Why isn't anybody dressed in blue stepping forward?

For the past two election cycles the local PCs have been coasting. After the decision by Doug Galt not to have another term in office his wife Cathy stepped up to the plate. She lost to Loo Rinaldi. Now that the latest polls have "little mike" Hudak's neocons even with the "fiberals" (ahead in Eastern Ontario) why doesn't the local party have a candidate?

Perhaps they do but we haven't even heard a sniff from interested parties, only the stale rumour about Linda Thompson wanting it. That is not good enough in these days where we have a Lib incumbent on the ropes and the NDP not even murmering.

Announcements

#1 From W Keeler to the Mayor

"I request 10 minutes to make a Power-Point presentation to Cobourg Town Council concerning the footprint left on Victoria Park by Northumberland Ribfest. I want to display the challenge that must be met by future organizations wishing to utilize the lush and beautiful grounds of Victoria Park as a venue. I want to make several recommendations to prevent any further similar harm to the grounds of Victoria Park.

Attached is a Power-Point presentation of the content that I wish to exhibit to illustrate the challenge that must be addressed.

Mayor Peter Delanty said it right on when he referred to Victoria Park as “the crown jewel of Cobourg.” I declare my interest as a life-long heavy user of Victoria Park.

#2 from the Dave Glover campaign.

Dave Glover to File Nomination Papers at Town Hall, Tuesday, August 31 at 11:30 a.m.

Contact Dave at: votedaveglover@cogeco.ca

What is a tourist

Many postings reveal many attitudes. The most lively discussions that  take place on these pages are those about the Victoria Park visitors. Why is this? Is it because of the many rigid opinions that have emerged. On one side we have the residents who are fed up with having to cater to many visitors, most  of whom do not look like them, thus being perceived as threats. On the other we have many who are willing to embrace the idea of a diverse bunch of people enjoying themselves in our resources. The official response to this influx of visitors is to attempt to discipline them and force a behaviour on them by regulation of almost anything that might contribute to the beach experience.

But one of the latest comments reveals an very vexing question - "What is expected of a Tourist?"  The Town has been successful in promoting the Town and are now unprepared for the influx that came, who's fault is that. And was the Town only expecting visitors with wads of cash or "lookyloos". It appears that the Tourism Department has only done half the job - getting people here. Now it has to use that resource to take advantage of them. But in doing so does the Town ask itself - what is a tourist?

Using myself as an example, our family is now spending 75% of our disposable income on tourism related activities and in our travels we have never asked ourselves "How much do we have to spend in a place when we get there?" The idea of going to a place to spend money is way down on the list of tourist activities. Buying admission tickets to local sights maybe, the cost of getting there but the notion of buying another teeshirt to remember the place by or picking up a souvenir is not on. Definitely the thought of buying a meal does come up, but if we decide to have a picnic no money on meals. To answer the Cobourgers' plight - that of asking the visitor to the beach to spend some money downtown is not in our destiny whenever we visit a strange place. And the last thing on our minds is to take out garbage home with us. We look for a well adminstered location with plenty of garbage receptacles. I know of no other tourist destination where the expectation is that one trucks the trash home.

A guest post

submitted by Wally Keeler

Martin Partridge posted in the local papers, MY IDEAS RE VICTORIA PARK; THE BEACH “Enforcement is essential. Scofflaws undermine the rules and make us look ridiculous. Garbage and environment are big issues. How about a daily ‘environment fee’ for non-resident adults? Parking is another big issue. Why don’t we stop non-resident car access to the core on busy days? Force guests to walk in from further away. They’d bring less stuff and maybe visit downtown en route.”

The first two sentences I would dismiss as legal tough talk which caters to the Corktown crowd. It’s a throwaway.

” Garbage and environment are big issues.

No problem for the garbage. More bins and weekend overtime for staff for the really really busy weekends.

” How about a daily ‘environment fee’ for non-resident adults?”

How do you collect it? How do you ascertain whether someone is resident or not? How many staff will be delegated to carry this out. Will this be a summer job? Or special weekends only? Will Northumberland residents get a weekend exemption for Northumberland Ribfest, but others outside Northumberland pay full fee? Where will the checkpoints be?

” Parking is another big issue. Why don’t we stop non-resident car access to the core on busy days?”

Really? Is this a serious question? On busy days, we stop cars to check their residency status? Create a traffic nightmare? And where would the checkpoints be placed? Can’t do that to Provincial Highway 2 aka King Street. So how ya gonna carry this out? How many staff will be involved to carry this out? This is one of the most bizarre ideas I have ever heard.

”Force guests to walk in from further away.”

Don’t ya just love it when a political hopeful is honest enough to use the word “force”. Because I live within half a block of Victoria Park, I’ll have to tell my Guelph-resident friend, James Clarke, former Ontario Supreme Court Justice, that he will be forced to walk a block or two to visit me on certain days of the year. I could never imagine treating a guest like that – how inhospitable can you get?

”They’d bring less stuff and maybe visit downtown en route.”

Stuff? Is that the idea. The problem with the park is that outsiders bring stuff. What? Blankets? Umbrellas? Children’s toys? Folding chairs? Coolers? Propane BBQs (They’re legal), Beach balls, Volleyballs? Etc. Yep, the loutsiders will feel the hospitality of this feel good attitude. What’s with the “maybe”? I’d want to be far more certain that the loutsiders do visit downtown and buy stuff, before I’d set residency checkpoints on all streets leading to “the core.”

Check a bit of history. Victoria Park was privately owned in 1874, but was always accessible to the public. That is the legacy of this park. Mr Partridge has diminished this legacy with his suggestion. At least Gil Brocanier is known to have dived off the pier in his youth, along with many other young men over the long history of Cobourg harbour.

I hope Don isn't right

There is a nasty discussion going on about a proposed development that sums up everything that is wrong with the  planning and approval process as currently designed.

The old curling club building, on Queen St., that for years has housed a procession of auto repair shops is now going to be torn down and a developer proposes to build (what else?) condos. The problem is that this is a small site and in order to maximize his profit he needs to build five stories high. In an area where there is only one other five storey building, the norm is three, this will be a high one. Not only that the building will be abutting two popular bars and grills. The owner of the nearest, the Oasis Bar and Grill, is predicting that if the building goes ahead and is built during the next two summers he will be out of business. Unfortunately if he survives the building period that will only be the start of his troubles. The new owners of the condos won't be long in complaining about the mirth and merriment on tap. Those corrosive complaints will put to shame the nasty complaint process seen recently from the 'Baystreeters' about noise in the Victoria Park. Neighbours will complain about anything they can, witness the complaints the Marina receives regularly about its noisy lawnmowers.

Where does the problem lie at the moment? On Council's doorstep. The committee of the whole approved the application 4-3 with the Mayor obviously casting the deciding vote. While the Official Plan calls for progress that progress must be balanced with the uses of the existing neighbourhood. Obviously the two uses here - a quiet residential domicle and outdoor music on a busy patio will clash. Council for its own sake - does it want to be the referee of noise for the foreseeable future - should declare the two uses incompatible and come down on the side of common sense and limit the building to three storeys with sound barriers or not allow it to be built citing incompatibility.

Declining Fortunes by Deb O'Connor

Yesterday I travelled along Highway 2 from Dale Road in Welcome on to Oshawa. It was the first time in nearly two years I had taken this route, a familiar one I have grown to love since I was a kid before we even had Hwy #401. Then, it was the only way to get to Toronto and my Dad would entertain us with stories of local history as we made the rather long trip. At least for a kid it was a long trip.

After this long, there were changes along the way. Ugly sub divisions have started to mar not only Bowmanville but Newcastle too, where they seemed especially out of place among the rolling hills and creeks. A new and huge suburban nightmare has grown even larger west of Bowmanville, with a brand new Wal Mart announcing it's open for business even as the construction continues around their store. Oshawa itself looked especially run down and dirty with large expanses of concrete and dust and rubble all over the place.

While I noted these so-called improvements, there were revealing indicators that suggest prosperity is dwindling for many of us. Stores and businesses that didn't exist the last time I went by are already closed and empty, and the shops and restaurants in Bowmanville, while appearing quite busy, seemed to be catering to a demographic that is unlikely to support much growth on a long term basis. Like in Cobourg, I wonder how many dead flower arrangements and wooden carved objects a consumer can buy before satiation occurs. Likewise, how many restos offering lunches of fancy salads and miniscule portions of seafood can a community use?

What really struck me though was the number of single family homes with large boats and recreational vehicles small and large with For Sale signs on them. Many of the homes had the same signs on their front lawns. Seeing all this it's hard not to wonder if the inhabitants lost their jobs, used up their unemployment benefits and were now looking at their possessions to try and generate some grocery money.

In Cobourg we now have two pay day loan type places, and three pawn shops in operation. What does that tell us about the state of the local economy? Combined with the dramatic increases to the welfare rolls, the increased use of food banks and emergency assistance, it's nothing to celebrate. Are our candidates for municipal office even aware of the desperation and poverty that exists here?

Coming at it from a larger perspective, we know that home sales have tanked, not only in the USA but now in Canada too. Stock exchanges all around the world keep falling, and while Canadian banks are still posting profits, they are not as big as the banks expected.

Is this all just summer doldrums, a blip on the trading floors that will soon reverse itself? Or are we seeing the early symptoms of a world wide decline in human fortunes as some think. Combined with the ravages of extreme weather all over the world, not to mention the extreme politics that seem to be emerging, are we in big trouble that we are totally unprepared for?

The next few years are going to be very interesting as the consequences of human development land on all of us, rich or poor. Are we ready, willing, and able to meet the challenge? We'd better be, this ain't gonna be pretty.

Australia is in a mess

For those who did not know Australia had an election a few days ago and we still don't know who won. The ruling Labour Party (somewhat lefties) and the somewhat righties the Liberals now have to woo three very independent independents to get a majority story here.

So how did Aussieland get to this point? The ruling Labs only a couple of months ago, while struggling in the polls, tossed their leader overboard in a palace-coup. The new leader - Julia Gillard - seized power and proceeded to drive the electoral bus right into the ditch. The electorate thoroughly cheesed at the shenanigans and the lack of meaningful policy and U-turns on existing policy were apathetic about all of the pols and it showed in the "anyone but those" votes at the polls.

Lessons learned for us are: that Pols need platforms not personality, the electorate are not sheeple to be pushed by polls or pols and substance beats flash everytime. But the danger is that voters get indecisive results - look at the UK and now Australia and wait for the American results in November. Locally look at Ford in Toronto beating up on the rest because the rest are bad candidates. Even in Cobourg we only have seven people on the Councillor ballot where the average for years has been twelve. Nobody but bums wants to be politicians - Why?

Council briefs

Today at 4pm the cobourg Council will listen to seven delegations, that's good for at least two hours of listening and questions. But one of the delegates is a person named Jerry Ford, perhaps he is the putative candidate for Council who may be sussing out the joint and picking a chair. He will be talking about a very valid issue - why is there no pool in the Community centre.

Also for the watchers of the Community Centre questions will be asked about the move to set up a "special contingency fund" of $500,000 to be funded from council's 'playmoney' fund - the HoldCo dividends. If the Project is on track why do they need another half million?

And the hoary chestnut of a pay raise is being punted to the next Council, a report about the wisdom of a payraise and how much it should be is to be presented as a first order of business for the new Council in January. No cajones in this motion. This Council should be ruling on this before the election to avoid the stupid gotcha questions at an all candidates meeting - "Will you be taking a raise?" and the equally stupid reply from cowardly candidates of "No", "Perhaps" and "I'll decide when I see how much it is".

Another decree from Councillor NO

Cobourg is a fine collection of signs telling us what we cannot do. Wally Keeler has chronicled this fact with a mighty fine photo essay here. Well on Monday night Councillor NO - Bob Spooner will add another notch to his "ban list" - a "No Diving from the Pier" law. Citing the fact that people who perform this practise have been cutting their feet on zebra mussels that have attached themselves to the rocks Council will now protect the bottoms of people's feet by banning them from stepping on the rocks by prohibiting them from diving off the Pier. So folks say goodbye to the happy practise of the young playing on the Pier.

In a facebook posting today somebody who will remain nameless complained about a pimply-faced rentacop searching his wife's purse before entry to the fenced area that contained Ribfest. This civil libertarian then faced howls of scorn for protesting and was told many times "If you don't want to be searched don't go in there". A very simplistic and fascist argument. Kudos to the guy who complained, now all we have to do is highlight Cobourg's many "do not do this in our Town" signs and then we can move on as lovers of freedom instead of being obedient sheeple.

Rob Ford vs. Immigration Facts

Since Critical1 was interested in having a discussion about immigration in the face of Rob Ford's recent rants on that topic, I did some poking around to come up with the following facts. They are rather different than the myths we keep hearing from Fold and his ilk.

Ford claimed last week that Toronto is planning for an additional one million immigrants in the next ten years. Actually, the city's Official Plan predicts half that many (537,000) over the next twenty years. Quite a difference. You could even call it significant. Ford is either lying to play to his base, or just doesn't know the facts.

Our own Critical1 opines that maybe we are getting the wrong kind of immigrants since most of them end up in poverty. That ignores the reality that our government rules make it almost impossible for trained professionals to qualify to work at their professions once here. Despite years of promises to change those rules, nothing much has happened and we have trained doctors driving cabs. We have rigorous screening programs that eliminate prospective immigrants who don't have money and skills. That is the truth of the matter. So we are getting the "right kind" of immigrants, we just go to extraordinary lengths to grind them down once they are here. Ask the provincial Medical Associations why they do that, my own speculation might suggest a motive like hobbling the competition and that would be totally unfounded, only the gut feeling of a tired cynical socialist.

The Conference Board of Canada, hardly a special interest group, tells us our national economy would gain five billion annually if immigrants were able to work in the professions they trained in. Sounds good to me.

The Royal Bank of Canada recommended boosting immigration in Canada from the current rate of 240-265,000 per year, up to 400,000. The report, called "Diversity Advantage" was produced in 2005. Among other things, it reminded us that we need more people in Canada to keep the engines turning, meaning working and paying taxes. As someone poised to begin collecting my government retirement pension after all those years paying into it, I certainly see the value in having younger, working people continuing to pay into Canada Pension as well as funding our vital public services like health care and education. Since people of my generation and younger just haven't produced enough offspring to do it, more people from other parts of the world are required if we want to maintain our current system and lifestyle, and most of us do.

Immigrants aren't the problem, it's how the federal and provincial governments go about their settlement that does that. For starters, we should be running aggressive programs to ensure they choose smaller centres to go to live, then providing whatever additional training they need to get to work in their chosen fields. Our new citizens will fare much better that way, and all of us will benefit from their presence here.

We can no longer pretend that Canada is some sainted haven only for those born here. Our future will be bleak if we persist in that kind of xenophobic thinking. In the 21st century it is all one world, and we will sink or swim together.

A facebook hack?

This was the entry on John Floyd's facebook page. John Floyd in an interview vehemently denies that he posted it. Strange.

The immediacy of the Internet

This just in at 09.33

"I must say Ben I did not put that there a friend posted that as a bithday joke as yesterday was my birthday ."
thank you
John Floyd

so there you are folks John is not looking for a cartoonist his friends are!

People will complain about anything

A Solar energy farm located on scrubby class 6 agrictultural land story here was the subject of a meeting in Baltimore recently. Those in opposition don't have much to complain about except the charge that their view of the countryside will be affected.  If that's the case people you go ahead and buy the land and then you can look at pristine, but agriculturally poor, land without the blight of passive solar collectors.

Meanwhile here's my whine of the day: the music in the Victoria Park bandshell in Cobourg should have a decibel limit placed on it. When you can hear the bandshell music as far away as Elgin St. don't you think that's a good indicator of "loud". This is one complaint of the Baystreeters that I agree with, oops that's wrong they only complain about ethnic music!!

If you want to win get serious

John Floyd is looking for a campaign cartoonist. apply within. This appeal appeared on Facebook yesterday.

As we all know John Floyd will be announcing his candidacy for the position of Mayor of Port Hope on the 25th at a BBQ at his house on Madison St.. This perennial candidate has tried before and lost, this time he feels it will be a better chance. But in order to do better he has to lose his image of gad-about populist angry guy and get serious. This facebook appeal may have been in jest but the last thing a serious candidate needs is a cartoonist. Try a good copywriter instead perhaps even an image-maker too.

This is bizarre

The Ontario PCs issued a press release and it was picked up by Northumberlandview.ca here. This release takes the McGuinty government to task for not making Lou Rinaldi a Cabinet member in the latest shuffle. First of all who are these faceless people in the PCs? Last time I looked the local PCs were floundering to find a candidate to run against Loo. Secondly since when does "Little Mike"  speak for constituents in NQW. Thirdly by nominating Loo to be Cabinet material is says bucket loads about the standards of a Hudak Cabinet, presumably Loo would be a key member if he was a PC!

The Ford saga continues

The old saw "There is no such thing as bad publicity" certainly holds true for the fat guy running for Mayor of Toronto. Rob Ford riding his one trick pony seems to be taking it down the road of success. The more outrageous his behaviour becomes the more his supporters howl in glee. Makes remarks about immigrants, shown to be a man with a faulty memory not being able to remember a conviction in Florida, but then he couldn't remember what he said at the maple Leaf gardens after an evening of lubrication. His record of self-abuse which leads to memory loss is working out well for him amongst the lads. White males love this guy. His one trait for electoral success appears to be one of the populist type. But we have been down this road before. Angry white males voted in grat numbers for that other person who "did what he said he was going to do". Unfortunately Mike Harris didn't do what he said he would do half of the time and still gained a reputation for doing it all. 

Frankly the BurdReport is appalled at a candidate who doesn't admit to his warts but in fact denies them. Having warts is OK but lying about them is not. Just remember the front runner of four months ago being hounded from the race when Adam Gianbrone, a single man admitted to having a bit on the side - he admitted it and was booted. What does the fat buffoon Ford have to do to get booted too? 

Fun on the Pier

A guest post from W Keeler - to view the pic click on it

Cobourg's waterfront was assaulted by outsiders Monday afternoon. The outside agitators came from the west, an unrelenting swarm of heavy breezes silting Corktown with fine sand dredged up earlier in the year. The outside agitators also stirred up some exhilarating head-banger waves to entice local teenagers to the bottom end of Division Street.  

Occasional waves exploded two or three stories into the air, drenching girls who perched themselves, like sweet little seagulls, on the steel railing that perimeters the pier. 

There were three boys and a girl in the frothing turbulence of the water, riding the surface currents of the waves. It was a wonderful display of mental alertness and physical strength and endurance of their prime-of-life bodies. The background ambience is Danger. Risky behaviour? Of course. How else does a human being test their abilities? 

 

The waves had a rough rhythm roughly learned by the teens, when they were climbing the ladder, the impact and withdrawal of a single wave ripped them off the rungs and pulled them back down in to the deep. One of the boys gripped the girl's arm to ensure her safety. She successfully made to the arms of a girlfriend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, everyone is safe and secure, drenched in a lifetime memories. They will eventually become responsible civilians, pass through two or three decades, and recall the sheer exhilaration if this day. One older woman admonished the teens, telling them the fine details of bashed heads, lungs full of water, etc. It reminded me of the words of Irving Layton in The Whole Bloody Bird: "It is cruel for the old to inflict their disillusioned wisdom on the young. Fortunately it is also impossible."    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online gambling - what are the odds?

British Columbia has online gambling, it is outlawed in the USA and many rinky-dink nations have embraced it as a way to make money. Premier Dad has decided that Ontario should get into it later this year. After voicing concerns for many years he has come around to the position of his Lottery Czar – Paul Godfrey, who on his very fiirst  interview after being appointed, mused about getting into online gambling. So what will make online gamblers switch to the OLG? Nobody knows but as online gamblers have the world to choose from the odds on the OLG site better be more than average. This will be the norm – online offers to entice numbers to the site and better odds will keep them there, although the complexity of the games and the ability of the games to hold gamblers’ attention will be necessary.

The downside is that without investing heavily in programs for problem gamblers this will be a very risky and immoral venture. Once again a demonstration of greed before morality. Perhaps if the proceeds of this new venture were to be dedicated to health care or any other such government program rather than just being pumped into general revenue the public may be more accepting.

Legalise Pot, Not Gambling

Recently I watched some coverage of Proposition 19 , currently up for a vote in California. This innovative initiative is designed to raise tax revenue in that state, which is in imminent danger of not being able to run essential government services. Proponents want to legalise possession of small amounts of marijuana, setting up a system to collect taxes on its sale like they do on alcohol. They figure they can raise 1.4 billion a year doing it, and polls show 52% of Californians support it.

Watching the show my thoughts turned to our own Premier Dad announcing last week that online gambling, once disdained by him and his party, is to be the latest new tax generating tool of our government. I'm no expert on addictions, and no gambler either, but my gut (don't need no experts to tell me stuff) assures me that many more lives have been ruined by obsessive gambling than obsessive pot smoking, if there even is such a thing, which I doubt.

There are enough closet puffers out there to finance a few government projects, believe me, and there are also many pot growers in the province who would welcome a chance to grow and sell their product legally.

California will have the same problem as Ontario if pot was legalised though, and that is a federal government with a contrary law. While the feds in the USA are relaxing their stance, allowing medical marijuana in its military hospitals in the 14 states where medicinal pot is legal, we would certainly face a huge battle here with Captain Stevie and his Robot Puppets in charge. They're the guys who keep busting and jailing disabled people who have medical certificates to smoke up in Canada. It could take some convincing to bring them along. They'd have to think up new uses for all the jails they want to build, for one thing. Maybe hydroponic grow-ups, I'm sure we can think of something useful.

All I know is given a choice between sitting in front of a computer screen gambling away the rent money, and paying a tax on pot like we do at the liquor store, I'll take the latter option any day. It's so much less perilous for the people.

Anonymous postings

Yet another muse about anonymous postings. This comes in response to both a desire to do something different with the site and a question from Greg Hancock, who like many others is getting a little peeved with the ease that anonymouses can snipe from the bushes and PO the rest of the site. Pleading guilty to having a liberal policy about comments it is realised that such a policy is not pleasing to some.

The answer is to transfer to another platform where comments have to be accompanied by an email address. This email address should not be displayed but known only to me. You don't give it up you don't get to play. The real alternative would be to switch on the 'users only' switch to read the site and that is far too private. We at the BR like comments but bear with us as we tighten them up a bit.

BTW if you are really interested in the next phase of the BR checkout this beta site and submit comments and explore the work so far. The difference in this site is that when comments are submitted you will asked to submit a name and email address. The details will be confidential, the name chosen will be shown and all that this will do is PO the anonymousers who hide behind anons. Just to restate you can still be anonymous but youo must provide an email address. Even this can be a pseudonym as yahoo and google mail can be faked.

Pssst - want to buy your neighbours' junk

If you do head on down to the largest yard-sale in the province. Sales from one end of the Town to the other. This collectin of tables was in Victoria park, presumably these folks either came from out of Town or live in apartments. The best buy of the day was at the Library book sale - five for a dollar, everyone else was at least fifty cents or a dollar each. Great fun and a wonderful Saturday morning.

Jerry Ford is revealed - check out "jerryford.ca"

jerryford.ca

Perusing the list of names on the Town of Coboug's website page that shows the names of filed candidates, we have a person called Jerry Ford. Nothing in the MSM yet, how does this person expect to get noticed if there is no publicity? Ditto with Wayne DeVeau. He has put his name forward but some people do know who he is, probably not as many as he thinks there are!

So go to it folks - if you intend to run filing your name is not enough, we have to know who you are.

Met John Floyd today, he tells me that he will be announcing his candidacy for the Mayor's spot in Port Hope, at his house on August 25th. That's only eight weeks before the voting day - not much time but the big difference with John is that he has been running for Mayor for the past twelve years since the last time he ran.

Mr Marin makes a call

The Ontario Ombudsman, Mr Marin, has issued a report, some call it scathing, about the way LHINs conduct their public consultations about decisions that affect the public. In the case of a LHIN in Niagara it closed emergency rooms with decisions made behind closed doors, after a period of questionable public consultations.

In Cobourg we have had closures of hospital run clinics bsed on approval by "public consultation". A citizens panel was established (opinions abound about the legitimacy of that process) and they recommended that closure take place. If memory is correct this panel only had one public session out of five held. Does that make the cut under Mr Marin's rules? If it doesn't then the opponents case that the closings were out of line hold water. Anyway it seems that Mr Biron and his high priced consultants will have to head back to the drawing board to design a proper and transparent consutation process for the next round of cuts, that are as inevitable as night follows day.

Don't make wishes - you might get more than you dreamed of.

This adage comes to mind when it  was revealed that paper ballots , in Cobourg, are as dead as the dodo. A dangerous move and one subject to manipulation. Now people may call the objectors to voting machines and internet voting conspiracy theorists or just plain cranks but as the guy in Missouri says, "If I can't see it I don't trust it!" Just remember the missing votes in the Al Gore election and who are these people running the election anyway, they certainly aren't the little old ladies with the blue hair that have been running electioni all their lives? 

Say goodbye to recounts and polling figures. This move will throw political science for a loop. Nobody will know where the votes come from, only those who vote. The wonderful thing about this is that traditonal  "vote-pulling" and "marked lists" are gone so local rainmakers are now redundant. After all how will scrutineers know who has voted and when? Internet voting has reduced the election period by a week as any candidate stupid enough to waste time door-knocking in the voting period will be met with the voter at the door telling them that not only did the voter vote but guess what, "And I voted for you!"

So the modern day mystery will be the way internet voting will unfold, every body has access to a computer and if motivated enough to get off the couch and put the beer down might do it. We can't wait for the mystery to begin.

Guess who's coming to dinner, and all day too, tomorrow

This guy- that's who. How many wet knickers will be found after the event, how many orgasmic dreams will be fulfilled just by shaking his hand? All questions answered tomorrow.
Itinerary below:

Date:               Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Time:              10:30a.m. – 11:30am 

      

Location:        Community Living Campbellford/Brighton 

                    65 Bridge St. E. Campbellford, ON

 Tour of facility then Mr. Trudeau will be speaking to a group of invited guests on Volunteerism in Canada

     

  - and -

Time: 12:15 pm-1:10pm

Location:  Kelsey's Restaurant 227 Dundas Street East Quinte West

Meet & Greet local residents.

  - and -

Time: 3:10pm- 3:40pm

Location: Cobourg Lions Centre 157 Elgin Street East,  Cobourg

Mr. Trudeau participating with children from the Victoria Park Childcare Centre to prepare for backpacks for the Northumberland United Way Backpack for Kids Program
 
- and -

Time: 4:15pm -5:30pm

Location: Home of Dr. Mark and Elaine Azzopardi 7330 Bell Hill Road Port Hope

Mr. Trudeau joining invited guests for a BBQ

I guess the tickets to the good Doctors house will be well sought after, after all it is invite only! 


Sponsored by Kim Rudd Federal Liberal Candidate Northumberland Quinte West, if any good libs want to take notes the BR will mighty appreciative - just email them in.

Just a quick sum-up

With the board agreeing that events mar the normal performance of Vic Park this thought has been nagging me for the past 1000kms - why can't the RibFest be placed on the pier? A much more secure and larger place for everything. Perhaps we should be using this space for something productive seeing as we don't allow people to park there.

A maaaarvellooous idea

Comments do work, not just mindless anonymouses sniping at each other, this snippet, from Gail Rayment, came into a previous post,  where ideas for beach activities are being discussed.

" Now - what I would like to see happen is that some of our visitors be invited to participate in a version of Food on the Danforth, so that we can sample all the delicious foods we smell being prepared. That would certainly get me to the beach" 

This is a fantastic idea. Why don't we pick up on it - suggestions anybody

Another negative comment about visitors

Councillor Bob (why do I have big feet?) Spooner gave his opinion about the visitors to Victoria Park and made a few revealing remarks. Quote from NToday story here, " Spooner said, is the fact that weekend visitors to the beach are leaving their garbage and not spending their money." Perhaps if the local commercial sector had something to offer then money might get spent.

The other worrying suggestion is the move to ban bbqs from the Park. This would seem to be punitive rather than helpful to tourism and should be resisted. In a remark that reveals a total lack of understanding about the visitors he is quoted, ""Whatever happened to Tupperware and cheese sandwiches?" What part of ethnic food is a cheese sandwich?

However all this discussion is good and maybe we can turn the debate into one of positivism - accept the influx of visitors as good and figure out a way to separate them from their money. [Good luck on that one Russell Peters has based his act on his tightwad Indian dad see this youtube excerpt. - ed]

An uncrowded beach?

Sunday 8th August, 1.30pm - no crowds on the beach yet. Maybe the weather, maybe not a holiday weekend and not a weekend with an event to crowd out visitors. Many suppositions but the fact remains the beach only gets crowded when there is an event - volleyball, Canada Day, ribfest etc. So perhaps the answer to the problem may be the curtailing of the outreach activities by the Town, stop the tourists coming and keep the beach clear!

A suggestion heard from a newcomer

As part of the ongoing discussion about the conditions on the beach: overcrowding, lack of local exclusivity and the inability to enjoy "beach conditions" because of the restrictions on beach vendors imposed by a Council beholden to DBIA influence the question was asked by the newest member of the BurdReport's extended Cobourg family, at the last family gathering - "why are there no vendors on the beach?"

Beach vendors - you know the type - hawkers of sunglasses, beach food, ice cream and other summery trashy stuff. The only answer available was that Council in it's wisdom has never allowed anybody other than the concessionnaire to be in business at the beach. "Why is that" was the next question. "Because the DBIA has always complained about the vendors, if allowed don't pay taxes and support the local community."

So here's the suggestion: allow the DBIA members to sell their wares on the beach and in the Park. If they don't want to and a case can be made for that, if they don't want to open on Sundays why would they bother to sell stuff in the Park; allow unrestricted "Pedlars and Hawkers licences" to be issued.  The DBIA cannot have it both ways complaining vociforously enough to kowtow Council and then not take advantage of the monopoly they have created.

Just a suggestion.

The same old problem

Anonymous comments are a pain in the arse! As regular readers are aware the BurdReport has been in the habit of moderating, and allowing, anonymous comments. This practice has been a source of amusement, annoyance and frustration for some people including the publisher. The BR's policy about anonymous comments is simple - if it is not abusive toward another identifiable poster, if is not too profane, and the profanity policy has been stretched lately, or if the comment is just way out of line - it is moderated but rejected.

Interestingly enough the other day the BR was phoned by another local blogger who asked if we knew a particular anonymous poster. The BR responded with the answer that if the post is not profanely objectionable or too personal it will get posted just to show how silly some people are.

However a question has been posed about the policy of anonymous posts - should the BR ban them? Well readers, we have had this discussion before - should we ban them? If we don't what sort of policy should be implemented. Let's make this a participatory discussion [redundant?-ed]. You tell us what the rules should be, we will post them and reject those comments that fail to match the policy. Unfortunately the programme does not allow an email back to the offender so for the time being only by not being posted will the miscreants find out how their comments do not match posting policy.

A response to the whine of the year

from Wally Keeler a keen observer of all things

According to Cobourg resident, Anita Steins, there is a "beach fiasco" of "epic proportions." Her letter-to-the-editor of Northumberland Today ended with her assertion that, "I too would like to enjoy our beach at least once this year." If she has not been on the beach once this year, how could she know there is any situation on the beach other than via Pete Fisher's smear-job journalism.

Many in 'Corktown' have wide boulevards between curb and sidewalk. It could easily be widened to provide ease of parking and permit emergency vehicles clear access on the very, very few days in the year when parking is stressed. Beach safety is enhanced by moving the lifeguard chairs forward and adding a few extra lifeguards for the very, very few days in a year when crowds necessitate it.

This is the part of Ms Stein's letter that I find particularly offensive. "Those who come here to enjoy our free beach rarely are the kind who spend any money here. They have their day, ignore our laws, leave their trash and go home."

I recall those endless summer days of hippies hitch-hiking across Canada. Occasionally, some rolled out a sleeping bag in the park/beach. Bigots-of-the-day smeared them: hippies were unwashed, smelly, girls had hairy armpits and legs, ignore laws and convention, leave their garbage and move on to pollute the next community. The Cobourg Sentinel-Star's letters page was a display case of this distasteful attitude. The slanders, smears, and sneers against visiting hippies (really, just teenagers with long hair) had two wonderful defenders.

The publisher of the Cobourg Sentinel-Star, Foster Meharry Russell, wrote a wonderful editorial about observing some hippies with a small campfire glowing on the beach. In the morning he returned, and observed that the hippies had cleaned up their spot, placed the camp debris in a bin, and moved on to enjoy their land, Canada. He extolled their freedom.

When the issue of sleep-overs in the park came to town council, Deputy-Reeve, Lenah Field Fisher, a fabulous suffragette who wore extravagant hats, extolled the virtues of sleeping under the stars on warm nights. She referred to the dirty Thirties when the homeless unemployed sometimes slept overnight in the park on their quest for employment.

I live one block away from Victoria Park. I enjoy its presence in my life almost every day, any time of day. The Park/Beach is open 24 hours 365 days a year. The Park is crowded 10-15 days in a year, less than one percent of the year. Why are the few selfish self-centred Cobourgers so resentfully tight-fisted of sharing Cobourg's greatest asset.

Local resident, Steven MacLaughlin in his letter-to-the-editor called for action, "Our park and beach both stink with garbage and outsiders and it is time to clean it up!" Bigotry is the cause of the foul smell and it needs a major disinfectant.

All weekend I strolled through the park, and witnessed extended families from grandma on down to tots, enjoying themselves and each other, laughing, playing games, bonding as a family. How many homegrown Cobourgers take their extended families to the park on the other 350 days of the year?

Many of these 'visitors' came from countries where life is stressed with too lethal consequences. It is a hardship of which most Canadians are unfamiliar. Immigrants have a great resource - their kids. Canada gets their kids. In the meantime, many immigrants take low level jobs, work hard, live in apartments/condos, and deserve to enjoy Canada's freedom and prosperity.

The presence of these visitors in Canada's free parks is part and parcel of their assimilation into our society. These new Canadians make me feel good. I enjoy the smells of their cooking. I enjoy the extravagant glee of their tumbling children. I enjoy that I can witness this in a feel good country, a feel good town and a feel good Park.

Shame on Northumberland Today's hyperbolic exploitation of NOTHING. Were there any picnic tables broken or garbage bins tipped over? Were any lamp posts toppled or broken? Bushes and flowers uprooted? Were there any brawls? In the absence of any this, why would Northumberland Today amplify the message, "Heads should roll"?

The first whine of the year

Well Pete Fisher has done it again. With a rewrite of his article of last year - Beach Woes in Cobourg (my paraphrase) the predictable response has happened. The first of many letters about the visitors ruining the beach for Cobourgers has appeared here.  The writer complains about visitors taking over and the crush of visitors causing a safety hazard. If the writer had been following the MSM she would have been aware that in the middle of that crush, lasr weekend, a missing child alert was issued. The beach was cleared of swimmers and a search initiated in the water. The children were found and safety systems worked. So where's the cry for less people on the beach going to go when we have proved that safety measures work and works well. If the writer of the article wishes to have the Cobourg beach reserved for Cobourgers she should say so. If not then get up earlier in the morning and get a spot on the beach. 

Unfortunately for the people who bought into the 'private' lifestyle that they think they have when they buy in Cobourg, private beach ownership is not on the list. In fact the Cobourg beach isn't an exclusive preserve of Cobourgers - it is a resource to be shared.

If it wasn't so bloody stupid it would be ludicrous

Minister Day, the man who believes the earth is only 6,000 years old, did it again yesterday - said something completely preposterous. The problem is that this statement is used to spend a whack of tax money. He justified the spending of money on new prisons because crime stats are not reliable, therefore we have to handle the influx of criminals, because of the number of 'unreported crimes'. Taken to its extreme we will build prisons to house the perpetrators of 'unreported crimes'. The problem is if they, the crimes, are unreported how do we trace the perpetrators to put them in prison?

OK the summers over

Historically it's all down hill for the weather from now on. August has never been as hot as July and although it may seem hot today it won't last. So now that most of you have taken vacation - last two weeks in July - what's next?

If you are a driver under 22 no drinks that's what. This new measure of Premier Dad adding to the nanny-state and gladening the hearts of MADD may be over the line for libertarians and equality lovers. How can age based legislation routinely over-ride the provisions of the Charter of Rights where age based discrimination is legal? The old argument of a person being able to die for their Country at the age of 18 and not getting a drink is valid. Surely age based legislation should be illegal and the problems of bad drivers and drunk driving for the at risk age groups should be an insurance problem not a criminal or HTA one!

Summer Time Blues

This is the time of year I start yearning for cold winter nights when a big pot of chili or soup on the stove warms up the kitchen and brings smiles to the hungry family. Even though it's only early August it feels like the summer heat has gone on too long, and attempts at sitting outside in the cooler evening can be counted by the angry red insect bites up and down itchy legs and arms.

Enough already! I am as trapped inside by the ridiculous heat and humidity as much as with any snow storm, and at least winter storms end. This summer the weather should have cured any climate change denier of their doubts. We can argue forever if it's man made or natural, but either way it's real and it's happening now, all over the world.

In casting around for the good things of summer, I do find solace in the abundance of tomatoes ripening in the garden, thanks to nightly watering, and the appearance of what looks like a bumper crop of local corn ready to eat just about now. And at least, with a BBQ king in residence, cooking in the kitchen is a task relegated to those other three seasons.

There's also Cobourg's Rib Fest to look forward to, and then the Roseneath Fair to celebrate the coming of autumn. At least the summer ends eventually.

We're not going to talk about politics today, it would only spoil the mood.