On Infrequent Blogging

Hi All. As you may have noticed blogging around here has been practically non-existent. Let me explain.

As you may or may not know I operate an exterior finishing contracting business with two of my sons an adopted nephew (by him) and an adopted newf (by me). They range in age from 17-26 and nearly every one of them can be an insufferable pain in the ass.

That said, I;m proud of them all and here's why.

The recession coupled with a mid season hail storm dictated that the bulk of the contracts we undertook this year required extensive travel. We spent the first half of 09 living out of suitcases in shitty motels to keep the expenses down. In June we managed to acquire a fifth wheel trailer that met our needs and by the start of November the difference in living expenses had paid for the trailer.

Along the way we adjusted our truck, trailer and equipment configurations numerous times to meet the logistical challenges of contracting on the road. This included five different trucks and three different trailers in various combinations. Of course these transitions required installation or removal of hitches, wiring, insurance and plates, equipment racks, truck caps, scaffolding, hand tools and fasteners.....etc.

The upside is we came home with a modernized, adaptable and efficient operation.

On the personal side we have or are dealing with two deaths, one cancer diagnosis and two major surgeries within our immediate extended families. In short it has been one really long year.

It's been two weeks now since we made it home and I for one have welcomed the Gore effect weather as it has provided a legitimate excuse for not leaving the house. That being the case I've had the opportunity to sleep, read and catch up on the blogosphere .

Which brings me to the point of this entry. While blogging frequency may be important to some it is not the be all and end all of all. Some of us live a conservative lifestyle and some of us look to make a living pontificating about same. Yet others do both.

The trick is spotting the differences.

Syncro

Is CTV Playing a Shell Game with the News?

I noticed something odd that got me thinking about shell games and political agendas.

I had some time today to indulge in a little political web surfing and discovered that there are different tracks and different narratives within the CTV website.

Let me explain.

I connected to the CTV website to watch the Oct. 11 edition of Question Period as follows:

CTV main page

News

Question Period

Watch Now (on the QP icon)



The above screenshot is the end product, pay special attention to the QP icon on the left and the accompanying text.

Watch Now

Watch the latest episode of Question Period

Now click the link and you get this.

Interesting in as much as this is footage from LAST JULY!

Now....for something different....try this route.

CTV Main page

News

Politics

Watch Now (on the QP Icon)



Did you notice the differences?

Pay attention to the script beside the QP icon.

Policy and Polls: Political fortunes shift on Parliament Hill

Which links to this


Please note that both video links are dated October 11, 2009.

So, back to the shell game and more importantly......Can you find the pea?

Syncro

When YoYo Ma Plays Along......

In a bit of political theatre the likes we havn't seen since Bill Clinton saxed off on Letterman, Stephen Harper tore down the house in Ottawa in ways that were both surprising and expected.

Labeled a policy wonk and a closed man with a hidden agenda Stephen Harper is proving his critics wrong.

In one deft, self deprecating, brilliant move, he has closed the humanity gap and cornered both Jack and Iffy.

That's the man I want running the show.

Syncro

On Neanderthals, Cannibalism, Nannies and Hope and Change

Hi all. I've been working on the road again and as such have missed a lot of the fun in the blogs lately. That being the case I thought I might put together a convoluted compendium of recent developments.

I should probably preface this bit by stating as a self identified knuckle dragging, mouth breathing, conservative supporting, Neanderthal I found this most disturbing.

One of science's most puzzling mysteries - the disappearance of the Neanderthals - may have been solved. Modern humans ate them, says a leading fossil expert.

The controversial suggestion follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans. Now the leader of the research team says he believes the flesh had been eaten by humans, while its teeth may have been used to make a necklace.

It seems my ancestors may have been eaten by a more progressive hominid.....Which got me thinking about the kinds of social cannibalism that my Liberal hominid cousins partake in like this:


OTTAWA -- She is young, single and fond of stiletto heels and figure-hugging pencil skirts - not what you'd expect to see on someone who sits in the House of Commons.

At 35, Ruby Dhalla has represented Brampton-Springdale, a riding just west of Toronto, for the Liberals since 2004, and has been intelligent, articulate and aggressive in her questioning of the government.

But political Ottawa is cliquey and still very much an old boys' club, so like single and attractive MPs who have gone before her - from Belinda Stronach to, in her day, Sheila Copps - Ms. Dhalla (or Dr. Dhalla, as the chiropractor prefers to be called) has been a target of gossip and derision.

Now, of course, she is the target of something much more serious - allegations that she underpaid, overworked and mistreated women she had hired to care for her 62-year-old mother, Tavinder. This week, the women, immigrants from the Philippines, gave an emotional account of that treatment before a Commons committee, as did Ms. Dhalla.

She has put a brave face on her predicament, saying that support from her caucus leadership has been important. But party leader Michael Ignatieff has accepted her resignation as youth and multiculturalism critic, pending the outcome of the inquiry, and Ms. Dhalla - the first Sikh woman elected to the Commons - doesn't know if she will get the job back.

Extremely ambitious, she flirted with running for the leadership when Stéphane Dion resigned after the election last fall. But now there are whispers about her hazy future and suggestions that support from inside Mr. Ignatieff's office has not been as strong as it could be.

Insiders say some of her caucus colleagues don't like the fact that she has portrayed herself as a victim in the controversy, and even friends who are drawn to her warmth and chutzpah say she can suck the oxygen out of a room. It didn't help that, at the Liberal convention held in Vancouver two weeks ago, she was spotted looking like something out of a Bollywood movie as she was whisked away from her hotel in a white stretch limo.

The cannibalism of Jane, The MSM, Ruby, The LPC as a whole and of course the leader Hannibal Lectern is really something to behold. It all makes this Neanderthal nervous as hell and more than a little leery of fangy Liberals.

Which brings me to this:

OTTAWA — The Ignatieff Liberals are upping the ante, sniffing around for a campaign plane, making employment insurance the hot issue and sending letters encouraging Liberals and “decent Canadians everywhere” to get to work to fight the Harperites.

“We are headed into a fight,” new party president Alf Apps wrote to supporters yesterday. “As summer approaches, we need to be ready.”

He wants “decent Canadians” to talk to their friends on “blogs” and “over coffee” about “real hope” and “positive change.” He also referred to the Tory negative ads, saying “Stephen Harper has already begun his attack with some nasty and petty shots at our leader.”

The image of Liberals dropping their oven mitts and snuffling around for a "hot issue" over coffee and summer bar-b-ques, preparing to fight for "real hope and positive change" all sounds like a recipe this Neanderthal wants no part of.

I guess it could be worse...I could be a Neanderthal nanny.

Syncro

Simply Astonished and Confused...

S0....I'm watching CTV's Powerplay today and the show closes with "Craig"s Take", a Mercer style rant wherein Craig Oliver weighs in with pithy comment on all things politic.

Today's topic was the heinous treatment of one B. Mulrooney by the current incarnation of the only viable right wing party in this country. I was enthralled!

Craig waxes poetic on the retrospective virtues of said former Prime Minister BM and goes so far as to invoke the ghosts of both John A. and John Diefenbaker. Craig concludes that this generation of conservatives have shamefully abandonded a great leader in Muldoon. The irony is breathtaking.....really.

But the best is yet to come. Craig claims that Harper has moved to distance himself from Muldoon by claiming that Brian doesn't have a membership in the CPC. Muldoon claims that he's a Conservative forever.

Touching.

But here's the kicker.....Craig Oliver credits the "Pundits and the Illuminati" for getting to the bottom of this.

Illuminati?

Hmmmmm................

Craig wouldn't let slip that"professional journo's" play insider baseball? Would he?

Further to that.....Did you happen to notice the absence of audio on the Harper clip? Technical difficulties no doubt.

It almost makes one think that some sort of conspiracy was at hand.

Syncro

The Death of the Detroit Three in Canada

I think something needs to be pointed out regarding the bailout of the auto sector in Canada.

As I understand it General Motors Canada and the CAW reached an agreement over the weekend that has since been ratified by the union members. The major points of the deal are as follows:

The contract freezes wages until 2012 and suspends cost-of-living adjustments for both wages and pensions. It also reduces paid time off by 40 hours a year, scraps an annual $1,700 bonus and cuts company contributions to union-sponsored programs by a third.

Under the agreement, active workers and retired members under 65 will also contribute $30 a month to their health and other non-wage benefits, while retired members over 65 will contribute $15.

Analysts have variously described the deal as "trivial" and a "wet noodle," and many say it fails to address GM Canada's pension issues.

GM has warned the cost of its pension plan will balloon as the ratio of active to retired workers is expected to grow to five to one by next year once its previously announced plant closures are completed.

However Lewenza challenged the union's critics to provide credible economic evidence that even deeper labour concessions would make any meaningful difference to the future of the auto industry.

So let me critique the finer points...A wage and pension freeze...One week less holidays...no bonus from a dying company...dying members pony up 15-30 bucks a month towards pension costs....Wow!

That should do it! But wait...Chrysler begs to differ:

Mr. LaSorda said Chrysler's Canadian labour costs are $75 (Canadian) an hour per worker – including wages and benefits for both active workers and retirees – and need to be cut by $20 an hour to be competitive with American and foreign car makers in the United States.

He said a cost-cutting agreement that the CAW struck with General Motors of Canada Ltd. – which GM's workers approved last night with 87 per cent in favour – is not sufficient for Chrysler.

The CAW typically negotiates a deal with one of the Detroit-based companies, and then reaches similar agreements with the others, a process known as pattern bargaining.

“The current agreement with GM is unacceptable to us, and we have to break the pattern.” Mr. LaSorda said.

There seems to be a notable dissonance betwixt GM, Chrysler and the CAW
I wondered about this and the obvious answer is that this is a set up.

Pattern bargaining is apparently dead and I suggest the easy peasy GM-CAW deal is a precursor to the Detroit three ceasing operations in Canada.

I hope it turns out differently, but I doubt it.

Syncro

My New BFF

Hi all. The forces and demands of life have dictated that I had no time for frivolous blogging bullshit. That said...I have time now.

I would like to take this time to introduce my BFF, whom I only met in cyberspace this very night.The instant I read The Highwayman I was enthralled.

With righteous quotes like this:

Are these assholes batshit crazy, or what? And, yet, we have every conservative and religious element in North America just panting after these scum! Wake the fuck up, people! You're just trash to these elitists!

They invade our country, and then try and tell us how we should think and talk and act...

I don't fucking think so!


And intellectual discourse like this:


i'd be inclined to agree, the way the world's going! However, I know that this is only a temporary state, while the Lord completes His intercessory duties in the heavenly sanctuary... a rite typified by the ancient high priest of Old Testament times.

Anyway, how in the bloody hell could one ever contemplate enjoying like in THIS world? When you have brain-dead servants of Satan running things? Pseudo-Christian people that think that violence is the only way to solve things are running society into the ground, and they seem to forget (conveniently) that the religion of the man they PRETEND to serve does not condone violence!

Just a small example of what racist bigotry and gross hate-mongering exists in the world, can be found here. These sites are becoming more and more proliferate as time goes on, under the leadership of warmongering presidents and prime ministers. The reason being that most people are too fucking lazy to examine the issues with any kind of diligence, and prefer to let the elitists tell them what is right and wrong. A nation of back-slidden slaves and self-serving twits are the progeny of hard-working, tough imigrants that formed and shaped this land.

Sure... go ahead and live your life to it's fullest... and trample over everyone and anyone that gets in the way of your grasping, self-satisfying quest for satiation. Mow down minorities and anyone else that dares to think differently than yourself, because YOURS is the only TRUE way!

Start up a blog, and preach your hate-mongering to the lower class of society that ever seeks to find some excuse to practice their belligerent ways, and to do what comes naturally for them and the lower species.

Rest assured, though, that I and my ilk will ALWAYS be there to greet you.

Now I know I've been off the satire circuit for a bit but with pro's like this out there......My future don't look so good.

Syncro