Somebody must have been spiking the coffee at the Winnipeg Free Press with truth serum this week. How else to explain the confessions that spilled out from reporters covering important beats, declarations that explain why the newspaper has become a worthless read. Legislature reporter Bruce Owen wrote Friday that Question Period, the meat and potatoes of his beat, bores him to tears. (Its) "a great time for me to catch up on email. That’s because, sitting up in the media perch, there’s not that much else to do." he said. "Other reporters check up on the Facebook profiles and one religiously plays BrickBreaker on his Blackberry. He’s gotten pretty good at it." Two days earlier, Owen's colleague, education reporter Nick Martin, made his own revelation on his little-read newspaper-sponsored blog. "I rarely attend board meetings anymore," he wrote. "It’s just not worth my time, or my employer’s time..." Oh? Doesn't the ...
The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house. We of The Black Rod adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.