The Tell

I see no victims whatsoever in the ongoing senate expense scandal that's taking up so much of the newscasts these days. While it appears the Conservatives are worried about their 'base' (read: staying in power) more than loyalty or pretty much anything else, it also appears the senators in question are a bunch of greedy graspers.

It's high-stakes poker, and as in most poker games, players have 'tells', which are a clue to what's really going on in their hand, or in this case, their head.

The tells I'm seeing here:

1. The snooty voiced, "I already told you that!". As soon as anyone uses that one, or says something to the effect of, "We have already addressed this issue...", I become confident they have neither told me nor addressed it, and they're going to do their damnedest not to.

2. Clarity. As soon as anyone busts out the phrase, "Let me be clear..." I am fairly certain clarity is not what's on offer. I have a pretty good idea I'm about to hear a lie.

A few of my random thoughts:

When a person is about to lose a high-paying job which requires of them pretty much nothing, I expect they might do whatever might be required to keep it. $90,000 may be mere pocket change to Nigel Wright, but I expect it's a lot of cash to Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin and Patrick Braseau. Hell, it's a lot of money to pretty much anyone, isn't it?
Keep in mind, each of these Senators have spent time over the years highlighting their modest roots.

I believe Mike Duffy when he says he was told right off the hop that it didn't matter where he really lived, or that he doesn't see the inside of his so-called 'primary residence' in PEI except once in a blue moon. I believe his actual residence didn't matter much at the time of his appointment because at that time, it seemed to be accepted that Senators don't do much and don't really have to live where they say they live, because the Senate is a gift you give friends who have been loyal or people who can do stuff for you. Wallin and Duffy and Braseau fit that bill perfectly.

This government promised transparency and accountability, and appears to have been surprised that 'THE BASE' might actually have believed the promise or might demand the promise be kept.

While I don't feel sorry for the PMO for being 'hoist on its own petard' I also feel no outrage that these particular three Senators might be getting the boot after being so greedy.

See? No victims!
Well, just two. Us and our tax dollars.

Lemon Pie Chronicles

I completed a long and complex journey this weekend, a journey that started about fifteen years ago and led me through several kitchens, some tears and the briefest of brushes with internet pornography.

I hold a deeply-cherished belief that homemade food is almost always superior to store-bought, or as we called it when I was a kid, 'boughten'. The one exception of course, is the Oreo, which is a 'boughten' food with its very own special category of deliciousness.

I expounded on this belief in a heated discussion one day way back in the 90s, holding forth that surely, somewhere, there must be a recipe that would rival the old standby for lemon pie, the one that comes in a box. My co-arguers were not moved despite my passion, which is how I ended up on this decades-long quest for a perfect lemon pie from lemons and not from a box.

My first stop was the then-nascent Internet. Keep in mind, it was the 90s. There were no parental controls, and only the very nerdiest of the science dweebs knew what a googol was or that it might become Google. I'll never forget my father's laugh when I told him about the porn I was blasted with after I typed into the search engine, "lemon pie". The women were all outfitted in yellow bikinis on the opening pages. "Cherry pie", by the way, at the time, would get you ladies in red bikinis. I'm so happy the 'net has progressed.

This weekend, four kitchens and nearly two dozen recipes later, I believe I may have finally nailed it. I have tried many, many variations and permutations of lemon pie filling over the years, some too runny, some too stiff, some not lemony enough, some with flat meringue, I was starting to think I had been wrong in that long-ago discussion and "the crap from the box" might actually be as good as it gets.

But I finally turned to a book from the 80s, and I believe I have won my self-imposed challenge.

For my two Thanksgiving dinners this weekend, I made pies from a book my mother had given me when I was 16 and not prone to listening to her advice in the kitchen or anywhere else. The recipe from Better Homes and Gardens calls for a teaspoon of lemon zest and 1/3 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. I doubled both while reducing amount of water called for and used the pastry recipe from Joy of Cooking. Three whites in the meringue.

Here's how I know it was a success: after each dinner, I was banned from taking my leftovers home. Oh, I was welcome to take home the pan, but as we cleaned up after the meal in each house, there was no question that final slice was going anywhere but into my hosts' tummy.

Fifteen or sixteen years, probably about 20 recipes and finally, I win. I wasn't up against anything but my personal lemon pie beliefs, and you can call me tenacious, stubborn or willful, I don't care because I was right: there is indeed, a homemade lemon pie much, much better than boughten.

Compare and Contrast

So, let me get this straight:

Monday night, a group which collects and talks about public opinion on a serious issue manages to pack Collingwood's town hall with people.

The head dude appears to be the sole spokesperson for the citizens' group, but claims there is a massive stand of other people also interested in the issues he's talking about. The massive group of people talk about the issue through a website, share information and take part in surveys, which are also online. The group has no headquarters, no bricks and mortar; its presence is online. It does, however, take out advertising to draw people to its important message, which is that there needs to be more talk about its issue.

The dude who makes the presentation says things he's been saying for a while, things about public pressure being brought to bear on the issue that affects a lot of people. He says there's something broken in our world and needs to be fixed. He says if enough people affected by the issue join the movement and speak out, change can happen.

Dude is warmly welcomed and indeed thanked by council members for the efforts he is making at making the world a better place.

Later that very same night, a councillor provides notice of a motion he wants discussed and voted on by fellow councillors.

This councillor wants a private citizen called onto the carpet at town hall to explain himself and his citizens' group, the methodology of his online research, and the very public calls he's making that pressure be brought to bear on an issue that affects a lot of people.

Two groups: Stop the Drop and Better Together Collingwood.
Stop is about water levels in the the bay, Better is about governance at town hall. One gets a warm reception for its online work, the other gets...well, we don't really know yet.

My innocent, always-hopeful heart hopes that somehow, Kevin Lloyd's motion is designed to bring Brian Saunderson to council so he, too, can be praised for the advocacy work that's being done on issues that are important to a lot of people.

What do you think are the chances my hope is a correct reading of the situation?

Hope for the Human Race?

There can be days when being in the news business wears a person down.

I was on air Monday-Friday during the middle of the day in Toronto during the Paul Bernardo trial. There was no escaping the horrible details, since I had to say them out loud four times an hour for the six weeks of that trial. It was tough every day, although not as tough for me as it was on our reporters who were in the court room. One of our two reporters took a stress leave immediately after the trial and as far as I know, never did go back to work.

These days, it's the disgusting details of the Jeffery Baldwin case that make me cry when I get home.

But every once in a while, there comes a day when there are good-news stories to energize and lift my spirits.

Today, I have at least three reasons for hope for the human race:

The Pope has said what many people have been thinking for a long time, suggesting Christians spend a lot less time dwelling on abortion and contraception and homosexuality, and a lot more time living the central tenants of Christianity; you know, the love and mercy stuff that guy, Jesus, was talking about.

In Boston, a homeless man found a backpack full of 42-thousand dollars in cash and traveller's cheques. After no doubt asking who the hell uses traveller's cheques any more, the guy found a cop and handed the bag over.

Cops in Boston told the story of the homeless guy and the money, and a total stranger in Virginia started a crowdsourcing fundraiser for the homeless guy on gofundme.com. As of this morning, it has more than a hundred thousand dollars donated to it.

The homeless guy's name is Glen James. The guy who started the fund is Ethan Whittington. I want to remember their names, not the names of the monsters in the news.

10 years and still eating mushrooms

One of my father's favourite jokes (and there were many), was about a woman widowed three times. It was told as part of a conversation between two old ladies and went like this:

"Three husbands, all dead and buried?"
"Yes."
"What happened to the first one?"
"Poison mushrooms."
"Oh, my! What happened to the second one?"
"Sadly, he, too died of eating poison mushrooms."
"And the third?"
"Fractured skull."
"How did that happen?"
"He wouldn't eat the mushroom stew."

My dad would tell this joke in response to my Sweetie and I waxing eloquent about the amazing mushroom soup at the place we go every year to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This will be year ten. Mrs. Mitchell's in Primrose never, ever fails to delight. I am starving myself all day to save room for tonight's terrific meal.

I plan to try on my wedding dress again today, too, just to see whether I've eaten myself out of it in the last few months. Even if I can't, it will not be a huge tragedy. Ten years in, one gets a bit more sanguine about these things.

Sweetie and I have been through quite a lot in the last 3653 days, and we both have chosen to stay, no matter what the crisis; to find a way to the other side. I'm looking forward to a calm and happy second decade of wedded near-bliss.

On Social Media Etiquette

Facebook, Twitter and a blog are as far as I've gone so far with my social media connectedness, but I must confess to feeling as though I might be missing the boat on new cool sites. I have no instagram or Tumblr account, I distrust Linkdin and I'm not even sure what Vine is, but it's the latest 'it' thing, apparently. (I suspect the very fact I would call something an 'it' thing would instantly disqualify me.)

You're not still on myspace, are you? ewww. Although, I bet myspace will be seen as hip and retro before long; I hear vinyl is making a comeback, too. I keep waiting for calligraphy to also become cool again, but no such luck.

If you have a love/hate relationship with social media, come sit by me. While we love knowing stuff about people we don't see often, let's admit that much of what we all post is tedious, torturous personal PR. We all know it's a rare person indeed who will post unpleasant or unflattering information about themselves on facebook. It should really be called bragbook. A couple of my friends staunchly refuse to join because they consider it to be a never-ending high school. They have a point.

The first thing I did when I signed up for facebook was to block a couple of people with whom I had unfortunate dealings, including a former boss, a former boyfriend and the worst of his odious friends.

This week, almost by accident, I discovered to my chagrin that unfriending can go both ways. Usually if someone overshares or if their posts are badly spelled and annoying, it's easy to avoid seeing those posts by simply removing the person from my facebook news feed. (Rest assured, it's only for other people, I would never remove YOU from my feed!) The removed overposter is none the wiser and I don't have to see the latest pictures of their obese cats; it's win-win. Now, if a removed person drifts across my consciousness, I can still look them up and know what's going on in their lives. This week, I did happen to look up two women whose feeds I had removed, and discovered to my surprise, I was no longer 'friends' with either of them! Clearly, I've offended or hurt them in some serious way. Or maybe they don't know the trick of removal without the drastic step of 'unfriending'?

Here's where it's high school: I'm somewhat hurt that these women took me off their friend list even though I had basically done the same thing to them. So why are we using the word, friend, exactly?

And really, how soon can curling season start? I clearly need a life off the Internet.

Chilling Words

A comment I overheard while at work a few years ago has stayed with me to this day, and every time I think of it, I feel a little scared and a little sad. Scared because I fear this is how a lot of people in positions of power think. Sad because I now know this is how a lot of people in positions of power think.

The person said the following:

"The Board will make the decision I want them to make because I will give them the information they require to come to that decision."

Just let that sit for a minute. They'll make the decision I want made, because of the information I will provide. This wasn't at town hall and has no connection to some of the stuff people have been reading about when it comes to politics in Collingwood, but it reveals a certain mindset, one that puts putative decision-makers in a position they don't even know they're in. It's the thinking that landed US soldiers in Iraq. (Weapons of Mass Destruction, anyone?) It's I fear, Standard Operating Procedure.

After you've thought about the thought process it takes to come out with such a statement, take a few minutes to read Ian Adams' very interesting piece in the Enterprise Bulletin about how decisions were made about recreation facilities in Collingwood.
Click here to read it.