The Black Rod

[originally posted July 20, 2005] The city is still buzzing about that unprecedented storm we experienced this weekend. While it was spectacular at ground level, imagine if you were flying through it. Well, the passengers on an Air Canada flight have one hell of a story to tell about just that. As the lightning was lighting up the sky over Winnipeg and the gale force winds were knocking trees over like ten pins, the airport was diverting all incoming traffic to Grand Forks. All except one. That unlucky plane heard the diversion message, but radioed back that she was coming in. There had been a loud crash on that plane and they didn't know what caused it. The plane was being knocked about the sky by the strong winds and the passengers were alternately crying hysterically and praying. The flight was given clearance to land, and it did. Then it sat on the tarmack for three hours until airport crews felt it was safe enough to reach the aircraft. ***************** We learned this week

...Let us say what everyone is thinking: Winnipeg entomologist Taz Stuart is guilty of gross incompetence and should be fired . His value has dropped further than shares in the Crocus Fund. And Mayor Sam Katz needs to know that his appalling judgement in backing hippie-dippy Taz unconditionally, means that he should be prepared to resign if a single Winnipeg citizen is infected with West Nile Virus. Playing games with the lives and health of Winnipeg residents cannot be forgiven. A simple sorry will never be enough. Not when you knew better and could have acted at any time, but chose not to. Why did we have to depend on the province to act decisively in the face of dangerously high levels of West Nile-infected mosquitoes when city officials were telling us there was no problem ? The press says the mosquito debacle is due to poor communications on the part of Taz, the new boy in the job of mosquito control. That's nonsense. Compare these two days of mosquito stories on CBC: Wednesd

(written June 29, 2005) Who can resist a love story? Not The Black Rod. So we're all agog watching a romance rekindled right before our eyes. There's the knight in shining armour; let's call him Nicholas , come riding to the rescue. There's the damsel in distress; let's call her Crocus , about to be sold off by the evil villain. His name is The Receiver . The Receiver doesn't that just send a chill down your spine. And the best part of this love story is that its all true . Nicholas Hirst, the former editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, has come to save the beautiful Crocus Fund from the clutches of the Receiver so that she can bloom again in all her labour sponsored glory. But this has created a dilemma for the Free Press. We're sure you've noticed that the newspaper is putting out almost a story a day on the Crocus scandal, no doubt to atone for missing the biggest financial and political scandal in the province until the Auditor General called a news