You're beautiful, man

Reports from this week's Billy Bragg concert seemed to arrive at a consensus -- it was tremendous. Bragg was at his best. And this space was in receipt of many of these personal reviews because it seemed pretty much all of Winnipeg's left was there.

The joke apparently was there were so many people from the leg there, that if a bomb hit the Garrick that night, it would have been more effective at removing an NDP government than anything Jim Walding might have done in in 1988.

Bragg spoke about the topsy-turveyness of politics in his British homeland these days. Specifically he referred to youthful Tory leader David Cameron appearing on the iconic BBC 1 radio programme Desert Island Discs earlier this year and without skipping a beat he announced his musical tastes included The Smiths, Radiohead and Pulp, and selected Cheryl Tweedy when asked which of the Girls Aloud group he thought most attractive.

The world is upside down, Bragg suggested from the stage, when the Tory leader is hip and the Labour Prime Minister is palsie-walsie with George Bush and invading Muslim countries for access to oil. You may have heard Blair becoming extremely unpopular for it both within and without the Labour party.

You might think there could have been a bit of a shiver up the spine of so many NDP hacks in the crowd, when on the surface there is perhaps a parallel with the political landscape here in Manitoba.

Manitoba Tories have a youngish new leader of a similar vintage as Cameron.

The NDP came in only two years after Blair's New Labour, ripping off pretty much everything they did (hello ... "Today's NDP"). Doer is a classic Blair-style triangulator and even this week is hanging out with pro-Iraq war monger Arnold Schwartzenegger.

You can imagine running through the dipper staffers' minds that perhaps there is a bit of synchronicity here.

Well, all we can say is that when asked about his musical inclinations recently, Hughie pointed to his admiration for the stylings of ... (wait for it) ... James Blunt.

Ah, well, David Cameron, he ain't.

Pension or run for Hugh ... Pension or run for Hugh ... Pension ...

Well, it seems much-touted star candidate Shelly Glover -- former spokesperson for the Winnipeg PD -- has spurned Team Huey in favour of staying put as a cop while keeping her Tory bona fides in good stead by running in a likely fruitless attempt to wrest St. Boniface away from the Liberal fold.

Ah, keeping her pension while keeping her toe in the political waters for possible future consideration. Nice safe move.

But it speaks volumes about the internal Tory chat about Hugh's chances in the next election. In short, "probably not so good."

Speaking of other rumoured running shoe-types, CAA Manitoba head Mike Mager sounds more like someone jostling for position with Team Huey than someone who should be perhaps focused on how to reduce wait times for his auto club members waiting for boosts in January.

Just last December he was calling for more cash for our roads. This week he says the needed investment is just electioneering.

Hmm. Maybe we'll switch to Canadian Tire.

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Meanwhile, what the heck is Doer doing mugging with Arnie in California? Sure, the Governator is enacting a pretty darn good greenhouse gas emissions law (pretty DAMN good in this age of Kyoto abandonment). But everyone knows it's pretty much a cynical move, borrowing something from the Democrats' playbook to offset his right wing image. Though, it may actually help Arnie get reelected.

But here's the bottom line -- he's a Republican who stands for things even not-too-moderate Canadians are against. Like supporting the Iraq War. That he has picked a few progressive issues in order to survive as King Conan of California shouldn't lead Doer to stand beside someone who is overall politically repugnant.

One of these things is exactly the same as the others ...

• "U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a similar case [as the President had, attacking Iraq War critics] on Tuesday but took it a step further by likening war critics to those who argued for appeasing the Nazis during World War Two."

- Reuters, August 31, 2006

• "(The terrorists are) waiting for the Democrats here to take control, let things cool off and then strike again."

- Key Bush ally, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, August 15, 2006

• "Only they (the federal NDP) and the Taliban want us out of Afghanistan."

- Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, September 19, 2006 (today)

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This space has made it clear that we support Canada's continued mission in Afghanistan, because it's the right thing to do.

We however do not support the odious attempts to stifle discussion about that mission, including against the federal NDP's (misguided) call to bring the troops home by February.

O'Connor's statement shows how much affinity the Conservatives may really have for wacko Republican agendas, like foreign policy.

And besides the disgusting suggestion that anyone who questions our Afghan mission is enabling terrorism (or indeed, perhaps is some sort of closet terrorist), O'Connor should read the polls.

It's sure a lot more than just the federal NDP caucus who want us out of Afghanistan*.

Take care, sir.

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* UPDATE: Weird. The TorStar story that we originally linked appeared to have disappeared. Hmmm.

Hack, we hardly knew ye

Now, we're sure it has to do with the Hack's frequently referred to too-busy schedule, and perhaps some fighting with the Blogger Beta (that we will continue to avoid experimenting with as we still really barely have a handle on this version) -- but we hate to say it, we miss him.

In other missing blog news ... Mr. CC -- "the blog hall monitor," as Lett has dubbed him -- has been AWOL for three weeks. We're talking PITT territory now.

D'oh!

Memo to Marianne Cerilli: What the hell are you thinking?

"Some of the things he's (Kaj Hasselriis) presenting are not progressive," reportedly referring to the fact that Kaj doesn't seem to believe all taxation is inherently good and that he doesn't actually support a monorail system spanning Winnipeg.

Whaaa? That's the big ideological gulf between Marianne and Kaj?

Now, let's be clear, we didn't have money on Kaj beating Mayor Sam.

But why split the same, relatively small, potential political base? Is she nuts?

Well, in fact, here are just a few points for consideration about the former MLA for Radisson:

- She had one of the safest NDP working-class seats in Manitoba.

- She decided to abandon that seat following the retirement of Jean Friesen to vie for Wolseley -- a nomination contest that saw two OTHER WOMEN in the race already -- for reasons that can only be explained that Radisson was a little too blue collar for her personal tastes.

- The avowed ultra-feminist, Cerilli, thereby helped split the prospects of other female candidates, leading to the nomination of the pony-tailed, well-intentioned, but unmistakably male Rob Altemeyer.

- She is hereby pretty much responsible for reducing the female contingent in the NDP caucus by TWO. All by herself, too. Not bad, eh?

- Cerilli presented a report to the last NDP convention talking about the party's shortcomings in helping women becoming elected. She somehow omits her own role in the phenomenon of reducing women's representation in the legislature.

Sorry, Kaj. That's the "politics of inclusion." We feel for you.

Whore

There are a variety of Anglo-Saxon derived words in the English language that seem by their very utterance to have extra power for the sheer simple, gutteral, sharp-edged quality. Some of them can shock, even in this day and age.

There's the "S" word.

There's the "F" word.

There's the "C" word.

Somewhere in there is the "W" word -- whore.

As other nether-region-connected language, it can either be taboo or silly depending on the context.

These days, thanks to rap culture, it is somewhat lacklustre in its effect.

But calling someone a whore, unless literally meant, often means a poor assessment of that person's character -- usually in a professional context.

That was the meaning of Saskatchewan public prosecutor Murray Brown on the witness stand yesterday at the Milgaard inquiry, referring to the Free Press's Dan Lett in his coverage of the mounting evidence at the time of that wrongful conviction.

In short, he said Dan was a "cheap whore" used by the Milgaard legal team to put public pressure on the situation.

Milgaard may have been the beginning, but Dan has certainly been a champion of the apparently wrongfully convicted for some time.

Here in Manitoba, besides Milgaard, there has been Sophenow and Driskell.

Arguably, without Dan's work, neither case would have come to the fore.

Here in Manitoba, justice and police officials are also likely chuckling at the hard ride Dan is going through in Saskatoon this week.

To be sure, Dan can be relentless and at times seem quite unfair to hardworking public officials who are doing their best with the resources available. We certainly don't like everything he writes. Not by a longshot.

But, sometimes working as hard as you think you can is not good enough. Epecially for those working in the public interest.

And certainly using dubious language to attempt to tear down a journalist's character -- especially when he has in general proved to be right -- seems somewhat more telling of the speaker than the accused.

Another day we might delve into the gender psychology of words like whore, but we'll move on for today -- except to say that Mr. Brown is not serving the people of Saskatchewan particularly well by blaming the perhaps annoying stridency of a reporter as a reason for the failure of their justice department and police forces to address the truth in the Milgaard case.

If that is the criteria by which one is judged a whore, we would be happy to find ourselves in the whore column.

Whither the lonely?

All the lonely people.
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people.
Where do they all belong?

There are several obvious things one could say about the shooting at Dawson College. Most of them have been covered by the major news outlets. So we won't repeat them here.

The main thing really is what to do about isolated, estranged boys and young men (mainly) and their anger?

You can blame goth web sites or video games or whatever. (Though, certainly many of them are not particulary helpful.)

But until we get a handle on what fundamentally drives these guys to such behaviour, including what WE might be doing that fosters the situation, there are only going to be more incidents like this.

Commentators, such as we, could just put up a picture of Dawson College with a sunset behind it with the headline "Lest we forget" or something like that and think we've done honour to the situation.

But it is unlikely, in our view, that we would have done much honour.

Asking questions and, hopefully, acting appropriately afterwards is much closer to the mark, we submit.

What Huey actually, really said

"Manitoba was TAKEN OVER and RULED by an ideologically driven NDP government that found its inspiration in socialist and COMMUNIST ideas that were then in vogue in EASTERN EUROPE," CBC.ca quotes Hugh McFadyen today.

Alas, we're forced to admit it. It's true. And it's even worse than that. Here's the full, real plan.

One day very, very soon, the clouds will part and with the help of evil unionized psychiatrists, Gary "Xenu" Doer will call all 1 million-plus Manitobans in for income tax inspections. The unsuspecting will instead be given injections of alcohol and glycol and be paralysed. Then, he will put them all on space planes looking suspiciously like DC8s, except with rocket motors.

The space planes will land in The Pas, where the paralysed will be stacked around the base of the Aseneskak Casino. Then the specially-fitted H-bomb VLT machines will explode and everyone will be killed.

And that's how Gary Doer intends to destroy Manitoba.

Buwahahahahahahahah!

All hail Xenu!

(We still don't believe that nasty rumour about Huey and Scientology.)

Who needs to list NDP achievements when Andy Ritchie does it for you?

Almost the exact same thing popped out to us as to Mr. Gordon Sinclair Jr. with the top 10 list he wrote, generated by a talk by his relatively-new publisher about what's best about Winnipeg.

Item #7: "Huge major capital investments in process: Wuskwatim dam -- a $1.2 billion project; Manitoba Hydro headquarters -- $258 million; Red River Floodway improvements -- $665 million; Winnipeg Airport approximately $750 million; Winnipeg airport expansion, $560 million."

Sinclair opines: "That's the sound of a booming economy, even if most of the money driving the construction is coming from the public sector.

"The one project that's still missing from the list is the proposed $311 million Canadian Museum of Human Rights, which -- if it goes ahead -- could serve to give this city a positive and unique national identity. And, as Ritchie points out, a huge boost to our tourism industry."

What Jr. may not have noticed was that these things would not be happening if the NDP hadn't been elected in 1999 (with perhaps the exception of the airport expansion).

# 10. "Manitoba has one of the best immigration policies -- specifically the provincial nominee program -- of any province in Canada." This area has been agressively developed since 1999, due to significant work by the NDP with the federal government.

# 5. "Very rich province in terms of resources and economic advantages -- hydro electricity with the lowest electricity rates in North America due to hydro power. A diverse economy with major investments in everything from aerospace, financial services, agriculture, mining (gold) and oil exploration."

With Tories in power after 1999 -- Hydro would have been sold off. No question, regardless of the denials by apologists today. The roadmap was clear post MTS and they never categorically denied it as a policy option.

2. "We have one of the most educated, highly-skilled workforces in Canada, generating 6,000 graduates annually from Winnipeg universities."

One phrase: Tuition freeze.

It's interesting that many of the reasons things former Torontonian and Free Press publisher, Andie Ritchie, feels is going like gangbusters in Manitoba now are due to Gary Doer policies -- most which simply would not have happened under Tory rule.

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When you say "David Asper", what are you referring to, exactly?

After frequent unkindness to Mayor Sam Katz, today an inexplicable kindness from the dominator of the radio waves in the 'Peg, CJOB.

They SO let him off the hook for his subterfuge on his position on David Asper's manoevrings to take over the Blue Bombers that it boggles the mind.

On Cloutier Thursday am, Katz said he knew of no deal to move the Bombers to private ownership (later fudged by the fact Asper calls his proposal a public-private partnership). Later when asked what he thinks about this undefined public-private partnership versus the current community ownership situation, he says "what 'community-owned' means should be defined first."

Uh, yeah.

And what do you mean by "Bombers", actually?

We are verging on Clintonesque levels of parsing here.

And just to put it over the top, Katz is supposed to have said

"The real issue as Mayor is to make sure the team is around for another 200 years and continues to prosper."

Wow. 200 years. That's a loooong time. Even longer than some Senators stay in office (but not if Harper has his way!).

We don't have a transcript of the show, but if we were Kaj Hasselriis we'd get it. Kai won't win, but if he took this potentially major blue collar issue, where the mayor appears to be out there with big nose-stretchers -- it might at least make it an interesting race. More interesting than a monorail link between the U of M and downtown. (OK, we jest about Kai's transport policy thingy.)

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After promising to be the enfant terrible of the Manitoba blogging world, Mr. CC appears to be pretty dry. His most recent comment is nearly two weeks old. And the previous one more than a week. After such promise ...

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Blogger beta -- we'll wait. It seems more trouble than it's worth at the moment.

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Burntwood Health Authority -- yuk.

Suckered

OK. We admit it. We got suckered into slugging it out with someone who likely doesn't really deserve the attention.

That's a risk out here in the cyber-sandbox. We play, but sometimes not so nicely. (There's probably something about time-outs that could be said now.)

We hope at least some readers will understand the temptation when right-wing turkeys assume they are the only ones who understand certain issues, like honouring war dead. Or foreign policy in general.

It is a kind of fascism -- not a term we use lightly. It's like saying only lefties understand welfare, the Wheat Board or universal health care. It's very different than saying 'we have a better approach to this issue'. It's saying, 'your view is not valid simply because of who you are'. It's offensive and obnoxious in the extreme.

It's even harder to take when it's not particulary clear they actually understand the issues they wish to appropriate for themselves.

Ooops. Here we go again.

Let's move on.

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While we've mentioned the issue of war, it's perhaps worth elaborating on this space's view on the topic of Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, as Jack Layton and, now, Gilles Duceppe have made pulling out a top priority for both of their federal parties.

We think there are many valid criticisms to be made. Like what was the reason we went there in the first place, anyway? A new yen to fix failed states or spillover hysteria over 9/11? A sudden desire to smash oppressors of women or appeasing U.S. foreign policy interests?

However, we went. We are there. We are invested in this mission. We are amassing war dead. This country is significantly engaged. We are committed and therefore we have a serious job to do and have serious decisions facing us.

But, as Layton suggests, to pull out by February because the going is tough? Preposterous.

Actually, it's pretty much just opportunistic.

It is no secret the federal NDP is meeting in Quebec City this month and the activists of the federal party (who tend to be more radical New Democrats frustrated with their more practical provincial parties) will put Canada's role in Afghanistan front and centre. Sorry, no prize for guessing what position they'll take.

Also, an NDP breakthrough in Quebec seems to remain Jack's holy grail. (Good luck with that, dude.) And anti-Afghanistan war sentiment runs very high in La Belle Province -- particularly with lefties.

So, a statement just before the convention about a pullout may seem perfectly reasonable.

Only it's terribly irresponsible and would have horrific consequences if actually carried out.

Layton could simply have made sensible criticisms, such as that Canada has no strategy to build a civil society, in partnership with its NATO allies. Or that Canada has no exit strategy at all. And these are HUGE falures of the Harper government.

He could then have called for a reasonable deadline for such necessary policies to be formulated and made public and then say, if the deadline is not met, a pullout may be ultimately necessary in order to avoid a repeat of British and Russian history in Afghanistan -- a mission without end and countless body bags.

We think this would have been fairly easy to defend at convention. And actually not bad policy.

The new politically correctors

"'Lest we forget' is a sacred line reserved for remembering our fallen war dead," says the newly-appointed language fascist.

Let's be perfectly clear here -- uh, no.

Not.

Wrong.

Absolutely wrong.

Misinformed tripe.

School children know better.

Try again.

On top of the fact that "Andy's" claim about "Lest we forget" is, well, factually wrong, it is completely specious.

It's this kind of extreme ideological attempt to appropriate the language and smear opponents that is leading these days to many brilliant outbursts, like characterizing anyone who might think the Iraq invasion was a bit of a misadventure as the equivalent of Hitler's appeasers.

(For the record, on the topic of Iraq, which gets confused with Afghanistan sometimes, this space supports Canada's continuing role in that country because it's the right thing to do, even though things will continue to get messy and more of our soldiers will die. We happen to not only differ with Jack Layton's call for a pullout by February, but think it is completely irresponsible.)

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Other notes:

• If Manitoba was in such great shape in 1999, why did Manitobans throw Filmon out on his ear?
• Watch this space for an ongoing series called How Manitoba Has Categorically Improved Since 1999. That will be an actual response to the amnesiac idiocy that seems to be flying out there.
• Word to the wise to fellow bloggers -- don't rely on Google searches as your Rock of Gilbralter.
• And we note no objection was taken about the issue of Tory law-breakers getting a free ride. However, we're sorry Andy did not get a long weekend. Hope the day padding around your home in your bath robe wasn't too taxing.
• Yes, Dan.
• Welcome, Paul.
  

Lest we forget ...

Just a thought for the long weekend, thanks to another astute reader...

You may have seen Lindor Reynolds' column this week, extolling the virtues of Stonewall entrepreneur Heather Campbell-Dewar's "Baby Sherpa" child carriers. The origin of the free publicity for Heather seems to have originated with a press release stunt connected to the Emmy Awards (here).

Ms. Campbell Dewar has gotten a fair bit of free press over the past few years with these sorts of things. Most would say "more power to her". The interesting thing, though, is the apparent amnesia of the news media, because the news reports never mention her previous claims to fame.

You may remember the 1999 attempted repeat of anti-democratic Tory hijinks in the Interlake, centring around Campbell-Dewar's role in an ugly, amateurish attempt to smear NDP candidate Tom Nevakshonoff. Details on the charges, eventually proven, can be found here.

The point here is that either the media has decided she is a special case and doesn't deserve to bear the burden of her law-breaking past, a privilege most of us would not be granted, for sure -- or that one of the media outlets most outraged by Tory vote rigging no longer has a corporate memory of some of the key players in the worst afront to Manitoba democracy in our lifetime. In essence, a few short years later, we have a major case of collective political amnesia.

We submit, that this amnesia is not confined to such specific cases. But it applies much more broadly to the general view of Manitoba politics currently, and the Doer government in particular.

That is, many do not remember how much so many things have improved over the past seven years. Health care delivery, despite Brodbeck's rants, is much better -- although things still need to improve. The state of our schools, colleges and universities is much better. Many gaps in the justice system have been fixed. Manitoba Hydro has not been sold off, as it would have been, but instead strengthened. Front line delivery of services across the province are better. The North is part of the province again, not a forgotten second cousin. Downtown Winnipeg has seen a raft of needed investment.

People, especially the media, have forgotten how the Filmonites ran down the province. While achieving modest fiscal records, the disinvestment from the province had it fraying at the edges on almost all fronts.

We can't go back to that.

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On another note, we're happy Fletch is back after a brief technology-induced hiatus. (We might comment on how easy this technology is supposed to be, but we'll leave that for one of Fletch's blogging fellow travellers.)