Typically topical!
Are elected officials allowed to have private opinions?
I would hope so but not according the the local arbiter of morals and taste - the cobourg daily star. In an editorial excoriating the local school board trustee for expressing his opinion about immigration and in the wake of the white folks at the school board passing a motion of censure, because his views on immigration conflicted with the PC position on diversity; the debate is not over. The question is, can an elected official hold obnoxious views? Of course and until the local school board makes Gordon Gilchrist wear official pajamas then he can say anything he wants on his own time. The school board doesn't pay enough to take over ones life and brain so they should expect trustees to say foolish things, and it is good that they do, it proves that they are human and have foibles. After all this is not the first time we have had Cobourg trustees saying obnoxious things and being flamed for it. Bob, I should be Mayor, Spooner, when he was a trustee ran into trouble when he made comments about Jamaicans and their propensity for crime and was roundly criticised by all involved. All I can say is that people say obnoxious things and offend other people and that is their right, but it does make them look foolish. If they want to take the risk good for them because what's the alternative - self-censorship and that should be a hanging offense!
Will Hillary be booted out this week?
This subject is a hot one in our house, the love of my life intensely dislikes HC, mainly because she stood by her man, and also is a fan of Oprah, "what she likes - I like". So my choice of HC is looking more like road kill every day. If she doesn't come through on Tuesday she will be toast. Pundits have gone crazy on this topic and I really think that the coverage has not been fair. Obama has been given a free ride, but who cares, he is on a roll. Come November when when he has had months of fighting McCain he will not be looking so good and his platitudes will be wearing thin.
Prince Harry is home!
So the third in line has completed 10 weeks of a 14 week combat tour and the papparazi were muted. Good for him. After all of this be prepared for news of him completing secret training in the special services, a branch of the Army where disappearances are expected and common place.
Not the final word on the Monstrosity at the Lake
Council has obstinately upheld the voting split and forged forward with a motion to retender the concrete blob that will mar the green space at the waterfront. The local paper has been bombarded with a vast quantity of letters that denounce the vote. The taxpayers still do not know the estimated operating costs and are outraged at the sums of money that have gone to the consultants up to this point. What can be done now? Unfortunately not much, there are still voting points left in the process - one to award the tender and one to adopt the money allocated within the budget, but that will not bother the "four dead white men". The problem is that the protesters are now known as agitators, objectors and the usual suspects in the eyes of Council. As such if any of them appear before Council to speak they will not be listened to and also run the risk of losing public support "because they protestoth too much". For any campaign to succeed it must be seen as positive - bring on the campaign for a community centre.
I would hope so but not according the the local arbiter of morals and taste - the cobourg daily star. In an editorial excoriating the local school board trustee for expressing his opinion about immigration and in the wake of the white folks at the school board passing a motion of censure, because his views on immigration conflicted with the PC position on diversity; the debate is not over. The question is, can an elected official hold obnoxious views? Of course and until the local school board makes Gordon Gilchrist wear official pajamas then he can say anything he wants on his own time. The school board doesn't pay enough to take over ones life and brain so they should expect trustees to say foolish things, and it is good that they do, it proves that they are human and have foibles. After all this is not the first time we have had Cobourg trustees saying obnoxious things and being flamed for it. Bob, I should be Mayor, Spooner, when he was a trustee ran into trouble when he made comments about Jamaicans and their propensity for crime and was roundly criticised by all involved. All I can say is that people say obnoxious things and offend other people and that is their right, but it does make them look foolish. If they want to take the risk good for them because what's the alternative - self-censorship and that should be a hanging offense!
Will Hillary be booted out this week?
This subject is a hot one in our house, the love of my life intensely dislikes HC, mainly because she stood by her man, and also is a fan of Oprah, "what she likes - I like". So my choice of HC is looking more like road kill every day. If she doesn't come through on Tuesday she will be toast. Pundits have gone crazy on this topic and I really think that the coverage has not been fair. Obama has been given a free ride, but who cares, he is on a roll. Come November when when he has had months of fighting McCain he will not be looking so good and his platitudes will be wearing thin.
Prince Harry is home!
So the third in line has completed 10 weeks of a 14 week combat tour and the papparazi were muted. Good for him. After all of this be prepared for news of him completing secret training in the special services, a branch of the Army where disappearances are expected and common place.
Not the final word on the Monstrosity at the Lake
Council has obstinately upheld the voting split and forged forward with a motion to retender the concrete blob that will mar the green space at the waterfront. The local paper has been bombarded with a vast quantity of letters that denounce the vote. The taxpayers still do not know the estimated operating costs and are outraged at the sums of money that have gone to the consultants up to this point. What can be done now? Unfortunately not much, there are still voting points left in the process - one to award the tender and one to adopt the money allocated within the budget, but that will not bother the "four dead white men". The problem is that the protesters are now known as agitators, objectors and the usual suspects in the eyes of Council. As such if any of them appear before Council to speak they will not be listened to and also run the risk of losing public support "because they protestoth too much". For any campaign to succeed it must be seen as positive - bring on the campaign for a community centre.
5 comments:
Re: " For any campaign to succeed it must be seen as positive - bring on the campaign for a community centre."
The purpose of the municipal government is to provide the town with essential services in a cost effective manner. The last thing we need need is for the government to find increasingly more extravagant ways to waste our money, and further increase our debt and raise our taxes.
If the council do not like citizens protesting about their waste they could always prevent it by changing their ways.
Last night being a poor one for television viewing, I ended up watching an hour or so of Town Council in action.
It never fails to amaze me what a farce the whole meeting is. All of them seem to think they are "playing the role" of a municipal politician and over-act accordingly.
The mayor appears to be uncertain of his role, even after all these years of practice, relying on town staff to tell him what to do next.
The only thing he is sure of is his own importance, which he seems to equate with pomposity. He does it very well, harumphing with great self consciousness.
He seems to love correcting Councillor Mutton as though she is a child and he is the Master, chuckling gently when he thinks she has made a gaffe of some kind.
As for Ms. Mutton, she seems to be the only one who speaks, and appears to have a question or concern about EVERYTHING. While I admire her persistence in the face of all that patronizing male disdain, I wish she would pick her battles more carefully.
As for the rest of them, they seem only to speak when they see a chance to put Ms. Mutton down. Otherwise they appear quite bored with the whole thing.
Another two years of watching these Neros fiddle while the town falls apart. Oh goodie...
Regarding your comments on the Gilchrist mess, I suggest you read Eileen Argryis' editorial today in the local daily paper.
She does an excellent job of pointing out that while we all have the right of free speech, the people listening may disagree, and there can be consequences when they do, especially if the speaker is an elected official.
Well said Eileen.
Eileen Argryis certainly fooled anonymouse. Ms Argyis certainly has freedom of speech so long as she is employed at the Cobourg Dainty Star.
I sent a letter in support of the hijab, niqab and burqa. Mz Argryis found my letter so offensive that she failed to acknowledge receiving it (which was in violation of the stated policy of the Cobourg Daily Star to acknowledge receipt of letters-to-the-editor). The Cobourg Daily Star chose to publish Mr Gilchrist's letter which many call racist, so you can imagine how much more offensive mine was. But it can be read here and now.
If it hurts your feelings, have a good cry, and move on.
Letter-to-the-Editor, February 14, 2008
I take exception to Jack Foote`s assertion that `certain mode[s] of female attire including the hijab, etc. will not be tolerated.”
I will defend a person`s right anywhere in the world to wear whatever attire they wish; a tarpaulin with a peephole for all I care. Whatever is worn must be freely chosen.
I also want to reserve the right to wear a burqa or niqab myself, if I so freely chose, for whatever reason. After all, how would anyone know what gender is behind the drapery? And so what, anyway?
On several occasions I have performed in the public domain wearing a chrome faceless shield, a device made of chrome mylar that concealed the entire face. It had the same characteristic as chrome sunglasses – I could see out, but no one could see in. My facial identity was better protected than wearing a gansta hoodie, and with no loss of peripheral vision.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/1108922558/sizes/m/in/set-72157601063676965/
The chrome faceless shield permits the enjoyment of being private in public. Likewise, a burqa provides the same experience. The burqa is exceedingly retro, whereas the chrome faceless shield was like so 21st. Interestingly, I was able to persuade many people to perform in the public domain wearing chrome faceless shields.
For heaven’s sake, 70 Units of Verse of the Unitverse wore chrome faceless shields and performed
R-VERS OF Two Minutes Hate, August 20, 1978, on Parliament Hill. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2258976653/sizes/m/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2258969731/sizes/m/
The government continued to occupy the nation, but not the imagine nation.
On another tangent, note that there is a group of white-skinned folks in the USA who wear white burqas with dunce hats and hang out at the local Flaming Cross Bar. So if they can legally wear their dirty linen outside, then why can`t some retro culturati wear their burqas?
And wouldn`t it be delightful if some graduate from the art college, a first generation Canadian of a Muslim family, made it a project to celebrate the burqa for the 21st century. There is a wide array of fabrics and embroidery and motifs and, and . . . Burqas made of the flags of every nation at the UN. In summer, young women can wear their mini-burqas. I’ll let you imagine burqa beachwear.
The Slobourg Dainty Star sent an intrepid reporter down the 401 to interview young women for the back to college insert. “I like to feel a bit like a woman, yet retain the security of my private identity,“ said little Ms Guided outside a downtown mosque that had been celebrating the diversity (aka freedom) of Canada. Her friend, Ms Andry added, “On club nights I have a satin layered burqa with a slit all the way up to the knee. Believe me, it doesn`t take that much bait to hook a man`s attention.“ This was trumped by Ms Sippi, “ I just tighten my waist cord a tad, just enough to suggest the curve. It drives men to . . . “
Imagine burqas and niqabs all over Toronto on festive occasions. Lots of children dressed in leprechaun green burqas for the Irish Parade. Lots of brightly coloured burqas, some with strategic slits, getting down at the Caribana Parade. A group of Burqa Boys wearing black mini-burqas solemnly following behind a float in the Gay Pride Parade. The float would consist of Evin Prison wallpaper around the float, and heliumed black balloons fastened to the floor of the Evin Prison. The balloons would float above the wallpaper of the prison. IN IRAN THERE ARE NO HOMOSEXUALS – BECAUSE WE KILL THEM.
There are plenty of short videos on You Tube of women in Tehran`s streets being beaten, arrested and otherwise harassed by the fascion police, female agents of the Decontamination Squad dressed in their black gowns like medieval scarecrows from a Shakespearian play, a tragi-comedy. Please note Mr Foote, that in Tehran there are certain modes of dress that are not tolerated.
The advocacy of prohibitions increases inhibitions. It can be argued that prohibiting a hijab, or burqa, is a small thing; few people wear the burqa or niqab in Canada, so the impact now would be manageable. What would be achieved by such a prohibition? For one thing, such a prohibition unnecessarily confines the imagination from soaring the wild winds of freedom. Just as water follows gravity, the imagination follows freedom.
Look at various world cultures over the past 500 years. The most successful culture the planet has ever known is Western culture. It enriches itself every minute of every day of every year century after century because of ever expanding individual freedoms, and a government’s prime objective is to defend those freedoms.
A dictatorship is defined by the policy that everything is prohibited except that which is permitted by law, whereas in a democracy everything is permitted except that which is prohibited by law. Dictatorship means theological totalitarianism and communist totalitarianism.
The Peoples Republic of Poetry’s Prime Policy is Poetry Proliferation. It asserts that the most effective defence of freedom of speech is freedom of speech. Wherever freedom of speech is restrained poetry proliferation becomes poetry poverty
In watching a Cobourg council meeting on TV anonymous was doing what many other citizens do. A few people even attend the meetings in person. The criticisms of Councillor of Councillor Mutton for contributing too much can also be seen as a criticism of the other other councillors for doing nothing. Councillor Mutton is only doing what a normal person would do at a meeting: she is asking questions, giving opinions and trying to contribute to debate. Surely this is why she was elected.
The other councillors have adopted a see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing attitude. There are several plausible reasons for this:
1. They are totally under the thumb of Peter the Great who has instructed them to shut up.
2. They realize that saying something raises the possibility that they will be questioned, which they want to avoid because they have no answers
3. They are resentful of the absurd idea that the views of citizens and Councillor Mutton have a legitimate role in the governance of the town.
If anonymous or others are ashamed of the non-responsive non-democratic council they should make public or private efforts to get the other councillors to govern the town properly.
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