Working in Ottawa today --Fear the Foghorn

Good morning folks,

I will be working in Ottawa today.

Three topics today..  First is the phone calls that we all been receiving from a man claiming to be your/our/my Captain.  Starts with a foghorn followed by some officious sounding gent, "This is your captain speaking.."  and the announcer then proceeds to explain that you have 'won' a free cruise..

What I wonder is how well the orchestrators of this particular phone campaign understand how they have changed Canadians' use of their telephones?  To explain, I do not answer my home phone at all anymore for Fear of the Foghorn.  When my cell rings and it is a number I do not recognize, I have Fear of the Foghorn.

I have performed a non-scientific poll of a non-random set of citizens and I caution that one should not base any financial or end of days decisions on my findings, but damn near everyone I spoke with stated that they do not answer their phone if the call is from outside of their area code for Fear of the Foghorn.

What a strange legacy to leave behind, years from now while gathering his great grandchildren around his deathbed, the orchestrator can explain that single handedly he  changed how Canadians use their phone, that he was the true source of the Fear of the Foghorn.


Now on to Mayor Ford.  Many of you were disappointed that I had failed to comment on Mayor Crack-whore Ford.  yeah I know that no one accused him of being a crack-whore, but I thought it sounded damn funny.  I apologize to the real crack-whores for the unflattering association.

The reason I had not commented was that Mayor Ford seemed to be self destructing, and I just didn't think I could help or hinder with comments from the sidelines.  Sometime you just have to watch the car accident from the curb.

However.. there is some serious odd reports about the crack-up.  One of the more bizarre is that on May 17 Ford told his staffers that he knew where the video was --in apt 1701 or 1703 on the 17th floor of a particular Dixon Road address.  But then stated that no video existed.. an odd contradiction, if it exists, he knows where it is, but it doesn't exist.  Follow that?  This reportedly caused great confusion and concern to key members of his staff, one of which wanted to go get the video and and another that said absolutely not.

Then there was the firing of his Chief of Staff (yeah, bad week for Chiefs of Staff) and then the mass exodus of his press reps.  All in all his failure to address the allegations has seriously interfered with his ability to function in the capacity of Mayor and is causing harm to the City and its citizens.

The noble action needed is clear.  If he cannot clear his name and resume his office then he should resign.


And finally, you send two text messages, one email and a very short phone call seeking an explanation of my comments regarding Marxist-Leninists and Anarchists taking up the Left.

What I was referring to is that if the NDP continues its pursuit to become centrist solely to win votes and abandon its fundamental principals then [there] will be a void on the Left.

Unfortunately a lean away from Left is an expected and natural progression.  Organizations / societies progress towards the right just like people tend to do, the young and idealistic civil libertarian may graduate from law school, start hanging out with the country club crowd and before you know it, he's a economic libertarian.  It just works out that way.

In France, the Left is referred to the party of movement and the Right the party of order.  And I guess the Anarchists the party of disorder.

In keeping with many of our discussions and heading off in different directions,  that the Anarchists exist is likely a testament that the Left is needed, if we had social justice and equality that the A-members would not be in a situation where tearing down the system is the logical route (rightly or wrongly, I am simply making the observation).

With a move to the Center by the NDP, a void on the Left is/will be created and something will fill that void, the problem for social democrats is that what fills the void may not hold social justice as a fundamental goal.

Have a great day, beware of Crack-whore Mayors and Fear of the Foghorn.