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A "World Class City" they say? Try again
 Posted
9/27/2010 8:11:00 AM
Toronto likes to style itself a world-class city, where a gaggle of civic boosters recite this self-conceit like cant. Of course there is that adage that says if you’re all that great you don’t really have to remind everyone, it should be self-evident. Which is why I suspect certain folks in Hogtown are apoplectic at the prospect of Rob Ford becoming mayor. He’s not exactly the paragon of their particular virtues and brand identity. As Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, put it: “He doesn’t fit the model.” Ford is just too down market for those insecure Sally Field types who need reassuring that Hollywood celebrities at TIFF like us, they really like us. If image counted for all that much we’d have been well-served by a Harvard-educated lawyer who looks good in a suit. How’d that work out? Hearing the salon sophisticates and squishy progressive punditry commiserate after another ...
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John Oakley
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Gregory Knox's Letter to Troy Clarke
Posted
3/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
Letters between General Motors and Gregory Knox, President of Knox Machinery in Franklin Ohio. Greg ripped into the auto industry with some common sense:
Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis........ .............. As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.
Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America
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Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres. ...
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John Oakley
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Who's right? Who's wrong?
Posted
1/19/2009 10:00:00 AM
As the casualty count climbs in Gaza it seems trite and inappropriate to say that the first casualty in war is truth. But trying to distinguish reality from spin and facts from propaganda shows the axiom to be a self-evident truth. Disseminating information in relation to the situation in the Middle East is akin to herding cats. Good luck trying to get a handle on it. Or maybe that’s the point. If the hearts and minds of those who are ambivalent or confused can be swayed by op-ed pieces in the mainstream media or through heated debates in the blogosphere, the hope is the howls of indignation will be parlayed into political action and ultimately influence the outcome. Disinformation then also becomes an effective tool of diplomacy. In this sense we’re all on the front lines taking in-coming.
- I'm John Oakley
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