Willy Loman

Rae goes after Canon in question period about the Khadr deal and the word goes out to attack Rae and set the scenario that the Opposition parties are soft on terrorism. So an asshole talk radio jock does a rant that Rae will probably be at the airport handing Khadr ten million dollars and his intelligent listeners with their built in Liberal hate start repeating it. Delivering the line with a smile and a sneer. When you question the line, they come back with well we did it with Arar. You try to explain that Khadr was 15, a child soldier, the UN bit, the fact that the Americans wanted us to take him years ago and so on and so on. And the response is I don't care, Khadr wasn't Canadian, he's like all the others, they come over here for our healthcare and then run back to Pakistan, they should of shot him. Yep Canada is now a conservative country with very thin veils covering our inner racism. ,

Hazel squeaks by with seventy nine per cent of the vote. But former Liberal MP and incumbent city councilor Carolyn Parish got booted. Look on the bright side Torontonians, since Calgary has now turned progressive and you folks have elected a red neck, maybe you will have a chance of moving the Stampede east.

My seventy nine year old aunt died this weekend and I went to her visitation yesterday. She married at eighteen and remained so for sixty one years. My eighty seven year old uncle stood beside her for two and half hours telling all who were not afraid to look at a person in a coffin, how she peacefully passed away.  Her children seemed almost afraid to enter the room and being worried about their father wanted him to circulate and speak with the other friends and family who had gathered in the various seating areas, but he wouldn’t leave her side. He didn’t want her to be alone. I could of and should of told him that I would stay with her until he returned, he would of let me, I am that persuasive, but I didn’t and I feel like an asshole. Obviously not a big deal in the scheme of worldly events, but at some point in my life I need to start acting with compassion instead of just pontificating compassionate intentions.

The latest from FFIB: If my memory has not failed me, I believe it was pogge who posted about how the radical right is obsessed with their fears. Fear of immigrants, fear of socialism, paranoiac suspicion that their rights and way of life are being attacked by the so called elitism of progressive thought. So the idea for this somewhat over the top interpretation of two right wing radicals visiting Toronto was born. Personally I always thought they were just envious of us. Not because of our wealth, power or influence, but simply because we are not afraid to howl at the moon, at two in the afternoon. See more FIBBS here .

My first trip to Calgary was in 1968 when the Mayor went on the radio and said all the long haired, hitchhiking bums from the east should be kicked out of the province. Woo woo, Calgary. Eat this Jack Leslie .

You just keep blowing it, Bubbles There were Bubbles everywhere They filled the skies and hurt your pride Then just like your law suit will, they went away and died But fortunes always hiding You will look everywhere But you will just keep blowing it, Bubbles Petty bubbles every where.

Microsoft had a great policy to handle rejection. Instead of finger pointing and making excuses, they would overly embrace those in the marketplace that supported and defended them. Although I am not a big fan of Microsoft or our current government, it might be a more positive and worthwhile activity for all those marketing types in the PMO who are currently scrambling about in damage control mode. Imagine having to come up with excuses why India, did not vote for us, nor China , nor the United Arab Emirates ( Oh never mind we know about that one ). This could go on for weeks as we find out Britain didn’t vote for us or the US didn’t support us. There is no end to the number of countries, Harper has pissed off. It would be a lot less work, more uplifting and quite frankly get it over with sooner if we just had the PMO come up with a reason why seventy odd countries, did vote for Harper and his government. Seriously, why did  seventy odd countries vote for Harper and this...

Sun Media’s, Canoe News has just released the government’s reaction to the Toronto Star’s front page article about how strippers and escorts are being added as new job classifications to the federally controlled national job classification system. The Star article claims that the government wants to help unemployed Canadians find careers as strippers and for-hire escorts. Apparently, it was only a draft version created by Finley’s office, that was sent to the provinces and according to her PMO assigned, spokesman, Ryan Sparrow, nor would it ever have been a policy under consideration by our government. Which then begs the question, why put the jobs on the list going to provinces for consideration. Well so much for that expected increase in tourism from those Chinese businessmen .

Lost in all the finger pointing by Harper, Canon and crew about how the world listens more to Ignatieff, than I guess, Harper, Canon and crew. Deficit Jim set a new record yesterday, producing the country's largest deficit ever. Originally projected to come in at $53.8 billion, the new record for fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 is $55.6 billion. And guess who's fault it was: The liberal provincial governments of BC and Ontario. From the CBC: That figure is almost $2 billion higher than the $53.8-billion deficit projected in the federal budget last March, and was largely prompted by a one-time transfer of $5.6 billion to Ontario and British Columbia to help them make the transition to the harmonized sales tax. Of course the only reason that both provinces agreed to switch to a single, value added tax scheme this July, was because the federal offered them $5.3 billion to do so, and one would assume that our finance minister would have planned for that expenditure, since the ...

The rains ceased and the clouds parted over the center of the universe last Thursday afternoon and as the earth turned on its axis emulating the westward journey of the sun, I left work, hopped in my Jeep and headed east on a 26.8 km trek, from the fifth largest city in Canada to Toronto, our nation’s largest metropolis and home of our country’s elite. My mission, to secretly meet with some of the best known, Toronto area, progressive, bloggers. Note to self: Do not head into Toronto on the night when the Leafs are playing the Habs in the season opener.  Two hours later I arrived at the secret location, a three story and seemingly popular pub, only to realize that I did not know the names of the people I was meeting, only their blogs. Nor did I know what they looked like. So reverting to my friendly salesman mode, I approached every table where at least one women and two males were seated and asked them if they were elitist bloggers.  Second note to self: Do not approac...

h/t Impolitical here , who asked for a simpler FFIB

Global TV has never seemed that progressive to me, but yesterday after my favorite soap ended, I'm watching Global Toronto news and Leslie Roberts while doing the summary of the oceanic CENSUS story on the newly discovered number of species, some what humorously adds: There has been no word from Ottawa yet. A definite shot about the canceling the long form census. His co-anchor in almost disbelief repeats the line and then starts scrambling, as does the weather guy who is trying to make a quick segue. You could envision the floor directors draws dropping and making the cover up and move on, hand signals or yelling in their ear pieces. Maybe not that big a gaffe for this pro Harper network, but I thought it was funny.

There is an old salesman's theory. When the CFO and the finance department take over the company, it is time to walk away. Customer retention is no longer the priority. The narrow, black or white, bottom line view of the bookkeeper will eventually destroy customer satisfaction and in the end the confidence of your customer base. That theory, in my humble opinion, explains why Paul Martin is not the prime minister, today. Paul Martin was a good, if not great CFO, but as the front man he was no salesman. He was the honest and ethical bookkeeper who didn’t realize that sometimes, shades of grey are required. It was necessary to create the Gomery Commission, but it was naive and just plain stupid to hold daily televised hearings in Quebec, where they became a daily soap opera featuring the flaws in your product offering. There has to be a balance within an organization between the back room role of the fiscal managers and the public relations role of the sales and marketing staff...