Is Benny about to make a comeback by re-arriving?

In September Romney claims Middle Income America to have earning power of between $200,000 to $250,000. Now granted he accepted this a combined Family Income.

And then, in November, not 60 days later, Amanda Lang on CBC, speaks to the fact that Walmart Workers earning $15,000 are America's Middle Income earners.

Not a giant spread in numbers by any means....or have we all lost any sense of proportion and comparison?

Mr Hudack, you went through 2 by-elections in what seemed stunned silence. I imagine that getting the affirmation of Leadership continuance from your Party gave you comfort to take the summer off – but during 2 by-elections?

So now Dalton wants to balance a wrong. And after the fact - you jump out with “we’ll help save the Liberals and get this Teachers bill passed”

Tim – welcome back. …. BUT ANOTHER question if I may…. Why why why are you going to block a Provincial Public Sector Freeze while holding out for a broader and more general Public Sector Freeze? Are you that weak? Have you that little strategy, that you want to stop the few right-way moves Dalton has?

Every step helps Tim. Please stop, or better yet – quit. Your day was here – you messed it up perfectly. In fact I remember Election Day – you, the microphones, cameras – a little South West Ontario tech firm RIM - in a slide – and the fella you engage for mug in front of the cameras is holding a rare Playbook by RIM. You acknowledge his choice of brand and then, gush on with excitement about the iPad you bought that week.

HUH? Condo’s on King West – wow what a novel idea, especially high rise condos. How rare. Come’on Frank, David and crew – sell a concept….but are you really hoping Toronto will be revitalized to be all it can be through another tall tower, maybe with an odd or even wonderful shape – but another tower can help this city be all it can be…achieve it’s inner Zen?

Yes ever since Mr Drabinsky was jailed, Toronto became an over-theatred city – and less than it was the day prior….. and you own the land, so build build away….if you are allowed. But in seeking that allowance, please don’t sell condo towers as a new concept of ‘ultimate achievement’ it undermines your achievements.

By the way – I loved that Season where you had Death of Salesman, Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named Desire all in the same subscription series – so happy, so inspirational. So uplifting.

Yes, hack the history on King Street down. Yes, you beat Leslie Dan down too.
Impresario?? Uhh? But developer superb?? – let’s ask Harry Stinson.

And Mr Ghery with so many great things under your belt – how do you stoop to call this project a “game changer”?

“The problem in Canada is … they have almost third-world access to the internet,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix
....well ok, Ted you've identified at least one our problems.

But how really serious is it? Imagine the world before Internet. Yes a world where we actually had an attention span longer than that of a goldfish. A world where opinion could be shaped by 6 world famous news anchors no matter how right, wrong or slanted, there were six - instead of one re-Tweet that went wild, a viral anything, or a Wikipedia train wreck.

The new word for "think" is Google. Ask. Then Google. End of Debate. YES Google is great. But has it made us smarter, or just faster - and sometimes just...wronger?

Is a community of people without Internet really worse off Ted? Or instead, a community that thrives on search, debate and continuance of conversation…..as opposed to “this conversation is at an end…I validated it”
...“Where”…
…“Google”.

And does BING wish it were Google? You bet!

Let all go bowling. On a wood lane. With real balls that if dropped on your toe - cause an explicative.

In Ontario, our Government, ok a previous “Government” but all the same, politicians, sold-off, ok they leased for eternity the operating and income rights for the Highway 407 toll road, to a Private Company. Legendary is the fact that Lease Agreement, “oops” didn’t contain, oversight or rights-of-review by the Owners – us, the citizen tax-payers.

Now Dalton, our current genius Leader announces an extension is being built to the 407 and it will be operated by the “people of Ontario”. AND despite the fact that Dalton challenged and lost the fight to lower the tolls charged by Nasty Private Company – Daltons shared news that for the new part of the toll road “the Province will charge at least the same, and for sure not more” than Nasty Private Company.

Dalton will build a provincially managed infrastructure to run the extension, and although expensive and complicated, will as well build a very complicated computer system, with an expensive interface, so we only get one combined 407 bill.

Dalton here’s an idea – pay them, the Nasty Private Company to manage. Your way smells to much like Ornge, Samsung, eHealth. If you really want to proceed, ask George, after his run for Mayor and his involvement with the aforementioned boondoggles - give him a shot – after all – it’s just our money. And you have lots to play with.

It’s not that it happened. McGunity, Smitherman even a Mathews – what else would you expect?

After all we’re the same bunch that thanked Mulroney for telling us how he stuffed cash into envelopes and stored it in his basement, and then gave him 2 million bucks for “coming out” – a second time. Yes the total was over 4 million.

It may not even be that ‘they’ can’t tell where millions went – someone even used the “billion” word.

It’s not even Ms Mathews saying what McGunity has often said – “this just isn’t good enough, the people of Ontario deserve and expect better” – Dalton has used the line several times, now Deb co-opted it from him...think she asked permission?

What it really is for me tonight .... the finding that Toronto’s emergency medical service charges the good people of Ontario $1,700 to Ambu-transfer a patient between hospitals. Yes – One Thousand and Seven Hundred Dollars.

Now I know they have to have a driver, 2 skilled people, clean sheets, a nice truck, insurance, a dispatcher, a car wash even a refill of oxygen tanks – but $1,700 ??? Huh?

The system is NOT too expensive to run. Instead – it’s run by folks spending “our” money, not theirs.

Yes, He Don't Care. He said so on TV.

Very neat interview on CFTO Peter.
In context or not – “you don’t care?”
Great. Thank you. I was hoping that you did care.

I will work to review the voting habits of the neighbours.
And if you didn’t (care), which you now confirm you don’t, I'd have hoped that you’d be more humble and less arrogant than to blurt it out.

Peter for the record, I don’t care what the president of a Bank makes. I don’t care what the fella’s at RIM make.
But a hospital CEO with a nifty pay package that includes a $75,000 a year car allowance? Come’on Peter.
I hear a radio microphone looking for a mouth.

Congrats. Instead, another former radio host makes it to retirement on the public dime.
Great! Thank you Peter.

I’ve come to be “ok” with Mr Harper. But why could he not just keep his mouth shut about the $200,000 legal fee payment on behalf of Mr. Chrétien, apparently a leave-behind form his Monogrammed Golf Ball issue during the Sponsorship Scandal.

Not that I’m ok with it. But more – I am still miffed about the first 2plus Million Dollars we gave The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney for allegedly besmirching his good-name by attaching him to the Karl Heinz Schrieber Affair.

And even more – I am outraged that the second time around – Mr Mulroney’s legal beagles got 2plus Million Dollars to then protect his good name as he fessed-up defend, in protected mode, during a toothless, limp Inquiry – that he actually took the cash, stashed it in a basement file cabinet and forgot about it, cause he received it in brown envelopes.

So let’s maybe congratulate Chrétien for only a 200,000 bill, compared to the 4.2 Million, for which Mulroney abused us. Yes “us”. And we actually thanked Mulroney for appearing.

At least Israel and France take Head’s of State and treat ‘em like the rest of us. France used to ‘take their Head’s. Of course today, both have been willing to charge, try and even punish upon finding of guilt.

Come’on Stephen, you been building credibility and trust. Don’t get self destructive now.

The Occupy Movement started right – but mostly the people with jobs had to get back to work. Their goal never exactly focused and the folks that remained, not perhaps the best example to the middle class and upper end neighbours of the encampments. In fact it was amazing to see on-camera interviews of how the neighbours feared these vile rabble-rousers.

AND what was great about “Occupy”? People. People that took at least some time to gather and in hopes of expressing a goal. But clear communication of a focus was missing – it was even avoided. Business guru’s call it a Vision Statement and how could you have one of them, without its parallel, the - Mission Statement? If ever either of these were missing, here it was. BUT alas – people came together and actually invested time. Ultimately the purity of “leaderless” was the demise of these groups. It was a though testament to a growing frustration and unrest – in an otherwise ‘civilized’ collective of citizens.

And now the City of Toronto in the midst of a all-so-common Operating Budget crisis throws numbers to re-sod, clean up and re-grow the grass at $60,000 or even more...my gosh. Is this perhaps another example of City services, no matter how executed upon – internal or external, being way way more than we’d pay our Gardeners?

And now, a City Councillor without shame, asking for donations from the public? Oh a 'Donation'? Is that as opposed to the prescribed (forced) contribution/donation we make through mandated taxes? How stupid....how openly admissive that the money to operate governmental budgets likely comes from other than the public. Some magical place, off this planet maybe?

...'cause they didn’t want to. If they did, then they’d want glasses to see better, and lights to read at night, and a movie version of the last great book – and suddenly laying around in the sun would be a past-time gone in the name of progress – a lion led economy of jobs and progress. Need I say the leopards would form a social action group, asking, no, demanding the lions give up a portion of their “everything” to a new and growing leopard movement.

And around the corner I hear, oh it’s The March of the Penguins.

Now both the Lions and Leopards see food. Wrong said the Penguins, flapping their wings slapping their feet. We are not food, we too are an under-served group and demand status like Leopard Group, but with an added feature – protection.

I been off the air, or “in the air” but lots going on. As an observer + participant, sometimes I can’t help but being caught between – wow is this ever a) funny b) dumb.

In the US, Mellon & Morgan Banks, each, have announced a new fee – effective the other week (which in today’s world is ions ago) they now charge account holders, basis points to “hold” their money. Yes, money in the bank now has a percentage cost, just to have the bank hold it for you.

This applies to Clients with over 50 Million on deposit – which is apparently common in this cash rich environment of the melt-down. So, most need not worry. But why such craziness? First – America was on the verge of insolvency – that means couldn’t pay their bills –maybe. And in business terms that usually leads to …..well it begins with bank and ends with a ‘y’. Yes the B word. So these cash rich companies no longer trust their ‘cash’ in the Investment Houses, aka Investment Banks. They want safe ground - a real Bank. Why? Because in the US, as in Canada, Banks have a Government Guarantee for depositors in the event of a bank failure.

And there are A+B – Funny plus Dumb. The panic is caused by a US Government maybe at the edge of insolvency. What do all the genius money wizards do? Made nervouse by the Government’s shakiness, and their Investment Banks - they move their cash into somewhere that now charges a fee “to hold” because they’re backed by a guarantee that in fact is the cause of the issue at hand – concern over ability to pay by who else – the Guarantor, which is the reason to need to safe harbour.

So the story is: “We took our cash away from our good friends in the event of collapse, for safe haven with a guarantee by the very entity that gave rise to the possibility in the first place, and we’re paying a fee for this hollow guarantee – smart eh?

Questions to ask
– Are the bank vaults really at point of bursting from holding too much cash?
– And, if today money is paperless – because of “e”, so vault size is irrelevant, is it instead maybe their computers that are too small to hold the shear volume of this “e” paperless cash?
– And if there’s so much ‘cash’ Think of PE Trudeau, he’d of invented a new and horridly expensive corporate tax to encourage (force) these companies to expand, innovate and maybe restart this out’a juice perpetual motion machine of invent, sell, buy; upgrade, sell’em again, buy even more….and keep it going….

And in fairness to these two Banks – why should they hold all this “cash” for free. In normal times – these new clients keep it at their “other” buddies, except that for now - the Guarantor has made a real mess of things. Oh Oly. Oh Stan.

There was a 12 hour media bash of Ontario’s Health Ministry re-dealing with some of the same folks from the “previous scandal”. BUT not really the same – now they’re richer and work for another company – about to get rich...

YES the Province is at it again, another shot a “e”Heaith records. BUT PLEASE FORGET the hub-bub. If we listened to last weeks story there was a golden solution: Nova Scotia has already built a similar data-base for only 25 million. WOW. STOP THE PRESS. IDEA: Ontario licenses the Nova Scotia System.

Private business builds their own “stuff”. The “stuff: is often the Competitive Advantage. The secrete process or ingredient that can make one firm, better, faster, or cheaper than the competition. Its often part of their USP – Unique Sales Proposition.

BUT Back to Ontario - vrs - Newfoundland and Labrador. Competitors? No!
Instead – Governments – servants to the people, by the people, of the people. Don’t tell me that’s American – it’s Democracy.
If Newfoundland and Labrador have a working model why the heck does Ontario have to reinvent the wheel? Rediscover the mouse-trap? We don’t compete with our cousins of Confederation – instead let's share, even its licensing for money. That’s decent use of the People’s money – a scarce resource today.

Park the ego. Fire the technocrats, Get a copy-cat out East right now. If it works license it. If its big enough for Newfoundland and Labrador then its easily scalable to Ontario.

Stop “e”Health Three before it gets further. Yes #3. The first was missed, and it seems we’ve forgot all about #2.

How arrogant are these Liberals – that this could even get traction with an election at the door?

....today, a travel cohort from a few years back, complained to me of the $12 glass of OJ he kindly bought for me during breakfast at the Pan Pacific Hotel, years ago.

I thought about it, and thought of the people always telling me – ‘cheer up it could always be worse’.

SO I thought for a few more moments, about other places I often buy Orange Juice, or similar stuff – we’ll call, for now - “OJ”

Government OJ – it would’a been $2,382 per glass

Canadian Cancer Society OJ – would’a been only $8 but there’d be a $48. add-on marketing fee.

Air Canada OJ – $3 plus a $32 add-on for surcharges, plus $11 for the glass itself.

Ontario Hydro OJ – $32 but with a $26 “delivery” fee, plus an $8 upgrade fee, and $11 late payment fee – even if you’re not late.

Sick Kids Hospital OJ – $1.50 but with a $12,600 Super-fund fee for when they terminate senior marketing goofs.

Ontario e-Health OJ...let’s not even go there...nobody including Mr Buffet could afford theirs.

....and you complain about 12 lousy bucks for OJ at Pan Pacific??

Greece stay healthy, please.
Iceland please don’t melt.
May Portugal avoid the mess.
Spain, please stay in the plain – level and unsinkable.
And oh – please please please Mr. Euro don’t tank...seems the US Dollar depends on you.
And just like the Chip Bowl at a party – we don’t want no ‘double dips’.

Happy Summer. And to all a “good night”.

Now I feel better. So much better. 

You can tell when the TEC makers are not about to hit target. They start this hyped up focus of marketing campaigns targeted to the SMB space, aka - Small Medium Business. Confusing messages of TOC – Total Cost of Ownership, Green, Easy, Hassel Free and even “easy to use”. So, oh oh another Q of bad results about to be reported...or why this renewed focus on the SMB segment?

I was just listening to As It Happens – great show on CBC. Who is this idiot Ian Scott. An investigator? No. A Bureaucrat for sure. But my biggest vote is - he’s an idiot. Do your job man. What you are creating here is a mistrust of the Police for what – to prove a point? Break the Stone Wall or call it ‘over . But it’s your waffling that will/is fuelling the fire of mistrust that is brewing. To listen to you waffle, shuffle and waddle this evening wasn’t even funny – it just left me numb....who appointed you and for how long?

UPDATE - (Post-Entry of original writing).
Hooray! The “performance bonus” has been recalled.
But wow – arrogance and misguided attitudes allowed for the attempt. How do we fix this feeling of entitlement?

Yes e-health got Merit Pay. Yeah yeah yeah - the 2 Billion Club.

Deb Mathews is “disappointed”. Tough talk’in Deb from London who starred down Shoppers and the Pharma gang. Yes, she’s the Minister of Health that talks tough and wow Deb, that was tough talk on the news that e-Health folks got a raise of only almost 2%, PLUS a merit pay bonus of over 7%. Better then the “Dalton” – what was his famous quote 2 years ago....” “ Well, if the people of Ontario don't like it, they can show it in the next election.”

The bloody arrogance of this supreme idiot. Holding wages he says. Restraint. Huh. The OPP, Paramedics, e-Health...who else Dalton? LCBO folks – yes they need more too. We must all quit what we do and get on Dalton’s Gang. It’s been a joyride that makes me say – come’on back Bob Rae – he at least took a look at the options, the insanity and invented Rae-Days, for which nobody forgave him.

Hudak – please –please get stronger. This McGunity guy and his band have gott’a go.

When “people” do “it” they go to jail, or purgatory.
When politicians do “it” – we shrug our shoulders as if we expected it, so ‘just accept it’.

Hell we didn’t even send Mulroney to jail. Instead we thanked him, again, and contributed another 2 million taxpayer bucks to his “fund”.

The biggest difference between Public Sector and Private Business. A private business (aka “real business”) after a spectacularly public mess like e-Health created – would lay low. They’d have some shame, just a bit – and would keep raises and “merit pay” off the table. But not Government agencies – no shame there.

Me thinks we need a rethink??

Value is – paying at the start, what you’ll likely pay over time, to eventually get what you thought you got at the start.

In November I wrongly stated: my Blackberry Smartphone was Dumb.
WRONG. It was the people who made it.

Palm took the “electronic organizer” from an Atari kids toy, to a must have device of the 90’s. HP tried to connect it to the web, Compaq did it, but less than easy-to-use. It was RIM with it’s Blackberry that took the “pager” and “handheld organizer” scrunched ‘em together and “made email on the go” a real, viable and “can’t live without” product – the “Crackberry”. Attaching a phone came later...way later.

So how is it that this amazing brain-trust that changed how we all communicate through the air, just launched their new – competitive, market leading – world changer – the Playbook, without email?

Yes, yes, ok – if you ‘tether’ the Playbook to an actual Blackberry, like how you did it in the old days -- strap a bigger battery and a modem onto an iPAQ – you had a ‘wireless’ device – kind’a.

RIM says "wait, its coming later" - that's funny... cause they invented "connected" - and that translates to "I want it now!"

Shakespeare would call this “ironic tragedy” a device used by writers. But this wasn’t intentional was it? Maybe it's just “shortwaved”?

Tony Clement when questioned about a purported $50 Million Goody Fund dispersed throughout his riding in the run-up to the G5 Summit, gave the following response:
“...again, I have nothing to apologize for...”

Did he mean... once again - as in, oops, ....I did it and, and again I deny,
OR
Did he mean... I’ll say it again in case you missed my first bold face lack of embarrassment....

Politicians – got to love’em. If not why do we pay them such outlandish pensions?