A Random Thought

BelinDUH Stronach DUHlton McGuinty The LiberUHls

Stephane DiYAWN

3 out of 4 ain't bad. You have to admit there is a nice symmetry here.

Okay, Okay, Okay .... I have way too much time on my hands.

Good Night Y'all!

Sometimes you Hold your Nose

Ombudsman Andre Marin has stated that "unscrupulous" lottery-ticket retailers in Ontario have collected at least $100 million in fraudulent claims since 1999, under the "watchful eye" (what happened to the other eye) of the OLG which allowed the practice to persist.

Marin said that lottery officials who raised concerns about suspect claims by retailers in 2003 and 2004 - including on $12.5 million prize - were told by Brown: "Sometimes you hold your nose."

Wrong Duncan!!!!! You hold YOUR BROWN NOSE, probably as a result of walking too close behind your masters when they suddenly stopped ..... I'M KICKING BUTT!!!!

Let's go through some of Andre Marin's findings:

1. There have been at least $100 million in fraudulent claims. - Question: how many of these "unscrupulous" lottery-ticket retailers have been criminally charged? How many have been convicted and are currently serving time with big hairy men who would like to dance the mambo in one of our fine correctional facilities? Let me guess ...none...nada...zilch...WHY?
2. The OLG is "hopelessly conflicted." - Question: Conflicted about what? To steal or not to steal? Oh the dilema of multiplke choice!
3. Marin said the OLG ignored allegations of fraud because it was "fixated on profit rather than public service." Question: How many of these "fixated" public service trolls will now be dismissed? Or will Duncan Brown be the only one to walk the plank, because his high profile dismissal might mitigate some of the damage suffered by DUHlton McGuinty and the crew of The Black Pearl? Oh by the way, it didn't happen to be you DUHlton who was the prime fixator was it? Now was it DUHlton...comon, was it?
4. Customers who complained were rarely taken seriously, said Morin, who called the corporation's customer complaints department "rude and inept" when dealing with them ...not surprising Mes Amis....have you had to deal with the boys at Queens Park lately? Like government - like government agency!
5. There was too much hanky panky between retailers and the OLG. The question still stands ... how many folks at the OLG have been shown the front door and how many retailers have been criminally charged?

The Cantankerous One has a few additional questions, namely: Why does David Caplan, the minister responsible for the OLG still hold that porfolio? Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character give him power. Caplan was given power and voila ....behold his character.

Why does OLG Chairman Michael Gough still hold his position? He shows all the backbone of a chocolate eclair. In the midst of a scandal, Gough thumps his chest with pride, as he announces that despite the fact that some unscrupulous vendors stole money out of our pockets lottery ticket sales are in fact up. How stupid of me to not understand that sales increases make theft allright.

Gough goes on to say "that's a ...reflection of Ontarian's basic trust in this corporation." As usual Mr. Gough, you have mastered many things, but common sense is not one of them. Where would I go if I wanted to play big-payout lotteries which are not controlled by the government? I guess one does not deal much in facts when one is contemplating saving ones butt.

Let's go back to David Caplan for a moment. Here's the Caplan Clincher. He said that the government and OLG would try to find people who had their legitimate lottery winnings stolen by someone else and pay them the jackpot they were entitled to have. There was no mention of cleaning out the complicit vipers nests within OLG who knew what was going on and looked the other way ... can these people be criminally charged for aiding and abetting the facilitation of a crime? ...no mention of criminally charging all of those retailers involved in theft ... no mention of forcing these thieves to pay restitution ... no mention of pulling OLG kiosks from retailers directly involved with these thefts.

We need to arrange for a quick Cat Scan of Mr. Caplan's cranium to ensure that there is something of substance inside, instead of as it appears now, a resting place for his hair follicles.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, DUHlton McGuinty defended Caplan and accused the opposition parties of playing political games by demanding Caplan's resignation.

Hold the fort Martha...we need to order up another one of them there Cat Scans for that DUHlton fella. OOps forgot. With the health care system being what it is, we'll probably have to wait untill after the next election to get an appointment.

MEMO: To Lois Brown re: Pain

Lois,

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea!

To date, your political "career" seems to have been literally pain free. Hopefully, you will feel a pinch now and then on your way to the shoot-out at the Magna compound come election time.

It sure would be nice for a change. Giddy-up!

An Inconvenient Truth in Newmarket/Aurora

So my wife and I have returned from our all but too brief vacation. The CC Writer (love Mitch Ryder) is relaxed and refreshed, and ready to fire-up my old blogging machine once again with a reinvigorated zeal. It has been said that zeal is fit only for wise men, but is found mostly in fools. I leave it to my peers on the blogosphere to be the final arbitrators as to which category The Cantankerous One falls into.

In the recent Conservative Nomination race in Newmarket/Aurora, Kirk West in my opinion, was the only person who fully understood the full magnitude of the task which lies ahead for any Conservative candidate aspiring to be elected in the riding. The next election will not be as simple as a Conservative candidate trying to unseat Belinduh Stronach, solely based upon ... one year of good Conservative governance ... a fairly reasonable "election budget" ... and a number of other "spread the goodies around" pronouncements. The Liberals have been doing that ad- nauseum for years. We're used to this kind of political schtick. Even the TV ads intended to define Stephane Dion as a person who lacks leadership qualities will not have much traction here.

What the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal's in the Newmarket/Aurora Conservative Party Association (NACPA) and in Lois Brown's Posse (LBP) have failed to do, is to fully understand the facts and implications of the federal voting history in this riding. History, rather than Belinduh is the real challenge. Let's take a quick look at just some of Elections Canada stats;

• Since 1867 (140 years) Canada has only elected 17 federal Conservative governments.
• 58% of those Conservative governments were elected before 1930.
• Since 1930, Canada has only elected 7 Conservative governments in 77 years.
• Newmarket/Aurora has sent a grand total of 11 Conservatives to Ottawa (much worse than the national average).
• In 140 years, Conservatives have lost every single by-election in Newmarket/Aurora.

Those are just the facts Ma'm ... just the facts! Nothing to write home about eh, mes Amis!

How about some more facts? The Final National Percentages for the Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Election 2004, were;

• Tony Clement 9%
• Stephen Harper 56%
• Belinduh Stronach 35%

You must admit that Belinduh had a certain amount of cache nationally. Now look at the Point Totals for Newmarket/Aurora;

• Tony Clement 7%
• Stephen Harper 37%
• Belinduh Stronach 57%

It's almost a mirror opposite to the National stats. Whether you like or dislike Belinduh is immaterial because the facts clearly show that she is extremely popular in the riding, and more importantly, Belinduh is significantly more popular than Prime Minister Harper himself ... facts which are totally lost on Lois Brown.

How about some more facts? Belinduh first defeated Lois to secure the Conservative nomination and went on to defeat Liberal Martha Hall Findlay to become one of the only 11 elected Conservatives from Newmarket/Aurora during the past 140 years.

When Belinda crossed the floor and became a Liberal, she defeated Lois once again in 2006, and this time raised the Liberal vote count by 6,047 ... while Lois managed a whopping 558 vote increase ... oh my!

Last but not least, in 2006 in the Central Ontario Region, which consists of 11 ridings and is traditionally a Conservative region, the Conservatives took 10 of the 11 ridings, leaving only ... yes you guessed it folks ... Newmarket/Aurora to Belinduh and the Liberals. A result which I'm sure did not go unnoticed by Mr. Harper! Well maybe it did. During the nomination race Lois claimed to have the ear of the Prime Minister. I'm not sure whether she mentioned as to whether Mr. Harper was wearing ear muffs at the time or not.

Now the same old same old gang that couldn't shoot straight is riding back into town, determined more than ever to win the shoot-out at the Magna compound. The trouble is that the LBP have only 3 bullets in their rusted out chambers. Their first bullet is ... one good year of Conservative governance in a riding which has been a 140 year-old Liberal stronghold. Good thinkin' pardners!

The second bullet is Lois' community involvement. Lois.....Lois quit trying to sign-up more memberships ... pardon me ... no I'm not a member ... Lois, stop grinning and look at me for just one minute. Don't you think that if the folks in your riding gave a flying fadoo about your community involvement that you would have been elected a long time ago? The hard straight goods are that it only matters to the 190 or so who consistently show-up to back you everytime you run for nomination.

With the third bullet Lois claims that she is "taking back the environment for the Conservative Party". What the heck does that mean? Maybe I'm being a little unfair. Lois did in fact display her environmental intuitiveness by "co-operatively" building an environmentally friendly blue box float for the Aurora Christmas Parade, which was towed on a flat bed trailer by a truck spewing emissions into the atmosphere. The woman is totally daft! To characterize the LBP as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals is an insult to Neanderthals!

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that, after the dust settles after the next election, Belinduh will hand Lois her lunch ... once again! This time it will be cooked goose and Lois will be really Browned off!

PS: Isn't there a 3 strikes and you're out policy with the Conservative Party? Stiiiiiiiiiiirike 3 Lois! Thank Heaven for tender mercies.

Memo to: Dianne

On February 21/07 you made the statement that "Frank Klees always endorses Lois."

Blogger Val Zans then challenged you to "show one reference on the web, in print, or anywhere where Frank Klees endorses Lois Brown."

Now I don't want to be pushy, but it's been a while now, but there's still no proof of your claim. If Frank's always endorsing Lois there should be no problem ...should be a veritable plethora of material.

Hold it ... I just went on to Lois' website....www.loisbrown.ca...that's hers right? My oh my she's added a web page that wasn't there a few days ago. Boy now I'm really confused. There are only 6 supporters...let's see...an M.P. from Barie, looks like 1 aquaintance or neighbour, 1 Newmarket Aurora riding association member...2 high school students and 1 university student. Doesn't seem like an awful for a woman who has been in politics all of these years ...... but NO FRANK KLEES! Mmmmm I guess the internet must be a little slow.

Anonymous Spanks the Cantankerous Conservative!

The Cantankerous one has been taken behind the woodshed and spanked! Here's another one of Lois Brown's supporters. Normally I wouldn't bother with it any more than I already have except.....this person makes mention of the fact that he/she has been going through the Conservative membership lists trying to find out who I am .... is that not illegal? Time to get "Deep Nose" involved.

Could the alleged Alliance candidate nomination vote result cover-up......the alleged irregular use of conservative party membership lists by Ms. Brown to sign members well in advance of nominations being called and now this witch hunt through the membership lists to find out about me be quickly spinning towards more sinister happenings? Could we be looking at LOISGATE? Just asking?

Here's the comments and my responses. Both have already been published on my post "A Comment from Kirk West."

anonymous said........
There is nothing more pathetic than a blogger who is ficticious, who hides his real name, and claims to be an Aurora resident, yet does not appear on any list...voters, PARTY MEMBERSHIP (I bolded this) or telephone directory.
Why do you not come out from the murky shadows? Or do you suffer from the same small-man complex that possessed the pathetic creature that hid behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz?
Or are you the one that actually works for Bellind?

robert otto said....
Yes there is someone more pathetic! Someone who chastizes me for apparently "being fictitious and one who hides his real name" in a comment identifying himself/herself as ANONYMOUS!

By the way, you took the time to check lists, telephone directories, voters list, and am I reading this correctly....MEMBERSHIP LIST. My oh my, how did you ever get a look at the PARTY MEMBERSHIP LIST?

IS THAT YOU LOIS? If not, someone with access to the inner sabctum has been a busy little beaver.

PS: Who's Bellind?

Then robert while in a playful mood made a second comment ....
Oh by the way Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, where in my profile does it claim that I still reside in Aurora?...I guess I must have missed me still living here.

I suppose there may be other sinister reasons for hiding in the murky shadows with my small man complex. Perhaps they may be as pathetic as just making a living. Oh my, I'm off to see the wizard. If comprehending the written english language was your strong suit, you could have saved yourself a lot of effort.

Again I ask, who's Bellind?

An Addendum: After all of the allegations which have been made to date against Lois Brown, and not denied nor challenged by Ms. Brown, and now this post by someone who has direct access to confidential membership information and admits to using that access for what purpose I do not know, other than possibly to try to shut me up or shut me down ... and in my opinion, with Lois' complete knowledge and possible urging...although I could stand to be corrected if proved otherwise ... leads me to say that it's time for Lois Brown to step aside, and the nomination campaign postponed, pending a complete investigation!

Dianne, What am I going to do wth you?

My fellow blogospherians, I just received this comment from Dianne (I've posted it in the comments section). It's so lame that I just had to share it with you!

Dianne said....
"anonymous makes a good point though Mr. Otto. We have no way of knowing who we are actually talking to so you could easily be from the Belindah camp, or you could be Mr. West. I on the other hand am upfront with who I am. Click on my name and email me Mr. Otto and expose yourself otherwise everything on this blog may as well be an urban legend."

The Cantankerous one says.....

• as Strother Martin said to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke ..."what we got here is a failure to communicate". I'll go real slow m'am ... I--Am--Robert Otto! Quite frankly it's not my problem if you don't know who I am. Seems as though you folks in the Lois Brown camp have been spending a lot of time trying to find out ...why is that Dianne? Has the Cantankerous one been hitting a little too close to home?
• what's more important ... that you know where Robert Otto is (that's what you folks really want to know isn't it) or the exchange of opinions?
• if I'm so off the mark, Lois Brown has had plenty of time to respond to me directly, instead of cowering behind your skirt. Where's Lois...where's Lois...where's Lois (sorry I got carried away with that chant)
• Is Lois Brown really all that shook up that she can't have a tete-a-tete avec moi?
• do you have a last name, or is Dianne a nom de plume? Just going back to the comment which you made about identifying yourself.
• oh my ... an urban legend already after only 7 short blogs. Where will I be after 14?
• if you had bothered to read any of my archived blogs, instead of getting yourself all worked up about me "exposing myself" you would have actually read some uncomplimentary comments about B.S. (Belinduh). To suggest that I may be actually in Belinduh's camp is a very astute observation on your part.
• could I be Mr. West? ... don't overestimate the powers of your perception.
• as far as Emailing you....guess what Dianne...I'm glad you asked. I actually tried to expose myself but you just weren't looking. I clicked your name on one of your Emails on 19Feb2007 20:16:41-000. Your message to me was "Thank-you Robert I do see your point and it would be a good idea to have a debate." "I'll see what I can do about organizing one." "Thank you for your help in this matter."
• I responded via Email by clicking on your name. My message to you was "That's fabulous Dianne. Looking forward to getting these two together for the benefit of the riding. By the way, I wonder if you would be kind enough to resubmit your last two comments so that I may publish them. My computer was acting up. I've remedied the problem...I fed the mice."

Here's what came back to me on 19Feb2007 20:16:41-000 from Mailer DAEMON.... "Hi, this is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses."

"This is a permamnent error." "" recipient address rejected: Access denied."

Que sera sera