Is The Google Making The Media Culpist A Meanie?

HoldingAColumnistToAccount

IsNotBiasVille

The answer is, absolutely not.

Futhermore, it is not making her smarter or dumber or any other 'er'.

Because the work of the Media Culpist is all her own.

This time she used her memory, and a certain ironic twisting of the fates, to come up with another very apt side-by-side comparison of an original bit of writing and the writing of one Ms. Margaret Wente that was subsequently published on the Op-Ed page of the Globe and (nolongerEmpire) Mail.

Here is the lede of MC's latest:

Seems Twitter played a big role in recent events. I happened to remember (and look up) a column of Ms. Wente’s about Twitter today.

Nicholas Carr is a writer whose article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Ms. Wente discussed in 2008. He blogs at Rough Type. Here’s something he wrote on March 27, 2009 about a New York Times article on celebrity tweets (emphasis mine)....

The comparisons follow, and they are factual. They are also assisted by the Google in exactly the same way a microfiche bank or a dead-tree based newpaper morgue would been used in the past back to, well, pretty much as far back as you want to go.

The comparisons also demonstrate very clearly that the work of Ms. Wente published in the Globe was not entirely her own. In addition, the work that was published in the Globe under Ms. Wente's byline was not properly attributed to the person, in this case Mr. Nicholas Carr, who actually did it.

The work I mean.

So....

Every time you hear, see, or read bloviating from the BigMedia wagon-circlers who have been impugning the work of Ms. Culpist (which is clearly her own) I suggest you check the actual work, here, before you form an opinion about it.

For the record, I have checked that work early and often.

And in my considered opinion it is first rate.

OK?

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Saturday Night's Allright For Uke Cover Fighting

There'sNoUke

LikeCoverUkeVille

First, the original, at least to us, by Mic Christopher and Glen Hansard....

And now, the cover, just, because...Well, I feel like it...

Talked to E. last night on the skype-mobile... She broke her 'A' string and had to use somebody else's box in the Montreal Metro yesterday...She was going to fix it today....And no, there is no sound-fiddling on our version of 'I Bid You Goodnight' shown above...the microphone on the camera went a little goofy because of the passing planes, but the notes really were hit by that voice...

Mr. Hansard and friends are coming to town Tuesday night.... Littler e. and I will be there....Unfortunately, Mr. Christopher will not....At least not in body...


____
As always,  thanks to Los Angeles photo-maven extraordinaire Ellen Bloom (and her brother Ken!) for the Uke peg-head at the top of the post...
Want more of our busking tunes (almost all with uke)?...The loop runs....Here.

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Was It Really 'Web Chatter' That Got The Wurlitzer Cranking?

TheDarkHeartOfTheMediaHerd
CirclesTheWagonsVille


Ian Mulgrew, writing in the VSun today, makes the case that it was 'web-chatter' that drove the feeding frenzy that erupted in the wake of story in a local not-quite mainstream newspaper that was based on the affadavits of a number of folks that went to schools in Burns Lake 40 years ago.

But here's the thing....

Check the google - just type in the appropriate surname and there are literally hundreds of MSM reports on the story, both the accusations and the denials.

Even more importantly, and anti-web chatterish, however was the way the local Lotuslandian electronic media responded.

Take CKNW, for example.

Heckfire, they were on it all afternoon the day after the source story was published. In addition, Dan Russell, on his sports talk show ran a panel 'discussion' on the thing for an entire hour later that night.

So, in light of all this, I would posit that, to a great extent, the herd-like stampede of the  so-called 'legitimate' media actually drove the 'web chatter'.

Which means that, perhaps, the frenzy, as well as, according to Mr. Mulgrew, the premature 'drawing and the quartering'  just might not be the fault of the great unwashed but rather, well, you know....


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Microbes For Harper!

There'sNoRegulation(Literally)

LikeSelf-RegulationVille

Don't know about you, but to me it looks like the root of the problem with the latest meat contamination scare (that really is scary because it has made people really and truly sick) looks to be the now fully-entrenched Harper government-driven strategy by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) towards a hands-off, government inspector-free 'self-regulation' of meat packing plantsby the meat packing companies themselves.

Or.

Put another way, it's like listeriosis all over again.

Which, in my opinion was driven by filthy meat cutters wherein the microbes were allowed to flourish as a direct result of the policies of the government of Stephen Harper.

But, even worse, it now appears that, in the latest case, the CFIA also held off on a recall announcement for almost a full two weeks after they knew there was a problem based on not one, but two, reports of E-Coli contamination in beef shipped by XL. And, in point of fact, it was only after the later 'inspector oversight' -based (ie. not company self-oversight) reports finally came in that the recall was finally ordered.

Now, the thing that gets me about all of this is that keeping E.Coli and Listeria out of food is not rocket science.

Or even complicated microbiology.

Because these are not super-resistant andromeda strains we're talking about here. 

Instead, they are common variety bacteria.

Heckfire, even one click to the Wiki can tell you how to do the job:

"Preventing listeriosis as a food illness requires effective sanitation of food contact surfaces. Alcohol is an effective topical sanitizer against Listeria. Quaternary ammonium can be used in conjunction with alcohol as a food contact safe sanitizer with increased duration of the sanitizing action. Refrigerated foods in the home should be kept below 4 °C (39.2 °F) to discourage bacterial growth..."

Alcohol, ammonia, refrigeration and actually cleaning things. That's all it takes.

Which means that, again in my opinion (and the opinion of the CMAJ in the case of the previous Listeria crisis at least), this comes down not to microbiology but instead to ideology.

As in Mr. Harper's ideology of self-regulation and self-inspection in the food industry*.

OK?

______

*And, it would appear, based on the building track-record of Mr. Harper and his government, of just about every other industry as well...

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Will The Massey Tunnel Replacement Have A Lane For Unicorns and Sparkle Ponies Too?

MakingStuffUpOnTheFly
IsNotPolicyVille


Nevermind the timeline (10 years).

Because the real proof is not even in the pudding.

Instead, it is in the financial plan.

Or, to be more specific, the lack thereof.

To wit, BC Liberal government's newly minted Transportation minister's statement to Black Press' Jeff Nagel in the wake of Ms. Clark's fairy-dusted 'announcement' at the UBCM meeting in Victoria yesterday:

...Transportation minister Mary Polak said consultations with stakeholders will look at whether to pursue a bridge or tunnel, whether to use the current alignment or shift it, and how to pay for it.

"It's fair to say that there will be all number of options discussed as we begin the planning of this," she said. "One of those might be tolls but it is too early to tell."....

Of course, the other minor thing in that quote from Ms. Polak is that they have no idea what they are actually going to build.

I mean, c'mon....

Was this written up on the back Jelly Roll's cruller-encrusted napkin on the helijet on the way to the sickness that is Victoria on Friday morning?

Sheesh.

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The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.

AllTheEggCartonsInAllTheWorld
Can'tSoundProofThisGarageVille


The garage band I was in when I was a kid really did revel in the 'Hey, f*ck you!' model of The Ramones.

In the DIY sense of the phrase I mean, especially from a musical, 'We don't have to sound like 'Styx' or 'Emerson Lake and Palmer', point of view.

Which meant that we also didn't even really have to know how to play our instruments when we started to have a heckfire lot of fun.

Thing was, back then CBGB's was a world away (or maybe even five or six) before punk broke on the west coast of Canuckistan.

Especially because we were in Victoria, not Vancouver.

But all that changed soon thereafter.

And it is really, really different now.

Case in point, 'The Japandroids', two kids who met in Victoria, and this summer took Chicago by storm.

You can hear the whole show, which was done for WBEZ's 'Sound Opinions' and will be coming to an NPR station near you this weekend,  here.

And you can get all the geek-laden footnote goodness here.

Now.

As for the rest of you kids....

Get off my lawn!

And turn down those goddamned guitars!


_____
All joking and slightly snarky old guy smack aside, have a listen....The kids really do Victoria proud and give props to the other kids they played with and were influenced by there/here...In addition, they make the point that, now, Victoria is a better place to play, venue-wise, than Vancouver...Wow!

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RoboRealCall Update....The Limited Hangouts Have Officially Begun!

ThisMaginotLine
LooksToBeHighlyFlexibleVille


Well, whadd'ya know.

All of a sudden the big money FedCon lawyers have given in.

Because they are no longer challenging new evidence in the Voter Suppression suit being brought by the Council of Canadians.

From the CBC's report yesterday:

Lawyers for the Conservative Party have dropped their objections to new expert evidence being entered in the ongoing legal battle over robocalls in last year's federal election campaign.

Arthur Hamilton, a lawyer for the party, said Thursday morning that he and a lawyer for the Council of Canadians, which is acting for voters trying to overturn the results in seven ridings, had agreed to argue the merits of the new evidence before the judge at trial, rather than fighting about whether the material should even be filed...


So.

Why, you might ask yourself would they suddenly do this, apparently out of the blue?

My guess is that the answer is right there in the next sentence of the unbylined report from the MoCo.

...The case is scheduled to be heard Dec. 10 to 14....


So, recapping....

1) Accuse, accuse, accuse/demonize, demonize, demonize.

2) Suddenly retreat.

3) Buy time.

4) Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum.

And each time, hangout as little as possible until you play out the clock completely.

After all, pretty soon 2015 will be just around the corner.


______
Of course, there is the added bonus of we can't tell you anything because 'it's before the court'....Think that's bunk 'em?....Ever heard of a little thing that lasted 7 years and two election cycles known as Railgate?

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Is Ms. Clark Really Playing Us For Saps?

RovianRegionalismWorkedIn2004
BecauseTheGoogleWasStillNewVille


Premier Christy Clark, making good on her promise to get away from the 'sick culture' that engulfs the legislature, and various assorted sundry outer buildings in Victoria, was in Okanagan the other day.

Here is a bit of Dean-free (see what I did there Jelly Roll?) report from the Kelowna News' Grant Scott:

Premier Christy Clark took some time during her appearance in Kelowna Thursday morning to clarify remarks she made in an interview last spring that referred to the seat of government as a "sick culture" devoid of "real people."...

{snippety doo-dah}

..."I don't think British Columbians want to see politicians stuck in the cocoon of Victoria. You know what you end up with when you're there? You end up with ideas like the HST. How do you think the government came up with an idea to implement a new tax without telling anybody about it and then without going and explaining it to people afterwards? They were stuck in the cocoon of Victoria."

Clark added that once in the legislature, politicians become heavily influenced by pundits, pollsters and lobbyists.

"Lots of useful work gets done, (in the legislature) but if you spend all your time there, that's how you come up with bad ideas, because you're only hearing from politicians and pundits. I think government has to connect with British Columbians."...


Look.

Anybody who thinks that the HST was incubated and then hatched in Victoria by legislative pupae in cocoons, and not by mealworms in the dankest, darkest most secret corner of the 'former' Premier's office in Vancouver,  really is delusional.

Or.

Just playing us for saps.

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My Morning Ride

AllTheLeavesAreNotBrown
AndTheSkyIsOnlyOccasionallyGreyVille


I'm telling you....

The length of this extended summer is starting to weird me out.

In fact, except for the absence of the eucalyptus trees, if I didn't know better I just might be fooled into thinking that I'm riding up Strawberry Canyon every morning instead of that ol' Pt Grey hill.

OK?

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Mike de Jong 'Hammers' Adrian Dix For...

.

...Speaking to British Columbians like adults.

British Columbia NDP Leader Adrian Dix said that while it's necessary for the government to balance budgets over the business cycle, it's pointless to have a balanced budget law that's regularly ignored.

He made the comment during an exchange with reporters following his speech to the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Victoria.

"[I] think we should actually balance the budget, and not do what the Liberal government does, which is have a law but not balance the budget," he said.....

Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee

Sept 27, 2012

****

...Finance Minister Mike de Jong said he's concerned that one of Dix's first political promises involves getting rid of a law that seeks to keep the province's finances in line.

"It's troubling," said de Jong.

"Even before being in a position to potentially govern, Mr. Dix and the NDP are saying those rudimentary rules of not spending more than you take in shouldn't apply to an NDP government."...

Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun

Sept 27, 2012

****

Hey Mike.

So, I guess what you are really saying is that we should actually haul you and yours off to the hoosgow, toute de cookie recipe sweet.

Because, after all, you and yours have been breaking....errrr...making 'exceptions' to that law, repeatedly, for years now.

Right?


______
Please note: The CBC's conflictyer legislative reporter, Mr. Stephen Smart has a report that  Mr. Dix is on the the 'hotseat' for his comments given Mr. de Jong's response (who actually frames it by indicating that 'municipal' politicians must balance their budgets)....it is currently running in heavy rotation on the MoCo (and is NOT given any of the context that Mr. Smart attempted to give Stephen Quinn when he was interviewed by the latter)....Sheesh.

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The Meme...Samuel L. Jackson And Friends Rhyme For Reason...

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With vulgarity, and everything...

_____
And, lest you find the vulgarity problematic, given the times in America it might be worth revisiting what Col Kurtz, he of the Coppola, not the Conrad version, had to say about kids who wrote such words on their airplane wings.

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Four Things.

EditsThatMatter
NoAxesNoGrindingVille

A really, really solid editorial in the VT-C today on what a premier could do to actually govern the province of British Columbia.

The advice was specifically for the always campaigning Ms. Clark but, in my opinion, it would be the way for anyone to go who is in the premier's chair.

The following is just the skeleton. I recommend you go read the whole thing (perhaps even in the dead tree version):

First, Clark should tell her MLAs to knock off the heckling, shouted abuse and interruptions...

Second, Clark should give legislative committees real work to do...

Third, Clark and (opposition leader Adrian) Dix should both allow real free votes...

Fourth, Clark should pledge to stop ramming bills through the legislature without proper debate...

Good advice, no?

I mean, heckfire, you could even write those four things on the back of a napkin and then chant them, mantra-like, while on the daily helijet ride.

Or some such thing.

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The Night They Drove Ol' Christy Down...

VirgilCaneIsTheName
AndIServedOnTheDanvilleTrainVille


You remember that old Robbie Robertson tune, right?

You know, the one that may, or may not, have been written with an assist from the recently departed Levon Helm.

Well, in the first verse there's a line about how 'Stoneman's calvary came' to Dixie in the last stages of the American Civil war and, by then, no walls the Southerners could construct could stop the Union general and his calvary from running amok everywhere.

And, appropo of absolutely everything, it appears that 'stonewalling' and our current premier, Ms. Christy Clark, are suddenly, finally, together in the news - where they belong.

In fact, Justine Hunter raised the matter in her Globe piece today when she quoted a marketing expert from SFU on the matter of the two week super-secret stonewall that was carefully constructed before the 'sudden' resignation of Ms. Clark's former right hand man Ken Boessenkool earlier this week:

For two weeks, Premier Christy Clark was aware of allegations of misconduct by her top political appointee involving a female subordinate. But Ms. Clark refused to explain Tuesday why her chief of staff Ken Boessenkool remained on the job until media inquiries about the incident led to his dismissal...

{snippety doodle}

...That secrecy only makes matters worse in the public’s eye, said marketing expert Lindsay Meredith, from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. “From a damage-control standpoint, the one thing that will get you in a lot of trouble is stonewalling,” he said...


But here's the thing.

In my opinion, Ms. Clark's demonstrated ability to 'stonewall' is not a new thing.

Or, to put it more bluntly, I believe she has actually been stonewalling we, the people, of British Columbia for a full eight years.

By way of illustration and explanation, the following is from Sean Holman's invaluable 'Public Eye Online' archives from Sept 17, 2004:

Yesterday, Children and Family Development Minister Christy Clark resigned her cabinet position and announced she wouldn't be seeking re-election. In a scrum, which could have been - at times - entitled a sentimental journey, reporters asked her about the reasons for that decision. The following is a rush transcript of that scrum (which would have been available a lot sooner, were it not for Public Eye's more pressing Times Colonist column deadline)....

{snippety doodle-dandy}

Media: Was your decision in any way linked to the legislature raids - that issue that your hursband and your brother have been involved with? Was there an exasperation because of that that helped fuel your decision?

Minister Clark: No. If I had any sense that anyone in my family had been implicated in this, I would have resigned in January (2004). But there's no reason to think anyone was implicated. And I think recent news has probably clarified for us that this story was probably a lot more limited that certainly initial speculation indicated...


Hmmmm....

One can only wonder....

Was there ever a 'Danville' stop on that BC Rail Train?

Now, this is the place where we go back to that bolded stuff above, in red, from the eight-year-old scrum quote once again...

"...If I had any sense that anyone in my family had been implicated in this, I would have resigned in January (2004)...."

Why go back to it?

Well, because of the following, from the transcript of a RailGate-associated RCMP wiretap of a conversation between Mr. David Basi and Mr. Bruce Clark (Ms. Clark's brother) wherein they discuss a 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for the BC Rail 'Spur Line' in the fall of 2003. The transcript was finally released to the public in early 2011:

David Basi: "So basically, um, what we have is the draft RFP."

Bruce Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Um, that uh, we have t' make changes and y'know, uh, um, we can draft it anyway we want now, right: so..."

Clark: "Whose, wh', whose hands is it in?"

Basi: "It's, it's in our hands right now."

Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Uh, and then it'll go back to transportation. And then they'll look at it and then they'll uh, um, issue the official RFP."

Clark: "Okay. What are the time lines like?"

Basi: "Uh, two weeks."

Basi: "So, I can sit on this thing for two weeks. So if you come back next week then you can take it and look at it, show it to them. They can, they can, y'know, change some of the words around, that's obviously, some buzz words they wanna see in there, right?"

Clark: "Yeah."

Basi: "And these, these companies know how to, how to, y'know, get the fluff out of this shit and how to tailor it to themselves, right?"

Clark: "Of course."

....{snippety doo-dah}....

Clark: "Wonder, wonder if it would be better if you got it couriered from here or not?"

Basi: "I don't care. Whatever you want. I don't care."

Clark: "Okay, well maybe I'll get you to courier it to Europe for me, or something."

Basi: "You want me to courier it to Europe?"

Clark: "Sure, you could do that."

.....{snippety doodle-dandy}....

Clark: "Or uh, or, or can it be faxed or something or?"

Basi: "Oh it can be faxed, yeah. Do you wanna give me a fax, secure fax number?"

Clark: "Yeah, I'll get you a secure fax number and we can do it that way."

Basi: "Yeah, you get me a fax number and I'll fax it to you.

Clark: "Sounds great my friend."

Now.

You may (or may not) remember that the proposed sale of this spur line was halted in the spring of 2004 because the RCMP informed the government that Ms. Christy Clark was still a part of at the time (as then 'Deputy' Premier) that the process was compromised because confidential material had fallen into the wrong hands.

So....

Time to crank-up the jackhammers and finally smash that wall of stone to rubble and see what is really behind it?

I say the answer is yes.


_____
This one's for my friend Mary.


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The Best ProMedia Column I Have Read This Year.

PunditryStillMatters
WhenItGoesStraightToTheParrot'sFjordingHeartVille

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Update: Holy doodles!.....For the first time in >3,000 posts I think I pulled an almost Wente (and I'm not talking about this guy)....Why?....Because I initially forgot to link to the column from Dan Gardner...A million billion apologies...Feel free to reprimand me, but only as a secret thought experiment, of course...Thanks to the Anon-O-Mouse concerned for being so nice and polite regarding the oversight in the comments...

______

It's an O'Cit bit from Dan Gardner in which he voices his dismay at the obfuscatory codswallopanarianism that is the FedCon carbon tax-cap-trade attack stratergy designed to drive up the negatives of NDP leader Thomas Mulcair for no good reason at all.

Even more troubling for Mr. Gardner is our (ie. the Canadian public's) response to this soul-destroying crap.

Now.

Before I post Mr. Gardner's money quote, please note the following....

1) In the preamble he (Mr. Gardner) refers to the infamous Dead Parrot skit, with complete and proper attribution to one M. Python.

2) All the words in the quote, except for a wee bit of explanatory explanation I added inside the brackets, are, indeed, Mr. Gardner's (i.e. I do not now, and nor have I ever in the past, worked for the Globe and [nolongerempire] Mail).

Here goes...

...This is all a carefully calculated stratagem, of course. “As long as a conversation continues about what Mulcair does and doesn’t support, he’s in a defensive position,” Tim Powers told (the CP's Bruce) Cheadle. Powers should know. He’s a Conservative strategist.

But the worst part is the people in the PMO won’t mind this column at all, or any of the others like it. Sure, I’m calling them cynical liars who would wince when they look in the mirror if they had the slightest intellectual integrity. But they don’t care. They know that most people don’t follow politics closely and don’t have time to learn what cap-and-whutzit is or figure out how some obscure regulation will ultimately cost them money.

These people will hear some noise and catch the gist: The NDP wants a new tax and Stephen Harper is against it. That’s a good gist for the public to catch.

And journalists who get angry and try to correct the record only add to the noise. So who cares if they get angry?

This is a perfect demonstration of why people like me are driven to distraction by this government. It’s not the policies. I disagree with many but most are pretty moderate and reasonable and a few are excellent and overdue.

It’s the gobsmacking cynicism and the contempt that is its foundation. Contempt for Parliament, the judiciary, the media, and anyone who gets in their way. But most of all, contempt for Canadians. Stephen Harper is looking us straight in the eye and saying, “it’s not dead. It’s resting.”

He thinks he can get away with that. He thinks we’re morons.

Maybe he can get away with that. Maybe we are morons...


It really does get to the heart of the matter, don't you think.

So, given that...

How to fix the problem?

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The Truth And The Consequences Of Ms. Clark's...

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...Run From The Sickness And The Culture

From the VT-C's Lindsay Kines:

Premier Christy Clark's decision to cancel the fall sitting of the legislature means a further delay in expanding the powers of B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth.

Clark promised earlier this year to give Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond the ability to advocate for vulnerable young people until they reach age 24.

Under current rules, Turpel-Lafond loses the ability to help once they turn 19. This has created problems for her office, particularly when it tries to help youth with developmental disabilities as they enter adulthood and responsibility for their care shifts from the Children's Ministry to Community Living B.C.

The premier said in January that the government would expand Turpel-Lafond's powers as part of a 12-point, $40-million plan to fix problems at Community Living B.C. and improve services for adults with developmental disabilities.


Her government failed to introduce the necessary bill during the spring sitting of the legislature, and with no session this fall, it will be next year before Turpel-Lafond gets the tools she needs...


I guess Ms. Clark was right last week because, clearly, some people really will say anything to try and get elected.

****

Look.

This important story from Mr. Kines is not some codswallop about bogus third-place candidate poaching that, according to the CBC's Stephen Smart, left the BC Cons 'reeling'.

Instead, it is a story about real people, people that need our help most, that Ms. Clark is shafting with her cynical ploy to avoid both legislative and media scrutiny of any real substance while her surrogates, conflicted water-carriers, and smear-site merchants attempt to drive everyone else's negatives as high as her own.

Because, based on the evidence so far, that is clearly their only real strategy.

And it's despicable.

And Ms. Clark needs to be called out on it.

Long, hard and repeatedly.

Because she's supposed to be running this province, not just her own extended, two year-long election campaign.

OK?

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When Peggy Met Timmeh.

AllTheJuiceboxesThatFit
GileadRisingVille


"...I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run, push buttons of one sort or an other, make things happen. There were limits, but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me..."

Offred, A Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood, 1985

****

...“I definitely, definitely want a family,” Tebow said. “It’s about finding someone sweet and kind—and that has a servant’s heart."...

He Who Could Have Been Clint At The RNC

Tim Tebow, 2012

_____

The slightly snarkier version of (and inspiration for) this post came from a somewhat popular blogger.

And, heckfire!....When David Braley inevitably signs the fading star that is Mr. Tebow to a 360 exclusive to throw passes into the Skydome turf for the Argos in the summer of 2015, perhaps he and Ms. Atwood will run into each other at Harbourfront later that fall when Timmeh stops by to hawk his memoir from, who else,  Regenery, of course....

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How Much Power Can The Interwebz Suck?

FarmsFloatingInClouds
AreNotNecessarilyGreenVille


Apparently, a lot.

As in bushels full of nuclear reactors worth of a lot.

Or some such thing.

It's all laid out in an excellent piece, a piece that required a lot of time, space and resources to write, in the NYT by James Glanz.

The following is a shot across the bow from deep inside the lede, but the whole thing is really worth reading:

"...Worldwide, the digital warehouses (i.e. server farms) use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants, according to estimates industry experts compiled for The Times..."

(stuff in brackets mine)

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The Globe And (NoLongerEmpireButNowMLSJunk) Mail

ATaleOfTwoColumnists
DeflectorSchmecterVille


Well, well, well....

If we didn't know better we might think that the BellGlobeRDSEverythingElseMedia editors who toil deep-in-the-bowls of center of the universe's flagship might have decided the time has come to run a little deflector spin for Dame Meg.

By unleas(h)ing the.....

Wait for it....

Selfless-self promoting real estate column-bot otherwise known as Ms. Leah McLaren:


"My charming red brick Victorian row house was originally built in late 1800s on a street that first housed the workers at the Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery parts factory (now a luxury condo conversion to the south on King Street West)....

{snippety doodle-dopey}

....As much as I hate the idea of leaving 90 Massey, a more suitable home must be found. I’m saying goodbye to my urban worker’s cottage and hope to do safe in the knowledge that the next owners will love to the place as much as I did. Honestly, how could they not?

All just oooh, ahhhh, material girl gone grown-up or something, right?

Except, that the thing is actually fronted with this:

The Listing:

90 Massey St., Toronto

Asking price: $599,000

Taxes: $3030.95

Agent: Marny Hersenhoren, Royal LePage

Unbelievable

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Never Mind The Crunch....Here Comes The Craven

DoWhateverIDon'tDo
NotWhatIOnceSaidOverAndOverAndOverAgainVille

 "The (BC) Liberal government (of Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell) opened the door to burning garbage by approving a Metro Vancouver plan that will allow garbage incineration....A vote for the B.C. Conservatives is a vote to shut the door on the Liberal garbage incinerator."

 "Over the past decade, the (BC) Liberal government (of Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell) has created a “catch and release” justice system."

•"The (BC) Liberal government (of Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell) has failed the people of British Columbia and has squandered trust with the public on issues such paying $6 million in legal fees for two convicted criminals (Basi and Virk) and the introduction of the HST shortly after the last election when they said it was not on the table."

Newly-minted BC Liberal Gov't con-candidate John Martin

The Georgia Strait, April 9, 2012

****

Premier Christy Clark shrugs off past attacks of former BC Con(new Lib)John Martin: 

"We all say things when we are trying to get elected."

Justine Hunter, Sept 21, 2012

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Minor Con Defection: Looks Like Ron Obvious Was Wrong Again.

WhatDoWeRecklessBloggersKnow
AnywayVille


This morning we mentioned how the flies buzzin' round the Lotuslandian media herd's eyes were all a tizzy with twits and tweets about the LINO's big lunchtime announcement out in Chilliwack.

Heckfire.

Gary Mason even went so far as to suggest, only half-jokingly, that there might be a LibCon Cold Fusion announcement coming.

We figured that it was much more likely, based on past performance, that Jelly Roll and friends would try and stick a shiv in the coming BCCon Convention spin-cycle by announcing a minor defection.

Looks like we were right.

Because it's uber high-profile (ya, that's right uber!, as in third place bye-bye finisher uber-doober!!!) John Martin, jumping from Cons to dead fish LINO's.

But never mind all that.

The real question the herd should be asking today is whether Ms. Clark can even hold Quilchena next time out.

OK?

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LibCon Cold Fusion Comin' Down?

AllTheRumoursThatFit
TwitVille

The herd is a buzzin' this mornin'.

And its members are very busy re-tweeting each other's more outlandish stuff.

The big one seems to be Ron Obvious' tongue-in-cheek  suggestion that the LINO announcement to come out in the 'Wack just before lunch will be something about a fusion thing.

Man.

Where the heck is Holman and his actual, you know, sources, when you really need him and them.


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To be fair, the Maceman now looks to be backing off a little in the wake of the announcement that he who took the heat for the Gord on the HST is not running again...Of course, when you are just making stuff up it's easy to have things every which way but loose...
My best guess, based on the past performance of Jelly Roll et al...It will be a trumping-up of some kind of minor defection  announced today in an effort to put the innoculatory shiv into the  coming spincycle as the BC-Cons head off to their convention this weekend.

Comedy Noir....Really?

WhatAMixed-UpAndWonderfullyWeirdWorld
WeLiveInVille


Marc Maron has now posted up more than 300 podcasts wherein he talks to all manner of folks, many of them comedians, some of them musicians, about what they do and how they do it.

And, somehow, mostly by listening and then following up, hard, on what the interviewee actually says, Maron almost always gets to the heart of the matter*.

I have listened to at least 200 of these things, and I think I've learned something of interest from just about all of them, including the sessions with Paul Feig (the Freaks 'N Geeks guy), David Cross (T. Funke), J Garofalo and, especially, Jonathan Winters.

But last week I was blown away by an interview with a local Lotuslandian and kinda/sorta failed stand-up named Kliph Nesteroff who now chases down the true tales of comedians from long ago.

And the stories of the grit, and the grift, and the bits, and the guns, and the molls, and the mobsters is absolutely fascinating.

It truly is a whole new genre that I never even knew existed.

Mr. Maron's conversation with Mr. Nesteroff, which is not safe for work (unless it's going right into your head) is here.

And you can read Nesteroff's stuff here.

Try it.

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*The one exception, I distinctly recall being 'Carrot-Top'.

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The Real 'Sickness' In Christy Clark's Victoria...

TurningOurBacksOnThoseThatNeedOurHelpMost
NotMyBritishColumbiaVille


....Is detailed in a very important North Shore News Op-Ed penned by Elizabeth James who was writing about the narrowing of the definitions of autism that is shutting some kids out of assisted schooling.

The following is the kicker:

....Let me get this straight - children with conditions for which early and appropriate interventions are essential if the best possible learning and social outcomes are to be achieved, are now expected to mark time while the system gets its ducks in a row?....

{snippety doo-dah}

Am I being too harsh when I echo (letter-writer L.) Clemens' comment, "This inhumanity must stop."

Tough; I'll echo it anyway because it borders on the criminal for a self-described "business-savvy" government to allow these kids to go wanting while it runs up a provincial debt towards $60 billion; squanders millions on a stadium roof; $6 million on legal fees to end the BC Rail trial; $30 million to make the Boss Energy misfeasance lawsuit go away, and who knows how many dollars to keep Christy Clark's travel budget fed...

Go read it all.

Because this, not whether or not Ms. Clark is pretending to like working in Victoria (or not, depending on the nature of that day's particular variation of the grift), is the stuff that actually matters.

OK?


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And don't forget, when Lindsay Kines of the VT-C demonstrated that the Campbell/Clark government was throwing the adult disabled out of their longterm care-homes for no good reason at all, Ms. Clark had the sick gall to accuse those who raised the issue in the legislature (remember that?) of 'playing games'....


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All Hail The Lotuslandian Media Herd

WhenTheDean'sAway
TheSheepWillPlayVille


I found it very curious that suddenly, everywhere, the local media was jumping all over that ridiculous quote from Christy Clark about how she hates working in the legislative trenches in Victoria.

For all kinds of reasons, including the fact that she has said the opposite many times in the past which, in my opinion, means it was just another variation on her ongoing, but now failing, pretend-populist grift.

But, regardless, what really got me rubbing my chin was the timing of the recent stampeding of the media herd.

Because the original quote was actually buried deep beneath the lede in a piece from the NaPo's Bruce Hutchinson that was published weeks ago.

And we commented on it then in the wake of the total silence from the nattering nabobs who uttered nary a word at the time.

All of which has me wondering, especially given the rapid response follow-up from a whole lotta Dippers in all kinds of media, including the Twit machine....

Is there a not-so surreptitious, double-secret probation anti-smear site oppo-research-driven campaign going down that is actually able to turn the herd?


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And one can only assume that the Dean is safely back on dry land now that the extended three hour cruise is over...

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Hey, US Americans...Save Your Media...Vote Romney!

There'sNoPropLike
MalapropVille


Because, according to the WaPo's Dana Milbank:

...President Obama has many talents, but he is not good copy. He speaks grammatically, in fully formed paragraphs. He has yet to produce a scandal of any magnitude. He is maddeningly on message, and his few gaffes — “you didn’t build that,” “the private sector is doing fine” — are inflammatory only out of context. If it weren’t for the occasional relief offered by Joe Biden, the Samaritans would have installed a suicide-prevention hotline in the White House press room by now...


As for Mr. Romney, well....

...At these times of declining revenue, we in the media need to stay true to our core interests. As the old saying goes, we should “vote the story.” And the better story in this election is clearly President Romney.

Romney’s hit parade — insulting the British, inviting Clint Eastwood to the Republican convention, flubbing Libya and now dismissing half the nation as parasites — may make good copy for the next seven weeks. But if we go easy on the man, we could have four years of gaffes instead of just seven more weeks. Admittedly, this may not be the best outcome for the country, or for the world. But in this race, there is no denying that one man will give us much better material...

Go figure.

(and/or snarkalot)

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Business Bund Backs Transit

AlwaysBeClosing
WastedAwayInMarginitisVille


Heckfire.

They are even starting to lobby the CampbellClarkMcLeanKinsellaMorganShepardSmearSite Government for more funding.

And that includes the Condo Kings!

Frances Bula has the story. Below are a couple of bites out of her lede:

Alarmed by the increasingly shambolic state of transit financing in the Lower Mainland, local business groups are quietly launching special lobbying efforts and task forces to try to find a more coherent approach...

{snippety doo-dah}

...“It just seems to be going around and around with no solutions,” said Anne McMullin, chief executive officer of the Urban Development Institute, which represents the region’s major condo and commercial developers. “But it’s access to transit that makes people looking at our products want to buy.”

Her group has begun visiting Victoria to lobby for a more logical approach to transit funding...

But here's the thing.

Are they (ie. the lobbyists) telling Ms. Clark's minions that their masters would be willing to help pay for it?

The transit, I mean.


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And yes, the 'Urban Design Institute' is a real thing....Why, they even generate press rel.....errrrr...'publications', 'reports', 'presentations' and 'analyses' and everything.

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New Press Gang Rising?

ExemptThis
TaxmanVille


Something's happen there....

San Francisco, I mean:

After more than two and a half years, the IRS has awarded 501(c)3 nonprofit status to the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial local news organization that publishes in-depth public-interest news daily online at sfpublicpress.org and quarterly in a print newspaper.

The ruling allows the Public Press to directly accept tax-deductible donations from individuals, and elevates the organization to the same legal status as NPR, the Associated Press and the Center for Investigative Reporting, among many others...

One can only hope that this is the beginning of the end of the duplicitous Reign of the Bobos.


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SF Public Press is here.


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