March 21: The stupidity of PM Alward....

I used to think that Mr. Alward was a dishonest politician pretending to be a stupid one. I apologize for thinking that. His statements in today's Times and Transcript have made me realize my error. He is not a dishonest politician. He is a stupid politician pretending to be a dishonest one.

"It (the new high school at Royal Oaks) will provide a great learning environment for our children long term."

Wha the hell is that supposed to mean? What is a 'great' learning environment? And exactly what does it have to do with location? Is it in some way related to the view? the air?

Mr. Alward knows nothing about education. So he makes bozo statements. I spent some fifty years in education. I have never heard of 'great' learning environment used to describe a location. And pompous but vague words like great are used by people who don't know what they're talking about, but want to sound impressive. It's an embarassement to realize this man is the one who goes out to represent us.

Of course, when he says environment, he might be referring to the class of people the students will see in such an upscale development.  After all, as in any city, most students come from districts full of low class bums. Now, they'll have a chance to mix with high class bums.

This  front page story is described as an interview of Alward with  the Times and Transcript. Hint - in such an interview, the Times and Transcript is supposed to ask questions. But there's no sign of questions. Apparently, Alward was allowed to get off with a string of inanities.

Well, there's an old saying that you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear. True enough. Apparently, it's equally true that you can't make a premier out of  part of a sow's anatomy. (Some part of a horse might do, though.)


The front page is still pushing for the downtown 'events' centre. We are assured it will pay for itself, and even show a profit. Quite so. I have misunderstood all along. I foolishly thought that the owner of the hockey team was just using us for our tax money, and thinking of himself. But I was wrong.

Obviously, the owner of the hockey team doesn't want the profit that will surely come from an events centre. He is generously, as is the tradition of his family, giving us a chance to get all the profits. It  melts one's heart to see that. No wonder the Times and Transcript so often refers to the Irvings as philantropists.

On a scary note, though, the story below that quotes premier Alward as saying the Metro centre is  logical.

The Times and Transcript is also pimping for an elected senate - this time with two stories on the subject.  Apparently, the TandT's writers appear to be under the impression that the senate was created to represent regions. That's really not true.

The founders of Canada, like the founders of the United States, did not trust democracy. That's the truth. George Washington and friends were wealthy people. They were far more interested in protecting their property than they were in protecting human rights. Their rebellion against Britain had nothing to do with equal rights. It was against the British government taking their property in the form of taxes.

John A. MacDonald was no great democrat, either. Like Alward, he was more interested in pleasing corporations than he was in protecting human rights. That's also why, for much of Canadian history, the right to vote was restricted to property owners..

The purpose of the Senate was to make sure of who had the real control by giving the prime minister the right to appoint bankers, railway directors, etc. to make sure that us commoners in the House of Commons didn't do foolish things.

There's no other point to having a senate. It's not worth reforming the Senate. Indeed, there is no longer any point in having one at all.

The editorial, not surprisingly, attacks City Council for not supporting Premier Alward on the MHS decision.  Almost all of the editorial (as usual), was pretty biased, but mindless, blab. A crushing argument, though, came in the final paragraph.

The premier, it seems, has already agreed to address those problems that prostestors were concerned about. Well, that settles that. So everything's okay.

After all, we have the promise of our differently advantaged premier.