The Pen is mightier than the keyboard

Sorry for lack of posts kids. Been overwhelmed with domestic obligations, under the weather and kinda fed up with certain commenters here.

One thing I did want to tell you about is tonight's edition of CBC's Life & Times on political cartoonist Terry Mosher, a.k.a. Aislin, who has often allowed me to post his work on this here blog. On at 8 tonight, it's a frank look at Terry who says he is now in ''a state of grace'' after years of hard-drinking, drugs and partying.

Although he's a swell guy now, there was a period when he was not very nice, I can tell you.

For example, back in 1984, when Jean Chrétien was running against John Turner for the federal Liberal Party leadership, I was a CBC-TV News reporter in Montreal assigned to ask political cartoonists which face they would prefer to win. The assignment editor had already made up his mind -- who says news isn't manufactured? -- and, of course, the preferred caricature, to him, had to be Chrétien's because of his lopsided mouth. So, of course, I called Terry and tried to persuade him to give me the answer the assignment editor wanted.

HE ALMOST TOOK MY HEAD OFF.

And good for him. He was right of course. (But he coulda been nicer about it.)

Anyway, he's mellowed out now, and, aside from an obsession with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, he seems almost normal. (Did you ever notice that Muldoon has no neck?)

Watch it. Dangerous When Provoked: The Life & Times of Terry Mosher. Tonight at 8.

Why there's blood on my walls

CORRECTED TO FIX THE LINKS!

When Tom Tomorrow is as good as this -- available free with if you go through the ads on Salon -- then I just have to share it with you.

More Tom Tomorrow here.

Monkey see, monkey do

Want to see how the media twist things, or at least exploit them to serve their own purposes? Then check out the interview Stephen Colbert did last week with U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida).

The uncontested incumbent thought he could have some fun on TV because he's a shoo-in but that didn't stop, first, Fox News from twisting the comedy segment for partisan purposes and second, the rest of the media monkeys jumping into the fray.

All the video evidence is available at Salon.com which is free with a one day pass.

The original Wexler "I like cocaine because it's a fun thing to do'' segment is here.

Then here's what Fox did with it.

Finally, here's the rest of media horde, who prove themselves to be lightweight twits.

And these are the people who are informing Americans?

No wonder they believe there are WMDs in Iraq.

Barking mad

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED & RE-UPDATED:

And, while we're talking poodles, this is kind of funny. Sort of. In a scary way.

07/27/06 "Information Clearing House' -- -- The government of Israel today launched a massive air assault on suspected terrorist targets along coastal cities of the United States of America. Termed operation Just Reward II, hundreds of Israeli fighter jets streamed across the Atlantic in precise formation and fired surgical air strikes at alleged terrorist strongholds in the heavy Muslim populations of Jersey City and North Bergen, New Jersey. The jets then continued south into Elizabeth and Newark, inflicting massive destruction in the densely populated northeastern US state.

 
Reaction to the attacks was swift. President Bush asked for restraint, but stated emphatically that “Israel had the right to defend itself.”
 
<SNIP>
 
The European Union, and Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, also supported the Israeli incursion against the US. Both deeply regretted the loss of innocent American lives. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Israeli incursion just and proportionate. President Bush phoned Blair and thanked him for his support during this difficult time, and for the sweater Blair had given him on his 60th birthday.

Before you land on my head for posting this, know that writer Jerry Ghinelli has done this brand of satire before.

UPDATE: You know, on second thought, this isn't funny. It's stupid, and somewhat hateful, and I am sorry I posted it. Thanks to Mark Federman who showed me the way.

ON SECOND SECOND THOUGHT DATE: The more I watch Wolf Blitzer, the more I realize that Ghinelli got it right.

The Spies Who Love Me

Via Canadian Cynic, a little paranoia about Ma-ma-ma Bell produced by those funny guys at Cynically Tested.

Fourth Estate. Fifth Column.

Tom Tommorow Tom Tomorrow says it all, in six action-packed panels.

(Yeah, well, after yesterday's troll invasion by those Little Green Meanies, I can dig it.)

H/t to Carolyn Kay of Make Them Accountable.

Spelling correction by Rob Hyndman.

But what about the Western Standard?

Snicker.

(via Robert McClelland)

UPDATE: I changed the header of this thing from the National Post to Western Standard because, dumb broad that I can be, I missed the ""NAPO" on the chart. Thanks to VinB.

Terrorstock

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

I had to snort on Saturday when I saw a reporter on Citytv describe Warren Kinsella's self-promoting, Blue Jays attendance-boosting I Am Not Afraid campaign as ''grassroots.''  That's because it's more corporatist than grassroots. But, as Kinsella boasts, it's getting lots of MSM coverage.

The event, a t-shirt-sales extravaganza at the Rogers Centre on June 25, is supposed to show the world that Toronto stands up to terrorism. But I don't see anybody cringing, do you?

Doesn't it make more sense to go about our business -- go shopping, so to speak -- and not give the (supposed) terrorists what they want, acknowledgment of their potential power and the ability to change our way of life? Besides, isn't this event another way of convicting the 17 suspects who were arrested two weeks ago in the GTA?

I mean, nothing happened. Nothing.

Kinsella must have realized the ridiculousness of the ''I am not afraid'' slogan because it's been changed to "United We Are Toronto.'' Right. As long as we're united behind a baseball team with no pitching, overpriced beer and bland hot dogs.

Sorry. I already see a united Toronto (except maybe during World Cup season.) I see it every time I attend a Taste of the Danforth or a Caribana or any event which draws hundreds of thousands, in all our multi-culti splendour. None of these events have been cancelled. And they're already significant tourist attractions.

And yet, here's Kinsella to CP:

"This is about regular people quietly saying (to terrorists), 'Nope, this isn't going to work. ... We're just going to go to the ball game and reclaim public space.' "

Earth to Warren: Maybe you ought to get out of your white-bread world sometime.

Kinsella's campaign has apparently divided the progressive blogosphere. Some capital-L Liberals are supporting the event perhaps because capital-L Liberals (Kinsella, Dennis Mills, Jerry Grafstein) are organizing it. What's more, it may result in some much-needed media attention on the moribund Liberal leadership race.

Small-l liberals are just laughing at it. Here's Stageleft's t-shirty take. And here's Abandoned Stuff, um, throwing water all over it.

IAmNotAfraid.ca is a reactionary website designed to remind Internet-reading terrorists that Canadians are not afraid of them. How does it do that? Well as far as I can tell it does this by reminding average Canadians, as frequently as possible, that terrorism could strike them at any time. To combat fear we need to go to baseball games, since baseball is the natural enemy of terrorists. Eventually we will need new laws so we can deport Canadian terrorists to their grandparents’ homeland overseas, where they will be welcomed with open [fire] arms.

Oh and here's BlamBlog. And, while we're at it, there's Theo Moudakis' cartoon in today's Star.

Maybe the fact that this is getting monkey-see, monkey-do media attention shows that elitist events trump true grassroots events.

Or maybe we're just not as open a society as we pretend.

At this point, ''I am not afraid'' is getting more coverage than the huge tourist draw Pride Week  -- whose parade was scheduled long ago for June 25 and whose theme this year is ''Be Fearless.''  Now talk about reclaiming public space, and showing the world that Toronto is not only safe, it also knows how to party. My guess is, 10, if not 20 times, as many people will show up at the parade -- which is free -- than at the Rogers Centre, which isn't.

If the MSM treat Gay Pride with relative disdain -- and really, what could be more Islamofascist than prancing trannies and dykes on bikes? -- then we'll know for certain that the terrorists have won.

H/t to Scott Tribe.

UPPITY DATE: Looks like they called it off. This smells like a face-saving move to me.

TORONTO, June 16 -- Toronto communications consultant Warren Kinsella, Senator Jerry Grafstein and former M.P. Dennis Mills announced today that their group of community volunteers will join with Tourism Toronto and the Toronto Blue Jays for the second annual Tourism Appreciation Day on July 23rd when the Blue Jays host the New York Yankees in a game to be widely televised in Canada and the United States.   
      
  In a joint statement, they said: The "United... We are Toronto” effort we planned for the Jays-Mets Game at Rogers Centre on June 25 is now being rolled into the Tourism Appreciation Day planned for July 23rd.  We’re thrilled to be able to share our event with theirs in order to reach a much greater North American audience to showcase all that is great about our City. We agreed to merge our project with the Tourism Toronto-Jays event because we believe one great day will have more impact than two smaller ones."
      
Likely to be one of the highest attended games of the year, including thousands of US visitors and national Canadian and US media coverage, the event builds on a partnership begun last year between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tourism Toronto, to thank tourists for their patronage of our community and inspire them to keep coming back.
      
Blue Jays President Paul Godfrey said he was pleased the Blue Jays could again play host to such an important event.  “Toronto’s tourism industry is an important and valuable partner to the Blue Jays; we were honoured to play host to Tourism Toronto’s successful celebration last year and this year promises to be even better.”
    
Kinsella also took time to acknowledge the overwhelming support his group had received from across the globe.  “While the world was watching, it was nice to see that they were actually paying enough attention to understand that the key point of the story was that our police were on the job and our city always was, and is still safe.”
      
Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto, said he looked forward to the celebration.  “On behalf of Toronto’s tourism industry I would like to start by thanking the citizens of Toronto for the concern they have shown for our industry over the past few weeks.  I am pleased to report that the positive view of Toronto from across the world has not changed.  Tour operators and convention planners in the US and around the world are telling us that new bookings continue and that there has been no increase in cancellations”.

   

MacMillan added that in the past two weeks Toronto has won three international conventions, the details of which will be announced shortly. “Our pace of future convention bookings continues at a rate not experienced since 2002.”

This summer Tourism Toronto and partners will spend over $5 million to promote the Greater Toronto area in key American markets to try to soften the impact the rising Canadian dollar and high gasoline costs are continuing to have on the tourism industry in the area and across the country.  In addition, they will continue to build on their recent success in Europe and Asia by investing heavily in those markets. 

     -30-

      

       Contact:

    

Andrew Weir, Tourism Toronto: (416) 987-1741
       Warren Kinsella, United We Are Toronto: (416)  642-3100

Target practice

Stephen Colbert sets a fine example for the graduates of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

But I guess the question is, why have a two-time commencement loser like me speak to you today? Well, one of the reasons they already mentioned… I recovered from that slow start. And I was recently named by Time magazine one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World! Yeah! Give it up for me! Basic cable… THE WORLD! I guess I have more fans in Sub-Saharan Africa than I thought. I'm right here on the cover between Katie Couric and Bono. That's my little picture -- a sexy little sandwich between those two.

But if you do the math, there are 100 Most Influential People in the World. There are 6.5 billion people in the world. That means that today I am here representing 65 million people. That's as big as some countries. What country has about 65 million people? Iran? Iran has 65 million people. So, for all intents and purposes, I'm here representing Iran today. Don't shoot.

Really, how can I out-punchline him?

Spitting on graves

If you were busy Saturday night, or don't know how to program your VCR or PVR, there's no reason why you can't have with fun with Dick and Dubya (Via Crooks and Liars).

Robert Smigel, you da man!

Hat tip to Maz.