Comments on The Burd Report: Is this a fair comparison?

Horray for wally, yay wally, yay, yay wally's...

2010-06-13T20:56:26.356-04:00

Horray for wally, yay wally, yay, yay wally's my .....

And that is largely what I said in the first place...

2010-06-12T10:33:22.523-04:00

And that is largely what I said in the first place. Idi Amin is the invocation of evil -- just like the Hospoiutal Board.

well that's exactly what I say!

2010-06-11T23:00:14.050-04:00

well that's exactly what I say!

Godwin's Law - As an online discussion grows ...

2010-06-11T16:39:40.124-04:00

Godwin's Law -
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Frequently, a reference to Hitler is used as an evocation of evil. Thus a discussion proceeding on a positivist examination of facts is considered terminated when this objective consideration is transformed into a normative discussion of subjective right and wrong.

"Is this a fair comparison?" he asked. ...

2010-06-11T09:52:23.923-04:00

"Is this a fair comparison?" he asked.

NO NO NO I reply.

And I am not alone in that perception.

That Murky runs interference for a stretch indicates loose thinking.

If Ben loves his mother, is it valid to campare him to Hitler, who also loved his mother? Or would it be more appropriate to compare him to Nelson Mandela who also loves his mother?

Seems just because Ben has invited comments in res...

2010-06-10T17:13:47.741-04:00

Seems just because Ben has invited comments in response to his own opinion pieces it obviously doesn't necessarily extend that invitation to anyone else to summarily devalue the ensuing discussions. Just an unsolicited opinion in support of a great discussion corner.

Bingo!

2010-06-10T17:01:57.682-04:00

Bingo!

I guess it's the whole big ball of ad hominem ...

2010-06-10T15:14:36.354-04:00

I guess it's the whole big ball of ad hominem wax that get's on everybody's nerves. 30-years on the railway taught me a thing or two about derailments. All it takes, says the Rule Book, is for one wheel to leave the track and next thing you know the whole godamned train is piled up behind you. Same thing with a train (or an argument) that's rolling along just as smooth and even as the track underneath, exercising its own physical forces of give and take, slack and stretch, well oiled. Under control. Some kind of destination in sight.

Then somebody throws a wrong switch and before anybody can get at the brake, all hell breaks loose and the engineer is saying it's all the brakeman's fault, the conductor's screaming blue murder at the dispatcher, management figures everybody must've been drunk and Transport Canada says it'll be at least a year before anything is known for sure.

See. Stick with the signals governing the track ahead -the 'argument' in this case. Keep a sharp eye for distractions that might make you mis-read an important train order. Understand the Superintendent's intentions. Keep personalities out of it because, well, they're just personalities just like insults are just insults which, obviously, are always more damaging to the insulter than the insultee -something else I learned on the railway.

So, just remember, Wally. This train don't stop at Ad Hominem Junction. At least it don't with me at the throttle. And even though I haven't been promoted yet, I expect Chief Engineer Burd will take my comments under advisement when my talents are finally recognised.

Shovel all you want, Mr. Keeler. But coal -or anything else that burns even and stokes a good argument- is the preferred fuel on this line. I hope you'll remember that.

Wally: With the greatest of respect, in my opinion...

2010-06-10T14:44:10.924-04:00

Wally: With the greatest of respect, in my opinion Ben wasn't making any kind of comparison between the hospital board and Idi Amin. If that were so, he would have easily been guilty of comparing personalities as opposed to issues. But that was not what he was comparing. He was comparing procedures, Wally. Similar systems and the blatant abuse of those systems. From my perspective I thought he illustrated a very good point. He was not, I dare say emphatically, comparing Idi Amin to the Hospital Board or any of its members as you suggest. At least I sure didn't read it that way.

But then I'm not a poet. And the licence of poets is not my licence. What I am, or was, is a columnist. And if Ben had made such a fatal mistake as to compare the personalities of the Hospital Board (people with whom I feel no connection by the way) with the personalities of history's worst monsters, I think I might have let the columnist loose and taken him to task in my comments.

But Ben didn't do that, Wally. So there's nothing for me to let loose or take to task. And further, I don't think there is for you either.

Declared Ben without irony, "As usual quit...

2010-06-10T09:44:27.050-04:00
Declared Ben without irony, "As usual quit trying to make points based on ridiculous stretches of logic."

Comparing Idi Amin to the hospital board is quite a stupid stretch of logic. Take your own advice Ben.

The reason most people are satisfied with the stat...

2010-06-09T14:23:20.573-04:00
The reason most people are satisfied with the status quo is that it works for the majority. Call us sheeple or whatever you want but just because it doesn't fit with one's version of the truth doesn't make it wrong. If the community as a whole was outraged by this there would have been a much larger turnout at the meetings.

Wally: At least they didn't compare him to the...

2010-06-09T14:19:19.944-04:00
Wally: At least they didn't compare him to their usual favourites: Hitler or Stalin.

That's one way of looking at it I guess. Anoth...

2010-06-09T12:57:00.680-04:00
That's one way of looking at it I guess. Another might be to wonder why he kept moving from job to job to job -all the way to ending up doing one term on Port Hope council.

Ferdinand Waldo Demarra had a pretty impressive resume to. Trouble was none of it was true. They even made a movie about it starring, I think, Tony Curtis called "The Great Imposter."

Suffice to say impressive resumes impress some people and not others. You seem to be in the former camp. I'm in the latter....

Morand's CV seems very impressive.

2010-06-09T11:47:09.169-04:00
Morand's CV seems very impressive.

As usual quit trying to make points based on ridic...

2010-06-09T11:28:54.848-04:00
As usual quit trying to make points based on ridiculous stretches of logic. This comparison was about elections. The local people here probably don't like to eat human flesh to quit the stretch

Not to worry. With a man as qualified -to say noth...

2010-06-09T11:27:07.904-04:00
Not to worry. With a man as qualified -to say nothing of modest- as this running for the hospital executive, you're sure to be well served. I mean look at the fantastic settlement he wrested out of Cobourg on behalf of his de facto in-laws, the Fullertons. Gee, I sure do wish I'd managed to squeese this much living in when I had the chance. I'll bet he even knows how to produce table-top fusion and cure cancer in his spare time! Read on:

From his self-published Google Profile:

John Morand executive at Global Emissions Systems inc.
port Hope, Ontario

About me
John Morand brings a wealth of private and public sector experience to our organization. An internationally recognized environmentalist he was named River Manager of the year in 2006 by the international River Management Society. A lawyer and member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. John is a former Canadian diplomat having served as Consul and Senior Investment Advisor at the Canadian Consulate General in New York City. John has served on the Board of Directors of several Canadian public companies.

In the private sector John has been active in the hotel, food service, retail, computer software, service and development sectors with international experience in Jamaica, Ireland, England and the United States. As a consultant, he advised government and industry on organizational development, marketing, governance and ethics issues.

John is former Chair of the Washington DC based International Economic Development Council and has written several texts and taught Economic Development in Canada, Russia and the United States. He has also served as City Manager for the municipalities of Toronto, Kingston, Markham and Gloucester Ontario where he managed staff in the thousands and budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. John served as inaugural President and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. John Co-chaired the NGO Regulatory Affairs Committee of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and sits on numerous boards of Non Government and volunteer organizations.

Where I grew up
Windsor, Ontario
Places I've lived
New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Montreal, Boston, Toronto, Mississauga
Companies I've worked for
Toronto Port Authority, City of Toronto, City of Markham, City of Kingston, Canadian governement Foreign Affairs dept.
Schools I've attended
Osgoode Hall law scholl, University of Windsor, University of detroit
http://www.gesi.us
Something I still can't find on Google:
truth
My superpower:
truth
Interests
fly fishing, wood turning, ethics, photography, learning

What's really sad is that there are only a han...

2010-06-09T11:17:37.377-04:00
What's really sad is that there are only a handful of people who will even notice, let alone care about this travesty.

Hoping I am wrong, but it seems to me that most of the sheeple around here are quite happy with the status quo. Getting up off the couch is just way too much trouble.

Human remains were found in the refrigerator after...

2010-06-09T10:53:03.030-04:00
Human remains were found in the refrigerator after he was kicked out of the country.

He kicked out all the Asians from Uganda.

He stayed in office with the help of extrajudicial killings.

He also invaded neighboring countries with the aim of annexing them.

Yep, the similarities with the hospital board are numerous.

Get real.