Jacques Demers: Just Visiting

Can you imagine if Jacques Demers had been appointed to the Senate as a Liberal by a Liberal Prime Minister. I was just thinking of the creepy voice over of a creepy Conservative attack ad:

Jacques Demers hates Canada. Jacques Demers coached in the United States for almost two decades. He only came back for the Senate appointment... etc.

All the way from Montenegro...

I was a Habs fan growing up. I only became an Oilers fan when they came to Edmonton in 1977. (<-fact check) I became a Habs fan briefly again when they won the Stanley Cup under Demers in 1992-93. When Shayne Corson and Vincent Damphouse did their reluctant tour of duty as Edmonton Oilers I hoped they would bring some Demers magic with them. Hope is a funny emotion.

I admire Demers very much. I think he is a great communicator and motivator and obviously overcame the huge handicap of illiteracy in the Hockey world, where any kind of weakness is not easily accepted and maleness is distorted.

(Run on sentence. Check.)

Demers said in an interview today that running for election wasn't really him, or words to that effect. As a result I hope he doesn't say anything at all about Senate Reform. If he did it would be an obvious broken argument.

He probably will get an orientation and realize very quickly that he is just there to vote the party line. Not to think. Not to talk. It would be nice if he could talk to people about literacy, but big daddy doesn't like that kind of thing. Too bad, because he is an animated and lively speaker.

Jacques Demers is too good a person to be wasted on Stephen Harper. He's in the wrong party. Its a shame. Please recommend this post

BikeCam - Part 1

Experimenting with a new blogging genre called BikeCam (R). Need to work on a better narrative and some audio. First one is on one of my favorites spots, the bike path in Eau Claire.

This one is of crossing the 10th street pedestrian bridge which runs under the C-Train bridge and crosses over into Kensington. Always fun getting across here on a bike. Watch for the dudes with $10,000 worth of pop bottles.

Finally made it back to Edworthy Park Parking lot in the Park where I had parked. Trying to find where I parked and not get run over be people trying to park. For some reason people were grumpy, probably because there was no parking. Some asshat yelled at me because I wasn't clearing out fast enough for his purposes. Its a sunday, not a board meeting, GFY.

Please recommend this post

Quick thoughts on Tiny Perfect Blog

I should say right from the outset that I disagree with anonymous blogging, just as I am opposed to anonymous commenting on blogs. However, people have reasons to conceal their identity that we ought to at least consider. Sometimes anonymous muckracking from someone being subversive to their employer or organization is a very health antidote to mainstream print journalism and the culture of secrecy in Alberta. In case you haven't noticed Alberta's newspapers have not hosted a Bob Woodward, a Carl Bernstein or Daniel Elsberg. Not a single one. They don't bring governments down, they prop them up. Hence, anonymous bloggers are inevitable. All voices are welcome if they shine a light where there is no light.

The Alberta Government might think they can control the message by having David Sands travel the internet telling people to shut up, but that won`t work. Not anymore.

As an aside, watching one anonymous AB Conservative after another post comments at TLP criticizing him for his anonymity gave me a much needed daily dose of humor and irony. Oh the outrage, she screamed, barely audible due to the sack over her head.

It was not that long ago that I wrote about an anonymous Calgary Herald editorial that ripped a Mount Royal student for expressing an opinion anonymously. The anonymous Herald editorialist was genuinely anonymously outraged that someone would dare to opine anonymously. That kind of unnecessary malice from a daily paper made me sick back then as it does now. Presumably they wanted the student`s identity so they could subject them to a thorough beating from their readers.

TPB's daily criticism of the Albert Liberal Party was served fairly thick, was gratuitous, and often made me think I had accidentally dialed into Rick Bell or a Journal Blog. Not along ago a Journal columnist wrote a pointless blog post because she was upset that Dr. David Swann had merely called a press conference. Same attitude as TPL I say.

TPL was at his best when he/she was ripping into the Alberta Government for the severely under-reported scandal(s) at the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.

TPL's claim that Union was after him, is of course, completely unverifiable. As a reason to quit blogging it seemed rather unlikely to me. If it were me and an organization came after me I would step up my defense, not close the doors.

Anyway, look me up. I'm in the phone book. We'll do coffee. Tata. Please recommend this post

Mysterious Mercedes Benz Killing Me

I've been seeing this mysterious Mercedes Benz around my neighborhood for a few weeks now. I can't figure out who owns it. Possibly an invisible man. It reminds me of Richard Dreyfuss in American Graffiti, (two effes one tee) trying to figure out who the woman was in the 56 White T-Bird. Turns out it was Suzanne Somers, before Three's Company and Thigh-Master. American Grafitti would have been a lot more enjoyable if a) they hadn't made the sequel, and b) Richard Dreyfuss had to deal with an unusually large shark instead of a bunch of dick head gang members.

See I'm off topic as usual. I want to know who owns this Mercedes and its keeping me up at night. I could die. I think its from the early to mid 60's, and it has a manual transmission shifter on the steering column. I really picture it being owned by a wealthy political mover with his own driver named Chauncey. This cries out for a dramatization.

In Act 1 of our three part drama, Sir jumps in the back of the Benz and heads off to the Tory party bunker.

Chauncey: To the Bunker sir?
Sir: Yes Chauncey.
Chauncey: Another problem with the boss sir?
Sir: Yes yes.
Chauncey: Big boss is a cool one ain't he sir. A real iceberg. A Cyborg.
Sir: Chauncey, what did I tell you this morning.
Chauncey: This morning sir...em...you said Sir, don't run over any children or else the Calgary Sun will photograph their bloody little booties and it will be bad for us..
Sir: No Chauncey, before that.
Chauncey: Oh sir, about not talking about the boss before you've had drinks sir?
Sir: Yes. And do look out, you nearly hit that child.
Chauncey: Well if you ask me he's a pretty dimly lit bulb.
Sir: Chauncey!
Chauncey: Yes sir.

(I can see the need for developing a strong female character in this story.) Please recommend this post

Mayhem at Big Valley

Big Valley Jamboree is an annual Country Music Festival in Camrose Alberta. Just before the last set of the day a huge storm blew through the area and flipped the stage over. There are unconfirmed reports of a few deaths, people trapped under the rubble, and people missing or injured. The details are still emerging. (8:30 MST).

The news rolled out fairly quickly on Twitter with Musicians and fans Twittering live accounts. The main stream media, radio and newspaper web sites took a while to get into the story.

Simon Ostler, an Edmonton radio journalist, posted this picture on Twitpic:

Please recommend this post