If you have time to kill - check this out!

Tourism Queensland, a Province/State in Northern Australia advertised, what they called the best job in the world. Officials with the tourism department of Australia's Queensland state on Tuesday revealed the 50 finalists from a pool of nearly 35,000 applicants for the job — a $150,000 Australian ($96,000 U.S.) contract to relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef for six months while writing a blog to promote the area. The 50 finalists on the shortlist are featured on a webpage here. The submitted videos are really something, but as you watch them just wonder why you didn't submit one for the best job in the world. Imagine living on the Barrier reef for half a year and writing a webpage about your daily activities. One word of warning, I did a travelogue recently and it's not as easy as you think to write a new piece every day. You will need imagination to go with your good looks and new tan!
BTW a Canadian is fourth in the running!

Is it time for another committee?

With the NToday.com - a newspaper despite its masthead being a URL - deciding to advertise Cobourg with a special edition of a blurb being distributed in other newspapers read here. This begs the question in these times of alleged fiscal restraint; how much does Cobourg spend on ads? Advertising, unless you do a lot of it is usually a waste of money. With its limited budget Cobourg should be reexamining its advertising budget. For example I don't know how much time and money we spend at the Dressler House writing ad copy and putting magazines and booklets together but I bet it is substantial. I don't know how much free advertising the Town gets from other media outlets and their puff pieces about Cobourg but it seems to be a pretty easy sell, and the number of publications, and their costs, should be known to bigwigs at City Hall and an advertising strategy should be implemented to take advantage of other's magazines. If this means job losses at the Dressler House so be it. But why should we have people on staff doing ad stuff that has been overtaken by other's efforts that are potentially a lot cheaper? Time to strike another committee this time it will probably save us money!

Sunday Snippets

What is the undercurrent of Conflict of Interest at Cobourg Council? Reports of heated words at last Monday's Council meeting appeared in the MSM this week. NNews here In a description of the event by a Council watcher who was at the meeting and submitted as a comment to a previous post, below, an undercurrent of a potential C of I involving a mystery councillor emerges.
"During earlier discussions about the makeup of the committee struck to assess the bids for the engineering consultants contract, Miriam asked if there had been any disclosures, or was there a need for any disclosures, concerning potential conflict of interests on the part of any members of the committee. One would deduce from her question that she had wind of some questionable choices and at one time she questioned if there was any kind of possible connection between any member of the committee and any one in the employment, at some point, of one of the firms bidding for the contract. Both McCaughey and Brocanier took exception to her questions and spoke at council about it, with McCaughey demanding a formal apology from her. Miriam flew off the handle and told McCaughey in no uncertain terms that he was "the last person on earth in a position to demand such an apology!" to which McCaughey put his tail between his legs and sat down. Before that skirmish, Brocanier asked for an apology, Miriam did not respond directly, the mayor asked Miriam if she was prepared to offer an apology and she emphatically stated that she was not prepared to do so. In that moment of nothingness, McCaughey made his embarrassing stab at it."
Will the world know what is going on? Perhaps not but details will filter out via the "dead white man's club" in time. As conspiracy theorists know nothing stays silent long, especially in the case of older conspiracies, as people die off they want to confess. Not saying that Bob Spooner is dying off but he will probably let his colleagues at the Dutch oven in on the secret.

I was intrigued by a National Post article about Conrad Black. As we all know he is prison in Florida serving a six year sentence for bilking shareholders. In this collection of email answers to questions posed by Theresa Tedesco he describes what he is up to. What I find interesting is the connection, made by observers, that great writing often emerges from people in prison. I guess they use the time productively!. In Black's case he is an historian and therefore he can effectively write about the impact of both liars and cheats in his case and whether he will be vindicated by the facts.

I guess Bob Rae is in a state of vindication amid reports that Dalton McGuinty's response to the looming depression is to unleash cases of red ink at the problem. The interesting thing in this case is just how it is perfectly alright for Dalton to run a deficit and Bob Rae was pilloried for doing the same thing. My response to that is that DM is not out of favour with the voters. BR never had the approval of anybody other than his supporters at the start and they rapidly dwindled as he ruled by ignoring party policy. It's hard to govern with only 38% support at the best of times - just ask Harper how hard it is! So run the deficits Dalton, the province is with you!

"Just get the money out there, mistakes be damned" that's the message from the Federal Government. So what mistakes can we expect? One that is emerging very quickly is the charge leveled by opposition MPs is that Conservative MPs are getting a leg up in the infrastructure applications. Let's hope that that's not true. "Follow the Money" Jerry McGuire used to say and in this case I hope that the MSM will do just that and expose any cases of "porkbarreling" in Con Ridings.

Did you feel the pain

Or will you shrug it off as not noticing. A comment made by the Deputy Mayor "The average householder will not notice it (a $49 yearly tax increase)" may come back and haunt him, it may not but what it does demonstrate is a complete lack of sympathy, empathy and condolence with joe taxpayer.
This budget is a lost opportunity to establish contact with the citizens. In this time of crisis we need to know that the rulers understand our pain. Unfortunately the council members, the majority of whom sit on indexed pensions, have felt the need for business as usual. The missed opportunity was the decision not to have a zero tax increase. Cutting $441,605 out of a budget that is $18.400,219 would not appear to be that difficult. Not all programmes are deemed to be life threatening and those are the programmes that we should be funding, others should be pared. But we do not know what programmes were on the chopping block, if any because the public was not informed of the consequences of a zero-based budget. I am sure if you told each councillor that $441,605 had to be taken out of the budget you would have had seven different responses. Ask the taxpayer and you would have had many more. Budgeting is not easy but in the absence of transparency it becomes harder for the public to accept it.
And to slough it off by presuming that the average householder would not notice it is irresponsible and arrogant. Unfortunately by saying it the DM has made himself look that way!

Paper clips

1. This guy may never get out of basic training alive - hazing could reach new heights of humiliation for him. Click here for the story of an army deserter who wears womens' panties.

2. Will obesity get you off a criminal charge? This guy is so big he left the house, for the first time in years, in a U-Haul van. Got to the court and the cops and the judge then came down to the van to see him. The prison system says that they can accommodate him if he is jailed. Bet you he comes out a helluva a lot thinner than when he went in!

3. Mark Bonokowski of the "Sun" writes about the profile of the homeless. In tracking the demographic of a Mens Shelter, in Toronto. He brings out points that the stimulus package will not fix. The majority of money is going to projects and retraining, but for what. These guys in the shelter are middle-aged uneducated and willing to work but can't find unskilled labouring jobs. Every single person boasting about the allocated funds talks about a "knowledge society" but what about the meantime. If municipalities can't afford the matching funds for the stimulus, if there will be increased welfare costs because EI hasn't been reformed, just how much can property taxpayers afford? Just how do you deal with the social devestation produced by government policies making sure that people who apply for assistance have to burn through every asset they own before being allowed to apply. What sense does it make to force people to sell houses and cars before they are allowed to get help. How do we have a productive society if we have to break it apart to restore it?

A sentiment after my own heart

Read this G&M article, I thoroughly agree

Let's start the week off with really old news

Grade separations, railway overpasses and subways have two things in common: they are expensive and disruptive, and not very popular. In both Brighton and Campbellford we have the situations of these future constructions occupying the the political arenas. In Brighton's case the railway safety project has been going on for years. The combatants fighting it out in Council chambers and open houses have been ploughing the same ground for years the only thing that changes is the cost. In Campbellford we have, the Mayor, Hector MacMillan trying to push the case for a second bridge. It was a campaign promise and as far as he is concerned it is "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead." He is up against a pretty formidable group and has few visible supporters.
Both campaigns appear to be an exercise in political futility. For as we have seen in all Municipal confrontations the citizens lose. All the opponents of the bridge in Campbellford can hope for is that the approval process can be stretched out long enough to make it an election issue in 2010. In Brighton the Council appears to be waiting for the release of yet another study that the Council then can blame for its decision - yes or no.
But the people in Campbellford should look to history for inspiration and a similar situation in Cobourg in 1965. In that year the question of an overpass on D'Arcy St. became an election issue and the people who supported spending large sums of money were turfed. Perhaps that could be the fate of Hector if the locals up there take the long view.

Noting that Port Hope has now decided to replace a section of sidewalk on Peter St (the main thoroughfare to the Town - Hwy 2) for some peculiar reason has advertised this sidewalk as "an accessible sidewalk". Now what is the difference between an ordinary sidewalk and one that is accessible? The ramps at the curbs that's what. What municipality has been building sidewalks in the past years without making curb-cuts and ramps at the intersections? None I would suspect, it doesn't save any money and it is a stupid move. But if Port Hope wants to make itself look good in the eyes of its citizens it is a smart move by the bureaucrat in charge, but that's all it is - political spin.

If anybody stills think the OPP policing deal is such a good deal they should be looking at Brighton. In a contract renewal where officers costs cover the bulk of the contract those costs are going up 6%. As well fuel costs are increased, OPP Inspector Borton is quoted, "We're always about two years behind in the costing formula," Well you know we were promised a guarantee of the same fee for two years and many people questioned the next raise, now we can see the magnitude of that next step. read the story here

Finally we get the DM we want!

Has something happened at City Hall that we should know about? This would be a nice change of jobs, if it was to happen. I wonder what will happen to this graphic designer - blame the proofreader?




Ouch!, this is not something one wants to think about

End of week roundup

Are you all Obama'd out? Some of us apparently aren't, it wouldn't surprise me to see Newsworld reruns of the orgasmic Obamathon that ran all day yesterday. It's a wonder that Peter Mansbridge can even stand up after all the reporting that wet dreams are made of. I even had a friend admit to me that they watched it all day. Somewhat like the fellow who I met one Spring who had put on a few pounds over the Winter. "The Gulf War was on TV and I had the wife bring me the food it was so gripping" What did we do before TV?

For a mixed reaction to Yesterday look here
Joh Ivison of the National Post takes a look at yesterday's Obamathon with a typically NP eye. But, the entertaining part of his commentary, as usual, is the collection of comments under the article. A few good reference to the relationship between John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

Finally a touch of sanity in all of thus gushing over-reaction to normal people doing extraordinary things. A story about the first cop on the scene at a crash on the 400 yesterday. The TO Star story is here but the bit I really liked was the quote from that cop - Sgt. Dave Woodford. "While his actions appeared heroic, Woodford firmly dismissed such praise."A hero?" he said. "Absolutely not. We're trained to do these things. It's part of the job. It's what policing is all about."I'm not a hero. Jeez, I hate that," he added. "Hopefully we did enough to save his life. We waited what seemed like forever for the ambulance to come, but it wasn't. It came quickly, but in those situations, it can feel like forever.""

This I don't understand
There has been a furor about a published cartoon in the NY Post copied here. Black people and those on the left are going nuts about its racist undertones and implication. Here is an article by a Psychology Professor that puts the reasoning in some psycho-babble context. Basically I read it to mean that subconsciously black americans are haunted by the man-ape comparison. Strange for a 21st Century society of well-educated people. Obviously they all may have super large inferiority complexes!

Fiscal insanity - send in the clowns

If one wants to see the "deficit of ideas" in action look to two Western States in the USA - Nevada and California. The amount of revenue generated by usual taxes, of any kind, has plummeted and both States face huge deficits that cannot be controlled by usual Keynsian economics. Money has to be raised and in the case of California the "Govinator" has proposed tax increases, government layoffs and work week reductions as well as proposing that forty percent of the prison population be released. So what is the Republican response in both States - cut taxes. What stupidity, you can't raise enough money to pay the bills and the GOP response is to reduce it further - the mind boggles.

While on hoilday I caught Bill Maher on Larry King on CNN. The guy (Bill Maher) is the sanest fellow on the planet, but because he is a satirist nobody takes any notice. Ever noticed that Rick Mercer, in the guise of entertainment, makes most sense when he is ranting on Tuesday evenings. In Mexico bus travellers are entertained from time to time, by people dressed as clowns. The bulk of their material is satire against the government.
I suppose that in the case of California when the Governor is an actor one should expect the gap between art and politics to be diminished. But when all we can do is laugh at the policies and antics of politicians we are in sad shape.

The morning chuckle, from the Ottawa Citizen
A story like this only comes around so often, I bet the headline writers had fun (pun) with this one here