Advice From the World's Richest Woman

Wow! Sounds like this Australian lady really made it 'the hard way'.

Dalton McGuinty: A Man Running Or On The Run?

I have to admit, I find the imagery extraordinarily pleasing.

Like a man on trial for criminal offences entering the courthouse via an underground passage to avoid the media glare, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty stole through the back door during a Wednesday evening stop at the campaign headquarters of Liberal lawyer Eric Davis, who is vying to give McGuinty his majority as he runs in the Kitchener-Waterloo byelection today.

Davis is trailing the NDP candidate badly, but that was not the reason for the premier's covert entrance. It was to avoid protesters out front angry at plans to privatize the Ontario Northland Transportation Corporation.

A photo showing an agitated electorate would not be consistent with the image the unflappable McGuinty likes to project of competent and trusted leadership.

It kind of reminds me of his school photo-op the other day, when he toured École élémentaire Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau, whose teachers belong to a union that has settled its contract. The potential for unwanted publicity would have been too great had he made an appearance at a school whose teachers are members of either the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario or the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, given that their collective bargaining rights are being stripped away by McGuinty's government.

It is a fact, among many others, I suspect the voters of Kitchener-Waterloo will keep in mind as they cast their ballots today.

And Yet Another Threat To Beleaguered America

Folks, I merely report these things, as bizarre a commentary they are about our beleaguered American 'friends.' I do not make them up.

H/t Salon

Heather Mallick On The Insidious Nature Of Poverty

The older I get, the less patience I have with government that preaches an austerity that has a disproportionate impact on the poor. Of the right-wing rhetoric and mythology that all one has to do is to work hard to succeed, so evident in last week's Republican convention, I have absolutely no tolerance.

Our government and corporate leaders largely mouth a propaganda that results in a commodification of people as they go about insidiously destroying the sense of community that makes society tolerable, worthwhile, and at times noble.

This is why I was pleased to read Heather Mallick's column in this morning's Star, that is a poignant commentary on both the vulnerability of the poor and the fact that none of us is immune from the vicissitudes of life, no matter how we may think we have fortified ourselves against misfortune.

Thursday's Ontario Byelections -Updated

Compelling reasons to hope that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty does not secure his majority government via Thursday's byelections:

The Ornge scandal, and his refusal to appear before the Legislative committee to explain his role in it.

The $180 million taxpayers are on the hook for because McGuinty cancelled the gas-fired power plant under construction in Oakville in order to win the seat during the last general election.

His use of bribery to persuade Tory Liz Witmer to vacate her seat in Kitchener-Waterloo so he could hold a byelection for her seat.

His unnecessary and politically-motivated legislation that has robbed Ontario teachers of their collective-bargaining rights.

The Premier has amply demonstrated, from the above and a myriad of other acts, that he neither deserves nor can be trusted with a majority government.

UPDATES: Apparently Mr. McGuinty's refusal to come clean at the Ornge committee hearings is contagious.

Also, it seems like I am not the only one who doesn't believe he should achieve a majority government via unnecessary byelections.

Yet Another Threat To America!

Judging by the discernment levels of many Americans, I guess this dire warning by washed-up action hero Chuck Norris and his wife about the threat to America posed by Obama's re-election will galvanize people:

Another Thing Americans Have To Worry About

Think how much worse things could be if guns killed people. But as we all know, thanks to the reassurance offered by the NRA, guns don't kill people; people kill people.