Billmon:
Maybe there is hope for my beloved would-be adopted homeland after all.
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October 14, 2006
WB: True North
Comments
And best of all is the way Little Stephen Harper and his Conservative Miracles have taken to…….
….Frankie Luntz and his stratergies.
So, despite the most recent polls, these are not the best of times for the country formerly known as Canuckistan.
Just ask the kids who thought they were signing up for a career as peacekeepers who are now coming home in body bags for no good reason at all.
And the real scary thing is that Stephen Harper is a true believer/neoStraussian who is definitely not a moron (warning: wonkorama link).
There is also no evidence to demonstrate that he thinks the fundies he has welcomed with open arms (including the Hoser branchplant of LaDobson) are nuts.
And for those who are thinking of making the trek north, please understand that lumping together our Neil with Ms. Dion, that is never advisable amongst true cheeseheads.
Randy Bachman, however? Well, that would be a different story entirely.
OK, eh?
.
RossK
Thanks eh. That Bachman link led me to another story about Shaky.
I enjoy Mr. Young’s music. Some people can’t get past his voice, but I find it can be haunting.
Neil and that harpy Dion were both at Live8 up here. He got a standing (they were standing anyway,I know) ovation and she was heartily booed. He was actually there while she sent a taped performance from her theatre in Vegas. In front of adoring fans, she butchered a jazzy tune that included the most horrid scat singing I’ve ever heard. Like fingernails on chalkboard, she screached. It causes pain to think on it. I don’t wan’t to risk another seizure. 😉
Neil is mentioned on the DVD for Toronto. She is not.
They asked Neil how he came to be involved in Live8. He thought they said Live Bait because it was to be in Barrie (Ontario is about 1/2 hr north of Toronto on Lake Simcoe (good fishing – if you like Hg)).
Posted by: gmac | Oct 14 2006 23:01 utc | 2
Really OT, but Neil Young is or was majority owner of Lionel. Wonder is he lets David Crosby play with his trains???
Posted by: McGee | Oct 14 2006 23:45 utc | 4
gmac–
There is, indeed, a town…..
And if I’m not mistaken Scott’s son wrote that when he was just 19 years old.
____
McGee–
Wow, didn’t know that about Lionel.
And while I’m not sure about the big Dave, I do know that there are lot of ex sidemen and old roadies etc. that hang out at Broken Arrow with all his changes, and the trains, he has out there.
.
Lionel Trains?
Young’s greatest hobby is collecting model trains. He is a part owner in the Lionel company, pioneered several technological developments for Lionel, and has an extensive “train barn” on his Northern Califoria.
Funny, in the “you cant make this stuff up category” in that a previous owner of Lionel was that all American, Roy Cohn…
In 1959, Cowen and his son sold out their interest in the company (Lionel) and retired. The purchaser was Cowen’s grand nephew Roy Cohn, a businessman and attorney who had become infamous during the McCarthy Anti-communist hearings. Cohn replaced much of Cowen’s management with his own. The direction of the company changed, and a small number of Lionel fans consider 1959 the end of the “true” Lionel. Cohn’s tenure with Lionel was not successful and the company lost over US$13 million in the four years he ran the company.
[…]
Posted by: anna missed | Oct 15 2006 1:03 utc | 6
am–
Can you imagine Neil saving old Roy’s soul by teaching him to play ‘Helpless’ on the harmonica?
It is, indeed, a crazy (horse), mixed-up world we live in.
As I recall, one of Neil Young’s sons was a big model train afficionado, and when the company was going out of business the father bought the company to ensure continued happiness for his kid.
I saw Mr. Young perform last year in a strange outdoor concert stadium out in the country East of Seattle/Tacoma, and as expected one of the sons was sitting beside the mixing board watching the performance.
It was the entire Greenville (?) album complete with dancers, a jumbotron and a fully staged acting out of the story.
As a second set, Neil and Crazy Horse stood in a circle in front of the drum riser, backs to the crowd, and belted out some of the old favorites.
Well worth the 4-hour drive.
Posted by: jonku | Oct 15 2006 1:14 utc | 8
Can’t wait until the Spring election when we kick Harper’s ass all the way to Crawford. You’d have thought he would have learned from the bitter lessons that Tony Blair has had heaped upon him, but no.
Posted by: Dena | Oct 15 2006 3:31 utc | 9
i’ve seen articles informing Cdns of how electronic voting is good for you…
Posted by: gmac | Oct 15 2006 3:54 utc | 10
Does anybody have a link to Neil singing Helpless with the Band and Joni Mitchell in the Last Waltz. I really have to get the DVD.
Posted by: Allen/Vancouver | Oct 15 2006 4:51 utc | 11
you can probsbly pick it up at a local pharmacy for 10 bucks
Posted by: gmac | Oct 15 2006 16:56 utc | 12
gmac, you’ve said that you live in the riding represented by Michael Ignatieff.
He is the front-runner in the race to lead the Liberal party, although I hear he’s had a bad week.
All I know about him is that he is smart, a Harvard professor, novelist. Apparently a torture apologist as well.
What is your impression of Ignatieff?
Posted by: jonku | Oct 16 2006 6:30 utc | 13
jonku,
Ya, I live in Ignathief’s riding. He doesn’t. It can’t match the swank of Yorkville, I guess.
He’s having a bad week because he had the temerity to say Israel committd a ‘crime-de-guerre’ (caused not a ripple in PQ)in flattening a village in Lebanon. Of course, at the time it actually happened he said he wasn’t losing any sleep over it…
“All I know about him is that he is smart, a Harvard professor, novelist. Apparently a torture apologist as well.”
Yes, he is all these things.
And disingenuous. He is a politician after all.
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 16 2006 10:04 utc | 14
Concerning Ignatieff:
Am I paranoid, or is it no coincidence that, having written at least one article supporting torture by the Bush administration and generally being a Bush apologist, he shows up in Canada after living in the U.S. for years and years and gets into politics, using a number of remarkably astute and dare I say Rovian tactical moves?
I mean how convenient would it be for Bush to have an arse-kisser leading the Conservatives and boot-licker leading the Liberals?
I’m paranoid, right? Right?
“I’m paranoid, right? Right?”
Posted by: Ferdzy | Oct 16, 2006 10:45:14 PM | 16
I don’t think so Ferdzy, He was a professor at Harvard, Bush’s old school. Same school Alan Dershowitz is a law professor. If he wins the Liberal leadership he will Blairize it for sure.
I think he is a crafty Neocon and another Straussian just like Harper.
Posted by: pb | Oct 17 2006 6:42 utc | 17
BTW, Ferdzy, have you noticed that the corporate media have given Ignatief the ‘cutsy’ nickname ‘Iggy’? and are giving him a lot of front page exposure,..Free.
Posted by: pb | Oct 17 2006 6:51 utc | 19
is it no coincidence that, having written at least one article supporting torture by the Bush administration and generally being a Bush apologist, he shows up in Canada after living in the U.S. for years and years and gets into politics, using a number of remarkably astute and dare I say Rovian tactical moves?
earth to ferdzy…
if you weren’t paranoid i would suggest getting you head examined
Posted by: annie | Oct 17 2006 7:15 utc | 20
Oh, uh, thanks for the confirmations. I guess.
What I don’t understand is why I seem to have come up with this view of Ignatieff in splendid solitude. I haven’t seen any discussion of this possibility – or even any suggestion this possibility exists – at any of the lefty Canadian blogs I read. Maybe I’m reading the wrong blogs, but I don’t think so.
why I seem to have come up with this view of Ignatieff in splendid solitude
you’re ahead of the curve that’s all. it takes loosing a few elections to catch on. once canadians are bound and gagged it might occur to them they aren’t free anymore.
i’m just guessing tho, based on your perceptions.
Posted by: annie | Oct 17 2006 17:53 utc | 22
One day during the last election cycle, I wandered up the street for a hairscut. After the buon giornos, I notice two trendoids as I take my seat to wait my turn. Neither of them need a haircut. As I start to wonder what they’re doing in my barbershop, I notice Iggy in Frank’s chair. He’s stumping with his handlers.
Ignathief makes small talk and eventually leaves with his entourage proclaiming that he’ll be back.
I get my turn with Mario and we chat about the special guest. Mario is surprised to learn that:
Iggy hasn’t lived in Canada for 30+ years
The incumbent in the riding was forced out to make room for Iggy
There were irregularities in the nomination process and the
office was closed to prevent other candidates from registering
essentially guaranteeing Ignathief gets the nod
I have had my hairs cut several times since then and no, Iggy hasn’t been back at all.
Posted by: gmac | Oct 17 2006 19:11 utc | 23