistake, Rusty.

 

April 19, 2007 - There are very good reasons why my friend Mike Marzolini, of Pollara fame, isn't enthusiastic about online "polls." This is one of them. (And a shout-out to our former client, Mr. Miles: come back - York needs you, Dan!)

...

Canada in Brief Poll on budget hijacked, Flaherty aide says

STEVEN CHASE

Ottawa -- Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty received some unwelcome budget feedback recently when an online poll he commissioned recorded overwhelming opposition to his 2007 fiscal plan.

At one point, a Web poll asking "Will you benefit from Budget 2007?" on Mr. Flaherty's MP website recorded 90 per cent opposition to the fiscal plan with only 9 per cent agreeing they were better off as a result of it.

The Conservatives yanked the Internet survey, blaming Liberals for skewing results.

"The poll was hijacked by Garth Turner and his Liberal supporters," Dan Miles, director of communications for Mr. Flaherty, said.

...

 

April 18, 2007 - A smart friend did this. It's good, if a bit overdue.

 

April 18, 2007 - In light of this week's terrible events, the Post moved my column ahead by a day. Here it is.

 

April 17, 2007 – As I sat in the packed, overflowing stands at our daughter’s school swim meet on the weekend – her last with the school, because we no longer want her at a place where some people are so indifferent to bias – I thought, for the briefest moment, how vulnerable the people were, crammed in there as we were.  What if some maniac came in here, intent upon causing harm? How could he be prevented? Then the thought left as quickly as it came.


April 17, 2007 – Twenty-five years ago right about now, me and my roomies Harold, Chris and Ryan went up to Parliament Hill to see the Queen and Mr. Trudeau and celebrate the new constitution and all that.  We then went to the Grad’s on Somerset to drink a lot of what we called “constitution beers.”  I don’t remember very much after that.

Being able to remember something that happened to you 25 years ago is overrated, in my opinion.  But I’ll make an exception for the Constitution (the government should’ve, too)

April 17, 2007 – When stuff like this starts to happen, you can assume they won’t be going to the people anytime soon.


April 16, 2007 - Monday morning bits and pieces, this and that:

• By my friend Bernie Farber. Important to read.
  
  
• There are so many things one can say. But one won't.
  
  
• Ditto, for many of the same reasons.
  
  
• Like I wrote in the Post recently, the only consistency in Dumont's political history is a desire to "fix" the constitution. Hail the first guy to say no to that insanity.
  
  
• This is all silly. In broad terms, however, it again demonstrates that the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have switched DNA. They - who were for years divided, divisive and practiced eat-the-leader - have become what the Grits once were: disciplined, dedicated and utterly devoted to the leadership principle. And vice-versa.

 

April 16, 2007 – Wow.  But anyone who knows me already knows what I feel about it.

Don’t mess with Janke, I always say. 

April 15, 2007 - As we watch our daughter in the city-wide Catholic School swin meet (first in her first heat yesterday, second in her second!), I checked my Hotmail and there was a note from an officer serving in Afghanistan. He thanked me for the short posting I did following last week's (first) terrible tragedy.

I told him that we are so proud of them, and support them, and believe what they are doing is right. And how I wished I had said that last week.

So I say it this week, instead.

April 14, 2007 - Quite a bit of reaction to the Gene Simmons/Son Volt entry, supra - mainly the Arnprior part, at the bottom. Arnprior has many defenders, it turns out.

Best reader email of the year today, relating thereto:

...

"Warren:

The following celebrities have visited Arnprior over the past 12 months.

1. Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo) bus broke down
2. April Wine (a great 70's band) played the fair---outstanding
3. Patrick Lalime (Chicago Black Hawks)
4. Mike Fisher (Ottawa Senators)
5. ...and.....one of your favourites.....Lowell Green had a book signing here.

Sleepy town my ass!!

Whats a Limo??

Bill in Arnprior"

...

 

April 13, 2007 - Two items:

1. I think the federal Tories shouldn't have appointed a former separatist politician to do this review. It's not right.
   
   
2. I think the federal Liberals shouldn't have done a deal with the Green Party in this way. It's not right.

There - symmetry. The universe balances out. Carry on as you were.

 

April 12, 2007 - So there I was at Son Volt's show at the Mod Club, waiting for Rayman and Scott, Canada's best PR man.

My buddy Jimmy sends me an email on the Blackberry. "Where are you?"

I tell him the Mod Club, waiting for Son Volt and the boys.

"I'm with Gene Simmons," he writes. "We're coming there, okay?"

Sure, I respond, assuming "Gene Simmons" is code or something. Gene Simmons! Ho ho. What a kidder.

A bit later, after Rayman and Scott were there, Jimmy sends another email. "We're out front," he writes.

You and "Gene Simmons?" I write. Ho ho. That Jimmy, he's a prankster.

"Yes," he responds. "Come on out."

So I did. There, at the curb, was an enormous white stretch SUV monstrosity, packed with buxom blondes wearing Austrian mini-skirt things. They were selling Frank Stronach's new energy drink. There was a ton of media, and...Gene Simmons.

Anyway, eventually, Gene came upstairs at the Mod Club, where Jimmy and I were busily swiping comp beers. He indicated the buxom faux-Austrian gals. "Have you met my sisters?" He asked us.

"They resemble you a great deal, sir," I said. I call everyone "sir." I was taught by Jesuits.

I told Gene I had interviewed him a couple years ago. He was more interested in the Austrian starlets, and wandered off to, um, confer with them.

Meanwhile, Son Volt kept playing, unaware that Gene Simmons of Kiss was present. It was very bizarre.

Eventually, Gene and the Austrian gals left. Son Volt finished a great show, and we went outside to talk about Chrétien's memoirs.

Just a hunch, but I'm thinking shit like this doesn't happen often in Arnprior.

April 12, 2007 - Hotmail is down, so if any of you are trying to reach me that way - including 300+ facebook friends, eat my dust, Summers - you are going to have to wait.

Can you picture the scene at Microsoft right now? Wow.

(I also can be reached at wkinsella@gmail.com, but I don't check it as often. Maybe I should.)

 

April 12, 2007 – I know he often said he was amazed he lived so long, but this still makes me sad.  I loved his writing.

So it goes, indeed.

April 12, 2007 - Whoo boy! If you live in or near the Toronto area, and you left out your garbage cans last night - or anything else not nailed down, for that matter - they were fully blown back to Kansas. What a wind storm.

In a completed unrelated topic, today's column, on the US action before the WTO this week.

Will Spring ever come?

 

April 11, 2007 – Let me explain something. Or try to.

Writing for the National Post, as I do, I try and keep an open mind about the CBC. Folks at the Post say I’m woefully naïve for that, but I do what I can.

That said, Keith Boag (and his employer) certainly provided plenty of ammunition for the CBC-haters, tonight. Despite the fact that Boag is a close buddy of someone who is likely to be under investigation in the federal probe into polling practices, announced earlier today, Boag filed a report on the announcement. He didn’t disclose the personal relationship. And his report was so torqued, and so imbalanced, viewers should have been provided with air bags (and perhaps barf bags) before viewing it.

I won’t force you to endure what I had to. No need for both of us to feel ill, is there? Distilled down its base elements, Boag’s report was this: the Auditor General checked into polling in 2003, decided it was all done wonderfully, and this new Conservative government probe is a “witch hunt.” Move along, nothing to see here, as you were. Oh, and he quoted some Liberals – you know, the Martinites who seemingly hold Stéphane Dion hostage these days – who also called it all a “witch hunt.” (See the post below on that.)

Let me – a formerly active federal Liberal who knows a little about polling and Public Works – give you a slightly different point of view.

In or about 2002, the Auditor General was urged by Jean Chrétien, and his relevant minister, to look at contracting practices at Public Works – both advertising and polling. The celebrated part of her report is here. After he read it, Chrétien referred it to the RCMP (who, acting on a previous call from Chrétien, had already been conducting other investigations). The sponsorship part of the AG’s report became the basis for Paul Martin’s celebrated “Mad As Hell” tour, and was the excuse for calling the Gomery Pyle Commission, which was designed to shred Chrétien’s reputation, among other things. In crafting the terms of reference for Gomery, Martin and his brain trust carefully ensured that there would be no examination of polling practices – despite the fact that the same Chuck Guité controlled polling as much as he controlled advertising. Odd, that.

Keith Boag doesn’t think so, apparently. He reported tonight that the AG had nothing particularly bad to say about polling in her report. But that, Virginia, is the purest of unadulterated bullshit.

The relevant section is here – but, to save you time – I have highlighted a few of the things the AG said:

• She said that, in a number of cases, “departments did not establish a clear statement of the need for undertaking public opinion research”
  
  
• She said that the “government had failed to follow its own guidelines in effect at the time”
  
  
• She said that she was “concerned about the use of public funds in some cases to acquire syndicated studies on voting intentions and party image.”
  
  
• She said that she was “concerned that… practices prevented other potential suppliers from competing”
  
  
• She said that “many large contracts were awarded to a single supplier based on one bid”
  
  
• She said that “we saw no document showing the rationale for awarding a contract to any one supplier out of the several on the list”
  
  
• She said that, in some cases, “documentation was largely incomplete”
  
  
• She said that, repeatedly, “files did not demonstrate that the survey(s) provided good value for the cost”
  
  
• She said – permit me to place this in capitals, so that even Keith Boag can see it – that she was, overall, “TROUBLED” by polling practices

She then provided some examples. This one is my favourite:

• 5.17 Communication Canada explained to us that it had been unable to release the results of a few research projects for the Department of Finance Canada because, according to the Department, it had received only verbal reports and had no written reports on these projects.

Being paid without providing any paper! Sound familiar? It sure was a big deal in the sponsorship area, and understandably so. But why is it okay to do when we are talking about polling? Odd, that.

Well, for Keith Boag and others, I suppose, it all comes down to who your friends are. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.

 

April 11, 2007 – Golly, I sure don’t remember the Liberal Party saying something like this, or anything remotely like it, when Jean Chrétien was the target of an ACTUAL partisan, multi-million dollar “witch hunt.” Nope, I sure don’t remember that.

This press release makes crystal clear – beyond a shadow of a doubt – which gang continues to run things up in Ottawa. In addition, it should tell you why lots and lots of us are staying away in droves.

Shaking our heads.

...

For Immediate Release
April 11, 2007

Conservative Government Uses Taxpayer Money to Fund Partisan Witch Hunt

OTTAWA - The minority Conservative government has launched a taxpayer-funded witch hunt to examine a matter already studied - and subsequently dismissed - by the Auditor General of Canada, Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez charged today.

"The announcement today is a blatantly partisan attack and an abuse of taxpayers money," said Mr. Rodriguez. "The Auditor General conducted an identical examination on this three years ago and found the government was managing public opinion research in a transparent manner and with adequate controls."

Mr. Rodriguez was responding to the announcement today by Public Works and Government Services Minister, Senator Michael Fortier, that his government will examine public opinion research contracts from 1990 to 2003 under the former Liberal government, a matter already addressed by the Auditor General.

Addressing the same matter in her 2004 report to Parliament, Auditor General Sheila Frasier observed:

"Based on our review of a sample of transactions and management practices, we found that the government managed its public opinion research activities adequately." (Auditor General's Report, February 11, 2004)

"Why is the Conservative Party prepared to spend millions of taxpayers' dollars to re-examine an old and unfounded allegation, yet still hasn't announced who will investigate the RCMP pension fund scandal?" said Mr. Rodriguez.

The Conservatives have also appointed former Parti Québécois cabinet minister, Daniel Paillé, rather than someone completely independent from partisan ties.

"Not only is this government doubting the word of Canada's Auditor General, but it has appointed a separatist to do the job," Mr. Rodriguez said.

"And all of this is announced by their unelected, unaccountable Senator-Minister who stands and preaches accountability - and all in the midst of heated election talk."

Even the media is seeing through this clearly partisan witch hunt, Mr. Rodriguez said: "What seems to be disturbing here is that they didn't hire an outsider, an independent person. They hired a former Party Quebecois industry minister to head up this inquiry. It begins to smell like a political witch hunt." (Bob Fife, CTV NewsNet, April 11, 2007)

"The whole thing is insulting to Canadian taxpayers," said Mr. Rodriguez.

-30-

For More Information:
Office of Pablo Rodriguez

(613) 995-0580

...

 

April 11, 2007 - To mangle a phrase, justice delayed (in this case, by ten years), is not always justice denied. 

I don't have much to say about this, just yet.  But I will, soon enough.

 

April 10, 2007 - How interesting. This is the first time Jean Chretien (and son-in-law) has been seen on the web site of the Prime Minister since December 2003.

What does that say about the new guy, Harper, and what does it say about the one who preceded him? Plenty.

 

April 8, 2007 – Random, contextless, linkless musings:

• Cameron, I will shortly have 300 friends in facebook. Eat my dust, pale Whitby boy.
  
  
• I cannot figure out whether I like the new Arcade Fire or not. Before he jets off to Europe, I am counting on Wells to tell me what to think.
  
  
• Two chapters to go. This one’s a sweating, heaving monster, and I am grappling with it, wrestling it to the floor. These guys are selling it. All of you are invited to the launch. I shit you not.
  
  
• This week’s mandatory Against Me! lyric: “Golden arches risin' above the next overpass…These horizons are endless. Americans abroad! Americans abroad! Profit driven expansion into foreign markets, and while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure.”

April 8, 2007 – This is terrible. Say a prayer for them, and their families.

...

Canadian military confirms six killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
(Afghan-Cda-Deaths)
Source: The Canadian Press
Apr 8, 2007 14:59

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) _ Military officials have confirmed that six Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb blast in the worst single-day toll for the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.

The officials say one Canadian soldier was seriously injured in the explosion west of Kandahar city, and another had light injuries. The soldiers were in a moving vehicle at the time.

Canada has about 2,500 soldiers serving with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Adghanistan.

Speaking in France, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it has been a "difficult day in Afghanistan."

He broke the news of the six deaths and said, "our hearts ache for them and their families."

Canada has had troops in Afghanistan since early 2002, a few months after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

INDEX: DEFENCE INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

...

 

April 7, 2007 – On Friday morning, on a jam-packed TTC subway car, I ran into my friend John Duffy, looking dapper and wheeling one of his kids around in a stroller. We had a nice chat. Even though we were on different sides of the leadership divide – I was on the side of righteousness and goodness, John wasn’t – our public transit encounter got me thinking. “Why doesn’t the Dion group have guys like John on TV?” thought I. “He’s smart and one of the best debaters around. Sure, he supported Martin, but all of us are entitled to at least one gargantuan, life-altering mistake. They need guys like him spinning for them.”

Then, yesterday, a West Coast pro-marijuana-legalization pal emailed to query why I wasn’t involved with the federal Liberal effort. “The Dion folks are a lot closer to the Martin gang than people realize,” I told him. “There aren’t many Chrétien guys involved, in fact. Maybe they don’t need us. Whatever. Who cares.”

Then, this morning, I spotted Jane Taber’s column in the Globe. Here’s what she wrote, in part:

“Martin redux

There is much gnashing of teeth by Liberals — both elected MPs and non-elected strategist types — about the fact that some key Paul Martin players are involved in election debate preparation (and other tasks, it seems) for new leader Stéphane Dion.

Whatever happened to party renewal? And aren't these the guys who lost the past two elections?

These are all questions many Liberals are asking themselves these days…there are some raised eyebrows about the involvement of the [Martin people]. This is also the brain trust that in the past election debate had Mr. Martin offer up that wacky and desperate idea of removing the possibility of the federal government using the notwithstanding clause.”

John Duffy is walking, talking, spinning proof that not all of the Martinites were idiots. And not all of us on the Chrétien side of the Hatfield-McCoy civil war were all that effective, either (me in particular).

But, you know, the Chrétien folks won elections. The Martin folks didn’t. Does Stéphane Dion remember that, or care about that?

I guess not. Life goes on, etc. Yawn.

 

April 6, 2007 – With permission and everything, here is a laugh-out-loud satirical movie poster thing that Frank magazine did this week. (Well, I thought it was funny, anyway.)

I particularly like the, er, rendering of SMD.

 

April 5, 2007 - ...oh, and the NDP's Howie Hampton is getting in on the fun, apparently saying I am the master of "dirty tricks." Uh-huh. Sure. So says the mud merchant who smeared the late, great Bob Hunter with a child pornography charge in the Fall of 2001, and then denied it when caught out by the media.

Go and cry again on Shelley's shoulder, Howie, you big baby. (For those requiring a refresher, see below).

Do ya think Howie will be a facebook buddy with me, now? I sure hope so!

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NEWS
Hampton offers apology for rant:
Travel expense story hurt me, NDP leader says
By Joel Ruimy Toronto Star
701 words
27 June 1998
The Toronto Star
SA2
A3
English
Copyright (c) 1998 The Toronto Star

NDP Leader Howard Hampton was picking up the pieces yesterday following a bizarre end-of-session episode that saw him cry on the evening news and angrily confront two Queen's Park journalists in their own offices.

"I've had better days," Hampton ruefully told The Star yesterday after personally apologizing to one of the two journalists, a CBC-TV producer.

He insisted his reaction, including the tears, came in response to what he says his staff are calling "assassination."

"They're (the media) out to stick you with a moniker, no matter whether it's justified or unjustified, (that) you will never live down in politics," the 46-year-old lawyer quoted NDP staffers as saying.

The affair began Thursday, the last day of the session before the Legislature's summer recess, with the release of a report of MPPs' expenses for the 12 months to March 31.

The report details taxpayer-funded spending on travel and accommodation for each of the 130 MPPs. Hampton, whose Rainy River riding sits on the Manitoba border, was first on the list with a total of $118,556.

…reporters questioned Hampton on his first-ranked position - and on the fact that his wife, Sudbury-East MPP Shelley Martel, also claimed $34,292 for travel and for accommodation in Toronto, bringing the couple's total to $153,000. That includes $22,000 for a downtown Toronto apartment.

MPPs are allowed a dozen trips a year each between their ridings and Toronto for family members. Hampton claimed 11 of them, most with the couple's children, and Martel all 12.

When a reporter suggested that Hampton and Martel, who together earn more than $180,000 a year in salary on top of the travel allowance, were "double-dipping," Hampton seemed to lose it.

Tears welling in his eyes, he angrily asked reporters, "Surely you won't deny me the capacity to take my 3 1/2-year-old daughter home with me . . . surely you don't deny me the opportunity to take my ((baby) son home with me."

That night, TV newscasts across the province showed clips of a distraught Hampton talking emotionally about his young children. The reports also listed his and Martel's total travel costs.

Minutes after CBC-TV aired the story, an angry Hampton, followed by four nervous aides, strode the brief distance between his office and that of CBC-TV, where producer Rita Tonelli was working alone.

"It became very clear, very quickly, that he was upset," Tonelli told The Star yesterday. "And at that point, when I noticed there was an entourage with him, I started to feel quite intimidated."

Tonelli said Hampton "wasn't verbally abusive (but) . . . did use the f-word . . . in a rant."

Hampton also grew teary-eyed in her office and accused the producer of treating his wife as an "appendage" instead of a "duly elected member in her own right."

Minutes later, Hampton and his aides visited the office of Richard Brennan, correspondent for Southam News and a nine-year veteran of the Queen's Park press gallery who serves as its president.

"I was half-way or three-quarters through (writing) the story and out of nowhere, Howard Hampton, leader of the third party, the New Democratic Party, shows up, standing over me, glowering down at me, and says, 'Can I read your story?' "

Brennan said no and asked Hampton to leave - twice. The NDP leader did.

Tonelli accepted a Hampton apology call yesterday. Brennan didn't get one.

Hampton admitted using a profanity in Tonelli's office.

"Yes, I said it was f---ing gutter journalism and it was."

Asked if the story damaged him, he said: "Absolutely."

...

 

April 5, 2007 - I understand that a Tory nobody named John Yakabuski just threw mud in my direction in the Legislature. I dare him to say what he said outside. I dare him! He won't, because he's a gutless wonder, but I dare him, just the same.

Then again, if Yakabuski's the guy who John Tory has sent out to run me down, I couldn't be happier. Yakabuski is, after all, a proud law-and-order man with two criminal convictions - one for assaulting a police officer, no less, for which he did time in jail. Most recently, he's been taken to court for multiple speeding offences. Yakabuski's response? To demand that the government raise the speed limit.

Keep it coming, John and John! Soon enough, I'll be posting some of the emails Mr. Tory sent me about how ethical and principled he considers me to be. He can share them with his dopey MPP with the criminal record and the heavy foot, perhaps.

 

April 5, 2007 - Today's Post column, on propaganda and war.

Also, as some have noticed, I have joined the FaceBook cult. Click here to see and join.

You, too, can become A Friend Of Warren^TM, and then we will get together and do, um, FaceBook things.

That is all. It is snowing in Toronto, right now, and it pisses me off.

 

April 4, 2007 - Why do we, I, write a diary web site - a blog? To change someone's mind, maybe. To tell a joke, or get a smile. To defend a friend, or tell the truth (or try to). To be remembered, or remember someone. Or, sometimes, just to get an email like this, and to learn that a great song, and a great band, changed someone's life. The band is here, the great song is here, the lyrics are here.

And here's an email:

...

Warren,

I have to say a big thank-you. On your recommendation, I went out and bought Against Me! Searching for a Former Clarity. It quickly turned into one of my favourite albums. Even though it was released in 2005, it became one of my favourite albums of 2006. I was struck by how passionate and honest that they are. I have since gone on to pick up pieces of their other albums (their old web site had free downloads available), and I have picked up their acoustic EP. This band is truly amazing. If I had only heard the albums, I would be very happy to call this band one of my favourites. However, that wouldn't be enough.

Last Friday, I saw Against Me! here in Edmonton, and it was one of the best shows I have seen in a very long time (really if not ever). It was a small venue so it was very easy to get right up close to the stage and in the middle of the mosh mayhem. The show solidified my respect and appreciation of the band. They played a killer set, even though there were some glitches. They built their set to such a frenetic pace that I completely lost track of myself; it was pretty clear too that I wasn't the only one who became completely absorbed in the show. The music was stunning.

You have hit the nail on the head with your comments about the band. The band has the ability to change the world. Their affect is very personal, and the way the reach people is very cool. The way that I think of their importance, is that they are honest and sincere. I once told a friend, who was lamenting his ability to change the world, that for most of us, how we make our impact is on a personal and individual basis. We have to be good to our friends and family, and that we have to be a good member of our community. Against Me! does this. They have very personal impact on their fans, and I think they are changing the world one fan at a time. I am really looking forward to the new album, and their next stop in Edmonton.

Thanks, and I am looking forward to further punk tips in the future. By the way, the book was great too.

Terry O'Riordan
Edmonton, Alberta

...

 

April 4, 2007 - We were living in Dallas, Texas, when Martin Luther King was shot. In the intervening years, I always remember that, and Dr. King, every April 4. When some things happen when you are a kid, you never forget them, I guess.

What was he? A heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.

 

April 3, 2007 - John Tory of the Tory Tory Tories in today's scrum, recalling his former leader, Kim Campbell:

"I'm not going to start laying out a program for an election I haven't yet won."

Um, ipso facto, does that mean he needs to lose the election to us before he shows us his platform?

Well, if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes, by golly! Happy to oblige, John!

 

April 3, 2007 - What does this mean? It means that yesterday's ostentatious displays of political largesse - multi-million-dollar war rooms, the latest in expensive technology, etc. - creates an opportunity for guys like Jason.

To wit, when you start giving Goliath-style media events, you can always count on a smart young guy to come along and play the role of David. And the media will always, always cover him just as much as they've covered you.

Suggesting that you have more money than God is never, ever good strategy.

 

April 3, 2007 - Leaving aside the fact that he is one of my editors, Jonathan Kay has a wonderful column in today's Post - and not simply because it recalls the hate that permeates in the blogosphere. Speaking as someone who is the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week obsession of a Rachel Marsden-stalking, Wikipedia-vandalizing Ottawa nutbar, I know whereof Jon writes.

 

April 3, 2007 – Here’s me and Shaidle on The Agenda, after Steve’s interview with the NDP’s Ms. DiNovo. There’s an irony in there, somewhere, but I’m too tired to identify it.

 

April 2, 2007 - Bits and pieces, this and that:

• Interesting column by Mr. Urquhart. His last two paragraphs are key.
  
  
• Any resemblance to Mark Holland is strictly coincidental. Please do not leave emotional messages on our voicemail.
  
  
• The Hill Times spoke to me about so-called "spies" this week. And, did anyone spot what the new president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery is saying in HT about what he plans to do to bloggers? Said Gallery prez Richard Brennan, who - despite appearances - was not at Tiananmen Square in June 1989: "They will be ejected and if they continue, they'll be prohibited from coming into the main block, particularly here, I should say, the Foyer of the House... They're not supposed to be here anyway. They're not members of the Press Gallery. This area is for the members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery." Though I hate to admit it, Spector got off a good line on the controversy: "Maybe the press gallery could put 'em on a list."
  
  
• It's Andrew's cousin. Driven, smart person. Might help her out, too.
  
  
• Did Steve Paikin's Agenda show Friday night with Kathy Shaidle and others. Shaidle was nice, and I even met Cheri DiNovo backstage, who was also nice. (I'm still astounded that someone who smuggled drugs in Bibles has a seat in the Legislature, but the people have spoken, I guess.) But I digress: what struck me most was Paikin: unfailingly civil, intelligent, professional. The guy is, truly, one of the best broadcasters I have ever seen in action.

 

April 1, 2007 - Any of you writing me about this on Pierre's site, please take a long, hard look at the calendar before you start flooding my in box, would you?

...

CHRETIEN: THE COMEBACK KID ?

With the Liberal Party trailing the governing Conservative Party by a wide margin in recent polls, rumours of fact and facts of rumour have been percolating to the extent that disgruntled Liberal insiders, both pro-Dion and supporters of his leadership opponents, have been exchanging knowing glances, innuendo'd emails, and philandering phone calls, all to the effect that time has come to seek out a strong consensus-building Liberal with the kind of hands-on leadership qualities that can handle the challenge that befits a man who has won three successive majority elections: Jean Chretien. The man is said to be ready and waiting for the call. His longtime praetorian guard, pollsters, and spin-meisters are all girding for battle. "Pierre, the scenario is simple", confided a Toronto-based politico well-known to late-afternoon TV watchers, "one way or another, the odds are stacked against Stephane. He'll go down in the election and the call will immediately go out for Chretien to be drafted into service." Developing.

...