Short takes – the bold, the amusing and the odorous

Posted November 15, 2012

* Go figure. Guelph Coun. Ian Findlay floats the idea of full-time councillors. Two days later, a staff report recommends that council and committee meetings be suspended in January, July and August starting next year.

* If former general of the U.S. Army David Petraeus was a closet satyr, would the devil agree?

* If all it takes is eye makeup, a good body accompanied by a pretty good brain, to seduce the brightest U.S. military star of the decade, where does lust and duty square off?

* Why does Prime Minister Stephen Harper need two armoured Cadillacs on his Asia tour when an Oshawa-built Chevy Malibu would have done the job?

* When Immigration Minister, Jason Kenny, opens his pie hole, immigrants to Canada must cringe.

* Why do teachers insist on using “job action” that impacts the students while their pay cheques and benefits still keep coming?

* Have you ever experienced a labour negotiation between NHL billionaire owners and millionaire players in which they are unable to resolve a basic contract to keep the money flowing? It’s emperors versus knights.

* Why does Guelph’s Manager of Realty Services refuse to reveal the sale price of the taxpayer-owned former civic museum property? The Ontario Municipal Act requires the property should be sold to the highest bidder.

* Professor Barry Kay says that Obama could have been beaten in the recent U.S. election.  Well, that’s why you are a professor and Obama is President.

* What in hell has been going on at U.S. Madill Air force base in Tampa, Florida? It appears to be a steamy cesspool of questionable social intercourse between socialites and generals on the U.S. taxpayer’s nickel.

* So the manager of the city’s heritage department deems the derelict Wilson Farmhouse a heritage property to be preserved. How do you judge if a neglected, city-owned property is worth restoring? That’s like dealing with a pimple on a pumpkin.

* The Mercury front-pages the return of a convicted urban terrorist, Amanda Hiscocks, to Guelph. Really? Is this part of urban renewal? Or, just getting together with that old gang of mine?

* Then we learn that Hiscocks’  base organization, Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPRIRG) has dissension in the ranks. Finances are in disarray and the group is embedded in the University of Guelph. Perhaps a rethink is needed here.

* While “Town and Gown” is an admirable concept, taxpayers are continuously being asked to provide more money to support the expansive growth of the University of Guelph. With half of the Farbridge controlling coalition on council either employed or connected to the University, is it any wonder?

* Why isn’t our full-time mayor spending her energy promoting the opportunities the city offers rather than being a chairman of the board?

* Just wondering, why the mayor votes on every motion when she has a clear majority locked up? Is she a player or gatekeeper?

* Is newly nominated Guelph Progressive Conservative candidate Anthony MacDonald a one trick pony? A professional horseman who is determined to overturn the Liberal government decision to close the slots operations at Ontario’s race tracks.