This can only be printed on April?

Read this and weep if you are a traditionalist.

"All we wanted was a bigger room!"

That was the request made by the Seniors a couple of years ago. Council responded with a plan to spend $2 million and that was panned by many, mainly because it was not an inclusive plan. Now the plan has been hijacked by two sets of interests: the Hockeyjocks and the YMCA expansionists.

Look carefully for the hidden costs. The plan calls for 2 rinks, a gymnasium, a meeting room, a lawn bowling plan and hopes for expansion. The plan on the left is estimated at $30 million - all to be paid for by taxpayers. Not in the plan is the cost of three (yep count 'em they're on the plan) new soccer fields and the proposed joint? aquatic centre for the member owned YMCA. Now the cost is inestimable but not unbelievable at $50 million. And remember we started off this exercise with the Seniors asking for more room. Something that could have been accommodated with better coordination of public and private spaces. But you know how Pols of all stripes love Arenas. I can't imagine the number of silver shovels already ordered for the official opening.

The questions before us is this - can we afford it? And why are we pandering to the Hockey people when they are a small demographic group in comparison to others, like soccer players and Seniors? Is it unCanadian to treat hockey people like others and not bow down to their insatiable demands for better facilities. Or is it because it is Hockey we give the national sport anything it wants?

An interesting committee has been set up in Campbellford. The brightest brains in C'ford have been put together to chart the recovery of the Town from the abyss of economic doom read about it here I hope they come up with something or else it's back to the musings of "King Hec".

What a comment

So where are all these jobs that the lazy unemployed are avoiding?

Not wanting to be redundant, you know where I stand on this

The CobourgBlog has an interesting thread entitled Capitalism - not perfect but better than alternatives. John lays out the modern view of capitalism, Adam Smith and Ayn Rand modified to make it palatable. Unfortunately the discussion about the auto industry is splitting down predictable ideology, perhaps John and I perpetuate this but we make no apologies. But there is some enlightening opinion emerging in cyberspace. in "Cars, Banks and Confusion" by Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post who examines the double standard of relief being pushed by Obama.. AP has another story in a similar vein, "Workers say Obama treated autos worse than Wall St". I don't know what the volume of differing views say about the overall perspective but it is very interesting to read what others say. But in this debate who appointed Dennis DesRosier King of the analysts. This man has proved himself partial every time he opens his mouth and confirms that his advice is not balanced when he says things like, "Kenny Lewenza has no brains!" as he did on the CBC last night. If all he does is pander to the right wing talk shows, 640AM loves him ,it makes me me wonder how good his analysis is and who pays for it?
This article, by Terence Corcoran of the NP does it for me - a different POV. Questioning all of the conventional wisdom and laying out the composition of Obama's auto team with their competing interests made me wonder, as others do, just what does Obama want for the engine of the American economy.

BTW I have posted all of the 42 minute 30 seconds of George Gallways speech made to Canadians last night. Look on the video page here.

So now it's down to Legacy Costs

The Auto bailout fiasco continues. Watching a bit of it and making my mind up pretty qyickly, isn't that what all you you do? I quickly decide that the reason the gap between the new guys and the old guys is the "Legacy Cost". But what to do with them. It appears that the elites, bankers and government will want to ditch them. But how can they politically put the boots to the pensioners that will be the next challenge. An orderly transition will do the same thing that always gets done when bankrupts fail to pay their bills. The banks move in, get their money and the rest of the creditors, usually people deserving severance and pensions get tossed over board. It looks bleak and if the government has to pick up the pieces and pay pensions how much will it cost the rest of us.

Besides how come the simple alternatives are never considered? For example we may have all received this email

This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

I thought this was the BEST idea. I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr.President,
Patriotic retirement:There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force; pay them $1 million a piece severance with stipulations:
1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.
3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage- Housing Crisis fixed.

All this and it's still cheaper than the "bailout".

A real potpourri

For those conspiracy theorists amongst us. here is an article that backs up the moves made by Obama this morning - to enforce financial oversight on the auto industry by the financial industry. For years now late talk night radio has been living on theories of the "New World Order" and how the "Illuminati" have been running the world by proxies. Every single US President has had links to the Rothschilds, the Bushes and the Royal Family and others :according to those guys all of life is preordained to maintain the control of us all by the elites. With Obama now putting Wall Streeters in the auto fix , when many blame these very same people for the mess in the first place, especially Tim Geitner, who wrote the legislation allowing AIC and others to become unregulated the writer of the article questions motives.

So did you put your lights out on Saturday? I have refrained from writing about earth day as it is a PR stunt designed to make the participants look good. How many of the participants have actually reduced their consumption in the last couple of years? Earth day, like womens' day and other festivals should be an everyday thing not a flash in the pan appearance.

The Greens have a Federal candidate. Stan Grizzle has been nominated. This fellow has been a member of three of the five main parties, and run for nominations in two. Wonder what he wants to be in later life. But as they say "Variety is the spice of life"

Will Brighton join the other paranoic municipalities by installing CCTV in their downtown. Research has shown that CCTV does not reduce crime, it barely makes crime-solving possible and usually the camera operators spend their working time looking for public nudity and sex acts. But if it makes Brightonians feel better let them go for it. I just hope that the signs advertising the presence of CCTV are large enough to alert those of us who don't like them to stay away.

Cobourg has reopened the debate about Development Fees. The Cobourg Home Builders Association has approached Council and asked them to reexamine the fees. The CHBA has decided that DFs are an impediment to progress and are stopping home sales, despite the recession. I would disagree and say that DFs are good and probably not high enough. New development must be paid for by new residents not existing taxpayers. I see this request is part of the ongoing discussion centreing around the Official Plan. In this discussion, which has yet to be resolved, the "Places to Grow" document at the County level has to be reconciled with the aspirations of Cobourg to plan for 16,000 more residents, despite Cobourg having the ability to "infill" inside thie present boundaries, with the potential of 9,000 residents.

A link from Wally Keeler. Wally sent an email that details some articles of local relevence Here.

Congratulations. These young people are champs - well done!

Another idea goes down well in the Dutch Oven

Councillor, I have to look good now, Bob Spooner, finally has done some thing productive. He has put his name on a story about how the local YMCA can really become the recreation department of the Town and get paid for it. The NNews in its lead story, tells of a salivating Kyle barber, the CEO of the YMCA, talking about the Y and the Town becoming partners in the proposed Community Centre. Just how productive this idea is depends on your perspective of public/private partnerships. But look at it from the Ys perspective, get a brand new building paid for by the public and then get paid to administer recreation! Look at it from BS's perspective, after finally having been woken up in Council by his "Yea/Nay" moment he has been ostensibly encouraged by his very own focus group - the Dutch Oven dead white men, to support such an idea. After all what politician wouldn't. They get all the hard work done for them by the Y and all they have to do is to shovel over taxpayers' money to let the Y run it. How the taxpayers are going to react to this will be interesting. There are some who think that the YMCA walks on water and there are others who regularly complain about everything the Y does. From the swimming pool water being too cold (that's why some people prefer to go to Port hope) to the perceived high (for some) membership fees. It will be intriguing to see how the partners balance the public/private ownership/administration but let's look at the way the Town owns the present building and the consequential bickering about the amount of money needed for the upkeep that the Town has to provide as an example of future discussions. The Town has never played hardball in its negotiations and the Y usually gets what it needs. Just look for more of the same but expect the amount of money that taxpayers have to pay for recreation to get much bigger. Personally if I have to pay more money i want more shares! And as John Draper has said before, "Why can't we just have a $2 million dollar Seniors centre?" We will be getting a $50 million dollar complex if the Y comes in and adds an aquatic centre.

Remember the posts about newspapers last week? Well here is another look. It comes from David Sirota who is the best-selling author of the books “Hostile Takeover” (2006) and “The Uprising” (2008). He is a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future. Find his blog at OpenLeft.com or e-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com. He argues that the woes of the news industry are self-inflicted.

Ok now the time for the bean counters

In this story, which will be used to beat the opponents over the head, Mayor Delanty gloats about the success, in his mind, of the frink. What should happen now is a back of the envelope accounting of the total costs of the operation since its introduction. Some how i doubt we will see one!

The truth will out!

We don't know all the details of the timelines that govern the "Galloway" issue but they are emerging daily. Kady O'Malley, here, of the Globe & Mail, has been detailing the machinations of the issue as it happens hourly on Parliament hill. Now we find that the Jewish Defense League has claimed credit for the ban here in the TO Star. The question now is how many more of the jewish organisations in the Country will now also claim credit. If they do surely the people who denied that the "Jewish Lobby" exists will reexamine their positions!

Now for the Ontario Budget. Harmonization of the GST and the PST is the biggie. But wait we are going to be bribed with our own money - we will get $1,000 per household (under $160,000) to accept the HST. So the whiners will be out on this one, especially the Real Estate industry.

Advise to the mayor

When the Mayor of Cobourg replaces his stolen bike read about it here it is recommended that he take precautions to secure his replacement.
Just like this one: