It seems the Globe Editorial Board endorsed Wynne, but the presses were stopped for 2 1/2 hours at the owner’s bidding until they had changed the endorsement to Hudak.
Read the leaked memo below.
Update 15 June, 2014:
I may have misspoken when I suggested that the turmoil at the Globe was more significant than the election. I expected a Liberal minority with nothing changed. Wynne’s majority is an entirely different kettle of fish, and very significant one.
Here’s Michael Valpy’s response to the Globe decision. It is definitely worth reading:
http://j-source.ca/article/it-any-surprise-globe-backed-ontario%E2%80%99s-progressive-conservatives-recent-election
A low-speed chase:
April 4, 2014
Rod, I’ve noticed when reading your blog that you have a fascination for 4 wheeled machinery of all shapes and sizes with tractors high on your list. I draw to your attention the article in the Globe today page A3 by Carrie Tait which covers the RCMP — 5 members — chasing a robbery suspect during a prolonged chase with the suspect evading capture by snowmobile, then a Rhino and finally, and I suspect your favourite, a John Deere 6400 tractor. This story is just made for you!
Cheers, George Kitching
Suggested Revision to the Rules
March 25, 2014
Re: 2014 Ice-Out Contest
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Please note a suggestion from 2012 winner George Kitching:
Rod, perhaps you might consider a cut off date to ensure fairness – what do you think of 1st April?
Do I have a second for this motion?
Rod
Please offer comments on this post but continue to post your contest entries on the original page to your right.
Harper vs Supreme Court of Canada (Updated)
March 21, 2014
The Supreme Court’s rejection of Harper nominee Marc Nadon to fill an upcoming vacancy must come as a major slap in the face to a prime minister who does basic math: he has appointed five of the eight judges, and they just won’t stay bought. They voted six-to-one against his man. One recent Harper appointment recused himself. Another voted for Nadon. But the other three voted the appointment down because Nadon was not qualified according to the rules laid down in the Constitution.
Harper can’t very well cut the budget of the Supreme Court of Canada and expect Beverley McLachlin and her colleagues to fold their tents and go home. He can’t remove their charitable status, nor pack their board of directors. He can’t even change the law to qualify his personal candidates for the high court. He tried that by adding a page to the last omnibus bill. They quashed the change along with Nadon’s nomination. Damned Constitution.
Now McLachlin and the five others who voted against Nadon specified in their report that they did not judge whether Nadon could still qualify for the post if he were again to join the Quebec Bar. That was not the question they had been asked. This leaves Harper, the man who gave new life to the word “prorogation” in the Canadian lexicon, another out: all he has to do is hop through the court’s hoops and then send Nadon, hat in hand, again to attempt to gain admission to the vacant Supreme Court seat.
Under the circumstances I would do exactly that. But Stephen Harper has had eight years of power, and his growing pride in his authoritarian rule may not allow him to bend to the Court’s will.
Expect Harper to fire a blast at constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati, the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and pretty well everyone else from his favourite perch: the lectern of a press conference in Europe. This may leave the Ukrainians within earshot slack-jawed in bewilderment, but it’s not about your country’s problems, guys. When Harper speaks on the world stage, it’s about Stephen Harper.
Ouch!
February 12, 2014
“The pain is disproportionate to the pathology.” That’s how the physiotherapist summed up my agony from a slightly strained back. “You’re the third one I have had this week, all snowmobile-related. The other two were from attempting to lift machines frozen into the ice.”
My miscue involved pushing a belly-hung Polaris Ranger off a snowbank while Tony rocked it back and forth from the driver’s seat. I should have simply hooked a tow rope to the thing and eased it off with my pickup truck, but egos were at work here, and on my 63rd birthday I wasn’t about to admit I was no longer 30.
Hence the phsyiotherapy sessions for the next two weeks. The real problem is that the non-prescription backache pills leave me stupid and uninterested in reading or writing. With treatments and the exercises Paul prescribed I’m likely able to quit the pills, though.
Blog entries may be a bit cranky and unkind to overweight and poorly-balanced ice augers for the next couple of days.
Update: 15 February
My back isn’t yet 100%, but I’m pain-free after six days and two treatments. Readily-available physiotherapy is very good for the aging weekend warrior.
22 February
All better, and looking forward to the fun of throwing sand around the icy lanes on the property this morning.
2013 in review
December 31, 2013
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 24,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
More “Gotcha!” journalism produces storm of outrage
December 15, 2013
I just listened to the tape of Conservative cabinet minister James Moore’s scrum interview last Friday with Sara Norman of News1130 in Vancouver. Moore has a point when he claims that his comments were taken out of context. The ensuing headline: “Federal Minister says child poverty not Ottawa’s problem” is not strictly inaccurate, but it certainly didn’t reflect what Moore would have chosen to say on the topic.
On Twitter Norman devoutly maintains that the headline is legitimate: “.@saradnorman responds: It’s on tape and taken directly in context. I asked the questions about child poverty, those were the answers.”
I believe that Norman overstates her case. Moore did wheel out standard Tory talking points to avoid the reporter’s question, and he did come off as unfeeling as a result, but to selectively edit Moore’s words as Norman did is not fair, and Moore doesn’t deserve the Twitter storm currently under way.
http://www.news1130.com/2013/12/15/raw-james-moore-in-scrum-with-news1130s-sara-norman/
Dismantling of Fishery Library ‘Like a Book Burning,’ Say Scientists
December 9, 2013
UPDATE: 8 January, 2014
Gail Shea, Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, has denied the relocation of library materials was anything other than a cost-cutting move, though Huffington Post further rebuts that argument:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/08/gail-shea-fisheries-libraries-book-burn_n_4562894.html
Columnist Frances Russell weighs in from National Newswatch:
http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2014/01/08/book-burning-21st-century-style/#.Us2xf_aE4us
This The Tyee article is too important to miss.
Candice Bergen apparently thinks her Cornwall audience is stupid.
December 8, 2013
Long Gun Registry poster girl Candice Bergen spoke to supporters in Cornwall recently. The willful stupidity of her comments got my goat.
Conservative MP Candice Bergen:
“Would you want him (Justin Trudeau) to be the principal of your children or grandchildren’s school, much less leading this country?”
(She belittles the teaching profession. It’s one of the highest rated in public esteem, but she pushes the job of school administrator down lower on the scale than that of a politician, one of the lowest rated occupations.)
“I’m deeply concerned with this movement that somehow marijuana isn’t harmful and it doesn’t hurt our kids,” said Bergen.
(Bergen doesn’t quite commit libel here, but in the context of her earlier comment, she’s clearly attempting to tar Trudeau with this made-up brush.)
This juxtaposition of images is deceitful in that it drags the reader into accepting that JT wants to give marijuana to school children — a favourite Tory meme. Bergen willfully ignores Trudeau’s frequent references to the research on marijuana’s psychotic effect upon growing brains.
JT firmly believes that marijuana is bad for kids, particularly for adolescent boys with ADD and ADDHD, because that’s what the research says. Trudeau wants to take the underworld out of the cannabis market so that there can be reasonable controls on access to the product. He wants to get the drugs out of the schools as much as any grandparent.
Bergen and the Conservatives know this, but they willfully dumb their arguments down to black and white because they believe their supporters are too stupid to understand Trudeau’s reasoned argument and they can benefit from that stupidity.
What’s more, Bergen may be right:
https://rodcroskery.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/the-authoritarian-voter/
Why so quiet at The Walnut Diary?
July 3, 2013
No reason in particular, I guess. Things are fine at the farm, though the grass is growing at a ridiculous rate and I’ve put a lot of hours on the mower over the last two months. Having almost finished the painting left over from last summer’s window replacement project on the brick house, I lept into roof repairs on the stone house preparatory to the back verandah project.
Still haven’t figured out a design for that one, which might have something to do with the lack of blog activity. But likely not.
Fishing has been slow this spring. Everyone is confused by the early season for bass. They haven’t been where I expect them to be. Things are picking up now, but it’s been slow. Last night I released a 4 1/2 pound largemouth which was unsuitable for the table. Too big.
I just haven’t felt like ranting about politics. Sick of it.
Before long, if history is any indicator, I’ll round up a new hobby horse and get back to blogging.
Rod
the Walnut Diary 