NotALeader

Lacrosse is a great game and it takes courage to play it. It exposes the failings of those who are afraid to go to the front of the net. Lacrosse allows you to identify people with leadership skills. In Lacrosse, leaders go where the action is and face their opposition.

I am proud to think that this sport has been recognized as part of our heritage. It deserves to recognized by the Prime Minister. At the appropriate time.

It deserves better than to be used as cover by a coward.

Recommend this Post

The bottom line on Colvin's allegations

"The Gomery commission was set up for much less cause than a suspicion of high-level wilful negligence of Canada's human rights obligations."Recommend this Post

Your money, their private jets

Everyday our Conservative overlords take us further down the path to banana dominion-dom. One thing that First Worlders often tut-tut over is when Third World despots live high on the hog while the citizens suffer and the economy stagnates. How can they be allowed to do this without being held to account, we ask?

We live in a glass house. During the worst recession in 70years, Conservatives fly on private jets, enjoy the food and drink at unprecendented rates and seek to avoid accountability.

The Harper government says it is unable to provide the names of passengers who have flown on its fleet of Challenger executive jets since 2006 because it would take longer than a month-and-a-half to assemble the list.
...

DND did release figures that show that the average cost of feeding passengers has increased sharply since the Tories formed government. It cost taxpayers about $66 for every flying hour to provide food and non-alcoholic beverages to the VIPs aboard the jets in 2005-06, the last full fiscal year under a Liberal government.

But in 2008-09, the food and drink costs jumped to $110 per flying hour.

But, but the Liberals.

During past Liberal governments, DND routinely released the flight manifests with the names of the passengers and details about the origin and destination of each flight. It is unclear why DND was unable to provide similar information to McTeague.

Recommend this Post

An example of why I don't lose any sleep over Harper's many attempts to manipulate his image

Because he is a jerk. And once a jerk always a jerk. Take for instance his current trip to the sub-continent, which is really a tax payer funded play for the South Asian vote.

Controversy and chaos marked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Golden Temple visit.

Harper refused to partake of prasad at Darshani Deodi after being dissuaded by his aide, Alisa Mohammed. He also declined langar.

SGPC officials said she also made them vacate their information office prior to the premier’s arrival. “When we objected, she said she had already spoken to the SGPC secretary on the matter. It is for the first time that we have suffered such humiliation at hands of a foreigner in our own office,” said a senior SGPC official, expressing resentment over the behaviour of the Canadian PM’s staff.

Kind of makes me think my comment over at BCL yesterday was a bit prescient.

Recommend this Post

The path to profitability for Canadian newspapers

I have heard lots of moaning from newspaper publishers about how tough times are and how they are losing money hand over fist because no one buys their papers.  There are people handing out free newspapers in the morning.  They have a harder time getting rid of these things then they do Coyote tickets in Phoenix.  There is a solution staring them in the face.

Politics sells.  But not about reorganizations within the OLO.  Scandals sell.  Not Page 3 Sunshine Girls.  Political scandals.  Stuff people actually care about.  Like this.

The federal transport minister's office privately pleaded with Canada's big airlines to step up their lobby campaign to kill a proposed passenger bill of rights even as the minister publicly rallied behind the popular initiative, according to internal documents obtained by Canwest News Service.

This is the type of story that will, if you have the reputation for publishing it, sell papers or bring people to your website.  But I couldn't find this on any of the ones I looked at.

Perhaps negative stories about the Conservatives get spiked by editors following the dictates of their corporate owners.  The realities of the financial losses will force them to back you.

Maybe you are concerned that under the rigid message control of the Harper government you might get blackballed by Soudas.  Big deal.  Transcribing PMO press releases in an attempt to find a fictitious balance hasn't sold you any papers.  Print the story.  Let the PMO know that you will be waiting in the foyer with the other reporters ready to scrum.  If he is too much of a coward to face the media, report that.  Prominently.

Notwithstanding the piano man moment, no one but the whacko minority likes this guy.  Give people a chance to get angry at his government for being two faced and they will jump at it.  But be prepared.  Buy newsprint and ink futures.  You wouldn't want to run out.
Recommend this Post