Crybaby Hull and Ditzy Doherty

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Municipal elections pastLeave a comment

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As a recent Connection story noted, our acting mayor wept openly when a decision he supported took some community flack. Seriously. He cried at a council meeting. Hardly the sort of behaviour one expects of the man chosen to replace the head of council (our much-disliked mayor who couldn’t wait to get away from his responsibilities). You can watch the entire discussion on video on the town’s website starting from 04:53:39. Hull’s comments begin at 05:01:05; he breaks into tears around 05:01:30 and is unable to speak for about 25 seconds, then breaks up again. And again. The Connection’s story ……… click below for more ↓

Ontario, I Am Ashamed and Embarrassed

Canadian Politics / Musings / Provincial Politics / Rightwing claptrap6 Comments

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This morning, Ontario, I am ashamed of you. Ontario, you had an opportunity to do the right thing, and chose — deliberately chose — not to. I am ashamed and embarrassed by your choice. And that includes your choice not to vote. At stake was the future of this province; its education, healthcare, environment, libraries, long-term care; at stake were our seniors, and our children. None of that mattered to Ontario. Instead of voting for a better future, Ontario voted for Doug Ford. Well, not all of you: few of you actually cared enough to vote. Less than half of ……… click below for more ↓

No, Brian Hasn’t Done Any of That!

Collingwood / Entitlement / Municipal Politics / Provincial Politics / Saunderson's MPP campaign5 Comments

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You probably got one of these disinformation campaign cards in your mail this week. It says that Brian Saunderson and Doug “Jabba the Hutt” Ford are “putting money in your pocket.” And then it lists three things Ford did by himself without Brian’s help. Or input. Or even vote because, after all, he’s been the MIA mayor of Collingwood, not an MPP. So how did the unelected (and, I hope, unelectable) Brian do anything like this? He didn’t. Are these claims disingenuous? Or disinformation? Or flat-out lies? Whichever you decide, Saunderson had no part in any of those decisions. And ……… click below for more ↓

Right v. Left in Modern Politics

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Musings / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US Politics3 Comments

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There’s a lot of palaver on social media about right v. left (or left v. right if you are so inclined), with webs of comments about the differences between these opposing political wings. And, at least among the comments I’ve read from Americans, there’s also a lot of misinformation and disinformation in play, especially about what constitutes the left (usually coupled with invectives and name-calling from the right). While many Canadians and Europeans (as socialist and culturally pluralist states) have a fair appreciation of what those political terms (left and right) mean, Americans —a nation of highly polarized, confrontational politics ……… click below for more ↓

Saunderson’s Your Guy

Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Politics / Provincial Politics / Saunderson's MPP campaign4 Comments

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With the provincial election only a few days away, I thought I should remind you why you might want to vote for Collingwood’s much-disliked, hypocritical, bullying, and inept mayor, Brian Saunderson. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve likely read the dozens and dozens of posts I’ve written over the years about his failure to act in even a vague pretense of a leadership role, his hypocrisy, his mismanagement, his personal vendetta, and the constant conflicts of interest he ignores. But just as a reminder, I’ve added links to a few of those posts… If ideology matters to ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 3

Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Learning & Education / Media / Musings / Politics / Reading & Literacy / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

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Back in the Mesozoic of my life, I came across a quotation from Giacomo Casanova that, as far as I can remember these days, went “No man can know everything, but every man should attempt to.” For many decades, I didn’t know the source, or whether it was misquoted, misattributed, or simply a fake as we experience so often on most internet quote sites (aka clickbait sites). But it stuck with me. I recently found a more fulsome translation of his words from Chapter V of his memoirs: No one in this world can obtain a knowledge of everything, but ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 2

Books & Reviews / Books about books / Fonts & Layout / Learning & Education / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Typography2 Comments

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Last post I mentioned I had rescued a set of encyclopedias from the dumpster at the end of this year’s Mother Of All Yard Sales (MOAYS; an Optimist Club event). I didn’t explain what I saved and why, but I’m here to explain, and to show. Bear with me. First, let me give you some personal background. Aside from being a writer, in my career I have been a book editor for a Canadian publisher, a magazine editor for two Canadian magazines, and editor-designer-layout person for two of our local newspapers (including the short-lived Sunday supplement, Huronia Sunday). I have ……… click below for more ↓

The Book of Knowledge: 1

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Internet & Social Media / Learning & Education / Musings / Pop Culture / Reading & Literacy4 Comments

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When I was growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, having an encyclopedia in your home was the bee’s knees, to use my grandmother’s phrase. It was a sign of sophistication and learning, of culture and wisdom. And being reasonably well-off, because encyclopedias were not inexpensive. I can still hear Jimminy Cricket singing the song (it’s how I learned to spell encyclopedia). Many school libraries had them, although usually only one set and not always the most current or the best. You could find more sets in the local public library, including in the bigger library branches the vaunted Encyclopedia ……… click below for more ↓

Looking for Information

Collingwood / Municipal electionsLeave a comment

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I am looking for information — and hopefully confirmation — about some local events that may have involved people who may be — or may wish to be — in “high places.” Some may also intend to put their name(s) forward for the 2022 municipal election. I believe that public officials should disclose any and all background that is relevant to voters making an informed choice, and that includes police records, lawsuits, ongoing court cases, divorce settlements, etc. Voters have the right to expect honesty and openness from their politicians, candidates included. If you have any more information or details ……… click below for more ↓

Those Wacky 5G Conspiracy Believers

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / New Age Codswallop / Pseudoscience & QuackeryLeave a comment

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Although it surfs the tidal wave of anti-intellectualism and anti-science in our society, the whole “5G-is-evil” conspiracy has been amusing, I must admit. From burning down cell towers, to accusing Bill Gates of spreading COVID through 5G waves, it’s been a delightful cavalcade of the funniest, stupidest notions to flitter through the internet. They have a Marjorie-Taylor-Greene wackiness about them (albeit without her nastiness); the sort of conspiracy nuttiness not quite attached to gravity or reality, like the flat earth, creationism or Trump won in 2020. One headline I read while writing this screamed “Vaccines Deliver Graphene Oxide Nanotubes for ……… click below for more ↓

What is Council Doing to Our BIA?

Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications / Uncategorized / Wacky WTF ideasLeave a comment

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Last week, the chair of our BIA (Business Improvement Area: our association of downtown merchants and businesses) resigned from the organization he has served on for the past seven years. In his letter (quoted in CollingwoodToday) of resignation, David Conning wrote (emphasis added): Following last evening’s council discussion, I continue to have no faith that the town councillors will support any major initiative of the BIA, even when presented with expert documentation recommending the project… I have neither the time nor the inclination to invest in championing projects that will ultimately fall to political decision-makers, The project he refers to ……… click below for more ↓

Debunking Poilievre’s Tweets, Part 2

Canadian Politics / Censorship / Ideologies / Politics / Rightwing claptrap3 Comments

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This is a continuation of my debunking of a small sample of Pierre Poilievre’s (aka Skippy’s) 2022 tweets. His tweets are presented in italics; my responses follow in roman text. See if you can spot in his words 1) His lack of knowledge about the subject; 2) Blatant lies; 3) Disinformation; 4) Vapid libertarian piffle; 5) Hubris. Please read Part 1 for an introduction and previous comments. Apr. 13: Let’s put an end to #JustinFlation so we can give Albertans, and all Canadians, back control of their lives. Sigh. He keeps whipping that dreary MAGA-hat slogan, without saying what control ……… click below for more ↓

Debunking Poilievre’s Tweets Part 1

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Political philosophy / Politics / Provincial Politics / Rightwing claptrap2 Comments

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Pierre Poilievre — aka Skippy — tweets a lot. A lot. Not quite in the Donald-Trump-tweeting-on-the-toilet range, but close. And he often repeat-tweets his angry, bumper-sticker slogans that are little more than libertarian micro rages. They are big on emotion but empty on substance. no details, facts, or anything even vaguely resembling a coherent platform that would benefit Canadians. His Twitter profile lists him as “Member of Parliament for Carleton and candidate for Prime Minister of Canada” which is pretty arrogant, given that he’s not even been elected as party leader yet. And even if he is, he won’t get ……… click below for more ↓

Poilievre’s Wacky, Quacky Economics

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Politics / Rightwing claptrap7 Comments

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Pierre Poilievre — aka Skippy — loves cryptocurrency and wants to make Canada the world’s crypto capital. Crypto is a computing process, not a product, it’s well outside the capabilities of individual computer systems to “mine” so it is controlled by large crypto-mining farms owned by corporate interests, using vast amounts of energy to produce numbers (one estimate suggests crypto miners spend more than $1 billion monthly on energy costs). In other words, crypto is a corporate service that produces no products or benefits, but has been determined by its investors to have value. Back in February, Skippy was interviewed ……… click below for more ↓

Debunking Poilievre’s Freedom Myth

Canadian Politics / Ideologies / Political fads / Political philosophy / Politics / Rightwing claptrapOne Comment

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If you listen to Pierre Poilievre, the leading — and rightmost — candidate for the Conservative Party’s leadership, Canada is a dictatorship suffering under the thumb of the tyrant, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. To escape from the authoritarian rule of the Liberals, Poilievre (aka Skippy) promises to make us “the freest place in the world.” In a recent interview published in Macleans, Poilievre used the words freedom or freedoms 24 times. In one answer to the interviewer, Skippy said, I believe in freedom of speech on the internet, so governments shouldn’t control what we see and say online. Which exposes his ……… click below for more ↓

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