Comments on The Burd Report: Races appear

autocracy has its roots in unilateral power, much ...

2010-06-27T14:35:53.355-04:00

autocracy has its roots in unilateral power, much like the editor of a blog might exercise. Of course, those editors will protest being labeled such but the ordinary act of even monitoring input is a prelude to exercising autocratic power, isn't it? So, in reality, every living creature is subject to autocratic power of some kind, no matter how much it protests.

So, I'm afraid from that perspective, Merk's issue will never be resolved to his satisfaction. While, in some cases, there are strategies that can help, they're nowhere near as satisfying as a good headbutt, and that seems to be Merk's weapon of choice. It also seems to be taking its toll!

" the Critic said... Posters who insist on ma...

2010-06-26T20:42:22.505-04:00

" the Critic said...
Posters who insist on making personal attacks on others instead of mounting arguments against what was actually said are the reason some people don't particpate anymore.

I wonder how long it will take Mr. Muffley to decide it's not worth it?

Friday, June 25, 2010 12:37:00 PM EDT"

The chances of Mr. Muffley concluding that confronting one's detactors isn't 'worth it' are roughly comprable to Mr. Muffley winning a major lottery, getting lucky with Kay Kendal or solving the oil leak. It simply isn't going to happen. Furthermore, it isn't up to me to change -it's up to them. My over-use of the emphatic 'god-damns' and 'fuck this-es' seems to be tolerated by Our Dear Moderator -so long as those crude-ities are accompanied by subsatantitive argument. Thus, I dive headlong -minus the prequisete protective gear I left in some Nova Scotia coalmine somewhere.

But know this: This ain't about me. It ain't about anybody's personality, abrasive, insulting, condescending or otherwise. It is, quite simply, about the subject at hand -that subject determined by, unfortunately, the creepy little autocratic didact that runs this place when he's not driving a truck.

We all, frankly, should thank him.

Well, when we're not slagging the godamned piss out of him anyway....

Posters who insist on making personal attacks on o...

2010-06-25T12:37:47.584-04:00

Posters who insist on making personal attacks on others instead of mounting arguments against what was actually said are the reason some people don't particpate anymore.

I wonder how long it will take Mr. Muffley to decide it's not worth it?

"I love Paris in the spingtime said... Poor M...

2010-06-24T18:52:31.664-04:00

"I love Paris in the spingtime said...
Poor Merk..."

Somehow, "Poor Merk..." sounds to my ear like you feel sorry for me. Do you know me? Do I know you?

I don't need your pissant sympathy. I don't think you need mine -except in regards to your childlike inability to stick to a subject and make a cogent argument. But even at that, I'd never lower myself to saying "Poor I love Paris in the springtime..." because it would, I think, say a whole lot more about me and some kind of cheap, condescending attitude I'd recently developed (from watching too many American daytime Witch Trial TV shows probably) than it would about "I love Paris in the springtime", wouldn't it?

Or would it?

to "I love Paris...." If your argument...

2010-06-24T18:37:05.585-04:00

to "I love Paris...."

If your argument against anything I said is so weak, so empty and stupid -why bother? All you can do is attack me as opposed to my contention. Why?

I will not run for any elected office in Port Hope again because I was not "born here" and nor have I "lived here all my life". Port Hope is a repository of yokel stupidity beyond anything I ever could have imagined when I moved here 20 years ago.

I can only assume from your method of argument that you are part of that stupidity. I believe also that you are probably a sitting councillor. The only bright side I see in that is that you are eminently qualified.

No, I won't run again. As I said, I already did -twice. As Wally points out I scare people. Especially people who are easily scared. And Port Hope is full of them.

Is "I almost forgot" the corollary to &#...

2010-06-24T16:02:08.890-04:00

Is "I almost forgot" the corollary to 'I almost remembered'?

where does 'I don't recall' fit in?

or how about 'it escapes me'

Just how much time has to pass between wanting to recall something and actually recalling it for it to acquire the state of 'forgetting', or even 'not remembering'?

just some ponderances for a summer day.

THANK YOU Merk!! Finally, some jaw-bustin' st...

2010-06-24T14:37:45.943-04:00

THANK YOU Merk!!

Finally, some jaw-bustin' stuff to chew on. I really appreciate your sincerity and directness and it may come as a surprise to you that I have no argument with any of it. Not that that's of any consequence, but it may bring a smile to your countenance, something that might be a rarity, eh.

Sheesh Merk, now I understand why the municipal el...

2010-06-24T11:03:20.337-04:00

Sheesh Merk, now I understand why the municipal electorate of Port Hope made a loser of you twice over.

I'd vote for a loser like you.

I almost forgot: I don't want a council that...

2010-06-24T09:31:59.240-04:00

I almost forgot:

I don't want a council that makes me think of a line from a John Prine song every time I see them at The Ganny;

"There's a big ol' goofy man/Dancin' with a big ol' goofy girl/ Oh, baby -it's a big ol' goofy world."

Poor Merk...having a bad case of heat rash are we?...

2010-06-24T09:04:16.823-04:00

Poor Merk...having a bad case of heat rash are we? You're never happy anymore, always tilting at windmills.

While I will give props to anyone who puts themselves in the spotlight and runs for office there should be a point at which one puts up or shuts up and runs again.

I may not agree with Ben's politics most of time but he has served on town council and been the sacrificial candidate for the NDP on numerous occasions. He has also publicly participated in various ativities to improve the town. That gives his viewpoints a certain amount of street cred.

He also tends to provide rationale for his points of view (which I still may not agree with) that are usually well thought out and expressed.

And here's what I don't want: Teamwork. T...

2010-06-24T08:56:17.011-04:00

And here's what I don't want: Teamwork.

Teamwork applied to politics sucks the oxygen out of debate -and debate is what it's all about, not smiling blandly and handing every detail that comes before council over to a committee whose recomendations end up getting shelved anyway. The very proponents of Teamwork, whether in politics or in the workplace, are Rugged Individualists -the two-bit bullies that wouldn't play on a team if their lives depended on it but insist on Teamwork above all else -mostly because Teamwork puts forth a big, round, yellow Happy Face to anyone who might question what's really going on.

I don't want Orwellian Doublespeak either. If you're a member of The Harbour Commission in Port Hope, say it. Don't pass something on to the Harbour Commission when you ARE the Harbour Commission, accept it as being directed at you even though, at that precise moment, you're sitting in the Mayor's Chair.

I don't want federal money being spent on unnecessary projects just because federal money is available. Federal money is my money too and just because other municipalities see the need to piss it away on uselessness doesn't mean Port Hope had to have suicide lanes on Peter Street and Toronto Road and a sidewalk no one will ever use.

I don't want a council that hides behind Motherhood Issues like accessability. Yes accessability is important and yes I could be charged with being heartless and cruel for even questioning it and....that's exactly the point: Nobody can question it. It's fireproof. It's Motherhood Itself. And it's cowardly not to ask if the money being spent is being well spent or simply used to set up a protective barrier between taxpayers and those we elect.

I don't want an Industrial Park where no industry will ever exist.

I don't want Civic Ugliness. I want Civic Beauty. I want our historic fountains to work again. I want a Mayor and Council that realizes Port Hope's future lies in its past, that nostalgia sells and a Manhattan Project Museum on the Centre Pier highlighting the work of people like Jack Burger in helping create Fat Man and Little Boy would be a tourist draw like no other.

I don't want unelected busybodies running the town. No, I don't mean the unelected busybodies that show up at almost every council meeting. I mean the unelected busybodies that never show their faces. The unelected busybodies that fund the campaigns, invoke the brain trusts and pull the strings. Who in their right mind DOESN'T believe there's a plan to build condos on the Centre Pier? A plan nobody knows about yet because well-meaning preservationists are in fact aiding and abetting the busybodies by shrouding everything in a fog of controversy while the question goes unasked: Is there a plan extant to sell the Harbour Lands to a developer?

I don't want anyone seving on council who belongs to ANY service club. Why? Simple. If you vote yes to hand over a few bucks to a service club you DON'T belong to, then when the time comes for YOUR service club to go hat in hand, you could claim your club is deserving by virtue of the fact another club got the money they asked for and, furthermore, in the interests of overarching fairness, YOU actually voted in favour.

I don't want an Official Hymn. Need I say more? No, but I will: It was a stupid idea at its inception and it's a stupid idea now. Get rid of it.

A mayor needs to be a decisive leader who will cut...

2010-06-24T08:29:47.030-04:00

A mayor needs to be a decisive leader who will cut the bullshit and get some work done. To be less politician and more tactician. Port Hope council needs to talk less and do more.

Councillors need to run their portfolios in a similar fashion. Cut the fat and move on. This town cannot continue to spend to the point of an $8 million overdraft. It can't happen. If buses are running empty, stop them. If people aren't using services, end them. We cannot afford to run programs and services because it makes us feel good or we feel it's right. If the people of Port Hope are telling you they don't want the service - by not showing up - cut it. It's not like governing a town of less than 20 000 people is rocket science.

I want a councillor who knows that they can't be everything to everyone. A few old biddies who want a ride downtown doesn't call for a bus service that runs until 9pm. It's a waste of money and polluting.

"Vision" is a vague concept politicians use to get elected. This council has shown, however, that it is blind. They've purchased land for an industrial park. Where is the industry? Several empty downtown storefronts? Don't worry O'Hara says. It's the usual 'springtime shuffle' where all the businesses change locations. Absurd.

There have been at least two large projects that were reported in the newspapers that have fizzled. A wind-turbine plant and a media company from the US were to locate to Port Hope and have since disappeared. Why has council not publically held the feet of staff to the fire to get the answers as to what has happened with those projects?

Start with the ability to grasp the finer points o...

2010-06-23T21:11:35.192-04:00

Start with the ability to grasp the finer points of a given issue. Then, defend your point of view on that issue. Stand your ground if you don't like a motion on the floor. Say what you actually think and put forth the evidence that you actually do think -preferably independently as opposed to thinking with the herd -which isn't thinking at all.

Understand that to walk the streets in red high-heeled shoes is demeaning to both yourself and and the charity you think you're helping -to say nothing of women forced to walk the streets in red high-heeled shoes every day of their lives.

You don't have to ride a tiny tricycle the day after you're elected for a photo op. It looks stupid and childish and so do you.

Remember: You'll never live in a cool town unless you've got a cool council. Port Hope has the uncoolest council in the entire world.

Vision and experience mean nothing. I want electical brain activity measurable with common medical instruments. I want people who ask questions and question the answers to those questions -especially when the questions are asked of developers and the answers are just too good to be true. I want people who have the physical ability to raise one or both eyebrows -especially when evrybody else in the room is raising their eyebrows. I want people like Phil Clayton and Miriam Muton and -yes by God- Peter Kormos. I want, simply, people who aren't there for the lousy little supplementary paycheck but people who bring a point of view that's utterly engaging and beneficial to the community as a whole. And godamn it, they bring it by swimming upstream, that's for godamned sure. They don't bring it by way ot the back door to the local Rotary chapter or, as in Port Hope, the godamned squirrly red-jacketed Kinsmen weirdos.

Here's what I don't want: I don't want service club group think mediocrity running my town, spending my tax dollars -and sitting there bump-on-a-log-like cashing a godamned paycheck while mooning for Cogeco. I don't want a half-wit Sarah Palin impersonatior running every hare-brained idea that comes along -especially those she sees as he personal legacy prjects- up her personal flagpole and expecting the populace to automatically salute.

I want THINKING. That's all; THINKING.

And there ain't but fuck all of that happening at Port Hope council these days.

Would someone pleeeeeeease actually list those SPE...

2010-06-23T12:00:05.932-04:00

Would someone pleeeeeeease actually list those SPECIFIC things, qualities or anything, that they want in a mayor, and also in a councilor. Things like 'vision' or 'experience' mean little on their own so a bit of explanation for them is important. If we can't write it down, it's not clear enough in our minds to really know what it is that we want. So how about it folks, anybody got something, anything?

The problem in Port Hope is that the people who ac...

2010-06-23T08:53:26.058-04:00

The problem in Port Hope is that the people who actually go to the polls are the keepers of the status-quo. They will vote for the "born and raised" candidates, simply because they were born and raised here and I knew their parent/sibling/child... Many good candidates were unsuccessful last time simply because they did not have the surname "O'Hara, Watts, Lees, and Turck." These are old-time Port Hope families that everyone feels they can trust. It doesn't matter if the candidates can't manage their way out of a paper bag, Joe on Freeman Drive wants to vote for someone he knows, or at least feels he knows. They are trying desperately to keep the small-town feel by voting for people they feel they have a connection to.

There is no 'feel good hometown' mayoral candidate yet. If there isn't one, it's likely that Thompson will reign for another four years. The place still stands and that seemed to be good enough to get Rick Austin re-elected....

To merklin you did not lose you were not elected ,...

2010-06-23T00:40:52.467-04:00

To merklin you did not lose you were not elected ,thing can change port hope is need of real thought, You need to be there as for ,Thompson what a joke every thing is fine in wonderland new harbour, no closed store's higher taxes ,water cost though the roof , she should take a trip to Peter st. if she know's where it is! This town can't any more of her !

BTW trying2makesense, as for you calling me a &quo...

2010-06-22T20:50:44.434-04:00

BTW trying2makesense, as for you calling me a "coward" you dirty little coward, how many times have you put your own name on the ballot, how many times did you win, and how many times did you lose?

I ran twice, both times for council in Port Hope and I lost twice -but both times with pretty respectable showings that even saw the return of my deposit. Even though my doctor recommends against it, I regularly attend Port Hope council meetiungs where I have made a number of delegations and more often than not ask questions.

Please, feel free to tell us a little more about your own efforts in the political arena -especially before you brandish the word "coward" as carelessly as you do, you coward.

And furthermore, if I may, to tryingtomakesense: ...

2010-06-22T17:01:38.942-04:00

And furthermore, if I may, to tryingtomakesense:

All those people trying to make their own sense of the debacle over the hospital -do you think after all that's happened that they're actually going to be offered a seat at the table by being polite? Do you think a single G20 protester is going to be listened to by offering constructive criticisms? Do you think there's a godamned Tooth Fairy?

tryingtomakesense will never make sense at all unless you can bring yourself to believe in reality. You have to unbelieve to accomplish that. You have to stop clicking your red shoes together three times and understand that there really are people in this world whose sole raison detre is to screw you over and as long as they hold the power and you don't no amount of wishing you were in Kansas is ever going to get you there. That's what this is all about. Linda Thompson is the worst excuse for a mayor Port Hope has had in three generations, her council in ten. But according to you we should all just sort of play nice. Our voices have been silenced in the press, our local radio gone Astral or Corus or whatever bloody rightwing giant multi-national you care to name. So unless you are actually a shill for corporatization of everything that makes life worth living, and I think maybe you are, then the only positive thought I hold for you is that you are hopelessly naive.

Either way, it is you, not I, that is running this country into the ground -whether you know it or not.

I get a great kick out of having people, usually t...

2010-06-22T16:33:08.687-04:00

I get a great kick out of having people, usually the Little Mary Sunshines of this world, shake their pointy little fingers at me and say "If you don't like it, why don't YOU run?"

To which I invariably reply "I did. Twice. Why didn't you vote for me? Or did you bother to vote at all?"

Thus I reserve the right to criticize all I bloody well want.

"Criticism plays a major role in governing as...

2010-06-22T16:07:30.206-04:00

"Criticism plays a major role in governing as most governors fail to consult, after all they know better than us don't they?" It seems that's why we vote for them - we do think they know better, otherwise we'd step in to take the reins.

"Listening is demonstrated by the adoption of the suggestions - have you ever seen any of the criticism or suggestions levelled at the councils adopted by the councils? " The short answer, yes. But it's often disguised and delayed, presumably to distance the response from its source and make it appear as a council (town) initiative. If council were seen to react too often by adopting suggestions from outside of the municipal organization, the question would arise as to why we even need it.

Your last paragraph is all too realistic, though. Unfortunately the voters ultimately see direct response by adoption to be weakness in leadership; they want decisiveness, but they want it in their favour every time. They will always point to the time it is not as a clear example of not listening. How can you juggle that for every decision, because there are opposing factions in every one of them, and that's why it requires a decision in the first place. Who are they listening to, and who are they voting against? Guess that's why we seem to vote them out instead of in; in on the promise - out on the results.

How do we fix it?

Your excellent question "What do we vote for(...

2010-06-22T15:52:23.980-04:00

Your excellent question "What do we vote for(stop)" needs more exposure and discussion.

Do we vote for a list of "I'll do this" or "don't vote for so'n'so because..." or "you deserve better" or "I've done a good job so far" or whatelse? Do we expect specifics or generalities? Do we expect representation (defined as delivery) of our particular viewpoints or do we try to find candidates who's attitudes represent most closely the views we ourselves hold? How do we determine if our selection was successful, or the right one for us, or the right one for the municipality? Are these all the same, or can they be? Jump in anytime here ..... Would the voter even recognize a good candidate, and how, if they can't answer those questions in the privacy of their own mind?

Take for example, in the City of Stratford, a Councillor's job is expected to require about 15 hours a week. That's just over 2 hours a day. With the number of issues that Council must handle, how many minutes is that per issue, 10, or even less? Who makes any significant decision in under 60 minutes or even less IN TOTAL, of consideration? How does a Councillor deliver representation of all the views of the electors? In appreciation, they get the boots put to them by those who feel they weren't represented! It seems those underrepresented voters express their substantial wisdom and vent their unfettered frustration in public forums such as this one and feel totally capable and justified doing so under the umbrella of the right to criticize. C'mon, really?

"Better yet, tell us how criticism plays a ro...

2010-06-22T15:39:20.294-04:00

"Better yet, tell us how criticism plays a role in the daily process of 'governing' a municipality,"

Criticism plays a major role in governing as most governors fail to consult, after all they know better than us don't they?

Unfortunately the art of listening to criticism, or suggestion is always lost among the attitude of I'm here and you aren't!
Listening is demonstrated by the adoption of the suggestions - have you ever seen any of the criticism or suggestions levelled at the councils adopted by the councils?

Being a critic is constructive until the criticised write off the criticism as non-productive for them and then the critics criticise more and the arguments become circular and timewasting. leaving the critics isolated as cranks, troublemakers and pests, all labels designed to eliminate the source and then their criticism becaomes instantly rejectable because "they" know where it is coming from.

What's the better alternative? Criticism is es...

2010-06-22T15:23:50.758-04:00

What's the better alternative? Criticism is essential, but ever more so if it leads to a better way.

It's quite possible that criticism is, in part, fueled by a lack of full disclosure, and once the details are on the table, a good deal of the criticism is rendered moot. Unfortunately that benefit is usually only conveyed upon those elected and almost immediately makes them part of the perceived conspiracy. You may well know about such things, having been there - if that's a misrepresentation, please correct this assumption and help us get the true picture. Better yet, tell us how criticism plays a role in the daily process of 'governing' a municipality, if that's what we should call it.

As I sit here picking my zits let me deal with thi...

2010-06-22T14:46:00.934-04:00

As I sit here picking my zits let me deal with this valid criticism. Unfortunately only three maybe four people will be elected for the first time, does that mean that only those who get elected can criticise because the rest were cowards?
What do we vote for, the best of a bad bunch or is it that only those who win are worthy?

For those who think the incumbents don't measu...

2010-06-22T14:25:02.084-04:00

For those who think the incumbents don't measure up, why do you not make a serious offer of your own expertise to replace them? If that's beneath you, how awkward you must feel about your own deficiencies that keep you from exposing yourselves to the same abuses that you so gleefully dish out upon those that take the chance. You're all a bunch of cowards, every one of you, including ol' merk! It's no wonder you garner the reactions, or non-recognition, that you so roundly denounce, and that so befits you. One cannot even imagine what useful alternatives you could pose or initiate with any degree of success, given the absence of even the slightest indication of aptitude in dealing with issues beyond picking zits.