As some of you may have heard on CJOB this morning, Program Director Vic Grant is skipping town for a bit and has cobbled together a number of replacements to fill in for him delivering the “Excuse Me” commentary.
So for the next several weeks, your daily dose of audio punditry will be delivered by Stu Murray, David Asper, Sam Katz, retired homicide cop Bob Marshall, and…me?
Hey, I’m as surprised as the rest of you. When Vic first contacted me, I had to wonder if he’d ever read this blog, including the numerous posts and comments that haven’t exactly showered ‘OB with compliments.
But to Vic’s credit, he can apparently take it just as well as he dishes it out. Heck, he’s got Katz lined up for this, and I don’t think those two have had a kind word to say about each other in five years.
I’m penciled in for the week of March 23-27, which should actually work out well, with the city budget, provincial budget and by-elections in Elmwood and The Pas all taking place around then. It should be an interesting experiment, and as someone who was raised listening to ‘OB it’s actually a bit of a thrill.
I still think the station has a lot of challenges right now, and I won’t stop sharing my opinion about it or other local outlets, but at least it’s reaching out in some small way to the new wave of online citizen journalists/commentators. Now if they could just fix that crappy website. 
All right kids, let the bashing begin…
I’ll never wash myself with printouts of your blog again.
Nameless and faceless, eh? You sound an awful lot like Rorschach.
Ever used a grappling gun?
Is it in your contract that you have to work the phrase ‘Excuse, Me” into your commentary at least twice?
Also can you please shoot Brian Barckley and put him out of his misery?
So that must have been what that email from Vic Grant (and no reply) was about…
Good luck!
PS– you’re nothing but a MSM lapdog now. I liked you better when you had only a small audience. They’re just trying to silence your critical voice, & c.
Good luck with the gig, Froggie. No one sensible cares who you are or what you look like, only about what you say and how you say it.
Who delivered the pork, Bart? As far as anyone reading the Free Press can tell, they were nameless and faceless too.
You’re only a sellout if you let them edit it for content before air.
Hey, Boroditsky: Don’t you have a heart attack victim to berate?
Pork ?! That story’s going to end up with longer legs than the Titanic sinking
You’ll be a great rep for the local on-line commentary community. I look forward to your commentary.
I have to ask, as well, how many times ARE you required to say “excuse me” in the clip ?!
Froogie,
There’s nothing wrong with CJOB if they force you to use the hook “Excuse me” – as long as you don’t find yourself hamstrung and making ‘excuses’ for a paucity of content!
I wish you luck.
Kives. Tsk, tsk. Not one to talk. Stop acting like the angry young writer for a weekly rag that we all remember. Your new, nature-lovin’, canoe-totin’, northern-travelin’, holdin’-Sammy’s-feet-to-the-fire persona hides your insecurities much better.
Sweet. Kudos to you, I’ll make sure I listen in.
Stu Murray, David Asper, Sam Katz, The Policy Frog, and Bob Marshall – which one of these things is not like the others?
Sorry PF, when it comes to Vic Grant there is no relevancy for me, and any that may be there is for OB is very quickly disappearing.
Sellout, bashing?!?!? See above paragraph.
But I am disappointed. Way back when you first started I was a supporter of the blog because of it’s readability, freshness, and style – and yes of course the content.
Truth be known it was one of the reasons why I never actually got around to firing my blog back up. If PF wasn’t talking about it, it likely wasn’t worth talking about, and talking about it when PF was talking about it was just me too.
Now it seems you’re willing to become known by the company you keep, none of whom I have any respect for, and certainly no admiration.
Oh I’ll probably still be there reading and sometime beating my gums in response like the rest of the herd. But it won’t be the same for me any more.
It’s like finding your priest kissing your sister – it’s not so much what you did see as wondering what it was that you didn’t see.
HB
“Stu Murray, David Asper, Sam Katz, The Policy Frog, and Bob Marshall…”
How do we know the Frog isn’t also one of those people?
@RU – Have some faith. I’m doing five radio commentaries, not joining the Skull & Bones Society. There’s no “Excuse Me’ alumni association that I’m aware of (not even any t-shirts), so I don’t think I’ll be rubbing elbows with those other folks anytime soon.
@Disinterested – It’s true. I’m Sam Katz. I can’t believe it took this long for someone to realize it. Play ball!
Why won’t you answer the question Bart.
Who was the nameless and faceless driver that took pork, paid for by the taxpayers to feed the poor, to your union picket line after getting it from Winnipeg Harvest ?
Congrats on the gig, PF. That may prompt me to tune into CJOB for the first time in, well, maybe ever (except for Bomber Games.)
I would like to rent the MTC Warehouse to stage a local version of A Few Good Porkgate Men.
The climatic scene will involve tiny Marty Gold and tiny Bart Kivas facing off as Marty demands the truth and Bart insists that he can’t handle the truth.
@RU – I’ll bet you loved Nirvana too, before they sold out to the MAN, MAAAAAN!!
I want a refund from Marty Borditsky/Gold/Black Rod for wasting my taxpayer dollars while hawking wrestling programming on The Dragon’s Den.
The three faces of Eve .. I mean Marty
“Now are these really the questions I was called here to answer? Pork cuts and food banks? Please tell me you’ve got something more, Lieutenant….
These two marines are on trial for their lives. Please tell me their lawyer hasn’t pinned their hopes to a slice of ham…”
I’ve bit my tongue until it bled!
Knock it off Marty, I’m getting a little tired of both you and the K-Tel kid continually hijacking the subject and dropping trou in public to measure your manhood and using someone else’s blog to do it.
At least there’s an opportunity to publicly respond (in theory) to whatever the bart man has to say on his work blog. With you, not so much, in fact SFA.
Gawd I don’t know what’s worse MSM types that wanna be bloggers or bloggers that wanna be MSM – no offense PF.
I AM SO PROFOUNDLY INTERESTED IN PORK THAT I LISTEN TO KICK FM 12 HOURS A DAY, AND I JOINED THE MANITOBA PORK COUNCIL.
JUST SAYING.
Sweet Jesus, how is it that every fourth post on this blog goes on a pork tangent. It’s like newwinnipeg.com with the transit issue. This post is about me damn it!
Ed = Kives.
nope
RU Serious, what does your MSM comment mean exactly? It makes no sense at all. I guess you’re trying to be funny. You don’t seem to like change. PF shouldn’t go on OB according to you, and journalists shouldn’t blog and bloggers shouldn’t do anything related to journalism unless they are earning a full time paycheque from a media company? How narrow are the slits you look through?
Frog,
Porkgate is still the signal most important issue in the history of Winnipeg.
Marty, his close friends at the Black Rod, and Cotton will not rest until the pork is found or whatever the issue is with the pork.
I thought Vic Grant was going to offer Marty the afternoon drive slot?
What happened with that Marty?
Vic Grant did WHAT? I cannot see that happening.
I think the pork thing is about delivering pork to striking workers instead of clients of Wpg Harvest, no? And wasn’t the pork expired too or something?
‘Policy Frog: @RU – Have some faith. I’m doing five radio commentaries, not joining the Skull & Bones Society.’
Let’s put it this way – if I gore someone’s ox on my blog, whoever has their panties in a knot is going to have to produce the corpus delicti and convince a judge that my corpse must be there too.
In your case the sherrif will just show up unannounced and sieze every scrap of computer equipment and related material you have access to both at work and at home.
I’m not advocating irresponsibility in blog content, just pointing out that running around naked in a bad neighbour might lead to more than just sexual pleasure.
‘Vijay: @RU – I’ll bet you loved Nirvana too, before they sold out to the MAN, MAAAAAN!!’
Trust me Vijay this has nothing to do with selling out to the man and everything to do with crud like this:
And BTW yes I’m the same goof that a few weeks ago was whining about multiple responses by the same people on one subject.
But this doesn’t count because I don’t usually do it, and being human I can justify anything.
Will, the rumor was that Vic Grant was going to offer MartyRod the afternoon OB slot.
But of course, once Marty’s research implicated Vic as a silent partner in “The Bacon Connection,” Marty had to turn it down to stay clean.
You know, this thing goes all the way to the hock.
PF, you went cheap.
I suspected you were not so much an independent minded citizen journo type, but more of a wannabe.
Of ALL the things you coulda done, this is the most pathetic.
You are obviously unlikely to EVER criticize Vic Grant or CJOB again, demonstrating your unreliability as a critic or pundit of any kind.
You have joined a line up of establishment nobodies.
And through all of this, you STILL don’t even have the balls to use your own name.
For the record, many of us tolerated your light weight status as a thinker only because you appeared to have integrity and were making a sincere effort to get better and provide an legit alternative media forum.
I predict you choke on-air. Or worse, succeed, in revealing what a ho you really are.
You are like a little kid who was never part of the “in” crowd, who made a nuisance of himself and now gets to hang out with the kids he wants to suck up to.
You are officially the Most Profound Disappointment in the Local Blogosphere.
Go to hell. I will no longer be reading this much if at all, and will no longer recommmend or forward links to friends.
You did just well enough as an OB critic to get noticed; now you have been bought off.
Pathetic.
Do you even have the cojones to reveal how much — if anything — you will be paid?
Or have you now abandoned your Full Disclosure policy for a few shiny beads?
BTW — your headline is not even good irony. It is just sad. You have zero future in the MSM. And now you have zero future with this blog.
I guess you can go start another anonymous blog. But your scent is in the air, now.
I half way expect you to not even print my posts. I hope you have even a modicum of integrity left.
Question: How much dough is PF getting for this gig?
I’m sure the station which brought us Talk Idol in order to generate some free on-air content is offering nothing. Please tell me your ‘selling out’ has a price tag attached to it.
OK, done. Continue the pork discussion…
@A former PF reader – Mom, is that you?
I’ll try to respond to your comments in greater detail later, but for the time being I’ll just say this:
1. Not being paid a thing. I’m a cheap date.
2. I have no aspirations to work in the MSM. Do those jobs even exist anymore?
3. Good irony is getting crapped on by an anonymous commenter for remaining anonymous.
4. My cajones are doing fine. Thank you for asking about them. Twice.
Oh, I see someone beat me to the question…
@narc:
Ed = Kives.
Nope.
I think most of us can figure it out that ‘bart’ is K-Tel Jr.
Despite what many here have written, I’ll reserve my judgements of PF and what he SAYS on air, until that day.
I think CJOB has actually gotten someone with opinions, unafraid to share them on his blog, and is willing to put on the airwaves. Congrats, PF, I don’t always agree with your posts but will listen to what you have to say.
Whats the big deal?
I don’t know what is sadder…Policy Frog revealing a sudden lack of class (or cojones, LOL) and integrity, or the cowardly bickerfest between Bart and Marty. Can’t you two settle your spat on your respective blogs instead of bringing that nonsense on here? Marty: either get to the bottom of your story or shut the hell up. Expecting Bart to fess up is like expecting him to quit the Free Press and get a real job. You aren’t getting an answer from him. Continuing to ask as if that is your only hope of getting to the conclusion of the story is really ridiculous.
And Policy Frog…I have to agree with Former PF Reader…your credibility and judgement is at stake now. There is no way you can be regarded as a tell-it-like-it-is guy, now. I hope you reconsider. You seemed like a leader in the pioneering local blogging community. Now you have lowered yourself to appear on the very symbol of media garbage in the city. Why? For what possible reason? You say you are not getting paid. Do you wish to speak to a bunch of blue hair and prostate patients? Or do you really believe that the loathsome Vic Grant is trying to, ahem, capture your readership for his own sinking radio operation?
The word I heard on Grant is that he has been asked to shove off and retire. Supposedly he is taking some time to think about his “future” with the station and he is now desperately trying to mend some fences with the Mayor, the Aspers, the Tories, and generally suck up to a few others in the community. Grant is toast because CJOB is toast. You are just a butt-covering exercise for Grant. I feel a sense of loss and even pity for you, and I mean no disrespect to what you set out to do here, originally.
I think you should decline. You can’t help OB in any way, but they sure can hurt you. In fact I would suggest they already have. You have lost a certain amount of respect and credibility just with the announcement. Those of us who turned to the local blogosphere in part because of the abdication by local media are mightily disheartened by your move. Think it over. Is it really worth throwing all that you have built up away to be an unpaid butt covering for Vic Grant’s exit?
Finally, think about this, in case you have aspirations at the station… Grant’s successor is not likely to embrace you once the old decrepit one is gone
Guys, it’s 450 seconds of radio time. Relax.
Then why is it worth squandering your blogosphere credibility and your self dignity? No money to record 2.5 minutes of OB air space? What is it really all about? Why permit yourself to be flattered into being used as a fig leaf for all of Vic Grant’s and CJOB’s warts? It makes no sense. I am not as worked up about this as some others might be, but you ought to at least explain why you would do this to yourself…
“…squandering your blogosphere credibility…”
ROTFLMAO
Seems to me I heard that Manhattan Island was sold for $24 worth of beads.
There is nothing wrong with buying and selling but one should be careful of assessing the value of the transaction to both parties.
In making that assessment, it is difficult to put a value on the future of alternative media or personal credibility and loyalty to it. . It is also difficult to assess if we are engaging in just sparring or all out war.
For both those reasons the importance of the we/they issue and the importance of not crossing the line remains unclear
If he treats it like a spy expedition and comes back fighting, good for him!
On the other hand, there is a risk that he will be co-opted but I am betting not
I think froggie is making a little mistake but how he returns is critical. If he comes back with an extra wart or two and wiser for it, methinks its no big deal.
@Kool Like Dat – “blogosphere credibility”. Wow, what a treasure of human experience to risk losing. HAH!
@narc: “Kives. Tsk, tsk. Not one to talk. Stop acting like the angry young writer for a weekly rag that we all remember.”
Oh my god, did that make me laugh! That takes me back.
I don’t understand all this outrage & disappointment over PF’s agreeing to do some ‘OB commentaries. How many of you anti-MSM Don Quixote’s & weisenheimers have written letters to the editor to the Freep or Sun, or commented on their sites to tsk-tsk them or ‘open their eyes’? This is the radio’s counterpart to that – what’s the big deal. And what I really don’t understand is why so many of you who profess to be appalled by OB’s laughable news content seem to be so familiar with it. Why tune in? Hypocrisy, or guilty pleasure? It’s like wanting to be a high-toned soap opera critic. (they’re so juvenile… why, today, they…) Cripes, I haven’t listened to AM radio at all since upgrading to a stereo (from a
transistor radio) circa 1970.
“Cripes, I haven’t listened to AM radio at all since upgrading to a stereo (from a
transistor radio) circa 1970.”
Why the exaggerated lie?
@ Cheeky
I agree with Sigh.
Further, you have no idea what you’ve been missing on CFRW 1290 lately. Guess what? They actually play music you can sing/hum along with! About 8-10 hours a week it is my/our background ‘Scrabble’ music. Once a month – we get hammered and have sex while it is playing!
Cheeky, you should live a little!
Froogie,
Has all talk of ‘pork’ been banned yet? Never too late to start a good trend!
It’s no lie. I’ve never gone back to AM since I was a kid (except for once during a blackout when I fired up a battery-operated unit), & these days I only listen to the radio in the car (or occasionally in the kitchen). I like the music on the ‘Galaxy’ satallite radio stations I get thru MTS TV much better, both for the programming & for the lack of incessant babbling & commercials.
‘@Cheeky: I don’t understand all this outrage & disappointment over PF’s agreeing to do some ‘OB commentaries. How many of you anti-MSM Don Quixote’s & weisenheimers have written letters to the editor to the Freep or Sun, or commented on their sites to tsk-tsk them or ‘open their eyes’?’
The short nasty answer is that if you were/are a blogger chances are you’d understand it – so I won’t say that.
The anti-MSM thing is akin to an urban myth. To paraphrase Scott Adams – I’m not anti-MSM, I’m anti-Idiot. That certain political, media, and business personalities fall into the idiot category has less to do with celebrity than it does visibility.
The blogging community is just that – a (virtual) community. When someone in a community does something aberrant it’s not unusual that it will be regarded as abhorant and suspect behaviour.
An internet blogger’s anonymity is like a lock on a door. Ultimately it won’t provide any protection if someone is determined to get at them. So it seems kind of silly to removce the door lock because someone you don’t really know asks you to do it, particularly with nothing tangible in exchange.
In simple english PF is/was a trusted voice doing his/her blogging thing for all the ‘right’ reasons. Now his effective voice has been compromised, and everything posted from here on in is ‘suspect’ to some degree IMHO. Not in the context of becoming a mouthpiece for ‘idiots’, but because of what may NOT be said when it needs to be said.
I have absolutely no idea who PF is IRL, and I don’t have any burning desire to know either, even for the sake of curiosity. My focus and judgement has been on what he/she has to say, so who he/she isn’t relevant.
I’d like to think PF’s motivation likely was completely altristic – but even absent every personal benefit, what possible benefit is there for everyone else that wasn’t there before?
So Cheeky, do you at least have a glint of understanding about my disappointment and where I’m coming from, even if you don’t agree with what I’ve said?
Wow.
I was unaware that people could “demand” anything of somebody who writes a free publication, voluntarily and on his own time.
I was also not aware that there was “blogosphere” cred. I want some now. What should I do? I was thinking I might shave less frequently. I also suspect drinking lots of coffee is required. Should I listen to talk radio and talk back at the radio? Do I have to learn about the politics of pork?
This is so stupid. As if anybody who reads this blog wouldn’t have been flattered if ‘OB had rung them up and asked for 30 second opinion.
I don’t know PF but I don’t recall this blog being formed with the same anti-MSM hate as others. It always struck me that PF was just an avid news junkie who wanted a forum from which to rant a bit, rave a bit, cheer a bit, riff a bit. There is some gossip, there is some news, there is a lot of opinion.
How, is it that somebody who built a digital soapbox is now barred from using another soapbox?
If PF posted a 400 word rant every morning at 8:30am (or whatever time) would that somehow be different and “cool” to all the commenters in commentland?
Well, cheeky, for someone who has banished radio from their life altogether (save for natural disaster-type scenarios, or car rides…..or kitchen standing jags), I guess you really have no place commenting on anything radio related. Leave it to the spineless peasantry who just don’t know the radio-free lifestyle they’re missing.
All hail the new King of Blogocred. R U Sirius!
It was close, but the young adolescent wolf finally dethroned the pack leader and has posticulated his disgust in such a way that he has convinced every human for miles around just how irreversibly PF has forthwith compromised his “effective voice” and has tainted every ongoing keystroke with “some degree” of suspectus. “It’s OVER Johnny!”
In the blogosphere, unless you are a side show, credibility is all that counts.
I think it is not so much that Policy Frog has sold out, so to speak ( he did not actually, sell, he is GIVING it away, consequently, it has no real value anyway) as that any body who deigns to do free job for somebody as bloody awful as Vic Grant has squandered any respect they might have as an intelligent, principled person. This is not about PF abandoning the blogosphere, but simply an alternative media voice being coopted by something so stagnant and stupid as to defy belief anybody would not only do it free, but do it at all.
The only reason Policy Frog could possibly be doing it is for vanity or out of some ‘Talk Idol’ idiocy — the dream, like those poor sods had, to somehow be a Radio Somebody. The most unfortunate thing is what this says, like another poster posited, about PF’s judgement and reliability in future. I don’t know.
I think it clear he can never be relied upon as a salty fearless critic of either Vic Grant (at whatever funeral parlour he moves into ahead of death) or CJOB or the local media in general. Which is, again, unfortunate: PF had become a credible forum for discussion of that very important local subject.
Where things will really get dicey for Policy Frog is that he now WILL be ID’d for all in Winnipeg: Vic Grant will most assuredly tell a few people at OB, and radio stations are notorious dens of gossip, so it will seep out that way, and spread like a Prairie fire among those who care; secondly, it is a guarantee that people will recognize his voice and his identity will spread across the blogosphere very rapidly.
So all in all, PF gives up his time and opinions for FREE; gives up his identity; and sacrifices his credibility, at least on matters media related.
I will allow one defense of PF: how many of you would CELEBRATE PF doing something similar on CBC? I thought so.
boy, are you guys ever thin-skinned. Ok, I exaggerated the timeline (I realize now it was actually about 5 yrs later, c. ’75, I got my first stereo) but my point stands: like so many people (except the blue hairs & shut-ins someone else referred to), I abandoned AM radio in favour of hi-fi decades ago. You ‘new media’ types are curiously behind the curve on this one, to be so bothered by how inferior they’ve become of late. But it’s not like I consider myself superior to the masses on thia — I watch a ton ‘o TV, as so many do.
But to the indignation over PF’s violating the sanctity of the blogosphere by risking his secret identity by doing a real life spot (and non-radio fans being disqualified to comment on same) — well, that’s just crap. Blogging does _not_ entail anonymity, even tho’ that’s where & how the mice like to roar the loudest. Curtis blogs, and we know who he is; the Hack’s identity has been outed by Freepers, as has Marty Gold’s; and many blog proudly under their own name (like Warren Kinsella). And bona fide media critics like Noam Chomsky issue their crits on the media, if they’ll let them. So to cry treason & compromise & collusion just cuz of an appearance on the forum of a past & potentially future target of criticism is, well, just being immature.
And also to a few posters who are really outraged at this: Relax. Policy Frog is not the second coming of anybody in local radio.
Doing good radio commentary is not easy, witness Vic Grant’s failure to EVER do same despite decades of effort.
As for philosophical bent, PF, while clearly a decent chap, is not terribly radical (he appears as a moderate conservative) nor provocative. He will hardly light the local talk radio world (such as it is) on fire, nor disrupt the punditocracy. PF will probably just give little talks about wonky news items and stay far away from criticizing anybody or anything on the OB Mother Ship itself. Which is a pity.
In the end, PF will be ‘outed’ and he will wonder where the 30 seconds went while he was clearing his throat
A few of you seem to have doubts about my credibility and non-partisanship going forward. The fact that I’m allowing numerous negative comments about me — including speculation about my motives, goals, integrity and cajones — to be posted here should be proof enough, no?
Ah, Sir, but would Vic Grant permits same from you on CJOB?
Surely you see even in that regard, how you will be lowering yourself and tainting your integrity.
Full props to you for permitting a wide open discussion, even when it assails you. The mark of a true liberal
@NORTH KAY. Sorry, Charlie. Your post is all kinds of garbage. I could deconstruct it line by line…and it would be fun….but why? “Credibility is all that counts”? Get real.
Sounds a little too personal. Sounds like YOUR credibility is questionable. What rot!
Cheeky, all I did was call you out for BSing with your NO RADIO FOR ME SINCE 1970 claim. It was an easily identifiable load of crap, and while we’re at it, brings your blogocommentational CREDIBILITY into question. Uh………ohhhhhhh.
Apropos A. v. F.M. radio: I couldn’t come up w. the %’s who don’t really listen to either, yet, but there are some pertinent facts available from Stat Can – some for the last time (they’ve discontinued one of their big surveys on this).
first, FM gets the lion’s share of the revenue. Among the private broadcasters (i.e, excluding the public ones like the CBC),
“In 2007, [FM stations] generated 78.3% of [the nearly $1.5 billion in] advertising revenues and 94.6% of profits before interest and taxes, ”
and re: the size of their indiv. Profit margins before interest and taxes, it’s just 4.9% of total revenues for the private AM broadcasters, vs. 24.0% for FM.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080825/dq080825c-eng.htm
Second, concerning listenership, as a whole, we only listen to about 18 hours a week (and I suspect that may just be for those who listen _at all_; it might be far lower if it ranged over all Canadians over the age of, say, 4, altogether), and only 10% of adults (and 2% of teens) gravitate toward talk/news radio.
The summary article is at
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080918/dq080918d-eng.htm
and detailed tables are at
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/87f0007x/2007001/5201596-eng.htm
@BL: You just blew your own credibility. Assuming you had any to begin with, which I seriously doubt.
I am sure you could “deconstruct” (LOL) my post, college boy — but I am sure that would be too much like work.
P.S…. does “BL” stand for ‘bluster’?
Thanks for putting it in simple and understandable prose North Kay. I tend to get a bit verbose and/or end up sounding YAPOF (yet another pedantic old fogey).
Gees PF, I know there’s been a little more than the usual background noise but for the most part the comments were thoughtful, critical but positive, and no worse than would be expected from people that care enough to even comment about something they care about.
Andy Warhol postulated that everyone gets their fleeting 15 minutes of fame, and I suppose it still applies even if it comes as five 3 minute chunks. After all even Comments Closed had his 15 minutes of fame for a while.
@ Disinterested Observer:
“Will, the rumor was that Vic Grant was going to offer MartyRod the afternoon OB slot.”
A) No one in commercial radio has offered me anything.
B) I write one blog only, http://www.tgcts.blogspot.com
“But of course, once Marty’s research implicated Vic as a silent partner in “The Bacon Connection,” Marty had to turn it down to stay clean.”
C) As I was offered nothing, I have turned down nothing.
D) I’m not sure what research you are speaking of, although after the public dissatisfaction with their handling of the recent WRHA/Oswald interviews, I did break the story that CJOB’s GM is on the board of the HSC Foundation
@ Brodie: I quite like the play idea but I am not tiny.
“will not rest until the pork is found or whatever the issue is with the pork.”
The attempted stonewalling of my question has served to illustrate beyond any doubt that the Free Press deliberately ignores any call for them to admit the true facts, make things right, and resort instead to insults and name calling.
This is about integrity, hypocracy, and accountability.
The FP claim they demand this of politicians, politcal candidates and people in power (generally as long as the targets are not aligned with their owner).
But they demonstrate they don’t know the meaning of these principles or simply pretend they should not apply to their employees.
Who took food from the poor? Why are they hiding the identity of the delivery man who might have stolen the meat from a food bank? Instead of holding David Northcott accountable for the flaws in his distrubiton system and him making excuses for the union getting the taxpayer-subsidized pork, they promote him as a hero in the pages of the newspaper.
And the newspaper ignored the public health warning issued by the city after one of their own reporters stated the meat, at least some of which he admitted was tainted, was to be redirected to Christmas hampers.
There is no time limit on the truth and it is not an option to allow them to stonewall until people give up, as some posters are urging. Nor is this personal between me and anybody else.
The Free Press cannot with any credibility, write a word about anyone else’s conflict of interest or accountability (especially to taxpayers)- until they provide the answers.
Someone on the picket line knows who delivered the pork, and that person must be questioned about whether it was stolen from a food bank or not.
Well… Well.
PolicyFrog is about to join the big leagues.
You know why?
The knives are already coming out. And the woman has not even spoken.
Welcome PF.
Fame is a bitch, but that’s the price you pay for having an opinion.
Now imagine if you actually had the power to make change.
That’s when the axes come.
Typical Winnipeggers.
Give the guy a break already.
One of 2 things will happen.
PF will be exposed for having a shitty opinion, or people just won’t care.
Good Luck PF
Marty is bang on.
But he is indeed kidding himself if he thinks Bart Kives is going to give in — he can’t or he would get fired, union or no union.
So, asking Kives to commit carreer suicide is not a viable option.
Marty I do hope and pray you can crack this story… no it is not THE most important story in the world, but it certainly ranks as one of the top local media integrity issues in years.
And while I wish David Northcott a full and speedy recovery from his unfortunate heart attack, I do believe he is faaaaaaaaaaaar from a folk hero, and one who should be held to critical account as opposed to being lovingly deified by a media outlet that should report news, not fantasy based folk tales.
We can’t handle the truth.
Oh put a sock in it Marty and do the right thing for once. Open the comments section of your own blog if you want to start beating your tin drum with someone.
The fact is you are no better than the Freep, because both you and the Freep allowed the mayor to endulge in a half truth media spin.about the recent ruling in a court case about the Crocus investment in the Goldeyes.
All the judge ruled was that it wasn’t appropriate to deal with the matter via summary judgement and a trial was required to deal with such matters.
It’ was kind of like being told this isn’t the appropriate time and place to be a muppet yelling bork, bork, bork – capish?
about the recent ruling in a court case about the Crocus investment in the Goldeyes.
Agree Sirius, putting lipstick on pigs is the best MSM and the blobbosphere can do.
No wonder I find it so terribly boring. i have come to the conclusion that less then half of one percent of the population actually reads this stuff ( and I am being overly generous )
Good point, sigh..and all this talk about “integrity” is spurious at best…I read blogs for the information therein, and adjust my opinions accordingly about certain topics, but “integrity”?…some blogs are so partisan it’s pathetic…I enjoy PF’s blog for the reasonably civil discourse it brings…also, many strikers don;t get paid when out on strike, and are considered “poor”…check out any lockouts and strikes in the last little while, many companies bank on this when letting negotiations drag on, trying to make any striker vote to return to work based on their personal economy rather than if a contract is worthy or not…don;t paint all union job actions based on the Free Press’ odd scenario…
I get early morning CJOB via Shaw cable (I think it’s channel 9) and I don’t listen to it or watch the simulcast.
Yep simulcast, which I assume also includes seeing Vic Grant live and in the flesh on TV delivering his Excuse Moi bit along with the camera shots of the bearded morning guy, along with the sports and news people. I don’t watch it so I don’t know for sure.
Now I know that four of the people doing the ‘Excuse Me’ bit certainly aren’t camera shy – can you say media whore – so it is possible they may end up beating their gums on camera.
Now if that’s the case I suppose PF could put a paper bag over his head or he could just smile while he’s on candid camera.
Sirius, its all about ego’s. Stroking and getting stroked.
I agree that Policy Frog has been essentially non partisan. Full credit.
But that is over, now. Even if PF can retain his objectivity, appearances will have ruined him.
Interesting point, Sirius: will PF indeed appear on camera? Along with a good number of people who know him by voice, I would say it is a certainty his identity will be disclosed completely by the end of his second day.
PF,
I wish you well on your ‘OB stint.
I’m not sure I understand any of the “sellout” critique a few have made here. It’s not like you’ve ever claimed to somehow represent anyone’s opinion other than your own. And If you post a statement about ‘OB or the MSM in future, your readers are entirely free to speculate about your motivations — same as they’ve always been for anything you post.
Have fun with the gig.
@Sigh – I’ve just read your 5:30 comment to me, which I’d missed while composing another:
“Cheeky, all I did was call you out for BSing with your NO RADIO FOR ME SINCE 1970 claim. It was an easily identifiable load of crap, and while we’re at it, brings your blogocommentational CREDIBILITY into question. Uh………ohhhhhhh.”
ye, gods, what a drama queen. And what sloppy / low reading comprehension: I didn’t say I haven’t listened to any radio for decades (full stop) — just not any AM radio. (I did listen to a lot of FM b/w 1975 & about 2000, but not much anymore, since getting music from satellite stations & the Internet). Why does that seem so unlikely to you? I’m hardly alone in that. Similarly, I almost never read the Wpg. Sun: the only times I’ve ever leafed thru it have been while waiting for an auto repair.
“I don’t understand all this outrage & disappointment over PF’s agreeing to do some ‘OB commentaries. How many of you anti-MSM Don Quixote’s & weisenheimers have written letters to the editor to the Freep or Sun, or commented on their sites to tsk-tsk them or ‘open their eyes’?”
@cheeky: I think that helps put this is context. Good grief. They guy’s doing an audio version of blog posts for 5 days.
Northkay – “Even if PF can retain his objectivity, appearances will have ruined him”
Ridiculous.
Sigh March 1…you can name yourself Sigh 2 if you like
lets get this to 100 Responses so it can be trumpeted in the Winnipeg Blobbosphere as some sort of world class record.
@sigh: Less then half of one percent of the population actually reads this stuff ( and I am being overly generous )”
Blog writers and readers represent a critical half a percent which strongly influences others. I would encourage you to look at “TheTipping Point” and other publications.
Why do you think designers offer such expensive jewellery and fashion crap free to stars? Again the concept of “who exerts influence” matters.
BTW PF you are still family and I still love you – warts and all
@ North Kay : Thank you.
“So, asking Kives to commit carreer suicide is not a viable option”.
The question of who delivered the pork has nothing to do with the Free Press itself, but rather with the newspaper union who are covering it up. (The management though, bears responsibility for ignoring the public health warning that stemmed from the delivery.)
If the union can’t be trusted to tell the truth about their own public affairs, how can any of them be trusted to report honestly on the affairs of others.
@RU: The Freep story about the court case was incomprehensible and did not even describe the nature of the proceeding properly.
The Mayor’s explanation was that the receiver wanted a summary judgement before trial, and the motion was dismissed because he brought no witnesses or evidence forward.
Do you have a transcript of the hearing, or were you there, or do you have any information that would substantiate your allegation that the Mayor did not describe what transpired accurately.
Perhaps Bob. Certainly Huffingtons Posts format seems to work, but not this format.
Sunday morning and Pork…Marty where’s the goods on the handshake deal ?
How sleazy is Umlah ? Where’s he working now ? How did the judge reach her conclusion that everyhting was above board ? Did Kreiner know of the back alley handshakes ? Did the board know ? Where was the governance ?
My my, such a BIG story slipping through your fingers.
As you say, if its all about trust, how can we trust a mayor who’s involved in so many shady deals ( legal or not , perception you know )
). This town stinks of Pork and to think only a good loyal wop like Magnifico took the knife in his back and was left to hang like a good prosciutto ( ham to you white people )
Are we close to 100 yet.
On another note, the Sprawl is cranking up the rhetoric.
( you can thank me later )
You are mistaken, the story hasn’t slipped through these fingers. It seems you missed my interview with Katz.
Also as I understand it, at no point did the judge decide “everything was above board”. Only that no evidence was presented to the court by the receiver that would contradict the Goldeye’s position that the original loan had been coverted to equity and therefore, could not be ‘called’ on demand.
Perhaps you should be directing your latest questions to the owner of the well-staffed professional broadsheet of record.
Said owner, whose paper shamelessly promoted all things Crocus, is now firmly esconsed in the boardrooms of the U of Winnipeg alongside Mr. Kreiner, and no doubt has unfettered access.
Clearly he would be concerned with getting the answers from Kreiner and testing them, unless of course you think the FP cannot be trusted on this story either, what with the perception of conflict of interest etc.
Onward to 100 then…
@Marty Gold: “The Mayor’s explanation was that the receiver wanted a summary judgement before trial, and the motion was dismissed because he brought no witnesses or evidence forward.
Do you have a transcript of the hearing, or were you there, or do you have any information that would substantiate your allegation that the Mayor did not describe what transpired accurately.”
As I was trying to point out to you before – WTF does this have to do with what PF posted about. Do the right thing and open the comments to the public on your blog instead of hijacking PF’s blog.
Either that or wait until I stop laughing long enough to post something about it on my blog, even though the whole matter is as stale and dry as last months bagel.
So thats it Marty. the explanation is good enough for you ?
Sounds like a scam.Smells worse then rotten pork.
I did hear it Marty, seems like the mayor KO’d you. Well thank God the City has Brodbeck
Nice try there RU, you hijack the thread yourself by attacking me, and then accuse me of doing something wrong by responding to you and sigh.
And as for taking comments from the public, I get plenty every day via email (talk@kick.fm), but for some reason you don’t send yours to the show. Please do.
Sirius is right, Open up the comments Marty. Give the readership an avenue to voice their views.
Emails is so 1990′s, I want instant gratification.
@sigh: Thanks for listening.
However you are confusing two issues.
Did the explanation for what went on in motions court sound reasonable? Well it was way more detailed and logical that the FP story about the hearing, and in the absence of any evidence the mayor misstated the proceedings, I accept it.
But that has nothing do to with my ongoing concerns about how Umlah conducted business on behalf of Crocus with the Goldeyes, and I am still looking into that aspect of the matter.
Onward to 100 gang…
Well one can’t blame the mayor for getting a sweet deal. The question remains how did the deal come about . The question remains if the deal was not above board, or if laws were broken, does the deal stand. But more to the point, where’s the accountability.
This is the type of deal you’d expect in a hick town. Where’s Revenue Canada in this whole fiasco ? Where’s the Manitoba Securities Commission ( wait, I have to stop giggling )
Or is Crocus finally dead and all is well , as we lift the rug and sweep the nasty details away.
Are we at 100 yet.
PF, you’ve given some thoughts to what your rants will be.
My word….does anybody ever wish anybody well anymore?
Blogosphere anonymity is a big reason why MSM still exists…it’s soooo easy to say anything without putting your own name on it, not to mention the insults that get fired without looking anyone in the face.
PF going on CJOB I N C R E A S E S his credibility. He is willing to put his face, name, identity,…in front of people’s noses on the radio that does actually have the highest AM ratings in Winnipeg, hand-crank radios or not. He is not hiding on the other side of a computer screen like many others…
Credibility without identity is nothing. The inherent safety to write whatever, whenever in an anonymous forum creates many brave people (note: myself included I suppose, but I’m not a blogger myself). The whole idea of the blogosphere changing the world and information delivery does have merit, but the time for a true news revolution, or even a singularity, has not arrived.
Yet.
Since its OB, perhaps your rants will have to be localyokel stuff
WHRA – overweight bureaucrats
MPI – Overpaying for offices
Schools boards – yes thats always a fun one
Potholes – another classic all time goto topic
North End – GANG warfare in the City
Theres always the BlueBomber Stadium, or bring back the Jets as back up. I’d suggest the museum but that has some racist / class undertones. you know , the whole Yiddish thing and all.
But for your sake, I hope you have a “radio” voice.
Anonymity has its upside.
WooHoo, alright bloggerati’s ( another term that needs to find a trash can, along with hip, modish, trendy ). 100 comments.
Trumpet the news across this great City.
Yes, anonymity has it’s upsides, whistle-blowers need it, abused spouses need it, all agreed on by me. It is hard to take some blogs seriously with it, though…
I was sent a link to this page by a friend. Probably because he thought I’d find it amusing given my background in the broadcast field.
All I can really say is that this is nothing but a competition over dick size. Grandstanding, flaming, unproven claims of corruption. Dick competition.
The only thing I agree with here is when Chris said credibility without identity is nothing. Grammatically close, but I know he meant.
All in all, I can’t think of why this list of comments would be that interesting to anyone else but the parties involved.
Why Chris, if an idea or a commentary is good, who cares who writes it.
Requiring a “name” can sometimes allow sheep to follow for no apparent reason.
Forget about who writes stuff, concentrate on the content.
Holy crap. Just reading the blackrod, if this guy put as much effort into uncovering the scandal at Crocus instead of pork, he’d be making an important contribution.
Congrats on the gig PF. Could you let us out-of-towners know when you are on air so that we can listen through the archives?
@Fred – Umm, why are you here then? Ironic much?
@ PF, re: Fred: maybe it was delicious irony, as in satire, for why he was summoned (to clean up your overgrown commentary section): and it was a typo, as he’s actually Fred Paulson — Chief Weed Supervisor of the Gimli Interlake District… who is entrusted with enforcing their Noxious Weed Removal Act, and whose ‘background in broadcasting’ is of a different sort: it’s applying broadcast sprays of herbicides to roadsides remove, among other things, the dreaded red Bart[sia].
I’m not making (all the the last part of) this up: I Googled him:
http://gimli.fileprosite.com/content/pdfstorage/54500DE8A84D401F995B7AB70DED86CC-IWC%202008%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf
@PolicyFrog: @Fred – Umm, why are you here then? Ironic much?
Uh PF, the irony isn’t that he’s ‘here’ , the real irony is that he took the time to post a comment telling everyone that he didn’t enjoy being here.
Kind of says a lot about MSM types, nevermind MSM wanna bees IMHO – no offence PF
BTW I actually did stop laughing enough to post about Crocus on my own blog. Now if we can just get Boroditsky to include a public comment section peace and harmony will once again rule the world.
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!
Re: F Paullson. I think I remember that name from long ago. Wasn’t the on-air name.
Some people need a lesson in irony. Alanis anyone?
And one of you actually Googled him and posted your pointless research here?
Why aren’t all of you running the city. We’d have nothing but 100% credibility, properly repaired bridges, perfectly apportioned buildings (new, reno’d, located, funded, leased, designed, taxed), no potholes, no waiting, no pork thrown at anyone after its best before date……et.f’ing cetera.
Wow. If this is where the smart people hang out, then all governments and corporations alike need a blog with the comments turned ON!
Local bloggers tend to be a tiresome group of cranks beating the same highly partisan drums over and over. Some don’t even open their blogs to comments, or refuse to post anything critical. Forget credibility — relevance is the issue there.
But Policy Frog has at least distinguished himself as the one with the most reasoned and intelligent things to say, and the integrity to take all comments and respond to them reasonably. Some very decent discussions have unfolded on his blog. Good luck, PF, and if you say “Manitoba’s Super Station” on the air I will absolutely laugh my butt off!
And to think, people out here ask me why I would ever want to go back to Winnipeg.
Look at all the fun I’m missing!
Good luck with the airtime, Frog.
Sigh, ideas are good, but rare in the blog world. Identity lends weight to them, because all ideas should be challenged…but I do agree with your sheep statement. There seems to be very little pure trafficking in ideas anymore, just political rhetoric and “if I disagree with you, then you must be an idiot” style commentary.
I enjoy good ideas, and am always impressed with those who will stand behind them in person, but I do appreciate them in blogs. Pardon my rambling…
@ narc: sorry you don’t see any (attempt at) humor in the idea that a an official had been dispatched here to deliver a broadcast spray to extinguish all we noxious commenters who’d sprung up here, like the dreaded Red Bart[sia] [and esp. the Longwindicus Black Rodski]
‘Guess you really are a cop.
maybe Froggy can put me & Sigh & RU Serisusa & Prolixia Black Rodski alongside Red Bartsia up on this handy photo gallery of the Prairies’
most wanted noxious weeds threatening our food crops:
http://www.mbweeds.ca/photogallery.htm
re: finally putting the stupid Porkgate obsession to rest:
hmm, either Marty’s not really the Black Rod, after all, or he’s just as dishonest as some of his targets allegedly are, since he’s _still_ pressing this here.
I just read the insider’s report on Black Rod from _last_ Tues (feb 24th), in which the guy actually in charge of Wpg. Harvest’s loading docks at that time confirms the strikers’ — and deliverer’s — story: Harvest was choking in excess frozen pork deliveries, that day/week, and had issued an APB to all the agencies tied to food banks that they knew, asking them to cart off as much as they could handle; and one of those decided — on their own (any maybe cuz they didn’t really have a better option, since the whole city was then swimming in these ) pork cull handouts) — to just unload it on the strikers.
Sure, Northcott was caught flat-footed & was in a bit of a pickle as to how to explain it, but there was no theft & no jumping the queue on the Freepers’ part, and as most of us suspected, this has all been a pointless — and vindictive — tempest in a porkpot by ol’ Marty ‘Les Nesman’ Gold-Brodski.
Issue an apology for your over-zealousness and move on, already.
wait a minute…Marty stopped denying he was the Black Rod last year.
Has he changed his mind(s) again?
Okay, I am not good on keeping names straight or blogger gossip. But I am apparently learning more about ‘e’ffn pork’ than any grown man needs to! So, can somebody please tell me the difference between “Marty” – “Black Rod” – the guy from GCTS, and any other bloggers in this e’ffn Puke-Gate… err.. I mean Pork-Gate fiasco?
I’m serious,
I can’t keep all these clowns straight?
Can somebody help me out with a quick roster list – they are all starting to sound the same – like the muffled adults in the old Peanuts cartoons!
Personally, I think PF’s first ‘excuse me’ on OB should focus on the banality of ‘pork-gate’ and what it has to say about the social and political import of bloggers in this city!!
C’mon PF do us all a favour and put this issue where it belongs – in a rant.
FA, do you really think the OB listener ship would really give a flying fck about what a couple of dozen bloggers have to say.
I think the OB listener-ship would be suprised to learn some of the things that comne across the blogs…at least the well-reasoned debates and criticisms that can still be found in many of them.
@Sigh,
‘Sigh’ indeed!
With respects, I believe any OB listener would find a well-crafted treatise by PF on the strengths and weaknesses of our local blogosphere a treat. After all, it would be a step up from the tripe, drivel and flatulent mung they hear spewed over the OB’s airwaves every afternoon by that bulbous-headed baboon and pontificating windbag Adler.
If PF was invited, in part, because he is a blogger I say he should give us his take on our collective plus/minus factor in Winnipeg.
Do we matter?
Do we not?
Does it matter if we matter?
Does it matter if we matter not?
Does it not matter if we don’t matter and …
that we’re all just full of petulant snot?
What are the reasonable expectations that should be placed on citizen bloggers? None, some? Hey, its a free world – but it comes with obligations. Do we have any?
Personally, I’d like to hear what he has to say on the issue.
He can call us cynical, petty, sniping… sure? Whatever he believes to be true. But its hardly up to me … or you … to denigrate his appearance before it even takes place.
Give the dude a chance its 450 seconds – about the same amount of time it took me to write this!
PF on Ob is no big deal – its just another form of free expression that, for some perverse reason, you feel you must denigrate… sighhhh.
Sorry Fa, I just took your lead on the “clown / banality of blobbers ” and extended it to the gee whiz , aww schucks, this is RCR world of OB.
Does it matter, not a snot and back to my first comment whats the big deal ? At least we hit 100 comments.
@ Sigh,
Fair enough. Not sure what hitting 100 does – maybe it means “we really do matter”! (?)
As for banality & bloggers – often in the morn’ when I’m shaving my my 9 year comes in – sees me staring at them mirror and asks: “What d’ya see in the mirror Daddy?”
“Banality and hope son, banality & hope.”
Cheers.
@Noddy wrote:
“Some don’t even open their blogs to comments, or refuse to post anything critical.”
At TRUWinnipeg, we had allowed comments for the longest time, and then coincidentally or not, around the time when we were complaining that the Free Press newspaper was not allowing us to post full text articles to our site. Another spurt of comment spam was targetted towards our pamphlet campaign and how Winnipeg Transit management didn’t like it that we were using THEIR shelters to post our pamphlets….
And another incident involves backing away from an invitation to participate in that documentary about rapid transit — the filmmaker was part of an environmental studies course, so I assume that he was pro-BRT.
Perhaps one day when people act mature enough to not activate comment spam and target certain blog posts, then I’ll reconsider the current policy.
Further to my last comment…
A lot of the comment spam comes from Russia and has a couple of the same IP addresses.
@ Cheeky: “Sure, Northcott was caught flat-footed & was in a bit of a pickle as to how to explain it, but there was no theft & no jumping the queue on the Freepers’ part, and as most of us suspected, this has all been a pointless — and vindictive — tempest in a porkpot by ol’ Marty ‘Les Nesman’ Gold-Brodski.”
Obviously there is a tragic absence of reading comprehension among certain posters.
I do not know how many times I have clarified that I only write one blog, http://www.tgcts.blogspot.com. This seems to be too complicated a concept for some people.
This same lack of reading comprehension continues to plague the Porkgate apologists.
Let me make this as simple as possible:
1) The government subsidized pork was always intended to go to the poor and the hungry.
2) The poor was given to Free Press strikers, who were neither poor nor hungry.
3) They greedily jumped the queue because they did not apply for help from Harvest or any other food bank.
4) Someone brought food directly to the picket line without the authorization of Winnipeg Harvest.
5) How can anyone say it wasn’t stolen when they don’t know a) who delivered it or b) who approved the delivery.
6) When Harvest gave the pork to this mysterious person, did they say, here, take it home, give it to your friends, give it to anyone you see on the street? Or, were they told – this is for the poor and needy (ie clients of food banks and soup kitchens.)
7) The Free Press employees are engaged in a cover-up by not revealing who wrongfully diverted the food from the intended recipients to their picket line.
8) The cover-up protects David Northcott, who is ultimately responsible for making sure that government-financed food provided to Harvest got to the people it was intended for.
9) The Free Press employees profess to hold other people accountable for public expenditures and to know all about conflict of interest and transparency, but are willing to abandon all these principles when they are the beneficiaries of objectionable activities.
What is the motive for those who ignore these facts?
They obviously don’t want the public to know how food can be easily misdirected from Winnipeg Harvest, and/or don’t want the Free Press employees hypocrisy to be exposed and seek to quelch any discussion about how this hypocrisy seeps into their daily coverage of political and civic matters.
Note: For some reason the number “8″ above turned into a smiley face, it was not intentionally placed there.
Marty who cares, besides the mayor was on your show and poo poo’d it away.
Funny how I find this enormous amount of energy you’ve shown in this matter refreshing yet on the other hand am perplexed with the lack of energy on the other pork and swindle issue that is named Crocus.
I know I know, you’ll get to it. But I am happy Sirius clarified the judges ruling. Makes it alot easier to go after the “players”.
The Judge believes there is a slimefest.
@ sigh: On the contrary, the Mayor called it a schande, which is yiddish for shameful or disgraceful.
Ah yes, yiddish, how warm and fuzzy. A language, 99 % of the people don’t understand. Made me feel all yentlish.
LOL. But did he give you his word he would start an investigation with all your facts as the basis. That heads would roll. That we would get the pig who dished out the pork ?
Keep in mind, when 2 italians get together and we throw italian terms around , it usually means,” ahh, what the fck you gonna do, things never change”
You’re the one who’s being thick, Marty, in persisting with this & still alleging there’s something criminal going on when you now know that there was such a sudden influx of this pork-cull that it was some of it was going to spoil/go to waste, whether or not the Freep strike was going on. As the former Harvest employee explained, they just don’t have the infrastructure to deal with huge influxes of certain materials that arrive all at once, so some of it will either rot eight there & then or end up going to the dump or to whoever will take it off their hands. Why don’t you try to raise funds to help with that, instead of trying to nail someone?
True, the Freep is tiptoeing around this so as not to choke off future donations to this charity they’ve fostered, but that’s a good thing — far more commendable than the various other topics they treat with kid gloves or blinders.
In retrospect, the real culprit in this cockup is actually the prov.l gov’t, which green-lit the pork cull (which, let’s face it, was going to happen & was done to protect the farmers, to keep meat cost up & their feed prices down, as the result of the US boycott; ‘helping the poor’ was only a secondary benefit of that which they & you’ve been hyping to obscure the main purpose) w/o providing some assistance to deal with the by-products of that — i.e., the minced pork.
It’s similar to more recent case, which also involves a lack of planning & poor handling of a glut of byproducts from another provincial program which was on the news the other night: the prov. gave big rebates to people getting new low/dual flush toilets, and since then, people (both contractors & indiv. homeowners) have been dumping off hundreds of their old toilets at a second-hand or recycling facility, which couldn’t deal with that many & was on the hook to pay to cart them off to the Brady landfill. (and after they went to the news, the govt finally stepped in & said ok they’ll pay the costs to take them to the dump).
I AM A PORKGATE APOLOGIST!!!
I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW PORCINE OVERLORDS
So I put my, well, mouth where my mouth is, and did my good deed for the day and actually _did_ something constructive about this problem: I called Wpg. Harvest with a suggestion for how they could avoid future debacles caused by sudden gluts of costly perishable food items:
build a list — likely with the Freep’s help — of ‘Frozen Food Foster Families’ (a la the Humane Society for the excess unwanted pets that happens every X-mas), who’d be willing to take in (and hopefully pick up & return) a portion of those occasional ‘bumper crops’ and store them in those largely empty coffin-sized freezers people still have kicking around in their basements or laundry rooms, so they can then dole them out properly on a more gradual, as-needed basis throughout the year instead of having to scramble to unload tons of it all at once as they did here. Apparently, they already have some commercial deep-freeze / cold storage places which help them out with this, but evidently snafu’s do occur so it wouldn’t hurt to expand their capacity for dealing with surpluses.
Bart or Bruce, if you’re still watching, or Marty, if you’re big enough, maybe you could all counsel that the full story come out to explain how the incident while asking for the public’s help to prevent future ones of that sort.
Has waste occurred? Absolutely. Is that a shame? Sure? But was there any malice involved, no? Could it have been prevented? Maybe, if someone had the forethought for that, but, Hell, if we wanted someone with top-notch, army- or emergency disaster grade logistical knowledge to run their org., then MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY FOR THAT, and as I said, the govt is as much to blame for creating this partic.surplus w/o anticipating or providing the extra infrastructure support to deal with it (like the Ontario gov’t did when they suddenly mandated that high school students must all get ‘community experience’ to graduate, flooding nonprofit agencies with hundreds of thousands of unmotivated, unskilled short-term ‘volunteers’ almost nobody knew what to do with).
“A man needn’t go far to find a subject, if he’s ready with his salt-box.” Mr. Pumblechook added, after a short interval of reflection, ” Look at Pork alone. There’s a subject! If you want a subject, look at Pork ! ”
” True, sir. Many a moral for the young,” returned Mr. Wopsle; and I know he was going to lug me in, before he said it; ” might be deduced from that text.”
- Great Expectations
You have a very interesting idea there Cheeky, and I will make use of it on the show today.
And it is good that you are asking for the reporters to join the call from independant media for transparency.
However the likelihood that Free Press reporters will counsel for the full story to come out, which could yet result in a criminal charge if the pork was taken under false pretences, seems to me unlikely.
The newspaper would have to report on any criminal charges that may result, and the link to themselves. The union would be revealed in that scenerio as, at best, unwitting beneficiaries who bragged about their gift, refused to question their good fortune, and covered up the identify of their benefactor, and then more questions would be asked about David Northcott’s “investigation” and how the government would be compensated since they paid for the pork.
So I don’t think anyone from the Free Press will all of a sudden be in a rush do the right thing, but I will and shall bring your initiative to the public’s attention today.
re: the transparency thinh: well, like most people, I would’ve preferred to let sleeping hogs lie, in this instance, but since you’ve gone all Inspector Javert on it (as in, ‘Les Martyrabbles’), at this point, a full account is probably in order.
but you’re missing the point / the larger context in going on about this being a misappropriation or theft from the poor: the point of the cull was to shore up the pork farmers who were being bled to death by the loss of the US market & the collapse in prices. ‘Helping the poor hungry people’ was only spin/making a virtue out of necessity; the prov. gov’t . was only helping them secondarily. They could well have compensated them the same to just slaughter & bury the young, unsellable sows that were eating them out of house & farm: as they (used to?) pay them to plow perfectly good crops over, in order to keep the crop prices high & preserve our production capacity. You’re fixated on the last tree — where the final shipment of surplus ended up — and have totally overlooked or ignored the forest (the whole network of agricultural production & price policy & the effects of international trade boycotts). Cast your vision a little wider, for a change.
The government of Manitoba had no business buying the pork in the first place. Period.
That this food resource was doled out and squandered on well to do media types is sickening. I find it bizarre that so many of my fellow travellers on local alternative blogs are willing to accept from the culpable Free Press that “there is nothing to see here”.
Wrong. There is. Whether you care for this Marty fellow or not, this is disgraceful and not something the Free Press should be able to waltz away from.
It wasn’t only “media types” striking.
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I’ve got a great title for your spot….22 percent! Whaddaya think….”and at 15 minutes past the hour…22 percent with the Policy Frog.”