A few winter photos for fun & CBC rant

I must admit to being somewhat discouraged with the media these days. Trying not to burden my gentle readers with my reflections, I used to separate rants with my Muskoka photos. Now, living in Lanark County, I find media coverage an interesting one. I feature some nature photos with my rant, for those disinclined for a read!

Can you count them?

You see, in Muskoka Lakes (NEVER call it THE Muskokas!), population 53,000 or so, we had some local coverage of issues. But most originated from Toronto, the apparent centre of Canada. There are several local Muskoka radio stations, for example. Even Lanark County has Lake 88.1! 

Traffic

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio coverage originated from London, Ontario, with a population over 100,000. They spared us Toronto traffic reports, eschewed regional information. The early morning traffic watches were bizarre. I drove 62 km to work and didn't hit one traffic light, yet I heard about a downtown London, ON, incident. I gave up on that station!

Morning Talk Radio

What do you look for? I loathe the contests. I swear, another Valentine's Day horror-story contest and I will scream. For those not in a relationship it it ridiculous and a burden to bear. For those in a relationship, who wants to hear on respected CBC Ottawa radio about flatulence, tampons, and dates gone wrong? It is simply coarse and crude. If I wanted that I would turn to an a.m. channel. For the $1.1 billion taxpayers put into CBC I believe the Conservatives have it right. Let's save some money, put it into other coffers.

I beg an on-air personality to stop bullying a middle-aged sports announcer to get on Twitter, along with another listener, and I am blocked from her account. Ageism rears its ugly head. Disrespect for a well-respected John Hancock. Conflict exists in the news, we don't need it in the trite, friendly, chummy morning talk.

I want to hear the pros talking about news, weather, sports, not what they had for dinner, let alone tweeting about it!! She asks for listener feedback, but doesn't like what she hears.

Then, Canada Reads, the infamous Jian Ghomeshi on Q notable for his taunting of Billy Bob, who took his show to the US for a week (?), allows an offensive attack: Canada Reads controversy comes alive in Ottawa

By Peter Simpson, Ottawa Citizen February 9, 2012 6:56 AM One of the authors at the centre of a nasty fight over CBC's Canada Reads contest is now in Ottawa 

Heaven forbid, too, that we celebrate Canadian authors, we have to fight over them! Some are questioning CBC funding over this one. If we can't have the 'C' in CBC, let's let Canadian broadcasters take it over. I think that media is going the way of the small town businesses, Big Box Stores. Bang for the buck, and low-cost. The impact on rural Canada is extreme.

long-term care crafts!

Weather

The CBC TV coverage in Central Ontario didn't bother covering Muskoka weather, let alone big news. We relied on local Moose radio and the weather network. For those with dial-up in Muskoka, a tedious task. The same is true here in Lanark County, with many unable to afford high-test internet.

Ottawa CBC weather does feature us in Eastern Ontario, bless them, but often they are wrong! I think we have to be our own weather watchers!

Municipal, Provincial & Federal Politics

This area of news is hard to grasp. Local papers have a huge bias, and often reporters do not have the background. We know how badly journalists create horrible graphs that misrepresent information. The latest census data frightens me. Aside from the fact that the long-form Canadian census was deregulated (thanks Harper/Clement!), I'm going to go to the source for information, not media interpretations.

We have diluted local info, and sparse coverage. Clement says Old Age Security is unsustainable
PARRY SOUND-MUSOKA - MP Tony Clement has been getting calls from his constituents.

Specialist Journalists

The big media outlets have journos that specialise in health; education; local, regional, provincial, federal politics; the environment; and so on.

On my wetland walk: fisher, or weasel: 5 toes!

This is important. It's only in my 50s that I have a grasp of many of these issues, the history, the politics and the realities of life.

From 25 years writing about education, and being a teacher, I would often read educational news with a laugh. I know that the same is true for the other topics in the news. Accuracy isn't always a priority, take Andrew Coyne's article about Caterpillar, he was correcting myths perpetuated by press.

Websavvy Media

Metroland newspapers, across this province on Ontario, features local stories. There  are the National newspapers, IMHO, who lost out by going digital. No longer relying on subscriptions and delivery, they depend upon digital revenues. I subscribed digitally to the Globe, as I preferred their national coverage. When print media went to free digital access I was sad. You wend your way through obnoxious pop-ups, flashy long to download information that sends me to another website.

Ah, wetland sleeps

That or the obnoxious twitter accounts, tweets retweeted by 40-something twits who fancy themselves meeting the needs of readers, viewers, listeners, who surely must spend their lives on for-profit Twitter, like all journalists. I use it to find good stories to read. But I am retired and can afford to do it.

Any print media now features ubiquitous videos on-line that take time to download, feature an ad first, and simply do not get to the point of the story.

I fear the direction media is headed. They now aspire to being advocating for causes. Bleeding heart, left-wing CBC is the worst. A grieving mother who sits vigil annually, has a shrine to her murdered child, has given up. Does no one advise her to get counseling? There are many places to go. Bereaved Families of Ontario and hospice groups all offer it. Instead, we sob with a woman. No solution apparent. Focus on the day of death, not a life that was lived.
The sob stories that get press are amazing.

This osprey nest seems a bit tipsy!

The backstory
The horror stories that get coverage do not always get to the backstory.
For example, the horrific traffic incident in Hamstead, ON,
Van driver ran stop sign and was not properly licensed

where an unlicenced driver of a 15-person van, runs a red light and is T-boned by a truck. There were 11 deaths. It spread like wildfire on the 'net. Speculation, and twitter messages.

How horrible.
The press cannot agree if it is the lack of standards of 15-passenger vans, the lack of maintenance of said vehicles by owners, the lack or training of drivers, or the susceptibility of the vehicles to disaster.

I found loathsome the citizens that fancy themselves citizen journalists, and take out their cell phones to cover these deaths, rather than helping the dead and injured.

Bystanders took pictures of Ontario crash instead of helping victims

Is this where society is headed? The sexy cell phone photos trump their humanity? Wannabe YouTube viral video makers.

Maybe Occupy was a desperate way to get in the press, not really a statement demanding fairness for the poor and disadvantaged.

The Gen Y folks do not vote, but they do Occupy. Then complain about everything.

Sigh. Time for a walk.

1 -2 - 3, step!

Harper has successfully positioned the Conservatives as the party of the deeply stupid

Some times you just have to laugh. I love reading witty political positioning.

G8 fencing in Huntsville!

Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, after his messing about with G8 and G20 funding, especially the fake lake, made himself a laughing stock.

I had many interviews during the G8 fencing activities. Toronto couldn't believe what Clement did in Muskoka. Fencing, brand new signage where no G20 member would ever be found!

G8 signage!

Andrew Potter has written a great editorial.
Clement has been involved in other fun times: trying to shut down a harm reduction site for drug addicts. He was health minister at the time that 100 physicians and scientists disputed this, and signed a petition to refute the deliberate misrepresentation by the government.

Harper's Get Tough on Crime stance is ridiculous, with crime rates being down.
Harper Conservative Crime Bill Will Cost Ontario Taxpayers More Than $1 Billion

New business: reduce red tape for business.
When accepting the recommendations, Clement, president of the Treasury Board, seized on one specific item as his government’s media-friendly initiative: the implementation of a “one-for-one” rule, that will require bureaucrats to eliminate one old regulation for every new one they add.

What a way to run the country!

back off government!

Deeply entrenched in Lanark County is the libertarian principle of 'back off government'. It is truly frightening. Businesses need laws. Profit is a terrible motivator.

The government claims gendercide in Canada, with some populations aborting female fetuses. We know this exists in other countries. What about Canada?

Of course, remember the mess Clement/Harper made of the long-form census? He was industry minister at the time.

Hard-to-find-information when the census is optional! The article says that one Citizen journalist was trying to find Canadian ethnic data and was having a hard time! Answers on ethnicity help us understand our populations.

Read the whole article. It is clever.

Policy for the neuronally challenged

More G8 signage: locals appreciated the work!

By Andrew Potter January 20, 2012

In his six years in power Stephen Harper has successfully positioned the Conservatives as the party of neither the left, nor of the right, but of the deeply stupid. And as Canadians have come to realize, when Tony Clement is sent out to sell a policy, things are about to get seriously neuronally challenged.

The so-called “gendercide” in Asia, mostly in China and India, has resulted in millions of girls not being born, either via selective abortion and even infanticide. The Journal’s editor wrote that this practice “also happens in North America in numbers large enough to distort the male-to-female ratio in some ethnic groups.”

Roe v. Wade at 39: A ‘breathtaking’ year for abortion restrictions

Today is the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Census long form: Tory government is making a mistake

I created this graph from StatsCan data. This data is crucial for developing policy, for business and municipal, provincial and federal governments in understanding the needs, and the shape of municipalities, provincial and federal citizens. It shapes research and practices. It helps those ensure that our transportation needs, as well as language, mobility, ethnicity, labour, income, housing, health, sociological, immigrant, and educational needs are being met.

How sad when politicians interfere with things of which they have little knowledge.

"Last week, Minister of Industry Tony Clement was given the task of defending the government’s decision to eliminate the mandatory long-form version of the census and move those questions to an optional survey. According to Clement, the long census—which asks questions about respondents’ ethnicity, education and income—is 'heavy-handed' and intrusive. Clement mounted his libertarian high horse: 'You try to limit the amount of state coercion that you have, you try to limit the intrusiveness of government activities, and that’s the balance that we’ve struck,' he said." *

This goes to the depth and the heart of those who prepare for changing demographics and ensuring that our needs are met as citizens. Now, I am no statistician, but I do know that many depend upon this data for accuracy and information. It is those most unable to stand up for themselves whose lives are protected by ensuring that there is infrastructure for them.You and I can buy services, those without cannot. White, middle-class people would be over-represented in data. Those with learning and physical disabilities would not.

References

*Sometimes a gaffe is more than a gaffe

POTTER: The comedy of Clement failing basic economics aside, it’s scary that he doesn’t understand his file

by Andrew Potter on Friday, July 16, 201

Census of Canada

 Census data ... The census provides a statistical portrait of Canada and its people.

Proposed Changes On How Canada Collects Census Data Not In The Public Interest

The long form is the basis for collecting data on language, immigration, Aboriginal peoples, mobility, ethnicity, education, labour, income and housing.