…or at least extreme nastiness…

No. It was evil.

And I don’t even believe in the absolutes of good and evil. My complete lack of belief in things spiritual prevents such thoughts.

But I cannot explain the following without thinking that evil may really and truly exist.

And it resides in Ottawa.

Out for a drive on the Rockcliffe Parkway yesterday with C and 2 of the subunits. We get to the roundabout outside Rideau Hall (if you’re from O-Town, you’ll know where I mean). And I was going a little quickly as I pulled up to a stop to allow a black Chevy Tahoe to go through. The SUV came to an almost complete stop and the two guys in the front gave us a really good look over… like our little Malibu was gonna ram them or something.

The back windows were blacked out and the two big guys in the front wore ear pieces and dark sunglasses. They carried on, and then I felt it.

A tingle up the spine. A feeling of foreboding… like I was in the presence of real evil… kind of how I would imagine Harry Potter feeling when running up against he-who-shall-not-be named. The truly weird thing is that at this moment, C turns to me and ask “did you just get a tingle up your spine? I bet that was Harper.”

I’m not making this up.

Sure enough, the Chev turns into 24 Sussex.

Spooky.

I think I’ll tell this tale next Hallowe’en…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… you should never Tweet while drunk.

Our former mayor apologised yesterday (at the unveiling 0f his official portrait at City hall, no less) for Tweeting about “spics” while he was watching the GOP debate the other night.

From his Twitter account @Larry_OBrien1, O’Brien tweeted “#cnndebate The spics are getting way to much airtime!”

At a ceremony Monday evening in which his portrait was being unveiled at Ottawa City Hall, O’Brien admitted the tweet, which he later deleted, had come from him.

“That was obviously a tweet that was ill thought through and I did the mea culpa and certainly I regret it,” said O’Brien. “There is no excuses.”

“…is no exuses”? I hope that’s a typo!

And I’m serious about the Tweeting (or Facebooking or blogging) while impaired. Never, ever do it. But I can’t help but think that this is a possible explanation for the former Mayor’s behaviour. He should most definitely know better… he’s a pretty sharp guy.

I can picture the setting. Mayor Larry is sitting in his La-Z-Boy, watching the GOP debate on his 72 inch 3D LED TV, cradling his third tumbler of 30 yr old single malt on the table beside him. When, through that old single malt fog, he hears something in the debate that spurs him to pull out his Blackberry (I don’t see him as an iPhone kinda guy) and hurriedly pounds out his Tweet before he forgets the moment.

Can’t you picture it too?From the holy-crap-it-must-be-a-slow-news-day file…

On this very same CBC page is a story that we, as responsible and thinking citizens of the world should be on thew edges of our seats over!

Economic crisis in Europe? Petty issue!

Upcoming American election? Who cares?

Climate change? Meh.

The question that Canadians and others on this wee, blue planet are REALLY so fricking anxious to know the answer to is….

WHO SHOULD HOST PIPPA MIDDLETON’S FIRST SIT DOWN INTERVIEW?

WTF is a Pippa??

Sigh. We. Are. Screwed.

Sigh.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… a few Grit and Dipper lips smacking at the prospect of running against Harper on the issue of raising the retirement age to 67.

While some of Harper’s holy pronouncements in Davos are basically no-brainers (e.g., reforming the immigration system), bringing up the spectre of changing retirement rules mid-game is NOT going to be a winner for the Cons… nor do I think it  is a necessary can of worms to unscrew.

Generations – mine included – of currently living and working Canadians have made life decisions with the assumption that, at the age of 65, there would be a government allotment waiting for them that would make it possible to leave work and enjoy what was left of their years.

And Harper wants to change this.

I’m not going to super-overanalyze the whys or why-nots in this post…need to research the issue some more. But I will confidently say that opening up the retirement age question may be The Robot’s ONE BIG MISTAKE. Has he not looked at a current population pyramid.

Not let’s see what the Opposition does with this…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… sometime dream of doing… ¹

httpv://www.cpc-ccp.gc.ca/en/PBLAST_Exercise_OC_Transpo

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Rob Ford! That’s who!

TORONTO - Mayor Rob Ford came out swinging at left-leaning councillors Tuesday.

“These people are all two steps left of Joe Stalin,” Ford told AM 640 host John Oakley in a radio interview.

Ford specifically referred to Councillors Adam Vaughan, Gord Perks, Janet Davis, Paula Fletcher and Josh Matlow when making the comment.

The good Mayor should research what Josef Stalin did during his reign and honestly assess whether these Councillors are comparable.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Really?

From the Mayor on Twitter:

@JimWatsonOttawa: Rink of Dreams looks amazing with sens and #ottcity logo – grand opening at 530 pm Wednesday night! Come by for a skate and hot chocolate!

I’m sorry, but I cannot be the only Ottawan who his scratching their head over the wisdom of the City spending a cool quarter million on an outdoor rink! The total costs have doubled but the Mayor assures us that the City won’t pick up the cost overrun.

The City of Ottawa says taxpayers aren’t on the hook for cost increases for the Rink of Dreams.

The cost has doubled from $1.2 million to $2.4 million because of engineering problems, including dealing with the soil in front of City Hall.

However, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the city won’t be pitching in more than its $250,000 commitment, with the rest of the cost covered by the Sens Foundation.

Well, that’s super. But I still don’t get the need for this. Yes, the Canal is closed some of the time, but really, are we to believe that toursists will flock to City Hall to skate on artifical ice if the Canal is unavailable? No way. They want the Canal experience and aren’t going to be convinced into “pretending”.

I have thus far been pretty supportive of most Council decisions to this point. But this isn’t one of them.

And no, it isn’t because of that ugly logo in the middle

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Or 新年快樂. I found a couple of different translations.

Gong Xi Fa Ca!

Gong Hei Fat Choy!

Anyhow, Happy Lunar New Year to all my colleagues in the Middle Kingdom! (assuming that I haven’t been flagged by the Great Firewall) and all of my Chinese, Thai (สวัสดีปีใหม่) and Vietnamese (chúc mừng năm mới) friends here.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

.. how many of you have seen the cheesy ad (oops… NOT an ad… just a video, according to the NCC) made by that reactionary of all reactionary groups in Canada – the so-called National Citizen’s Coalition. I don’t think it is getting a lot of air time. And it IS really cheesy. And the NCC has disabled comments on the vid. Chickenshits…

And no, I’m not posting it on my blog. The stench would sully my else-wise nice and tidy venting space that I call Trashy’s World.

It’s about Grit interim (in name only) leader, Bob Rae. The vid goes on about how Rae ruined Ontario when he was Premier, spent like a madman, ate babies… that sort of thing. This is an ad for the Cons without the blue and white logo, pure and simple. And it’s an attack ad. The CPC really, really likes these ads because it suits their bumper sticker politics of fear: keep the message simple and portray the other guy as the baby-eating, spend-happy demon who will jack taxes up by 10,000%

And, as we saw in the last election, these ads work. And while the CPC themselves are not putting these ads out at the moment, their minions at the National Conservative Cabal are more than happy to oblige.

Now, there are two things I have to say about this.

1. The vid is inaccurate about the timing of Rae’s ascension to the Premiership. It claims that the NDP pulled Ontario into a recession. This is factually wrong. The recession was already well under way when Rae took office. Look it up.
2. Some Grits are whining about this video not being “fair” and that rules around third-party advertising should be tightened. And they are probably right. But instead of crying about how mean the Cons and the Nut-bar Convention of Cucumberheads are being, they need to strike back. And fast! They have some momentum coming out of the Ottawa Convention and they need to maintain it.I do hate negative ads and how they lower the level of political debate into the sewers. But they do serve to package the candidate in a negative light before the candidate has the opportunity to do so themselves. The CPC did it to Dion and masterfully to Iggy. And this must be stopped in the tracks. ASAP.

So, my fellow progressives and Liberals, quit whining about the rules and fight fire with fire. It pains me to write that, but it must be done.

Now.

Go.

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Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… would be most excellent BFFs if the former pulls off the near impossible and wins the GOP nomination AND defeats Obama.

I can just picture them walking in the rose garden together, complaining about lefty radicals, the evils of abortion and the scourge of free expression… then kneeling to pray to their god that all that be wiped off the map…

But naw, Romney is still going to go up against Obama. And lose to Obama.

I hope. Americans aren’t that dumb, are they? I know that Newt thinks Alberta is located in central Canada (I can hear the collective gnashing of teeth coming from the west…), but they wouldn’t actually ELECT this yahoo? Would they? I know a lot of smart Yanks! And they would never, ever… uh, what’s that? Oh. Oh yeah…

GWB.

Twice.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Gross. Disgusting. Horrific. And off-putting too.

That is all. Carry on.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario