Blog Closing Down?

I'm thinking of shutting down the blog. Hopefully I can archive everything somehow. In any case, I will cut and paste anything I still find interesting into some Word files.

Partly I am losing interest in the sites that I scan, and in this one; partly I want to save money; partly I need to do some "real" writing. I think some of my posts have helped with the latter goal, but many have not.

I can't go dark without saying something about Frank magazine. (Home here).

It first came to Canada as at least a loose attempt to imitate Private Eye in the UK. There were three people involved, I think all Brits, and it began in Halifax. Eventually there were two distinct publications, in Halifax and Ottawa, and the Ottawa one run by Michael Bate was the most outrageous. After a few years he sold the name and probably the subscription list to a guy who wanted a different focus--more on Bay Street/business, less on politics and media celebrities. Boring, and it didn't last.

To my delight, the "old" Frank is back. There is some unpleasantness about people who paid for subscriptions, and are now being asked to pay again, but it is very much the publication it was. Not always funny, but funny enough, insightful enough, and sometimes even breaking enough news, to be well worth buying.

A small sample. Ontario recently had a strike by the faculty of our community colleges. A woman named Joy Warkentin was the head negotiator for the colleges--management.

Joy, who pulls down $147,560 from the province, has not always been such a staunch defender of our publicly-funded education system. Indeed, for a time, she home-schooled her son, Kris, aboard her sailboat.

Pro-home schooling argument: Kris went on to the engineereing program at the University of Waterloo.

Anti-home schooling argument: In his third year, just days before starting his co-op placement, he beat graduate student David John Zaharchuk to death.

Perhaps no one else in Canada would say this in any way--certainly not in a funny way.

For years Bate had it in for Brian Mulroney in a big way ("Byron Muldoon--You Can't Polish a Turd"). Mulroney's wife Mila became Imelda because of an alleged penchant for a lot of shoes.

This story about a drunk driver is partly about Mulroney:

What a kick to see my old friend Matt Brownlee, noted automotive oenophile, beat his latest drunk driving rap by pleading brain damage--resulting from a previous drunk driving accident!

[blockquote][snip--the most recent episode of drunk driving/high-speed chase] Matty, whose rap sheet is chock-a-block with such hi-jinx, is best known for killing Linda LeBreton-Holmes and her 12-year-old son Brian in 1996.... LeBreton-Holmes was the daughter of Senate Government Leader Marjory LeBreton, and the funeral was attended by a who's who of Tory bluebloods including ... Byron and Imelda Muldoon.[/blockquote]

Certain awkward matters were appropriately left unmentioned on this sad occasion, like ... the fact that Imelda's shopping buddy, Bonnie Brownlee, is Matt Brownlee's aunt.

UPDATE: I almost forgot. Mulroney became "Muldoon" in Frank because of a Ronnie Reagan story. Someone mentioned the then-Prime Minister of Canada to then-President Reagan. Reagan, obviously and understandably struggling to come up with a name, said something like "Oh yes, Muldoon." Now this was perfect. There actually was a Muldoon, who had recently been Prime Minister of New Zealand. You could actually trace Reagan's thought process: one of those English-speaking, British type places, mostly white people....

Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:25 am MST by robertll | Email Article |