Frontpage, Globe and Mail, October 29, 2005

From Global Chinese Press, Feburary 7, 2003

Using RMB 5 Yuan and 100 Yuan as analogue, the defendant sent me the message that the "offer" had been increased to C$10 million from C$500,000.

The implied message was that I should not dobut it.

From Global Chinese Press, January 31, 2003

From Global Chinese Press, December 27, 2002

The quote is: "We often refuse to accept an idea merely because we find the tone of voice in which it has been expressed disagreeable."

Cecilia Zhang's wishes

“My Wishes”

“The wishes as stated below are some wishes I have chosen.

First, my first wish is to make my ideal classroom appear in my room.

Second, I also wish that I have all the animals in the world to be my friends and all of my friends could visit them.

My other wish is that meat can be produced without the killing of the animal and the world won't be over filling with animals.

I also wish for all my dreams to come true.

My other wish is that there are no more wars in the world, that equality is everywhere.

Well, these were some of my wishes.

Hope you enjoy it. Bye."

*****
Originally from Cecilia Zhang website www.ceciliazhang.org.

Front page photo of all three national newspapers, January 6, 2005

This is the front page photo for all three national newspapers, National Post, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, on January 6, 2006. It was taken by Chris McGrath, Getty Images, for a tsunami memorial.

Visiting Getty Images web site in early January, I found that there were at least 16 photos taken by the same photographer for that event. What's the chance of picking the same one by all three newspapers without their talking among themselves?

More.

Comment page, Globe and Mail, February 3, 2005

The title of Lawrence Martin's column: "It's been 10 years since the big scare."

The title of Margaret Wente's column: "I want Danny Billions on my side!"

Comment page of National Post, February 3, 2005

Don Martin: "The economies of, ahem, scale saved taxpayers $200, 000 per year in operating expenses ..."

William Watson:"The Swiss Navy used to be a joke, as oxymoronic as, say, Saskatchewan becoming a maritime province. Well, you can stop laughing." (Opening paragraph - to make sure I saw it.)

Comment page cartoon, Globe and Mail, January 17, 2005

The cartoonist, Anthony Jenkins, normally does not draw a multi-frame cartoon. It looks like he tried pretty hard to incorporate a hole into this cartoon.

Point: Globe interacted with my blogs, here and here.

Comment page cartoon, Globe and Mail, January 15, 2005

Reading this cartoon, I suspected that Globe and Mail knew about my Internet activities from whoever monitored them.

I was naturally upset and called them a "hole". On the next newspaper, the same cartoonist drew a hole.

Front page of Toronto Star, January 6, 2005

Front page of Globe and Mail, January 6, 2005

Front page of National Post, January 6, 2005

From Chantal Hebert's column, Oct 8, 2004

Via Toronto Star:

Liberals blind to new realities

CHANTAL HÉBERT

It has only taken four days but all the glib summer assumptions about the House of Commons going about its business mostly as usual under a slightly reconfigured makeup have been replaced by a strikingly different set of certainties.

Here are some of them:

• The Liberals, who avoided the closest of calls in the House last night, are their own worst enemies. The disunity and the lack of discipline of the caucus will make it hard for the Prime Minister to focus on the survival of his government and on securing a majority in the next election.

• Conservative leader Stephen Harper is willing and ready to step into Martin's shoes and try to make this Parliament work despite its perilous fractures.

• The Bloc Québécois has a better grasp of the limits of its recent election victory in Quebec than the Liberals have of theirs across Canada.

• There are reasons why the NDP has become increasingly irrelevant over the past decade and they were very much in evidence this week.

Let's take them in order.

If minority governments have any silver linings, it is in offering those who run them an excuse to reinvent themselves and, in the case of returning governments, to get out of the inevitable groove that results from too many consecutive years in power.

That's what both Ontario premier Bill Davis and prime minister Pierre Trudeau did when they ran minority governments in the 1970s.

To succeed, Davis and Trudeau made some of the better ideas of their opponents their own, co-opting essential opposition allies in the process but also making their own tent larger in time for a subsequent election.

None of that was in evidence this week as Martin served up his recent Liberal platform under the guise of a throne speech.

During the campaign, the platform was a one-day wonder. Translated into a throne speech, it outlived its usefulness as a consensual mechanism within minutes.

Not only was there precious little fresh material for the opposition to like, but the government also missed a golden opportunity to revamp its tired image at the expense of the other parties.

Moreover, Martin eliminated all references to one of the few acts in office that distinguished him from his predecessor.

To appease his restless Ontario caucus, he cut out his recent decision to embrace asymmetrical federalism from the throne speech, sacrificing in the process his best hope that the Bloc would be under enough pressure from Quebec — where Martin's approach to the health accord was popular — to support the government's agenda rather than risk an election on it.

The notion that the Liberal caucus is recklessly unaware of the new realities the government is operating under was further reinforced when its first post-throne speech meeting featured pointed complaints from some MPs about the Prime Minister's decision to cancel a 10 per cent pay raise for parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, if Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson needed another signal that Harper is eager to pick up where Martin would leave off if his government died an early death, the substance of the amendments the official opposition brought forward on Wednesday provided it.

The Conservative package of amendments gives every party, including the NDP, more solid reasons to buy into it than the Liberal throne speech itself.

Each of Harper's proposals could have been in the Liberal speech, a signal that the Conservative leader has been doing the kind of homework Martin has avoided all summer.

For its part, the Bloc amendment removed doubts that Duceppe might have missed the main point of his Quebec victory last June; that is, that Quebecers want him to look beyond sovereignty in the Commons.

Far from reflecting the sovereignist credo of the party, the Bloc amendment that passed last night could have been drafted by the federalist premier of Quebec (until it was amended to secure all-party support, it actually included Jean Charest's name).

Finally, Tommy Douglas and David Lewis must have turned over in their graves when NDP leader Jack Layton claimed that they inspired his decision to support the Liberal throne speech. This in the face of a Conservative amendment that clearly does more to advance his party's objectives on proportional representation, unemployment insurance and the U.S.-sponsored anti-ballistic missile project.

While the NDP has a history of propping up Liberal minority governments, its past leaders won significant concessions in exchange: medicare in Douglas' case and a made-in-Canada energy policy in the case of Lewis.

But this week, a miserly line in the throne speech on democratic reform and the promise of a debate, but not a vote and certainly not a commitment, on missile defence were enough to keep Layton's NDP on side.

Of the four parties, the NDP is clearly the most spooked by the prospect of a snap election.

At this rate, by the time an election does come, voters may have a hard time telling the difference between the New Democrats and the Liberals.

From Kinsella's blog, September 17, 2004

September 17, 2004 - I am so depressed.

My daughter was holding my hand as I was walking her to school this morning. When we got nearer to the schoolyard, she shook my hand lose - and she wouldn't take it back.

Some of you had warned me this moment was coming, but I am still totally, completely devastated.

The only way to cheer myself up is by going to the Ontario PC convention tonight and driving them all crazy.


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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_sept04.htm

Svend Robinson avoids jail (August 6, 2004)

Canadian Press report:

Svend Robinson avoids jail

VANCOUVER (CP) - Svend Robinson, the distinguished politician who stole a diamond ring and unravelled a 25-year career, walked out of court without jail time or a criminal conviction after pleading guilty to the embarrassing offence Friday.

Robinson has suffered intense humiliation, has been shamed out of public office and Justice Ron Fratkin said that's punishment enough. "In Canada, we don't kick people when they're down," he said.

Instead, he gave Robinson a conditional discharge and sentenced him to 100 hours of community service.

Robinson "has fallen far further than most, all for a bauble, a trinket, a ring," said Fratkin.

Sparing him a criminal conviction will make it easier for Robinson to get a new job.

He had been sliding towards a breakdown, Fratkin noted, and people close to him could see it coming. He was falling apart, showing up at his office with circles under his eyes, shaky, his skin grey.

"His lawyers say it was a one-off, a result of pressure that was somewhat self-imposed and pressure brought on by others seeking his help," Fratkin said.

"He ran himself ragged."

Famous Canadians, including environmentalist David Suzuki and the Peter MacKay, deputy leader of the Conservative Party, wrote letters asking the judge not to torture Robinson further.

Stephen Lewis, an envoy to the United Nations, sat down and hand-wrote Fratkin a two page letter of appeal while travelling in Africa.

"It seems to me that in coping with the avalanche of public ignominy, he has already experienced the force and weight of judgment.

"I profoundly hope that the end of his ordeal is in sight."

Robinson said he cracked after a visit with his sister who is struggling with multiple sclerosis.

Emotionally unstable, he went to a public auction over the Easter long weekend in April, according to an agreed statement of facts read out in court.

Earlier in the week, he had been shopping for a diamond ring for his partner, Max Riveron. He looked at one sparkler worth $10,000 and told the sales clerk he would have to go check his bank balance to see if he could afford it.

The rings at the auction were in the "Dynasty" category, priced at over $50,000.

Robinson signed in, said Hello to the attendants, some of whom he recognized, and handed his driver's license over to the security desk. Patrons were allowed to handle the merchandise and Robinson asked to see three rings.

"He put two back and surreptitiously put one in his jacket pocket," special prosecutor Len Doust read.

"He was very calm and very cool. He knew exactly what he was doing. Then he gets rid of it, he hides the ring in his car and locks it."

Robinson went back inside and browsed for another half hour, asking questions before departing.

Riveron told police his partner was like a madman that weekend. The two were at their home on Galiano Island and Robinson worked frenetically outside. He put on new clothes and began chopping wood, refusing to eat or drink, ignoring blood on his hands when he had cut himself.

Riveron said it was like watching Robinson work as an MP, at a relentless pace and to the point of exhaustion.

"I said 'I think you did this, and maybe you weren't conscious, but this was your way out. You should ask for help,' " Robinson's lawyer Clayton Ruby quoted Riveron as saying in a police interview.

Robinson was wracking his brain, trying to come up with a way to return the ring anonymously, Doust said. In fact, the politician told police he was hoping there might be some place he could send it and escape being implicated.

But as the days passed Doust said Robinson realized he had been caught on camera and the consequences would be severe.

"If he had truly wanted to turn himself in and take responsibility, he could have done it right away and simply gone to the police station.

"He chose to turn himself in just before the RCMP caught up with him," Doust said.

Robinson, looking gaunt and nervous, pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000.

"This has been a shattering experience for me," Robinson told court.

"I feel remorse and shame for a totally unthinkable act."

Whatever his motives, Robinson "fell on his sword," Fratkin said, "something few people have the innards to do."

Robinson will go to his grave as the only person who will ever know if the crime was calculated or a freak impulse and lapse in judgement by an unstable man, the judge said.

"On balance, the credits outweigh the debits for Mr. Robinson. . . I'm satisfied that what he has gone through is enough. He's fallen a long way and embarrassed himself."

After the proceedings, his high-profile Toronto lawyer, Clayton Ruby, addressed reporters. Robinson, who stood behind Ruby, did not speak.

"This cry for help does require the imposition of a criminal conviction," Ruby said.

"He is grateful the court's judgement reflects an understanding of the role of the exceptional stress under which he has laboured and the role of a life of unusual accomplishment," Ruby said.

Robinson left without answering questions.

A sketch of Svend Robinson, the former Member of Parliament for Burnaby Douglas who pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 Friday:

Name: Svend Johannes Robinson.

Birth: March 4, 1952, Minneapolis, Minn. Robinson is 52.

Education: Bachelor of Laws from University of British Columbia followed by post-graduate work at the London School of Economics. Robinson was the first student elected to the UBC Board of Governors.

Career: Barrister and solicitor called to the B.C. Bar in 1978. First elected to House of Commons in 1979. Re-elected seven times becoming the senior MP from B.C. Served as NDP spokesman on Health, Justice, External Affairs and International Human Rights. He was a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Sub-Committee on Human Rights and Democracy and had also served on the historic Special Joint Committee on the Constitution in 1980-81 and the 1985 Special Committee on Equality Rights. Elected NDP deputy house leader in 2003. Ran for NDP leadership in 1995 but stepped aside for Alexa McDonough.

Current occupation: Working with the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union through August in its advocacy department.

Family: Parents Wayne Thomas and Edith Jensen Robinson. Partner Max Riveron.

Hobbies: Sea kayaking, hiking, cycling, travelling.

Quote: "The highest duty of a member of Parliament is love. I really believe that. What that encompasses is love and respect for the environment, love and respect for those who are dispossessed and powerless, and those who have traditionally been voiceless."

Some incidents involving Svend Robinson in his 25-year career as an MP for the New Democratic Party:

1979: First elected to Parliament.

1985: Fined $750 for participating in a demonstration against logging of old-growth forest on Queen Charlotte Islands.

1987: Heckles President Ronald Reagan when the then-U.S. president addressed the House of Commons.

1988: Announces he's gay, becoming Canada's first openly gay MP.

1994: Pleads guilty to criminal contempt of court for participating in an anti-logging blockade on Clayoquot Sound. Was at bedside of Sue Rodriguez, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, when a doctor helped her commit suicide.

1997: Severely injured in a near-fatal hiking accident.

1999: Tables a petition in the Commons advocating removal of the word God from the Constitution. The next day, then NDP leader Alexa McDonough demotes him to back benches.

2001: Robinson among protesters teargassed at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. He says he was hit with a rubber bullet fired by the RCMP.

2002: McDonough removes the Middle East from his responsibilities as foreign affairs critic after he says Palestinian suicide bombers and the military offensive of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are both forms of terrorism.

2003: Parliament votes 141-110 in favour of Robinson's bill to extend hate-crimes protection to gays and lesbians.

April 2004: Robinson tearfully announces he "pocketed" a ring at a Richmond auction house. He also announces he would step aside as member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas.

June 2004: Charged with theft over $5,000.

June 2004: Constituency assistant Bill Siksay replaces Robinson as NDP member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas.

July 2004: Lawyer Michael Bolton says Robinson "has indicated from the outset he'll be accepting full responsibility for his actions."

August, 2004: Pleads guilty to theft over $5,000.

From Bourque NewsWatch, August 26, 2004

In late August 2004, Pierre Bourque created a list called BLOGGER'S OLYMPIC LOSERS, of which Warren Kinsella's name was oddly on the very top.

Update June 20, 2005: I am having problem uploading the screenshot.

Update August 12, 2005: Screenshot added.

My comment on Andrew Coyne's web site, April 12, 2005

The reason is perhaps even when they knew there was a murder cover-up in Cecilia Zhang case, journalists chose to look the other way.

Why do I think there was a cover-up?

Posted by Jim Yu Email 4/12/2005 9:14PM

The lyric about answering machine

From Kinsella's blog, July 31, 2004:

How do you say I miss you to
An answering machine?
How do you say good night to
An answering machine?
How do you say I'm lonely to
An answering machine?



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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_july04.htm

From Kinsella's blog, August 2, 2004

Aug 2, 2004 - Heading back, leavin' Jamaica, mon. Everybody says "mon," here. I wonder if it is a real thing, or the product a marketing focus group by the Jamaican Tourist Bureau.

....

See you on the other side, mon!



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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_august04.htm

From Kinsella's blog, July 27, 2004

July 27, 2004 - I can only assume Larry Zolf's editor is on vacation, because I can't believe his latest column is actually found on the CBC web site.

In it, the way in which Zolf discusses ethnic communities is more than just clumsy. It's appallingly insensitive and dumb, too. A sampling, with italics added:

...

• 
  "Now years later in Canada, the ethnic groups are playing out their game with the skilled hand of Paul Martin. The ethnic groups are a key to victory in the next election."
• 
  "The ethnic groups in the Liberal party are the main hope for a Martin victory in a run-off election. They constitute a large number of the 75 Ontario seats carried by Martin in the 2004 election 2004. They also holdd [sic] the key to a large slice of the 21 Quebec seats Martin carried in 2004."
• 
  "[Martin] realizes the ethnic vote is a fundamental of Liberal politics and he must cater to it if he wishes to survive as prime minister."
• 
  "Martin must also be careful not to go too far in his love affair with the ethnics. Too much ethnicking can be seen by anglo Canada as offensive and it is anglo Canada that rejected much of the Liberal heritage in election 2004. Ethnicking with the Quebecois in Quebec could mean the difference between minority or a majority government next time around."
• 
  "Still, it's nice to have the ethnics on board the good ship SS Paul Martin. The ethnics make good and loyal ministers."

...

The "ethnics?" Did Larry Zolf actually get paid to write that? Did the CBC then actually post that, for all to see? Playing out "their game?" "Cater" to them? "Too much ethnicking?" "It's nice to have ethnics on board?"

It's possible, of course, that Larry Zolf's intention was to sound accommodating and supportive of "ethnics," as he calls them. It is also possible that he did not intend to sound like a callous, blundering ignoramus. But that latter perspective, unfortunately for Larry, is very much what we're left with.

As a student of Canadian politics, I can attest to the fact that no Canadian political party - including the Liberal Party, now being breathlessly urged by Larry to "cater" to "the ethnics" - any longer regards ethnic communities as unintelligent monoliths, which can be counted upon to unquestioningly do the bidding of backroom party apparatchiks. Even if such a sad state of affairs ever existed, you can be assured it doesn't anymore. Ask any successful politician: in 2004 A.D., every predominant Canadian ethnic group has done what one would expect (and hope) to happen in the new millennium - they vote for Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats like everyone else does. That is, according to the issues, and leadership, and so on.

Not, to put a fine point on it, because one of the CBC's, or Larry Zolf's, imagined ethnic overlords has decreed how they should vote. (And, yes, Virginia, your tax dollars do indeed directly or indirectly pay for such drivel. Sorry about that.)

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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_july04.htm

From Kinsella's blog, July 26, 2004

July 26, 2004 - I plan to use this to get a better birthday present out of my wife. I rather suspect it won't work, but what the heck.

July 26, 2004 - My wife and I never, ever (ever) shop at Wal-Mart, but always at Costco. Here is the principal reason why.

July 26, 2004 - Yes, yes, Jimmy, but will you pay your bills? Will Fly-by-Night Flaherty finally pay up?

July 26, 2004 - My, my, isn't this interesting: the party of fiscal probity and prudence, forced to respond to deadbeat allegations. Goodness gracious.

You know, something tells me I'm going to have a lot more to say about this subject, real soon.

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Origina URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_july04.htm

From Kinsella's blog, July 20, 2004

July 20, 2004 - Hoo boy! Take a look at this, folks! Can you imagine what the philistines would say if the House was sitting? Wow! Let me know if any of you get the job, okay? In the meantime, I need a drink:

...

Canadian Wine Coordinator

Location: Ottawa, ON Salary: $61,312 to
$66,287 (AS-05). Closing Date: July 21, 2004 Useful
Information Reference Number: EXT86726JCNF90
Position for a
specified
period of three (3) to six (6) months.
The position is
located
within the
following governmental organization: Department
of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Who Can Apply
Useful
Information Persons residing or employed in regions within Ontario or
Quebec, who have a home or business postal code beginning with: G0A, G0L to
G0Z,
G1 to G3, G4A, G5A, G5R, G5T, G5V, G5X to G5Z, G6 to G9, H, J0A to
J0L,
J0N to
J0Z, J1 to J9, K, L, M, N0A to N0C, N0E, N0G, N0H, N0J to
N0M, N1 to
N6, N7A,
N7G, P0A to P0C, P0E, P0G, P0H, P0J, P0K, P0M, P0N,
P0P, P0R, P1 to
P4, P5A and
P5E.

Citizenship
Useful
Information Preference will be given to Canadian citizens. Please
indicate
in your application the reason for which you are entitled to
work
in Canada:
Canadian citizenship, permanent resident status or work
permit.

Language
Useful
Information Bilingual imperative
English
French
Reading
Writing
Oral Interaction
Reading
Writing
Oral Interaction
B
B
B
B
B
B

Education
Useful
Information Graduation with a degree from a recognized university and
formal
training in oenology with an internationally qualification from
an
oenology
institution.

Experience
Experience in promoting and conveying Canadian wine knowledge to senior
management in the Federal Public Service or dignitaries.

Experience in designing and delivering wine education training
modules and conducting tutored tastings.

Experience in working with the Canadian wine industry and major
industry associations to support the industry in the promotion of Canadian
wines
abroad.

Experience in building awareness of Canadian wines.

Additional Requirements / Comments
Condition of employment:

Security clearance: Secret - this factor is not used at the
preselection stage. The department is responsible for the security clearance
process.

Candidates from outside the federal Public Service may be
required to pay for their own travel and relocation expenses.

Quote the reference number and clearly indicate your
CITIZENSHIP.

From Kinsella's blog, September 17, 2004

September 17, 2004 - I am so depressed.

My daughter was holding my hand as I was walking her to school this morning. When we got nearer to the schoolyard, she shook my hand lose - and she wouldn't take it back.

Some of you had warned me this moment was coming, but I am still totally, completely devastated.

The only way to cheer myself up is by going to the Ontario PC convention tonight and driving them all crazy.


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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_sept04.htm

From Radwanski's blog, August 17, 2004

I've been holding this in for days...

I hate the Olympics. There, I said it.

I hate the way I'm supposed to care about a bunch of sports I would never care about otherwise, just because they're all lumped together into one giant orgy of sports I don't care about.

I hate the way our national pride is supposed to take a hit every time we fail to perform adequately at water polo or long-jumping or synchronized swimming.

I hate the self-importance of the IOC (sorry, "Olympic Movement"), whose website informs us that "Olympism is a state of mind."

I hate the way anyone who's ever played amateur sports takes great umbrage whenever one dares turn a blind eye to the herculian achievements of our Olympic athletes.

I hate that, even though I don't know anyone who's even remotely fanatical about this thing, it'll dominate the front pages, lead off broadcasts, and pre-empt other sports coverage for another week.

But I'm very, very glad Toronto didn't get the 2008 Games. And quietly, I think a lot of other Torontonians are too.


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Original URL at http://www.adamradwanski.com/blog190804.html

From Radwanski's blog, June 1, 2004

What a Dick

While I was sitting around a local establishment after a ball hockey game last night, Paul Martin's campaign ad - the one where he's showing his common touch by hanging around an exclusive cottage - came on, minus the sound. First thing I noticed was that they did something weird to his hair. First thing my friend sitting next to me noticed was that he looked a bit like Richard Nixon.

That can't be a good sign.


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Original URL at http://www.adamradwanski.com/blog030604.html

From the column of Carol Goar, August 18, 2004

Shoddy welcome for newcomers

There were 20 students in Anna Opanasyuk's English-as-a-second- language class. Five were doctors, four were scientists, the rest had university degrees in everything from economics to electrical engineering. She had two doctorates; one in education and one in public administration. She was also a certified mediator, a trained cellist and an accomplished dressmaker.

Between classes, the immigrants would exchange stories. Two themes always dominated. The first was the near-impossibility of getting professional accreditation in their fields. The second was how much it hurt to be treated like simpletons because of their lack of proficiency in English.

Last spring, when the Ontario government launched a public review of adult education, the students asked Opanasyuk, who is from Ukraine, to speak on their behalf.

They wanted her to explain that highly educated immigrants don't need courses on resume writing or family life. They need intensive, high-quality English instruction so they can compete for jobs in their professions. And they need to know how to get their credentials recognized in Canada.

Opanasyuk tried to convey these messages to Kathleen Wynne, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. "I don't think she got it."

[For the complete column, see Page A22, Toronto Star, August 18, 2004.]


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Original URL at http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1092782106175&
call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907622164

From the column of James Travers, August 17, 2004

Liberals ape the Olympian follies

Along with being odious, comparisons are usually misleading and sometimes simply mischievous. Nevertheless, the parallels between the spectacle unfolding in Athens and our very own ruling party are too delicious to resist.

Just for starters, try saying either "Olympic" or "Liberal" without adding the suffix "scandal." Sure, it's just a reflex that may better reflect the past than the present or future. But it is undeniably an integral part of two premium brands that often seem to prosper despite themselves.

What's most similar and remarkable about the five-ring circus and what Jean Chretien liked to call the Western world's most successful political party is that neither has been brought down by what in most other organizations would be a fatal flaw.

The Olympics and Liberals alike are almost always behind the public opinion curve and must be dragged, usually kicking and screaming, to the point where truth, common sense and reality intersect.

[For the complete column, see page A19, Toronto Star, August 17, 2004.]

From Kinsella's blog, July 20, 2004

July 20, 2004 - Not a bad cabinet, overall. A lot of us wanted change, and we got some. Cabinet highlights:

· Stephane Dion, Jean Chrétien's former intergovernmental affairs minister, is back as Canada's new environment minister. That's terrific news.
· Former Canfor executive David Emerson from British Columbia as industry minister? Good pick. Smart guy.
· Toronto-area MP John Godfrey is smart, and he'll need all his wits for the cities file. I think he'll do well.
· Scott Brison, who - as we all know - ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in the spring of 2003, then switched to the Grits in December, is taking over Public Works. I like Scott a lot, and I think he is going to have to be as tough as I know he can be - first, because he's Target Number One for the Tories, because (a) he switched sides and (b) he won election as a Liberal. Second, because Public Works is going to be hot, hot, hot for the next Parliamentary session. Hot.
· Tony Ianno, after clobbering NDP star Olivia Chow in Toronto Spadina, is now minister of state for families and caregivers. Good for Tony. Good on his campaign team, too - Gordon, Tenio et al.
· Andy Mitchell is a great guy and is moving from Indian and Northern Affairs to Agriculture and Agrifood. Another impressive Andy is Andy Scott of New Brunswick, now at Indian and Northern Development. Good pick. Good Liberal. Good stuff.
· Former labour minister Claudette Bradshaw is staying, now as minister of state for human resources development. Right on.
· Raymond Chan is the new minister of state for multiculturalism. Good to see him back in Parliament, and in a ministry.

I was asked by Newsworld to discuss all of this on-air last night, but I declined because we had kid stuff to attend to - and also because I didn't know what the cabinet would look like. Now that I do, I'd say it ain't bad.

Now begins the real work, eh?


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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_july04.htm

From Kinsella's blog, July 19, 2004

July 19, 2004 - Boy, is that Matt Drudge guy ever an asshole. What a moron.

July 19, 2004 - Newsy bits:

· This bit of welcome (and overdue) news from Angelo Persichilli's piece in today's Hill Times: "Lately, however, the relationship between Mr. Martin and Mr. Chrétien has been upgraded from no-relationship whatsoever, to at least a formal relationship. Scott Reid, director of communications to the Prime Minister, told The Hill Times that former prime minister Chrétien called Prime Minister Martin shortly after the election to congratulate him on the Liberals' election results and to update him on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. "Prime Minister Martin appreciated the call and the briefing on his meeting with President Putin," Mr. Reid. "The conversation was relatively brief, but very pleasant."

· Sad news from the culture wars: Arthur Killer Kane, the bassist for the New York Dolls, died in L.A. last week. For many of us formerly suburban punks, Kane - and the Dolls - were the very personification of what a rock'n'roll band should be: loud, snotty, outrageous, barely competent. Hard to imagine 'Personality Crisis' playing in or near the Pearly Gates, but most of the Dolls are now Up There as opposed to Down Here, aren't they?

· Boring news - really, really boring news. I mean, who cares? Why does anyone pay attention anymore? It is to despair.


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Original URL at http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings_july04.htm