The Black Rod

NDP M.P. Christine Moore and CBC Radio host Jian Gomeshi have one thing in common.  They both thought they could deflect blame in a sex scandal by admitting a sexual indiscretion before it was known publicly.  Both were wrong. Gomeshi tried to get ahead of a newspaper investigation into allegations of rough sex on his part.  He published a blog post admitting to a predeliction for S&M.  The post contributed to his firing from the CBC. In the wake of the Gomeshi affair, Moore shifted the national debate on sexual harassment to Parliament Hill as a cesspit of rapacious politicians and staff preying on innocent young girls working in the political sphere.  When Liberal leader Justin Trudeau championed her never-explained complaint against Liberal M.P. Massimo Pacetti, she managed to go unnamed. But eventually Moore could see the pressure growing for her to shed her anonymity and go public with her allegations.  So she went on a press to

So Greg Selinger lied to the public, lied to the Legislature, and lied to the press. Since when is this news ? Why do you think we call him the dirtiest politician in Manitoba? Even the most recalcitrant taxpayers caught on to his lying ways when he broke his (useless) word, during the last provincial election campaign, not to raise the provincial sales tax. He also openly broke the law to do it. Then he lied about why he lied, coming up with a new excuse for why he had to raise the PST as quickly as an old one was disproved. Now he's admitted another lie, but only because he got caught dead to rights by CJOB. In 2012 when it was revealed that NDP MLA's were gorging themselves on free tickets from public utilities and a raft of private groups to see the Winnipeg Jets, Selinger pretended to care. He told the MLA's to pay back the cost of their freebies, to apologize to the people, and to promise not to do it again.  He failed to mention that

Brian Bowman has set a new record for the shortest time spent by a mayor before breaking a major election promise. Even disgraced Mayor Sam Katz waited a few months before revealing to voters that they had been suckered by his stance while campaigning against Judy Wasylycia-Leis against raising propery taxes. Bowman on Tuesday hadn't even been sitting in the Mayor's chair long enough to warm it up before he announced that his vaunted promise to let city council elect the members of the powerful executive policy committee was null and void. And, like a weasley lawyer, he came prepared with an excuse for why he couldn't do the very thing he had been telling voters for months that he would do.  He blamed somebody else. Actually, he blamed pretty much everybody else except himself. He blamed the law. It had to be amended by the provincial government, and he would get right on that. He blamed the city administration which broke the news to him

Let's play charades.  We'll start. Four  words. Washing hands. Wringing.  Washing.  Soap. Dirty hands. Dirty. Okay, next word. Stripper pole. Pole. Pole...ish. No.  Start over.  Vote.  Voting.  Ballot. Oh, Pole-itics. Next word. Here. Now. Everywhere?   Map. Man. Manitoba! Dirtiest Politician in Manitoba! GREG SELINGER!!!! Do we win?   No. With Greg Selinger, everbody loses. In less than a week,  the Dipper Follies has become the best show in town, with everyone glued to their radio and television sets for the latest twist and turn. What melodrama!   Five dissident MLA's.  Careers on the line. Stare-downs. Ultimatums. Veilled threats of retaliation.  A resignation expected yesterday, today, tomorrow. Like Scandal, the TV show? No, more like NDP Friends, with Stan Struthers in the Joey role.   The dissidents are called the Rebel Five in the press. It sounds like a rockabilly band.  Suddenly, in the eyes of the