Ontario’s great intellectual premier, Doug Ford, is headin’ out to Alberta to rally around United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney and their hatred of the federal carbon pricing plan.
But before Ford left this province he left a message of some importance….
“We’re going to stand up to Justin’s [sic] Trudeau’s tax and spend policies. We’re going to get Trudeau’s hand out of your pocket and start putting money back into the taxpayers’ pocket.”
The election campaign is over. Does that guy even know what day it is? (Yeah, time to go to Alberta.)
The National Post’s partisan afterburners light up today with a column by David Krayden on the issue of a replacement fighter for Canada’s RCAF.
The former public relations man for the Royal Canadian Air Force makes some fair points -- pick a machine and let’s go, for example -- but he is wrong, I think, on what fighter should replace our aging CF-18s.
Mr Krayden notes:
“I was working at the House of Commons at the time for the Official Opposition defence critic, who thought the decision to participate in the development, and eventually, the procurement of the F-35, was a refreshing but rare moment of common-sense, non-political defence planning on the part of the government.”
With such a purchase, what is required is not “common-sense” but an “informed opinion”. What I sense is happening is the given government has suspicions about not only the F-35 program’s ridiculous financial costs and technical problems, but the performance specs and performance data -- including maintenance and support costs. Don’t look too closely.
That is how a friend of mine describes Doug Ford. That he told me yesterday after I posted yet another piece about Ontario's deliciously angry leader. The Man for the People; His People.
Today, Ontario's bizarre premier, Doug Ford, announced that he and his Progressive Conservatives are planning to repeal Bill 148. Also known as the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, the bill was a fine bit of legislation passed in November of last year by former premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberals to help "people" who are part-time, contract, or minimum wage workers.
Yes, I know, Mister Ford. They are the riffraff of Ontario's labour force.
Tim Hortons coffee is sub par to me. A friend of mine said it best recently: "You taste the cream and sugar more than the coffee." (With normal amounts of cream and sugar, of course.) It made perfect sense that I drag home a "Tims" coffee. Convenience, no doubt.
On the current paper cup is this:
Tim Horton
Our founder, Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton, played 24 seasons in the NHL and won 4 Stanley Cup Championships with the Toronto Maple Leafs
That reminds me how long ago it was the Leafs last won a Stanley Cup: 1967
Which reminds me.
Again, we're hearing: "this year!"
Didn't we hear that last year? And the year before that?
It was when I was a young boy that the Toronto Maple Leafs made me open up a dictionary and look for the perfect word to describe them: "Got it! Pathos."
Thunderbirds was a special television program in my childhood. The stories of "International Rescue" originally aired in 1965 and 1966, but I caught them a few years later on Barrie, Ontario, television station CKVR.
What was the appeal to a young boy at that time? The fab vehicular machines, and, although we did not know it at such a young age, the fine scripting.
Watching this clip reminds me of another special ingredient: Barry Gray's brilliant theme music -- brilliance which carried over into the background scores.
Before I return to my adulthood I should add this: Each Thunderbirds opening title sequence is slightly different; where the music becomes a scherzo, those rapid clips we see are from "this episode" -- in this case, the premiere episode, "Trapped in the Sky".
I move about Toronto using the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). For the most part, it serves me well. No need for a car; especially where I live: The Annex neighbourhood.
Living close to downtown also makes for a nice walk to the city centre if I decide to stay above-ground during my trip.
What can't be forgotten is this area is well-served by the subway. The University-Spadina and the Bloor-Danforth lines make a nice cross.
"The rocket ships on sci-fi screens today are simply boring, whether they are piloted by earthlings or space aliens."
That is a provocative statement from Toronto Star movie critic Peter Howell in his piece, Where have all the UFOs gone? Blame the movies. I've not seen many SF flicks of recent years, but from what I have seen, in promotional pictures and clips, I would agree.
I'm also in synchronous orbit with Mr Howell in his summations of three space vessels: the flying saucer from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); the Aries moon lander from 2001: A Space Odyssey; and the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars (1977 and beyond).
Why all the mundane design work in science-fiction movies today? The Lookalike Film Designers Club has an active membership.
Really: "Remember when humans and aliens used to take pride in the design of their spaceships?"
Well, for starters, Walter "Matt" Jefferies died back in 2003.
I have a sense of humour, even about myself. Minutes ago I went to the Toronto Sun website and was greeted with a shock; not by one of their mindless editorials, but by this:
You have read your 10th of 10
complimentary articles this month
Subscribe now for full access
Sure, no problem. I'm going to donate money to a right-wing rag.
My real point, and back to my admission about me having a sense of humour about myself: I have read ten articles on the Toronto Sun's website; in less than a week, no less.
Ha! I'll outwit them. I'll just switch to one of my other devices....
Post Script: I'm surprised the banner didn't read as follows....
You have read you're 10th of 10
complementary articles this month
While working yesterday I had my trusty radio on. Something caught my attention.
What, they laughed?
U.S. president Donald Trump was speed-writing his speech before the U.N. General Assembly when he made a claim to trump his own litany of false claims:
“In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
They chortled!
Poor guy.
The video of that is priceless, especially the expression on the president's face after he puts two-and-two together.
More subtle, but more bizarre, to me at least, is this:
"... we reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism." (Emphasis mine.)
What?
That's like saying "at home we embrace the doctrine of wallpaper".
This morning I was reading up on legendary television producer Quinn Martin when I came across a Los Angeles Times article from three years ago. The newspaper story is actually a reprint from September 21, 1966. "Star Trek is Costly Sci Fi Epic"
I find articles like that fascinating. Yes, whatdid they think back then of a given show, especially one that would go into the history books, and endless reruns?
In the above example, then LA Times staff writer Don Page was just visiting the sound stages very early in Star Trek's production, so he was not speaking of a completed episode.
Oh....so if I pick up a placard and "protest", that makes me a "professional protester".
I'm already fed up with Ford. I'm tired of his simplemindedness.
I picked-up one of those word-search books in my effort to get him to start reading. If I bump into the premier I'll hand it to one of his associates: "It's a donation. When you give it to Mister Ford, please explain to him how it works. Here's a 2-B pencil and an eraser."
