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October 26^th 2004

Congratulations to Mayor Delanty
Monday 25th October 2002 saw the gauntlet being thrown down by the members of Cobourg Council. The slap across the face was directed at Hamilton Township. No water for them!
In a rare display of leadership Mayor Delanty quietly stated his reasons for not allowing Cobourg to send water across the boundary to Hamilton Township. Council quickly fell in line and all members spoke forcefully and pointedly about the need to respect planning principles and maintain a boundary free from Urban Sprawl. The only person to deviate from the mantra was Councilor (I was once a Reeve) Williams who in giving his reasons again reminded everyone of his role as the only fossiised politician alive who can remember the County restructuring of the 70s. Who cares Lloyd, go on any more and people will wonder if it is you or the sarcophagus talking.

Eminem has a video (Quel surprise!)
Five weeks in the making and rapper Eminem has produced a video that he says will encourage people to vote see it here

A possible and well warranted Victoria Cross
How about this, and nobody wants to talk about it. Copies of the citation for heroism shown by an unnamed member of the SAS have the public in the UK clamoring for recognition of that heroism, just remember there hasn't been a VC awarded for 50 years. The citation that has been submitted for Royal approval is supposed to be this:
"Whilst serving in Iraq as part of a joint special forces patrol with members of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and US Rangers, Corporal ******* was dispatched with a number of the Australian SAS to carry out reconnaissance in an area of Baghdad occupied by large numbers of foreign enemy fighters involved in acts of terrorism within Iraq. During the reconnaissance, Corporal ******* and the Australian SAS soldier came under enemy engagement consisting of heavy gunfire, involving close quarters battle, over a period of two hours. During this time the Australian SAS soldier sustained life-threatening gunshot injuries and trauma. Corporal ****** gave immediate medical assistance. Whilst still under heavy attack from RPG and machine gun fire at close quarters, Corporal ****** engaged the enemy and continued to give medical assistance to the Australian SAS soldier. Corporal *******, whilst administering medical assistance, returned fire on the enemy and called in air strikes. Corporal *******, killed some 36 enemy. Whilst fighting his way out of the area, he carried the injured Australian SAS soldier on his back for three miles, before being airlifted out of the area by helicopter. Corporal ****** during the engagement sustained shrapnel injuries requiring a period of medical treatment back in UK. Corporal *********'s actions showed the highest level of valour and gallantry in the face of overwhelming number of enemy and in the rescue of the Australian SAS soldier. It is recommended to her Majesty that Corporal ********* be awarded the Victoria Cross" Wow, 36 confirmed kills (just imagine how many unconfirmed kills?) and then carrying the other guy three miles to a helo drop - well done.

October 22^nd 2004
Stuff from the Internet and other media that I liked this week.

Now the County has some money for Economic Development what are they going to do with it? Well one of their three priorities is to revamp the website. As more than a casual watcher, and a taxpayer, let me point out that this will be the third 'major revision' to the website in six years. Having spent untold dollars on tourism consultants and management content systems the County is now back at square one in its web development for the EDO. Unacceptable! if the County had spent the same amount of money on a good basic design and an equivalent amount on maintenance the website would have been more than useful, but that's what you get when you try to do the job on the cheap and pay consultants hefty fees to do it for you.

More tails from the Long Grass
Barry King has sent an opinion (click here to read it) of the procedure used by Alnwick-Haldimand Council to get its way in the "Tall Grass" controversy. This dispute is set around the desire of the Township to establish a road (for god knows what purpose) in the Red Cloud cemetery. Parts of the cemetery has been have been declared a national treasure because 'Tall Grass' grows there. Opponents of the Township's plan have been buoyed by the declaration of the Tall Grass as protected however it now seems that optimism may have been all for naught.

The Township appears to have lucked out in their efforts to destroy this grass, and the finances of the owners, by wilful intent. The supporting Ministries appear to be powerless to do anything in their individual interpretations of the Oak Ridges Moraine Guidelines. I guess the lawyers will get rich on this one.

October 15^th 2004
As a result of receiving this email from a loyal reader, "When is someone from Northumberland going to tell this man that he sits in the direct photo op,behind Howard Hampton? Today, Thursday October 14th/04, he was observed, during the NDP's question session, acting like a RUMINATING COW. What was he chewing? Gum? Tobacco? All the time ?.....and a yawning session as well?", I was prompted to haul out this old pic from the last session. It shows Lou hard at work doing whatever it is he does [obviously nothing..ed] whilst sitting behind the NDP caucus. Shelly Martell is the woman speaking.

Two items from the local media today: one is the news that the Mayor is going to poll the councillors about the decision to supply water to Hamilton Township. That should be quite the conversation, Pols being what they are will they the right thing or the expedient thing? There is only one thing to do - tell them to amalgamate and then they'll get the water!! The other being the bemoaning by the Mayor about the fact that shoppers have more shopping choices than Downtown. That statement should stand by its itself considering the overwhelming, Yea almost orgasmic, support for the Walmart proposal by all of the members of this Council.

Kerry Price Still Falling
Continuing our coverage of the state of the presidential-election betting line, John Kerry continues to gain ground following the final debate. The return on Kerry has dropped steadily, getting as low as +125 (bet $100 to win $125) at one point. The line has currently settled at about +130.

October 11^th 2004
Every news outlet on the web has been writing about the beheading of hostage Ken Bigley, my curiosity led me to track down the tape referred to by them all. Editors across the world have made the decision not to show the tape but it can be found here (I downloaded it for posterity knowing just how fragile internet links are - here today gone tomorrow) from www.ogrish.com. The clip is an edited short version of a longer one on the web site. The long one contains scenes of the hostage pleading for his life just before the actual violence this just shows his captors making a speech, in Arabic and then they do the dastardly deed.

Want to see unusual photos click here and then click on the "Weird Photos link" you should have lots of time on your hands before you start, and if you are doing this at work - stop it!

October 9^th 2004
A most bizarre story from the First Debate
Read this story and figure out if the conspiracy theorists have gone nuts! It claims that President Bush was wired to receive answers and in shades of Vinni Minilli he was allegedly lip-synching. A day after writing this copy I now find a website devoted to the issue: isbushwired.com an interesting site. Here is an image of the alleged device, something can be seen on his back (too small to be a monkey!). Now here is another site exposing the same thing but with more of a graphical flair

Odds on Kerry winning still dropping
Following up on last week's report on the odds for the Presidential election, the price on Kerry has dropped to +156 (bet $100 to win $156) at the offshore Pinnacle Sports. The line was +200 prior to the first debate. Source, Las Vegas Advisor, written by Anthony Curtis

October 8th 2002
Another video from Jib-Jab:
Jib-Jab, the video company that ran into trouble this year after releasing a satirical clip using the song, "This land is our land". The video lampooned the US presidential candidates. Originally created as a make-work project the brothers soon found themselves the darlings of late night TV. On a personal note I have never seen, apart from Rick Mercer's campaign to change Stockwell Day's name to Doris, an item race around the internet so fast, everybody I knew emailed it to each other.

Now they have released another video, called "Good to be in DC" it runs to the tune of "Whistling Dixie" there should be no problem of using a song that may be in the public domain. Incidentally it has now been proven that Woody Guthrie's song is in the public domain depite claims from the people who say they have the rights. Again the joy of this video is in the many layers of content - watch it a few times and see something new each time.

Fun and games in Philadelphia
Voting shenanigans are appearing all over the USA, here is a story, from the New York Times, about how Ralph Nader's campaign is struggling to get on the ballot on Philiadelphia. Republicans are working with him and Democrats are accused of deliberately filling out the absentee ballots incorrectly to disrupt the sign-in campaign - very intereeeesting. In Florida Nader has been placed on the ballot despite Democrat objections and mainly because of an alleged rigged process supported by the Governor (Jeb Bush).

You can tell Christmas is coming
How about this advertisement spotted on the 'job-board' click here if you want a job for Christmas - start growing your beard now (note the job description specs).

October 7th 2002
Another hare brained idea:

Just what is Howard Moscoe smoking when he proposes that local councillors serve FOUR year terms, for goodness sakes three years is far too long for some of the people we elect. Citing continuity and the time it takes to learn the job he wants longer terms for municipal politicians. Putting that into local context some Cobourg councillors may not make the full term. With four of the seven drawing old age pensions there is a possibility a couple of councillors could die in office. (BTW how can this Council be representative of the population when not of them has a real job?) If that happened it would cost the Town money to run replacement elections, unless they do what Cramahe did and appoint cronies instead having an election.

What we should be doing is instituting term limits on the people we elect. Can any body ever figure out the last time the longest serving member of Council (Bill MacDonald) said anything useful? Somebody once said 20 years experience may only be one year repeated twenty times. The most energetic member of Council this term is the new guy, Gil Brocanier, but then he really isn't new as he has served on Council before. Somebody should should wake these people up. It's not the Cable show of Council TV that is sleep inducing it's the people on it who appear asleep.

Whar kind of rubbish does Pat MacNamara put out?
Pat MacNamara is a Port Hope activist, who has decided that he is a local expert on the radioactive waste problem. He has, fortunately kept his activitiesand opinions to the regions of Port Hope. But this week he decided to 'educate' the dwellers of "Sleepy Hollow" (Cobourg Council). In his remarks, after he had scared the pants off them by talking about radio-active clouds only being fifteen minutes away he dropped the bombshell that two local schools had been stocked with fill that had possibly been contaminated. Well that remark was put to death by Valerie MacDonald of the CDS by exposing the full contents of the memo that Mr MacNamara quoted from. To put it mildly when it was noted in Valerie's copy that "Mr McNamara was unavailable for comment at press time", he had better not surface as he has a lot of explaining to do.

October 6th 2002
Can't Port Hope keep an EDO?

Port Hope has fired the third Economic Development Officer in a row. The people concerned have gone to ground and the public response has been reduced to a mantra."We don't comment on personnel matters in public." Rebecca Bowman-Goddard has not been seen or heard from in the whole affair which started late last week. Despite the public bleating of CHUC's David Craig, you know the guy with the deep voice and shallow opinions, no media outlet has been able to get any information. David Craig was reduced to calling the whole affair a blow to the public's right to know this week - the last refuge of a dry newsman is always the whining about the public's right to know!

But what is really going on in Port Hope and has the Mayor and Council expected too much? During the 2000 election Mayor Austin was quoted as saying he wanted a fully funded ED department and a proper EDO, he wins the election and Gaby Mann is gone. Replaced by a slicker version from Cobourg Gaby faded into obscurity and Rebecca charged on, performing her duties and re organising the department. All the powers-that-be can say about her is that she left behind a good website! But back to the question, what does Port Hope want? With very little industrial land in the town and a huge acreage outside the Town (but that belongs to OPG and they don't want to share it), and the looming public relations problem of the "radioactive image" coming back into the public domain who would want to be the EDO? Perhaps John Morand with his huge roladex could persuade one of his fishing buddies to come out of retirement for a lucrative consulting contract?

Will Cobourg Council play ball with Hamilton Township?
On Monday night the Mayor of Hamilton Township, Forrest Rowden, came to Cobourg Council and asked for water. Citing the looming cost of fixing up the Baltimore well as $3.4 million he asked if Cobourg would consider running a pipe out to the countryside for a much cheaper amount. Cobourg councillors are necessarily wary of such a request for two reasons: one is that it goes against Town policy of not extending services and two if the pipe does go it is a proven fact that development follows the pipe. Development along its borders is not what Cobourg wants, unless of course, hypocritically, it is on the inside of the border not the outside.

So here is some advise for the Council; do not extend services, let Hamilton Township stew in their own juices (they built the well against good advice from Cobourg a decade ago). If the good citizens of Hamilton get angry they will be angry at their own politicians and could look at amalgamation as a solution. Amalgamation will not solve the water solution alone but could be the answer to a lot of other problems in the area. Kill them all (the problems of non-amalgamation) by refusing the water and let Forrest come crawling on his knees to beg for water. It's either that or get tossed out for imposing a huge water levy increase.

October 3rd 2002
The things people will bet on:

"Gamblers Handicap Presidential Debate
Who won Thursday's first presidential debate? It's difficult to determine if you review the morning-after media, which tries to remain objective, or rely on the input of partisan spin doctors. But one efficient market scores it a solid win for John Kerry. Going into the debate, the betting line at the offshore Olympic sports book on who will win the election was Bush -230/Kerry +200, meaning that you could bet $100 to win $200 on Kerry. Halfway through the debate, however, Olympic took the line off the board, indicating that betting action was so heavy on one side that the oddsmakers had to recast the line -- a move akin to a delayed opening in the stock market. When the line came back 15 minutes after the debate's conclusion, the favored side was revealed, with the spread moving to Bush -200/Kerry +170. Translation: The odds against Kerry had improved from 2-1 to 1.7-1 -- a significant change, indicating an overwhelming perception on the part of wagerers that Kerry had outperformed Bush decisively. "
this article came from the Las Vegas Advisor, written by Anthony Curtis

October 2nd 2004
"Those who fail to heed history are doomed to repeat it"- George Santayana:
Watching the wailing about the water supply in Hamilton Twp takes us all (those of us who bother to remember it) back to the origins of the situation. In the late 80s the Galloping Major (Angus Read - Mayor of Cobourg) and the Dandy from Hamilton Twp - Reeve Jack Avery, sat down to discuss amalgamation. Before anybody realised the discussion quickly became about the supply of water to "them thar hills - Emerald Hills that is!" This development was a planned community on the Dale Road just west of Baltimore. It was rumoured though never proven that Dandy Jack had a hidden interest in it, but although he was heavily involved in real estate (being a salesperson) nobody could actually make the connection.

Eventually the amalgamation talks collapsed (but that's another story) and Hamilton Twp spurned Cobourg's offer to build a water loop up to the Dale Rd and built a community well with a capacity of 750 homes in Baltimore instead. Not without problems this well has cost Hamilton ratepayers a lot of money and it is no wonder that those on it are fed up with it and those without water want it. So it is ironic that this week taxpayers and politicians are discussing the prospect of getting water from Cobourg. What a waste of time and money if it ever goes through and a couple of people, former Ham Twp pols, should hang their heads in shame for even thinking about the communal well in Baltimore let alone for claiming credit for building it!

October 1st 2004
Will the dreaded LACAC, purveyors of good taste, strike again?
Careful watchers of the latest work being done on the Front wall of the former Plaza Hotel in downtown Cobourg, will be intrigued at the facade that is being revealed by removing the present one. Rob Mikel should have held his talk to the Historical Society this week instead of last week and the title of his talk would have had much more meaning - "Underneath the Vinyl Siding." Interesting details are being revealed, whether they will stay exposed is up to the owner, but if they do the LACAC might have something to say about the newly installed, and obviously modern, patio doors that now sit in a beautiful original door frame.

Notice the stained glass windows under the lintel and the 50 year old beer sign - classic neon.

This facade needs tidying up and the present needs to be matched to the past; we will keep an eye on the progress.