1. Have you seen that stupid stupid stupid ad for McDonalds? The one where the idiotic woman, out on a date in an obviously good restaurant, asks the waiter if she can have a burger in a box with a yellow M on it? All the while her poor companion wants to crawl under the table, and who can blame him? So McDonalds - is your point that all your customers are as boorish, rude and uncouth as this woman? Or are all your customers stupid enough to believe a Big Mac is better than a good meal in a good restaurant? Either way McDonalds, you've insulted all your customers with this piece of crappy advertising.
2. Two Tim Horton franchisees who need their asses kicked and kicked hard are the two in Ontario who each recently fired an employee. One fired a female employee because she allowed a homeless person to eat in the restaurant and the other fired an employee because she gave a free Timbit to a cranky child. The storm of negative publicity forced both franchise owners to overturn the decisions but I haven't eaten in a Tim Hortons since.
3. Another place I won't eat in is Nathaniels in Owen Sound. Owner/chef and chief idiot Dan Hilliard fired waitress Stacey Fearnall who shaved her head to raise money for cancer. Owen Sound has a new village idiot and hopefully, a failing restaurant.
3. Toronto sports columnists. With the exception of the Globe and Mail, sports columnists in Toronto are among the worst anywhere in the country. If you want to know how bad they are, read the New York Times to understand how pleasurable it can be to read knowledgeable columnists who are also excellent writers.
4. Bob McCown - must have got his start as a sports columnist on a Toronto paper. Full of himself, he seems to believe that the more obnoxious and rude he is the more gravitas he takes on. The master of the cliche, McCown is a tiresome bore who's schtick was stale five years ago.
5. Companies that use call centres where the people on the end of the call don't speak English clearly, have no understanding of what the problem is nor how to fix it. When I find myself dealing with one of those, the company has seen the last of my business. And given the state of our economy, I will not deal with any companies in the future that have moved jobs offshore from Canada.
Ending on a positive note, the world is a better place tonight because Jessie Helms is no longer in it. The former North Carolina Senator was one of the most bigoted, racist politicians in the US. He opposed the establishment of Martin Luther King Day, opposed paying dues to the United Nations and earned the nickname Dr. No because he was opposed to every enlightened, compassionate pieces of legislation introduced in the Senate. He's gone and we are the better for it.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A random walk through politics as summer begins
1. Most interesting politician to watch over the next year - Premier Danny Williams of Newfoundland. His deep and intense dislike of Stephen Harper will play a role in the next federal election. It says here he will be very effective in skewering the Alliance.
2. Most under rated politician federally - Elizabeth May. She will play a pivotal role in the upcoming election. If she supports Dion's environmental program the dynamics of the campaign could be tilted quickly in the Liberal's favor.
3. Most over rated politician federally - Stephen Harper. Vindictive, petty, and as venal as any Liberal ever thought of being, he is revealed as the wolf in wolf's clothing voters were afraid he was. The high road is gone; there is no sense of purpose, no vision of what this country is about or could be or should aspire to be. As Chantel Hebert said on The National, he has had two years of the weakest opposition in living memory and he has not advanced his party one inch in that time.
4. Most over rated politician federally #2 - Jack Layton. Has there ever been, besides Harper, a leader who fell further and faster than Layton? Smug, sanctimonious and plainly out of touch, Layton suffers hugely with any comparison to Elizabeth May as a true environmentalist and generator of new approaches to difficult questions. Polls show he has dropped significantly - and he deserves to.
5. Most embarrassing politician federally - Vic Toews with his ignorant, embarrassing comments about Louise Arbour, just the latest in a long list of Toews idotic statements. It's one thing to pose as a red neck, horse's ass with shit for brains - it's another thing entirely to be a red neck, horse's ass with shit for brains. Toews is and the sooner he's off the stage the better for all Canadians.
6. Most over rated politician in Ontario - by a country mile it has to be John Tory. Never was a province more ready to consider a change and never was a leader given a more welcome podium than towns and cities all across Ontario gave John Tory. But his ill conceived, badly thought out funding for religious schools put paid to his political chances in 2007. Will he live to fight another day? The jury's still out and so is John, out of the Legislature with no prospects on the horizons of a seat coming vacant.
7. Leader who has to win or else - Stephen Dion. If he loses the next election there will be a federal Liberal Leadership race faster than you can say Ignatieff Rae.
8. Luckiest leader in Canada - Premier Brad Wall who led his Saskatchewan Party to victory in that province last fall, just in time to reap the benefits of an explosive growth in government revenues and job creation as natural resources powers the province to the top of the heap. Most impressive statistic? Benefit payments to the unemployed have fallen 16% this year. Think about that for a moment and what it does for a government budget.
9. Leader who won't be missed - Howard Hampton. The Ontario NDP leader is shrill, angry and blusters far too much for people to feel easy and comfortable with him. A captive of language 25 years out of date and economic ideas 50 years behind the times, Hampton was always hot when cool was required. Frances Lankin lost the leadership to Hampton because the Party didn't have the guts to live up to its own rhetoric. So much for equal opportunity, equality of men and women etc. The NDP got what it deserved and now it has to find a different pygmy to lead the lackluster band at Queen's Park.
10. Potential irony of the year - the NDP, which was afraid to elect Frances Lankin as leader, may now turn to Cheri DeNovo. Once again the NDP gets it wrong and is a day late and a dollar short.
11. Two women to watch in Parliament/Queen's Park - Elizabeth May. The leader of the Green Party hasn't done much to build the party but she is respected and liked by most Canadians, partly because she eschews partisan bullshit for thoughtful comments on political issues. A woman of considerable substance, she has no grandiose ideas of her place under the sun or of her own worth versus that of others, and the respect she is given by the public is a reflection of the huge difference between her and other party leaders and MPs.
Kathleen Wynne - Ontario's Minister of Education has been underrated by her own Party since she ran and won a seat two elections ago. She beat John Tory last fall by 5,000 votes - some party back roomers now say her victory was expected but it was anything but - in reality, the Party wrote her seat off months before the election but Wynne paid no attention and just kept working hard and talking to voters. That's one of the reasons for her huge plurality - Wynne is a straight talker with the public, the teachers unions and idiotic trustees filled with their own sense of self importance. Like the Green Party leader, she focuses on issues and leaves the political bullshit to others, a trait more and more appreciated by voters.
12. The last laugh and true vindication - for Jean Chretien when the appeal court quashed retired Judge John Gomery's findings that he and Gerard Pelletier bore responsibility for the sponsorship scandal. The court severely criticized Gomery for his behaviour, his blatantly biased comments and his prejudging of the issues before the case was closed. Gomery has been exposed as a gas bag and publicity seeking, preening peacock we saw night after night on news reports. And by the way Paul Martin, what do you think of your appointment of Gomery now?
2. Most under rated politician federally - Elizabeth May. She will play a pivotal role in the upcoming election. If she supports Dion's environmental program the dynamics of the campaign could be tilted quickly in the Liberal's favor.
3. Most over rated politician federally - Stephen Harper. Vindictive, petty, and as venal as any Liberal ever thought of being, he is revealed as the wolf in wolf's clothing voters were afraid he was. The high road is gone; there is no sense of purpose, no vision of what this country is about or could be or should aspire to be. As Chantel Hebert said on The National, he has had two years of the weakest opposition in living memory and he has not advanced his party one inch in that time.
4. Most over rated politician federally #2 - Jack Layton. Has there ever been, besides Harper, a leader who fell further and faster than Layton? Smug, sanctimonious and plainly out of touch, Layton suffers hugely with any comparison to Elizabeth May as a true environmentalist and generator of new approaches to difficult questions. Polls show he has dropped significantly - and he deserves to.
5. Most embarrassing politician federally - Vic Toews with his ignorant, embarrassing comments about Louise Arbour, just the latest in a long list of Toews idotic statements. It's one thing to pose as a red neck, horse's ass with shit for brains - it's another thing entirely to be a red neck, horse's ass with shit for brains. Toews is and the sooner he's off the stage the better for all Canadians.
6. Most over rated politician in Ontario - by a country mile it has to be John Tory. Never was a province more ready to consider a change and never was a leader given a more welcome podium than towns and cities all across Ontario gave John Tory. But his ill conceived, badly thought out funding for religious schools put paid to his political chances in 2007. Will he live to fight another day? The jury's still out and so is John, out of the Legislature with no prospects on the horizons of a seat coming vacant.
7. Leader who has to win or else - Stephen Dion. If he loses the next election there will be a federal Liberal Leadership race faster than you can say Ignatieff Rae.
8. Luckiest leader in Canada - Premier Brad Wall who led his Saskatchewan Party to victory in that province last fall, just in time to reap the benefits of an explosive growth in government revenues and job creation as natural resources powers the province to the top of the heap. Most impressive statistic? Benefit payments to the unemployed have fallen 16% this year. Think about that for a moment and what it does for a government budget.
9. Leader who won't be missed - Howard Hampton. The Ontario NDP leader is shrill, angry and blusters far too much for people to feel easy and comfortable with him. A captive of language 25 years out of date and economic ideas 50 years behind the times, Hampton was always hot when cool was required. Frances Lankin lost the leadership to Hampton because the Party didn't have the guts to live up to its own rhetoric. So much for equal opportunity, equality of men and women etc. The NDP got what it deserved and now it has to find a different pygmy to lead the lackluster band at Queen's Park.
10. Potential irony of the year - the NDP, which was afraid to elect Frances Lankin as leader, may now turn to Cheri DeNovo. Once again the NDP gets it wrong and is a day late and a dollar short.
11. Two women to watch in Parliament/Queen's Park - Elizabeth May. The leader of the Green Party hasn't done much to build the party but she is respected and liked by most Canadians, partly because she eschews partisan bullshit for thoughtful comments on political issues. A woman of considerable substance, she has no grandiose ideas of her place under the sun or of her own worth versus that of others, and the respect she is given by the public is a reflection of the huge difference between her and other party leaders and MPs.
Kathleen Wynne - Ontario's Minister of Education has been underrated by her own Party since she ran and won a seat two elections ago. She beat John Tory last fall by 5,000 votes - some party back roomers now say her victory was expected but it was anything but - in reality, the Party wrote her seat off months before the election but Wynne paid no attention and just kept working hard and talking to voters. That's one of the reasons for her huge plurality - Wynne is a straight talker with the public, the teachers unions and idiotic trustees filled with their own sense of self importance. Like the Green Party leader, she focuses on issues and leaves the political bullshit to others, a trait more and more appreciated by voters.
12. The last laugh and true vindication - for Jean Chretien when the appeal court quashed retired Judge John Gomery's findings that he and Gerard Pelletier bore responsibility for the sponsorship scandal. The court severely criticized Gomery for his behaviour, his blatantly biased comments and his prejudging of the issues before the case was closed. Gomery has been exposed as a gas bag and publicity seeking, preening peacock we saw night after night on news reports. And by the way Paul Martin, what do you think of your appointment of Gomery now?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Harper should learn from Obama - but don't hold your breath
The Harpoon who heads the band of idiots that passes for Canada's federal government right now could learn a thing or two from Barack Obama. In fact, Harpoon could learn from grade school kids but there's no chance of that - he doesn't listen and he doesn't believe anyone knows better than him on anything. I thought Trudeau was arrogant - and he was - but at least he had some reason to be, unlike Puffy Face.
The economy mismanaged, promise broken everywhere, scandal in the cabinet and scandal in the Party's illegal advertising in the last election campaign, screw ups in foreign policy, screw ups by a minister of finance who thinks 2 plus 2 equals 1.5, and lack of vision everywhere are the hallmarks of the Stevie Harper government. Add to that list the appalling ignorance of Vic Toews, who's disparaging remarks about Louise Arbour, one of Canada's most respected international figures, told you everything you need to know about red necks and small minded yahoos from the back of beyond. The result is a government this country can hardly wait to bid adieu to.
Harper and Flawerty, the rednecked yahoo from Ontario, see no relationship between the federal government and the cities of this country. They have no vision beyond cutting taxes and cutting them again and if that doesn't work why, we'll cut taxes!
What a difference between these sorry lumps of stupidity and the suave, intelligent Senator from Illinois running for president in the US.
Last week at a conference of mayors in the US, Obama said the following:
"Yes we need to fight poverty. Yes we need to fight crime. Yes we need to strengthen our cities. But we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions and strong regions are essential for a strong America."
Substitute Canada for America and the shoe fits absolutely - and everyone in Canada except the Alliance understands and gets the message.
Obama went on:
"The stakes could not be higher. Our children will grow up competing with children in Beijing and Bangalore and Berlin. And make no mistake - their governments are doing everything they can to give their countries an edge by investing in regional growth. As Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution has pointed out, China is developing an advanced network of ports and freight hubs, and an advanced network of universities modeled after our own. And Germany has launched rail and telecom projects to bind its major metro areas more closely together. Other governments are aggressively pursuing strategies to unlock the potential of their metro areas. To compete and win in our global economy, we have to show the same kind of leadership."
Wouldn't it be heaven if we had some of that intelligence and thinking in Ottawa, instead of the 18th century view of the world and a suspicion of everything that doesn't cut taxes.
I have a suggestion. Let's simply throw the bums out. No need to feel badly about tossing them on the unemployment rolls - we'll get them nominated to the board of directors at Maple Leaf Gardens. Harpoon and Flawerty are mirror images of Richard Peddie so that would work - and the rest of us could spend idle moments trying to determine who the brightest bulb in that batch is. On the other hand, who cares - they'd be out of our hair. The Leafs are already home to the biggest incompetents in their industry so adding others won't disturb the balance. We should do this. Quickly.
The economy mismanaged, promise broken everywhere, scandal in the cabinet and scandal in the Party's illegal advertising in the last election campaign, screw ups in foreign policy, screw ups by a minister of finance who thinks 2 plus 2 equals 1.5, and lack of vision everywhere are the hallmarks of the Stevie Harper government. Add to that list the appalling ignorance of Vic Toews, who's disparaging remarks about Louise Arbour, one of Canada's most respected international figures, told you everything you need to know about red necks and small minded yahoos from the back of beyond. The result is a government this country can hardly wait to bid adieu to.
Harper and Flawerty, the rednecked yahoo from Ontario, see no relationship between the federal government and the cities of this country. They have no vision beyond cutting taxes and cutting them again and if that doesn't work why, we'll cut taxes!
What a difference between these sorry lumps of stupidity and the suave, intelligent Senator from Illinois running for president in the US.
Last week at a conference of mayors in the US, Obama said the following:
"Yes we need to fight poverty. Yes we need to fight crime. Yes we need to strengthen our cities. But we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions and strong regions are essential for a strong America."
Substitute Canada for America and the shoe fits absolutely - and everyone in Canada except the Alliance understands and gets the message.
Obama went on:
"The stakes could not be higher. Our children will grow up competing with children in Beijing and Bangalore and Berlin. And make no mistake - their governments are doing everything they can to give their countries an edge by investing in regional growth. As Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution has pointed out, China is developing an advanced network of ports and freight hubs, and an advanced network of universities modeled after our own. And Germany has launched rail and telecom projects to bind its major metro areas more closely together. Other governments are aggressively pursuing strategies to unlock the potential of their metro areas. To compete and win in our global economy, we have to show the same kind of leadership."
Wouldn't it be heaven if we had some of that intelligence and thinking in Ottawa, instead of the 18th century view of the world and a suspicion of everything that doesn't cut taxes.
I have a suggestion. Let's simply throw the bums out. No need to feel badly about tossing them on the unemployment rolls - we'll get them nominated to the board of directors at Maple Leaf Gardens. Harpoon and Flawerty are mirror images of Richard Peddie so that would work - and the rest of us could spend idle moments trying to determine who the brightest bulb in that batch is. On the other hand, who cares - they'd be out of our hair. The Leafs are already home to the biggest incompetents in their industry so adding others won't disturb the balance. We should do this. Quickly.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Cabinet/and Michele
Hard to be grumpy with the McGuinty mini shuffle this week. Putting pit bull George Smitherman in charge of nuclear power and infrastructure was an astute move. I'll take odds this keeps George at Queen's Park and out of City Hall, where the field is not nearly large enough for his talents anyway. Who in their right mind wants to be part of something with Rob Ford, George Mamaliti and Frances Nunziata?
David Caplan to Health is a safe move. His Mom did a good job of holding the fort during her time there and David will likely do the same. The ministry cries out for bold new initiatives but those are not Caplanesque traits - David is likely to manage things reasonably well but not to push the envelope and make some of the changes that are needed. At the same time, he won't endanger the system by taking reckless chances so this is a reasonable and safe move. In his sleep Caplan will be an improvement over Tony Clements, the deer-in-the-headlights minister who served as health minister here and is the same under Harpoon - with the same results, one might add. Zippo.
And keeping Gerry Philips in Cabinet as Chair is a good move. Calm and clear in his thinking, Philips is the kind of seasoned pro you want at the table when hard choices need to be made.
In all, good marks to McGuinty for avoiding the temptation to tinker, and making only those changes that strengthen the cabinet.
__________________________________________
The knives that were sharpened and honed on Hillary Clinton have now turned on Michele Obama. E. D. Hill, one of Fox TV's mental midgets, called her fist bump or "dap" with her husband on the night he won the nomination a "terrorist fist jab". There are morons, there are jackasses and then there are slimy white men in suits who crawled out from rocks and who all applied for and got jobs on Fox, Christian radio and talk radio generally. What they all have in common is the ability to lie outrageously about Obama and his wife.
They have concentrated thus far on his religion - he's Christian but the party lie is that he's Muslim; his lack of patriotism -he didn't wear the US flag on his lapel; and Michele's so-called raging anger and her use of the word "whitey", both unsubstantiated but repeated nevertheless.
Just watch how they try to turn a woman born on the south side of Chicago and raised by working parents, who worked her way through college (including Harvard) by dint of hard work and scholarships, and who has obviously been a loving and successful parent, as their two daughters attest to - but just watch how they turn this into some kind of unAmerican story while positioning Cindy McCain, who inherited beer millions, as a real all American.
We don't have nearly enough strong leaders to be allow us to trash capable women like Hillary and Michele with impunity. Both of them put 90 percent of the men in public life to shame but as long as we tolerate the vacuous commentators like Hill and Limbaugh, Stern and Imus and the lies they spew about strong capable women, we will deserve the likes of George Bush.
David Caplan to Health is a safe move. His Mom did a good job of holding the fort during her time there and David will likely do the same. The ministry cries out for bold new initiatives but those are not Caplanesque traits - David is likely to manage things reasonably well but not to push the envelope and make some of the changes that are needed. At the same time, he won't endanger the system by taking reckless chances so this is a reasonable and safe move. In his sleep Caplan will be an improvement over Tony Clements, the deer-in-the-headlights minister who served as health minister here and is the same under Harpoon - with the same results, one might add. Zippo.
And keeping Gerry Philips in Cabinet as Chair is a good move. Calm and clear in his thinking, Philips is the kind of seasoned pro you want at the table when hard choices need to be made.
In all, good marks to McGuinty for avoiding the temptation to tinker, and making only those changes that strengthen the cabinet.
__________________________________________
The knives that were sharpened and honed on Hillary Clinton have now turned on Michele Obama. E. D. Hill, one of Fox TV's mental midgets, called her fist bump or "dap" with her husband on the night he won the nomination a "terrorist fist jab". There are morons, there are jackasses and then there are slimy white men in suits who crawled out from rocks and who all applied for and got jobs on Fox, Christian radio and talk radio generally. What they all have in common is the ability to lie outrageously about Obama and his wife.
They have concentrated thus far on his religion - he's Christian but the party lie is that he's Muslim; his lack of patriotism -he didn't wear the US flag on his lapel; and Michele's so-called raging anger and her use of the word "whitey", both unsubstantiated but repeated nevertheless.
Just watch how they try to turn a woman born on the south side of Chicago and raised by working parents, who worked her way through college (including Harvard) by dint of hard work and scholarships, and who has obviously been a loving and successful parent, as their two daughters attest to - but just watch how they turn this into some kind of unAmerican story while positioning Cindy McCain, who inherited beer millions, as a real all American.
We don't have nearly enough strong leaders to be allow us to trash capable women like Hillary and Michele with impunity. Both of them put 90 percent of the men in public life to shame but as long as we tolerate the vacuous commentators like Hill and Limbaugh, Stern and Imus and the lies they spew about strong capable women, we will deserve the likes of George Bush.
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