Tag: Non-partisan blog posts

Day Thirty-One: Dangers of Blogging II

[Ed.: Read the GX40 election 2005/06 archives.]

I wrote this over at Ben’s this morning about the relative hugeness of the refusal of Federal finance minister Ralph Goodale to step aside while the RCMP conducts a criminal investigation into a possible leak of information from his department:

It really should be the only thing so far that is huge since the writ dropped. “Beer and popcorn” and a blogging fool were personal stupidities. This is a criminal investigation of a cabinet minister. Is there a problem with the non-stop accusations of the blogosphere that we can no longer tell the difference? Hey – I am going to make a post about that…gimme it back…gimme…it…back (pop!). There.

The dangers of blogging this time is to those invoved in the all scandal all the time crowd that cannot tell a big problem from a little one. So far the GOTCHA moments have been, first, an unkind (but technically correct) comment by a high placed government-side staffer about another party’s proposals on child care and, second, a resignation over a really, really stupid series of blog postings by a slightly less well placed government-side staffer who actually jumped on his sword fairly quickly. These two gotchas add up to zippo.

But Ralph’s situtation is different. For the background of the story, read Stephen Taylor’s post of 15 December. What is being alleged is some sort of leak to the marketplace allowing certain investors to make a bundle before an official announcement. Didn’t Martha do jail time for just saying something like that didn’t happen, regardless of the findings of whether she participated in it?

Lesson for blogosphere: this is what big looks like.

Disorganized

Last time I wrote about this, it was the day before the London bombings but London Mayor Ken Livingston’s comments again remind me of that question of how will we know if this slow war against shadows is over or even changed?

The terror threat faced by London is “fairly disorganised” and involves small groups of disaffected people, according to the capital’s mayor. Ken Livingstone told the BBC London was not the focus of a “great organised international conspiracy with orders flowing down the chain”. But he said there had been 10 attempted attacks since 11 September 2001, two of which had come since the 7 July bombs.

What is the background level for disorganized dissaffected people that you may never remove from society? Is there a difference between, on the one hand, events of terror by international criminal gangs or whatever Al Quada is now and, on the other, events of horror caused by the disorganized and dissaffected? Is that difference such that the state’s right or obligation to monitor mail and email, listen in or worse stop or will that just continue – less noticed or accepted – as well? Or is the plan to drop the hammer once every five or eleven years without real purpose or practical plan for restoration of anything, like dreamy sophomoric murderers in the unfocused post-colonial open season for disorganized dissaffection.

Day Twenty-Nine: The Dangers of Blogging

I parked this over in the sideblog during this time of the great head cold, but the question still has to be asked: was this guy the country’s dumbest blogger? Paul Wells tells us who the guy is (now was.) Forget for a moment the shameful sense of humour and the shoddy use of such humour for one’s political opponents. I cannot believe that the guy did not understand the essentially public nature of the Internet. Well, at least he has fallen on his keyboard as any good soldier who brings shame to the cause should:

A high-ranking official within the Liberal Party of Canada resigned today after he made disparaging comments on his blog about NDP Leader Jack Layton and his wife, NDP candidate Olivia Chow. Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party’s Ontario wing, stepped down after photographs of Chow, the NDP candidate for the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, and a chow chow dog were posted on his blog dated Dec. 9 under the heading “Separated at Birth”…

Stephen Taylor, who is coming out as the star blogger of the CPC in this election, noted this important past of what was posted on the blog in question:

Before Mike Klander took down his blog he posted on December 22nd, apologizing for his offensive comments:


It would appear that more people viewed my blog than the small circle of friends it was intented (sic) for. I apologize if anyone was offended by my comments…they were meant to be in jest. Anyway, I have removed my previous posts…

How can you write a public blog when you are a political figure and not think it will be seen by a lot of members of the public – including those who do not like you? This to me is a stunning revelation. The Liberal Party of Canada should be thanking God that they did not choose to rolled out anything about the information superhighway as a core plank in their platform this time around like they have in the past.

Bad taste plus bad political savvy meeting a seriously poor understanding of the way new technology works.

Gotcha

Never a bad moment when the evil are detained. From The Globe:

London’s Metropolitan Police identified the man as Adel Yahya, 23. He was arrested Tuesday at Gatwick Airport as he got off a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was charged with conspiring with four other men, all of whom are awaiting trial over the plot to attack three subway trains and a double-decker bus, “to cause by an explosive substance, explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.”

Day Twenty-One: The Great Ennui Sets In

Are other peoples’ elections this dull? The more I think about the two debates the more I am stunned by how ineffective they were. The Globe and Mail reports this morning:

Twenty-one per cent of those who saw the debates or heard about them afterward said Mr. Martin won, compared to 15 per cent who said Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe came out on top, 11 per cent who thought Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was victorious and 6 per cent who favoured NDP Leader Jack Layton. Still, 47 per cent of those surveyed couldn’t decide who was the victor and only 4 per cent said they heard anything that would cause them to change their votes. The debate had no impact,” said Tim Woolstencroft, managing partner of [polling firm] The Strategic Counsel. “It was a big yawn.”

I like the “or heard about them” because what other country holds the main election debate on Friday night the weekend before Christmas? What is not mentioned in the article is how many actually watched the debate. I think it was the 327 in the country people for shopping, invited to parties, having people over or napping.

It is sad because good people whose party is not catching the public imagination have had to resort to blaming the crooked media and dumb Ontario and bovine Canadian acceptance of corruption and everything else that can be dreamed up to avoid the reality that their leader is dull. Dudly deadly dull. And, in any event, what is really happening is every Canadian is remembering how they voted last time because they know if they do it again there will be a useful minority government once more and these guys will have to work together.

Update: interesting to see the old law school pal and one-time roomie Cy is “running the Liberal war-room” according to Paul Wells. I remember thinking back then that if folks like him were to be involved in politics it would be in good hands even though, when I think about it, the party membership he got me to sign up for to help Martin’s run for the leadership around 1990 didn’t get Martin my vote then or since.

Note: to date, 82 referrals to GX40 from the CBC roundtable and 28 to the beer blog. One link from the Instapundit in November was worth 222. With 270064 visits on my server stats for November, I am starting to see the importance of spam for my image of self-worth.

Yuletide

I am convinced there is a third or maybe fourth thread running through this time of year. The first is the birth of Christ which, for better or worse, has receded in terms of importance for most people. The second is the bacchanal of spending – the fear that you have spent too much or not enough or that the toys or pants will not suit the child or will be mocked in the playground. To my mine there is a cure for the first: get some religion of not. Either you will take to the story or you will not but make the call. For the second, all I can say is get some spine. We buy less for the kids than others but it has always been so. There is a small theme of austerity in all the largess in a Scots family Christmas, the time of excess coming later at Hogmanay just after New Years Eve has passed. The third may be the sadness and badness that happens at times like this of social pressure – if the wheels are going to come off, you can bet this is when it will come to pass. What can be done for that?

After all these, however, there is Yule. The winterfest. The longest night. Yesterday marching the seven year old through downtown shops with a list, past the new outdoor skating rinks, a Victorian choir singing carols and even a trumpeter on Princess Street, me handing her loonies to put in those outstretched hands and also treats for her own, it was about the merry – the merriness of a shared holiday. Summer holidays are the slackest time, when laying down in public space is an activity to be planned. But Yule is collective as, even if you are not gifting or not remembering, you are at half speed except in retail. My family was in retail and fifteen years ago this day I would be pushing the poinsettias, flogging packets of holly but even at that all minds on the back side of the counter were aiming towards the days of nothing when naps and sherry sips and, yes, one more small sideplate of that would be nice. All a big reward for something or other never needing being quite defined.

Friday Again – Time To Yap

Sharing from you to me that is…

  • Things are going well here in the snow belt. I think we had more snow in the last 12 hours than in the last two winters. Good for the Christmassy feeling. We are not going totally insane with the shopping this year and all but one package to be mailed has been sent. I have bought less from the internet this year, all at amazon. Because we started early I wanted to actually have a human experience for the most part. Any tricks to share for the last week?
  • The CBC gig has been interesting so far. It is particularly neat to see how change in a couple of elements of the structure changes your approach. There are no comments and posts are checked by an editor. That is quite fine – not so many spelling mistakes – but it means it is more like writing a short daily column than a chatting area like this space. Right now the site looks like it has been hacked but I think it is just getting some early morning maintenance. No massive bump in stats although the beer blog is up a bit.
  • On a more serious note, it is shocking to read that the Iraqis had al-Zarqawi in its possession but let him go earlier this year.

    Iraqi security forces caught the most wanted man in the country last year, but released him because they didn’t know who he was, the Iraqi deputy minister of interior said Thursday. Hussain Kamal confirmed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — the al Qaeda in Iraq leader who has a $25 million bounty on his head — was in custody at some point last year, but he wouldn’t provide further details.

    It sure was handy that Hitler had that funny moustache so people knew who he was. I suppose these things happen. On the upside, as Jay notes, yesterday was a great day of the Iraqis.

  • And I watched a bit of the first debate last night but was stunned how dull the process was, no face-to-face argument, kinda what I think of when I think of the word “debate”. Stephen Harper has now said he would not use the notwithstanding clause in section 33 of thge Charter to over-ride same sex marriage. He has also said he would allow those already married to remain so. This leave a really weird position where person “X” would supposedly have their rights recognized but person “Y”…or maybe “X2…would not depending on the date of application for a marriage license. Seeing as this is patently unconstitutional treatment – a discriminatory difference without a purpose – do not expect the courts to uphold it and, without use of the over-ride clause, expect it to fail. Are the socons that easily fooled? I would think this would be as offensive to them as the Tory spending spree would be to fiscal conservatives. No word yet from the neo-me-o-cons but they have a hard time breaking away from the mirror long enough to notice the real world.

That is it for now and it is fairly placid. If you have some stormier issues, let’s have it.

Day Seventeen: Being Rude For Gain

The election is going to slide soon. I feel it in my achy joints:

  • You have these words of Mr. Harper from 1997 popping up again:

    Bilingualism is largely propaganda, Mr. Harper tells the group. Canada “is basically an English-speaking country,” he says. In describing Canada’s political system, he says the New Democrats are worse than a party of liberal Democrats. “The NDP is kind of proof that the devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.” And on the Progressive Conservatives — the party that amalgamated with his Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party — he points out they were “in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion-on-demand.”

  • In the campaign plane heading to Vancouver yesterday you have him saying these sorts of things:

    Harper suggested that most provincial and territorial leaders “hate” Martin with the notable exception of McGuinty. “And I wouldn’t want him behind my back,” joked the Tory leader, an apparent reference to the problems McGuinty has caused to Martin over the past two years…But, he said, he is bracing for an onslaught of attacks on himself and the party in the three weeks leading up to the Jan. 23 vote. While that worked in 2004, Harper said he doesn’t believe the Liberal strategy of personally demonizing him will be successful this time. Declining to discuss specifics, he said the Tories have a strategy to “blunt” the expected Liberal attacks. “Wait and see,” he said.

  • Meanwhile, Jack Layton is not that complimentary over how relations with the US have been brought into the election:

    Mr. Layton, meanwhile, said it’s not [US ambassador] Mr. Wilkins, but Mr. Martin who should be blamed. “Canadians have known that Liberals will say anything in an election to get elected. I think now the ambassador has discovered the same thing,” he said in Burnaby, B.C.Mr. Layton said the Liberal Leader can’t lecture the United States on greenhouse gas reductions because Canada has done “much worse” than the Americans under the Liberals’ watch. “He talks about the global conscience. Where is his? The fact is, he’s electioneering. He’ll say anything to get elected and whipping up the rhetoric against [U.S. President] George Bush is very easy to do. The problem is he hasn’t delivered the goods.”

While it isn’t nice to be rude and going around saying other people “hate” other other people has a sort of dopey kid junior high feel to it, isn’t it about time we got back to the good old days of the shouting match? You know, Mulroney telling Turner in the debate that he has no spine after Tuner said he had no choice but to make political appointments chosen by the departing Trudeau? If we can’t expect high thought in this campaign can we at least get some nasty shots?