Frampton finds her Messiah - Media sees an exit

Hook line and sinker comes to mind with the flurry of media reporting positively on the announcement of a Public Inquiry into the Muskrat Falls debacle.

Ironically - they too are taken off the hook for the disastrous, corrupt, misleading, inefficient, and incompetent boondoggle.

Most media here in the province acted as a facilitator for all the Muskrat spin of the Tories and now that the "naysayers", "partisans", and "conspiracy theorists" have been proven right - the media - like the politicians just want it to go away.

The media are wearing a bit of this fiasco and it would be very convenient for them - to have those memories fade.

Was Tobin in for the dinner? Did he help out with this media spin farce? After all the 3 amigos are known for this type of thing.

In either case let's take a review. Pam Frampton's article ends with this sentence:    "All I can figure is that the 29 per cent who support Davis are the same misguided lot still waiting for Danny Williams to return as our one true messiah."  This follows Frampton's own headline, "Hallelujah — Muskrat Falls inquiry’s a go".

Handel would be proud. 

Frampton could have and should have mused about the venue for the announcement and the audience it was personally delivered to. 

The Muskrat frenzy continued in earnest - while chowing down the meal the latest Messiah had prepared for them. For them religion is money - the Messiah is the facilitator of the money - and the Hallelujah is the message that the money will continue. 

Frampton stayed away from the obvious - that is - this type of announcement on a situation that has all the potential of bankrupting the province should have been done in a public forum. 

Frampton then waded into the latest polls on the politico and marched right up on the pulpit and decreed that 29% of people who support Paul Davis must be the same "misguided" ones who supported Danny Williams. 

That is laughable - the "misguided" ones? Is that the percentage who supported Danny Williams - or was there a tremendous number of more "misguided" people at the time? You are making fun of them? 

I'd say it's a tad likely that the media were as enthralled with that Messiah as the "misguided" ones you speak of.

Frampton's jubilation regarding the reactionary - too little to late - non-detailed - Tobinesque announcement that happened to be given to an elite Muskrat skinned audience - is naive. It is not an acceptable response of a journalist, a political commentator, or a columnist.

There were so many questions that needed - no begged - to be asked.

1. Why is it too late to stop the project? - details please
2. Why not begin with a forensic audit? - details please
3. How does any of this protect the indigenous people? - details please
4. Why is the Premier using a political fundraiser to announce a Public Inquiry?
5. Why did the Premier change his mind on the timing of the Inquiry? details please
6. What are the plans with Gull Island and Quebec? details please
7. Why are you not stopping the project until Inquiry is complete - considering the continued and serious questions regarding the North Spur - and the potential to uncover corruption or fraudulent activity? details please

and so many more...

The fact that a significant number of Newfoundland and Labrador media fall in the category that Frampton calls "the misguided lot still waiting for Danny Williams to return as our one true messiah" - albeit more focused on the Galway messiah and Costco's second coming - demonstrates one reason as to why we are in this mess now.

Ball needed an exit, Frampton needed to believe that in some way her much too late need to question the Muskrat boondoggle - played some role in getting an Inquiry called, the Muskrat elite needed reassurance, and the media generally just want the past to go away.

Next up - James McLeod and his call to so-called naysayers, partisans, and conspiracy theorists to prove their love of Newfoundland and Labrador - followed by Wangersky's learn from our mistakes lecture.



 

The times - they are a changin - NDP Fundraiser

These things are good to know.

Photo From the Telegram at NDP Fundraiser

I am not being critical here - just simply noting a change in position.

That is to say ordinary Canadians, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, citizens need to understand that the NDP are very willing now to have a dinner at $150 per plate for access to the New Leader Thomas Mulcair.

The question is - can ordinary Canadians, those on a fixed income, those needing income support, or families with one income or two lower incomes - afford to attend such a dinner?

We all know the answer to that.

So now we need to know if this is the change the NDP were looking for? Is this the change Thomas Mulcair brings?

If so fair enough - that will make it a little more difficult for people who are left of center or center in their ideology to decide if they go Liberal or NDP.

The NDP with this latest move have certainly changed their tune regarding such fundraising dinners.

Below read a couple of comments from the old NDP:

Canada's two biggest political parties are being accused of returning to the "bad old days" of Canadian politics by holding big-money fundraisers that dangle promises that guests will receive access to the nation's powerbrokers. Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin lashed out Sunday at fundraising galas such as the $500-a-head event being hosted by Conservative House Leader John Baird next month, which is reportedly being advertised as a chance to meet cabinet ministers and other caucus members.

"It undermines the notion that government is accessible to everybody," Martin said.



But a $550-a-plate fundraising dinner slated for Monday night in Sudbury has garnered criticism from local unions and the NDP, as about 3,000 workers with Vale Inco enter their seventh week on the picket lines with no negotiations between the company and the union.

Some workers along the picket line described the dinner as a "slap in the face" and said they planned to protest outside the event.

Sudbury New Democrat MP Glenn Thibeault also plans to hold a dinner of his own, serving spaghetti and salad at $5.50 a plate to support miners who find themselves without a job.
"My whole meal … is going to cost about $550 to feed about 150 to 200 people, so there's a big difference here," he said.

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I wonder if we can conclude that many unemployed people who were in the fishery, forestry, and federal jobs could have afforded this access to Thomas Mulcair?

Is the deal that now the NDP can raise funds this way as a result of a better showing federally - therefore it's okay (hypocritical) or is it that the NDP have changed their position on fundraising (new direction)?

Let the voters know and then we can make an educated choice.