Zerbie has left the building ... for a while

I'll be fine and I'll be back.

Until then, comment moderation will be light to non-existent.

Behave.

Think of it this way: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Please send your thoughts and prayers to regular commenter and fellow blogger Dr. Dawg and his lady Marianne. They need them. I don't.

xox

UPPITY DATE: Only because it made me laugh out loud, and we could all use more laughs.

Tip of the hat to Ron Saba.

NOT YET READY TO SET A DATE: Thanks for your emails and comments asking me to come back and pronounce on everything from the attack on my home province of Quebec by The Globe and Mail's Jan Wong to the resignation of CBC chair Guy Fournier, not to mention the 9/11 coverage and on and on. It feels good to be missed. But I will be away from the keyboard for a while yet.

Oh, and my Mom is as fine as an 89-year old can be, thanks.

DATE BOOKED: Watch this space. I will be back by Halloween. (BOO!)

Comments are closed on this post.

Oh and the rules around this joint will be changed.

That's what happens when some of you don't behave. Collective punishment!!

Lost at the post

Sorry guys. Typepad ate about a dozen comments very early this morning when I attempted to approve them. I got an error message and couldn't get back at them. 

POOF! They are gone. It wasn't because I intentionally deleted them.

If you can recall what you wrote, please resubmit. Sooey had some really funny ones and it is she who pointed out they are MIA. I can't find them in the system.

Lucky Sperm Club

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

Hey kids! Is your daddy a former prime minister of Canada? Then maybe you too can land a place in the media spotlight, just like Ben and Alexandre and Justin.

All this to say that Catherine Clark, daughter of Joe and Maureen McTeer, is back with a regular TV gig, this time on CPAC. This is from the release:

CPAC's Sunday Sound Off gets a fresh new face this Fall! Catherine Clark will be in the driver's seat when the live, coast-to-coast, bilingual, phone-in public affairs program returns on September 17th in the CPAC studios across from Parliament Hill.

The fluently bilingual Ottawa native is no stranger to the public eye having hosted a live, daily talk show in Ottawa, and occasionally hosting Sunday Sound Off during the last election. "As a young, bilingual broadcast professional, Catherine is keenly aware of the changing world and the importance of engaged citizens," said Colette Watson, President and General Manager of CPAC. "She is very much in-synch with CPAC's ongoing commitment to open and fruitful debate."

"I'm looking forward to speaking with Canadians from one end of the country to the other on topics that concern them and providing a live forum for them to speak directly with key experts," added Ms. Clark. "I hope Sunday Sound Off will become the destination for Canadians who want to voice their opinions about public affairs."

Clark's last national TV job was on the moribund digital i-channel, as one of its inaugural season hosts.

Now I am not suggesting that these political ''kids'' aren't smart or talented. But isn't amazing how they all landed such interesting jobs, jobs that ordinary slugs like us have to kill for? I mean, what are the odds?

UPPITY DATE: Somebody in the comments mentioned Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. A very very rich woman, most famous in modern times for designing tight jeans. I am amazed that nobody yet has brought up David and Linda Frum or Jonah Goldberg, son of Lucianne Goldberg.

Oh please, start one about me

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

Whoa! Somebody doesn't like the Globe and Mail's Margaret (Peggy) Wente. Whoever that somebody is started a Wente Watch blog, the kind of site which proves that, as a columnist, she must be doing a great job if she is provoking people enough to give up their free time to pick apart her scribblings.

Seems that the blogger was tipped over the edge by Wente's words on AIDS and Africa, specifically this sentence: "Changing the behaviour of African men is probably hopeless." Complains the Wente Watcher:

Margaret Wente has made many ugly remarks during her career as a columnist, but this is the one that finally angered me enough to start this blog.

If someone had said that of "white men", or even just "men", can anyone doubt that Wente herself would be the first one screaming about radical feminism? But change the skin color of the men, and misandrist remarks become fine with her. Her jeer has no basis in fact; Uganda's famous ABC campaign proved that the sexual behavior of Africans, both men and women, could and would change with a community-based program of education.

But to Margaret Wente, this doesn't matter. Facts contrary to her ideological worldview don't exist. She is a writer who sees the world through the prism of good guys and bad guys. The good guys are capitalists, the United States, and white people; the bad guys are activists, critics of the US, and people of color. With that blinker in mind, her columns often follow a predictable formula:

1) Find a social issue, preferably one dear to the heart of liberal-leaning activists;

2) Blame it on nonwhite people;

3) Claim that only through conservative solutions can the problem be solved.

You know, I am totally fine with these sorts of blogs. After all, somebody has to watch the watchers. But what I object to is the anonymous part. If you're going to bushwhack people, then come out from behind the bush. Columnists such as Wente attach their name and face to their opinions. Attack bloggers should as well.

Unless they work in the same office.

Ya think?

UPPITY DATE: The blogger has outed himself in the comments below. Here's what he says:

Dear Ms. Zerbisias:

My name is Tyrone Nicholas and I am the author of Wente Watch.

Thank you for mentioning my blog. I'll try to upload a photo to it as soon as I get the chance.

We heart Mike

CTV's Mike Duffy is alive and well in Ottawa, where he is recuperating after open heart surgery. (Yes, he has a ticker!)

Duffy, host of Mike Duffy Live on CTV Newsnet, underwent the procedure at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute last week.

Lillian Duffy, the newsman's mother, told the Charlottetown Guardian that he is expected to make a full recovery.

"His operation was successful and he's home," she said from her Charlottetown home. "We're all grateful he's making a good recovery."

Duffy, 60, suffered a minor heart attack 14 years ago.

I know he's doing okay because he emailed me a few minutes ago to ask me about something I blogged while he was out of commission. I don't think it made him happy. But hey, better a mad Mike than a dead Duffy.

Get well soon Mike!

Going post-al

Sorry I haven't put up any new posts.

And no, I am not in a puddle weeping over Syd. I am in Oakville -- yes, I made it this far! -- at Sheridan College supposedly giving a seminar on blogging to Metroland newspaper worker bees who hate their empoyers at Torstar and we're really talking about bringing down the company.

KIDDING!

No, I am really talking about blogs. And I am showing them how I do a post.

Pay no attention this one. It doesn't count.

I'll have stuff up soon.

A true friend to the end

Sydney

Bless her little soul. She made the decision so I didn't have to.

She died peacefully at the Veterinary Emergency Clinic, under the best of care. Just went to sleep so quietly that, in the five minutes that a doctor was not attending to her, nobody noticed anything unusual.

My little girl.

Sydney "Miss Mess" Zerbisias came into my life August 9, 1996, after I found her on the then-Ohio-based American Eskimo Dog rescue site, Heart Bandits. Now there are branches all over North America.

My fifth Eskie, she represented  the best of the breed -- beautiful, alert, intelligent, loyal, affectionate, eager to please -- and was my little co-pilot, companion, white shadow and fur angel.

I just returned from the vet's where, along with her walker Darlene Reid, we had a visit with her and many good snarfs into tissues. She looked peaceful. I know that wherever she is, there are lots of Marrobones and little kids in strollers dropping Cheerios and Goldfish crackers for her to clean up.

Thanks again for all your sympathy.

Amazing how we love our poopers.

P.S. If you want a dog, please adopt an adult who needs a home. They'll love you to pieces for it, and you'll know its temperament upfront. My next baby will be coming from here.

Sydney

A girl's best friend.

How do you know when it's time for your beloved dog to go? How do you know?

UPDATE (22/8 @ 12:58 a.m.): Thank you so much for your comments and emails.

I spent the last four hours at the Veterininary Emergency Clinic and left Sydney (who is a girl!) there. It was the best thing to do. She is in tremendous pain, unable to walk, stand or even turn her head. She does not appear to be a good candidate for surgery. They'll run some tests, do x-rays, put her on major painkillers via IV and bring in the neurologist in the morning. But it doesn't look good.

It doesn't look good.

I think nature will make the decision for me.

UPDATE (22/8 @ 10:30 a.m.): Just talked with Dr. John Reeve-Newson at the Animal Clinic, Syd's regular vet. (Both he and Dr. Clifford Mardinger, also at the Clinic, were available to us last night from their homes.) We're waiting to hear from Dr. Sue Cochrane, Syd's neurologist. (Yes, she has a neurologist.) But Dr. John wasn't very encouraging, and I didn't expect him to be.

I won't do anything invasive. I just hope I make a decision I can live with.

I've been at these crossroads before, and had planned for this one long ago. But the deal was always to have her here at home with me when it happened. This does not look like it's going to happen. She's in too much pain to be moved.

I am going to take a long walk now. More posts, about other matters in a little while.

Or not.

Depends on what happens.

Thank you for your comments and private emails.

Non-cents

Just catching up with some CBC news items I didn't blog last week because, well, because.

They cancelled Street Cents! They cancelled Street Cents! They cancelled Street Cents!

AAA.

Yes, that's me screaming. Why? Because in TVland, which is all about selling as much crap as possible to as many eyeballs as possible, and which is also about suckering your kids into becoming consumeristic greed heads, Street Cents was, for 17 years, a boob tube oasis for teaching kids about what not to buy and why. The award-winning media literacy show -- seven Geminis plus an International Emmy -- had its roots as a regional production in Halifax and from there it grew and grew. Reports Inside the CBC, where Tod Maffin agrees with the cancellation:

CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay told InsideTheCBC.com: “Street Cents has been an exceptional success over the past 17 years and CBC is proud of the show’s award-winning reputation and focus on innovative stories, news and entertainment for its youth audience.

”However, research has demonstrated pretty clearly that its demographic (pre-teen and teen) is increasingly and quickly moving to interactive digital platforms for news, info and entertainment. We’re in the process of refocusing our youth strategy to specifically address this trend.”

But I don't buy that. For one thing, a public broadcaster is a public broadcaster, not a webcaster, and it has an obligation to broadcast programs that are non-commercial and even anti-commercial. For another, not every kid has a computer, or easy access to one -- but just about every kid watches TV and too damn much of it.

This anonymous CBC employee guest-blogging on The Teamakers sees things more my way.

A quiet death Friday for one of the remaining slivers of CBC-mandate programming. Street Cents, the cheeky consumer affairs show aimed at teenagers, was finally snuffed out. It wasn't much of a surprise as no commitment had been made to launch a new season. After 17 years of edgy and fearless programs, the Halifax-based production was killed because - according to the information passed on to staff from (CBC-TV executive vice-president Richard) Stursberg via Atlantic Regional Director Ron Crocker - it's not attracting a big enough audience.

For those who watch these things, the program has been bounced around the schedule for years before being dumped to die on Sunday afternoons. It's amazing that it managed to attract even the 100 thousand viewers that it did.

A hundred thousand? Cripes. That's more than some of the shows that Stursberg has launched.

In other CBC news, Avril Benoit has left the building. She will be head of communications for Doctors Without Borders (Canada).

Benoît, a bilingual native of Ottawa and Mont-Tremblant, was dubbed “Gzowski’s hip replacement” when she co-hosted (with Michael Enright) CBC Radio One’s now defunct This Morning. Before that she was a top open-line host at CJAD in Montreal and a political commentator for other media outlets. She worked at CBC-TV in Montreal for five years, as a current affairs writer-broadcaster as well as host of the network’s award winning sports and recreation program, Busy Bodies.

Benoit bounced around CBC a lot after This Morning was cancelled. She ended up hosting the local 4-6, Here and Now until she took a Southam fellowship. Last year, she did some radio documentaries in Africa, and told me that she was very much interested in what was going on there. But she didn't get to keep traveling and, in May, landed as host of Ontario Morning. I guess she wasn't happy there and bailed.

Contest this!

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

Riddle me this: Is it because there aren't enough right-wingers in Canada to support Ezra Levant's Western Standard? Is it because right-wingers prefer to scream at each other on blogs? Or is it just an issue of the magazine industry here being so damn difficult? It's a financial struggle for many, including the most excellent Walrus and, most recently, Saturday Night, which went down in flames.

That's just my way of leading into the latest pitch from Levant landing in my ebox. It's a writing contest, by gum, and first prize is $1,000 and your chance at publication in the WS.

There is an entry fee of $50, and every entry receives a free one-year subscription to the magazine, valued at $75. If you've already got a magazine subscription, no problem -- you can extend your subscription, or give it as a gift!

Now I ask you ...

Speaking of which, I should ask Levant whatever happened to the money -- however much it was -- he raised to fight off that human rights lawsuit following his publication of the controversial Danish cartoons? Whatever happened to the lawsuit for that matter?

UPDATE: Unconfirmed word has it that the biweekly WS is becoming a monthly to cut costs. What's more, editor Kevin Libin is jumping ship, either to Maclean's or the National Post. Looks like there's trouble at the board level, with investors bailing on this sinking enterprise.

NOTE: Readers have informed me that this is the second year of the contest.