So who is getting fired or hired or promoted?

This intriguing announcement graced the pages of the Northumberland news today. I have never seen anything like this before so what personnel change is being contemplated at the County that couldn't wait until the next regular regular meeting?

Any hints will be gratefully received as an anonymous tip.

The pundits are calling for a revolution - lots of luck

With the usual Canadian absorbed in self-preservation and apathetic to politics our PM (apply epithet here) SH has suspended parliament and nobody will notice. He will parade himself before the adoring masses whilst wrapping himself in Olympic clothing, embazoned with the PC logo and smile a lot.

The Ottawa press is fuming. If only to make themselves feel important they are penning redhot columns about the move to prorogue Parliament and halting all pending legislation, which last week demanded urgency but this week can stand a three month delay.

Neo-con Andrew Coyne leads the charge in this column quite rightly pointing out that this is a constitutional crisis. James Travers, of the TO Star says, "Less likely to be noticed but no less important, the Prime Minister is piling on fresh evidence that accountability is a fiction, an election promise easily made and forgotten." John Ibbotsen of the Globe and Mail calls the move "a travesty but clever" here.

What do I think? Not much but what can be expected from a liar who holds office by deceit. He promised to have fixed elections, he gained his first but most important election win with the aid of the State Police when the RCMP inserted itself on his side. He has disregarded the rules of the majority of parliament by ignoring the will of parliament many times. He rules by fiat and executive orders and disregards anybody but his loyal, but shrinking membership base. So this Cromwell can do this at his own peril. I just hope that the opposition can get over their own egos and with a combined advertising budget coordinate an organised campaign to expose this man to the Country. Why should he look good when IT'S OUR OLYMPICS.

Another one for the thinkers - a guest post

Wally Keeler

According to their website the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB) values equity, among other things. They have an advisory Equity and Diversity Committee mandated to "/address equity, diversity and inclusiveness in human resources services, educational services and business services and to provide leadership and direction in the areas of equity, diversity and inclusiveness/."

KPRDSB is an Equal Opportunity Employer: "/identifying and removing barriers in employment policies and practices to encourage full productivity in all aspects of employment; preventing and prohibiting discrimination and harassment; valuing the importance of diversity, fairness and equitable employment practices."/
/ /In KPRDSB secondary schools, 53 percent of teachers are female (452 females, 401 males). In elementary schools, females make up 82 percent (1006 females, 225 males). Additionally, females overwhelmingly run day care centres. In recent decades, the numbers of single mother families have increased – aka fatherless families.

For children growing up in our society, we have moved into a clearly matriarchal "nurturing" system. This move away from the old boy patriarchal system has been a boon for females.
(1) Women account for more than 80 per cent of the students at Ontario Veterinary College and make up more than half of the province's practising vets.
(2) The Globe & Mail (Dec 7/09) reported that there are now three female undergraduates for every two male students on all Canadian campuses. Women reached parity at the undergraduate level in 1987, at the Masters level in 1997, and now account for about 46 per cent of PhD candidates.

(3) The Globe & Mail (Oct 21/09) reported that overall university participation rates reveal that 58 per cent of undergrads are female. These trends will continue.
It is a wonderful success story for females. The initial drum song was EQUALITY, and insofar as the formative years are concerned, females have surpassed equality and gone into dominance, while still singing the siren song of EQUALITY.

The Globe & Mail reported that, "/programs that bring female role models in science to meet with elementary pupils are legion. There is nothing nearly as systematic for boys."/ Well, of course, it stands to reason, that the overwhelming dominance of women in the nurturing industry implicitly favour their own gender, not boys.

On a nationwide assessment of teenagers, 26 per cent of girls scored at the top level in reading, compared with just 19 per cent of boys. At the bottom level, 13 per cent are boys, compared with only 9 per cent of girls. Boys score 21 percentage points below girls on the Grade 6 writing exam. (78 per cent of girls reach the provincial standard, compared with 57 per cent of boys).
This is the result of the feminization of the curricula and text books. The desanitization of textbooks in all subjects to diminish the lop-sidedness towards males, has now become a lop-sidedness towards females. The pendulum has swing too far away from equality.

Of the 212,000 drop-outs in Canada in 2004-2005, 135,000 were males. The drop-out rate of young males was 12.2 per cent in 2004/5, compared with 7.2 per cent for young females. The share of male drop-outs has increased in recent years. In 1990/91, a sizable majority of drop-outs were males (58.3 per cent); by 2004/5, it had increased to 63.7 per cent. In Quebec, in 2004/5 seven in ten drop-outs were young men.

This growing gender imbalance has engendered no studies, no research, no interest whatsoever. Don’t expect any remedies too soon. Feminists and feminist-infected females show more concern about the lack of men sharing the burden of dusting, dishes, laundry, etc. than the setting up of educational failure for their sons. What a pity. How pathetic. That’s how the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board interprets EQUITY.

'Tis the time for lists

The end of the year and partly to fill newspace and also to demonstrate breadth the news biz produces its long lists of "Best, worst, monthly happenings, etc." How many of the readers remember the year-ends from that enigmatic and captivatating character - Jim Guy, of CHUC - most comprehensive and the very length of it ensured that the station staff could stay home that day; the programming was done for them!

The BurdReport doesn't have a list just a few things that stick in the mind: the resolution to the Frink, the never-ending policing debate, the ongoing Community Centre discussion - this one will not die as the Seniors will never be satisfied until they get a dedicated building. Hey why don't they buy the Lions' Club and of course the congested beach issues. The hidden debate that stems from the fear that Cobourg will never be able to control its taxes. An annual increase of the slightest amount is not good enough for some people, especially with a declining commercial base.

So I am going to look forward in my list. I want to be able to see new faces on a Council dedicated to a new direction. That direction would be one of sustainability not survival. Only projects that cut costs should be undertaken. A Council dedicated to looking at ways to trim programs not expand them - just how much will the CCC cost us to operate? A Council prepared to live within its Official Plan that takes into account the restrictions of the County document, "Places to Grow", which allocates only 80 hectares of greenfield expansion not the complete area to the East of Town. Trimming those expansionary wishes will save money, why build new roads and services on Brook Rd. when you can put 11,000 people into the under-utilised spaces within the existing boundaries? And of course a Council determined to manage its local PUC properly and keep costs down, even if it means putting all of the profits back into the customers' pockets.

Never ask a question that you don't know the answer to.

That's the mantra of a good lawyer, journalist or just a person who wants to conduct good interviews. In a story here Cobourg's three time Mayor is going to ponder his political future when he is on holiday in April.
So in order to give some guidance the BurdReport has put up a poll - look left - where the question is asked. Frankly I cannot guess the outcome but the results will be a little bit of cheeky fun. With all the tools available to us on the internet we should be able to inject a bit of fun into the Municipal election races. They start in four days time. So get your suggestions in about how we can have fun with this race. Suggest just who you think will be running and perhaps we should be able to set up a betting pool on them all.

Ammo for the Bay Streeters?

A recent report to the Cobourg Police Services Board concerned the amount of policing delivered to the waterfront. The story is here, written for the NNews, written by Jennifer O'Meara - "August was the busiest month of the year for police calls to the Cobourg waterfront, and the vast majority of the incidents were liquor licence act offences" the report states.

Now not to be alarming we need more than a blanket statement to be objective. For instance if, as the report states the majority of the offences took place in the afternoon was that as a result of "cooler searches" which may or may not have been illegal, or was it just teenagers hanging out on the Pier, or was it as a result of "Beer Tent calls".

Because if we do not know these things it is just ammunition for the people who think that all visitors behave badly and shouldn't come to Cobourg to spoil their front yards!

The cutline says it all

This piece of graffiti has been with me, in my mind since schooldays, and has been waiting for the opportunity for repetition. I gues you had to be there but in this day and age of reflection it is apt.

The BurdReport wishes all of its readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and whatever salutations are deemed acceptable these days.

For those interested in my wellbeing, I have had a gall bladder removed, no big deal these days but thanks to Andrew Stratford, Mike Barrie and Brenda the recovery room nurse - fabulous job, and am now just working through a sore torso and internal bruising. In very good spirits and looking forward to not much of anything in the next few days.

Another one for the "victims" in Port Hope

Here is a story that will inflame Port Hope hating Cobourgers. The courts are now moving to Cobourg. About time. What will the whiners complain about now, our KFC is bigger than theirs we have a WallyMart and they don't? Oh the complaints will pour forth. BTW Cobourg had nothing to do with this, blame the County for renting the court facilities to the Province and blame the province for building such a big courtroom!!

Just a quick post

Can't wait to see the reaction on Port Hope Council's faces when the first application for tenancy in the new Industrial Park turns out to be a well heeled big box who willl want to change the zoning, just like Strathy Road and WallyMart!

Sticking with Port Hope one of the first comments from a PHoper turned out to a no-hoper whining about Cobourg's bully-boy tactics and leaving PH once more a victim - boohoo. Surely at this stage where PH has peed away $25,000 of scarce taxpayers dollars there should have been more of a rational reaction, like telling the King Peter and Queen Linda to stop playing games and "jaw-jaw" rather than "war-war".

An update

Thanks to all who are posting and perhaps wondering why nothing from me. I came back from vacation and ended up with a gall bladder attack that laid me up for three days, and am now waiting for the removal. Am at home living on the lowest of no-fat diets. Unfortunately the BurdReport publishing press, my trusty P4, crapped out so I am somewhat incommunicado. But all will be well soon.