The Black Rod

SPLAT! The sound of the Children's Revolution falling flat on its face . Ever since the boisterous rally at the University of Winnipeg in January against the prorogation of Parliament, the protest-boys and -girls have been spinning their wheels trying to find a way to, you know, matter. First, Winnipeg organizer Chris Burnett quit. You would, too, if you found you had been played for a sucker. After the posting of a photo of one of the protestors holding a Harper = Hitler sign, a mystery man named Dan stepped forward to say the sign holders were agents provacateurs and he saw and knew the evil Conservative controlling them. The rally goers were giddy at the thought they had the proof to bring down the Conservatives. Except for the part where Dan disappeared without giving up a name or a photo or anything but the stench of a Liberal plant. Undaunted, the protestors talked about using Louis Riel Day for an "action." maybe a skate to the Legislature in support ...

Manitoba Hydro is running scared. This past week they have shown they will go to any extent---from breaching court orders to openly violating the Whistleblower Act---to silence a former consultant who has seen from the inside how they work. Think back. You've seen this movie before- --starring Shermie Kreiner and Bernie Bellan in leading roles. It was called Crocus, the Scandal . - The principals of the Crocus Investment Fund strutted across this province like Medieval princes. Throwing around millions in an investment-starved desert, they too had plans to remodel Manitoba--- into a socialist paradise. And they would brook no opposition. They used their financial power to crush anyone who dared to challenge their exalted position. - Crocus intimidated whistleblower Bernie Bellan into silence through threats of lawsuits and humiliated politician John Loewen by forcing him to eat crow in public and stop asking questions about Crocus business. - They bitchslapped ...

The pictures don't lie, wrote Winnipeg Sun editorialist Paul Rutherford. No, for that we depend on "professional" reporters, Winnipeg Sun columnists and editorial writers. The mainstream media has been all a-twitter over a surveillance video which shows the arrest of a drunk car thief. The description of what's on the video has grown wilder by the day, culminating in Tom Brodbeck's grotesque declaration that he sees an unrestrained flurry of kicks and punchs on a handcuffed prisoner. "I've watched the video over and over again…" says Brodbeck. Try it with your eyes open next time. Watch the video for yourself. The entire surveillance video is available on the Winnipeg Free Press website. The Sun has an abridged version. Then find someone with dial-up Internet connection. That way the video plays in frame-by-frame slow motion. Watch it again. Here's what you will see: The complete video runs 3 minutes 26 seconds. The arrest takes les...

For a brief shining moment the anti-Harper protesters in Winnipeg believed they had found the smoking gun that would bring down the government. They were giddy. CBC National was calling them for the goods. They had an eyewitness, names, even photos--- or so they believed. And then, pfft. It was over. There was a stampede for the exit. The only thing left was a bad smell. It was almost as if they realized they had been suckered by a Liberal plant. It all began last Saturday when barely 300 protesters turned up for an anti-prorogation rally at the University of Winnipeg. The organizers had expected a thousand or more but they put on a happy face and declared they were pleased by the eventual turnout. Winnipeg organizer Chris Burnett congratulated the troops for a job well done. John Johnston ("...is a fan of Michael Ignatieff") posted his photos of the rally after he "personally edited out...the people holding up the "Vote Green" signs. I wanted to k...

If there's a way to cheapen journalism any further, the Winnipeg Free Press will find it. Case in point: Friday's story by "reporter" Mia Rabson titled 'Polling data suggest Katz is vulnerable.' Everyone knows that reporting on polls is the lowest, laziest form of journalism. But this was beneath even that pathetic standard. Mia Rabson went into full shill mode. Her "story" (with files from Bartley Kives) is about the opinion of unidentified sources about the alleged results of an unreleased poll conducted by an unknown person, group or party. "None of the sources would release the poll results, but all said they showed (Mayor Sam) Katz' re-election is far from a sure thing" wrote Rabson as if this was a legitimate story. The polling was done by Viewpoints Research, which is co-owned by Gary Doer's wife, Ginny Devine. So you can pretty much guess it was done for someone affiliated with the NDP. "The Winnipeg F...

Hush. Do you hear it? There it is again. It's unmistakeable. The sound of dead silence . No screams of outrage. No chanting mob. No sneering headlines. No contemptuous lectures. Dead silence. If there's nothing to hear, there's lots to see. See, for instance, the difference between a real court of law and the mock courts the NDP uses for its show trials, notably the persecution of Derek Harvey-Zenk. "A speeding motorist who had alcohol in his system when he struck and killed a 12-year-old boy walking down a darkened Manitoba highway will not go to jail for his crime. Pernell Guimond was give a two-year conditions sentence…" wrote Mike McIntyre in a story published Jan. 13 in the Winnipeg Free Press. Oh? we said. That's on all-fours with the case of Crystal Taman who was killed when a car driven by off-duty East St. Paul policeman Derek Harvey-Zenk smashed into her car as it sat at at red light. He had been drinking with colleagues after his shi...

The heavily-hyped prorogation protest in Winnipeg drew barely 300 people (by the Winnipeg Free Press count) or 438 people (by one participant's count posted on the rally's official website). Organizer Chris Burnett said he was pleased. On Thursday he told the Winnipeg Free Press, "If there are less than 500 I will be disappointed." If only re-setting the bar was an Olympic sport, 36-year-old Chris would have a future. To prove they weren't partisan, the organizers started the rally at the University of Winnipeg, the base of hyper-partisan Liberal Lloyd Axworthy. To demonstrate their political acumen, they marched to the provincial Legislature, which has no connection to Stephen Harper, Parliament or prorogation. To illustrate they knew what they were doing, they walked in a circle and ended up right back at the U of W where they had hot chocolate. The protestors said they were standing up for democracy, not showboating for the Liberals or ...

Pass the hammer. We've got to knock some noses back into joint. UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar wasn't trashing Manitoba when he talked about receiving third-world health care in a Brandon hospital. He was holding up a mirror. Don't like what you see? Stomping your feet and making chauvinist squeals won't change the picture. Lesnar is a professional athlete; he knows pain. He's a professional mixed martial arts fighter; he knows extreme pain . So when he doubled over with pain while hunting with his brother in southwestern Manitoba last November, he knew it was something unusual and very serious. He was admitted to Brandon General Hospital on or about Nov. 7 only to find the CT scanner was out of commission and had been for four days. A CT scan is the most common test for a potentially life-threatening abdominal disorder like diverticulitis, which was what Lesnar had. So what's the problem, asks Carmel Olson, CEO of the Brandon regional health...

We fell for it hook, line and sinker. The Disraeli Bridge Deception is a textbook example of everything that's wrong with city hall in Winnipeg. But this is an election year, and Mayor Sam Katz may find it one doublecross too many for people to stomach. It was April, 2008, when city hall announced that the aging Disraeli Bridge needed to be replaced expeditiously. The bridge had reached the end of its lifespan, we were told, and it was literally beginning to fall apart. But, in keeping with the modern mode of democracy, the public would be consulted about its preferences in a new bridge. So a series of public meetings were held where taxpayers could give their opinions on three bridge proposals which were variations of a four-lane refurbished Disraeli bridge with a new bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway or two. The best-received, carrying a cost of $140 million, was duly announced. Twenty months later, City Hall is signing contracts for two bridges instead of on...

A day after the Liberals accused Canadian soldiers of war crimes, and the morning he allied himself with a government-funded organization fighting to retain its anti-Israel bias, Michael Ignatieff arrived in Winnipeg. He was on his cross-country university tour to bash the Conservatives. But even before he could start his trash-talk, he discovered that nobody cared because the earthquake that devastated Haiti dominated the news. "The timing is just fortuitous given what's happening, given the engagement of Canadians, particularly young Canadians," gushed Manitoba's only Liberal MP, the unfortunate Anita Neville, the night before. In short, it took a Stage 7 earthquake to overshadow the walking disaster that is Michael Ignatieff. While he wanted to whine to students about the progrogation of Parliament, the Prime Minister and his cabinet were coordinating relief efforts to Haiti. Ignatieff was left talking to people who don't vote about issues that d...