The Black Rod

Psst. Wanna buy a dam? How about a power line? Maybe a transmission tower? For the kids. The little wife might appreciate a shiny new converter station. C'mon. The sale won't last forever. You won't get a deal like this anywhere. No money down and forever to pay. Hell, we'll give you the money to repay the purchase price--- and more to cover your profit, no questions asked. Manitoba Hydro for Sale. Call now. Ask for unelected Premier Greg Selinger. Tell him we sent you. The NDP has begun privatizing Manitoba Hydro and the usual watchdogs of the press are asleep again. What, you say? The NDP? But, but, but....isn't it the other guys we should be afraid of? The facts tell the story. The NDP has been selling off pieces of Hydro for years and nobody has uttered a peep. They've sold off 33 percent of the Wuskwatim dam. They've signed a deal to sell 25 percent of the Keeyask dam, which will be almost five times as large as Wuskwatim. And they're plan...

The inquest report into the 2006 death of Blue Bombers fan Andrew Szabo was released on Tuesday -- but news reports only hint at the actual horror story behind the tragedy. Szabo slowly bled to death in Grace Hospital after falling off a landing onto the concrete below and suffering a broken pelvis that went undiagnosed. Inquest Judge Mary Kate Harvie tries to make ER doctor Terrance Bergmann the scapegoat but news reports failed to point out that she cited Winnipeg paramedics as sharing the blame. Here's the full story... Imagine this scenario: a man trips and free-falls, say, 15 feet before crashing into the cement. He' s unconscious and bleeding from the back of his head. What do you think happens next? Most people would say somebody calls 911, an ambulance shows up, and the unfortunate man is taken to a hospital as quickly as possible for x-rays to his skull. You dreamer. Here's how it worked in real life in Winnipeg. * Szabo stumbled on the st...

Viva la revolution. CBC is reporting that Vancouver police have more than 1 million photos and 1000 hours of video to review while building criminal cases against rioters who rampaged through the city's downtown Wednesday evening following the last game of the Stanley Cup. The Globe and Mail says the public has sent police 3500 emails of which 53 have videos of rioters attached, 676 link to videos on YouTube, 798 include still photos, and another 1000 have links to Facebook and other social media sites where rioters are being outed. Whichever is closer to the truth, the fact is it's proof of a public uprising on behalf of law and order like we've never seen before . The Silent Majority has used the new tools of communication to send criminals a message---we're not going to take it anymore. They've formed an Internet posse to identify the rioters, to track them down, and to make sure they are punished. And by doing so, they're sending the politicia...

Whoops. This just in from the Department of Your Tax Dollars At Work... Hot on the heels of the head chopping at Red River College over the turmoil caused by delays in the Union Bank renos (* see link below ), comes this tidbit about another institute of higher l'arning. It seems the University of Manitoba is doing some deep thinking about a little reno of their own. Or is that a re-reno ? The University had been routinely filling up a newly-built storage annex behind the Dafoe Library when they noticed a little problem--- they had so much stuff the floor was at risk of collapsing from the weight. The annex, built at a cost of $3.3 million, is a warehouse-like building that stores journals and books that aren't used much during the year. But obviously it isn't light reading. A little birdie tells us somebody goofed on the metric/imperial and weight calculations. So guess what? They're moving everything out so a new bunch of workmen can come in and re...

Ding dong. For whom, you ask, does the bell toll? For the dearly departed whose heads rolled at Red River College at the beginning of the month. With no fanfare at all, two names were added to the college dishonour roll: * Catherine Rushton, former Vice President in charge of finance and administration, and * Robert Olson, former associate vice president for facilities and campus services. The college put on a happy face until the spring convocation June 2 and 3, then silently dropped the axe. The 3rd was a Friday, and as everyone was focused on the joyous ceremonies, Rushton took the walk of shame in the empty main campus, picking up her "stuff", and heading for the exit with the standard security guard escort. Rushton and her associate Olson paid the price for what's shaping up to be the disaster du jour, the highly touted renovation of the Union Tower building. Was it only two years ago that city, province and college officials were backslapping and gr...