Oh for the good old days. You know, when you believed what you read in the newspapers because, well, if it wasn't true, they wouldn't print it, right? Those were the days when you assumed reporters were "professionals" who researched their stories before writing them. Oh, and they had editors who made double sure everything was accurate and true. Right? Then -- damn you Al Gore --- came the Internet. And, suddenly, people could actually check the so-called "facts" in the newspaper for themselves. And, whoops, it appears the "professionals" were making up a whole lot of what they wrote, editors or no editors. Enter Winnipeg Free Press columnist Dan Lett, who has taken to imagining himself a commentator on national issues. His latest observations, headlined "Public's HST phobia needless" consisted of insulting people who opposed the blending of their provincial sales tax with the federal GST into one gia...
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.