Author: Mulder

Tougher Than Quitting Smoking, But I Am Putting Tim Horton's On Notice

Mulder

Well, I never thought I would say this, but I am going to join a couple of other bloggers, Wonder Woman and Brent Colbert in a boycott of Tim Horton’s.

Why you ask? Well you see, the 3000 plus troops being stationed in Kandahar are hoping for some creature comforts. The Kandahar air force base has other American fast food places, and our boys in tan… errrrrr…… bright green jungle attire, would like a bit of home as well. Tim Horton’s the mega-chain in Canada has said that a Tim Horton’s in Afghanistan does not fit into their business plan. They say that they give a care package to every deployed soldier at Christmas time.

But as Brent points out, Tim Horton’s has thrived on tying itself to Canadianism. They co-sponsored the special Poppy coins from our Dingwall run Mint. They brag that no matter where you go in Canada, Timmy’s is home.

Now for some statistics.

-There are over 2350 Tim Horton’s coffee shops in Canada.
-There are ~30,000,000 Canadians
-That comes to ~12,766 Canadians per store.

There are 3,000 Canadians stationed in Kandahar. This is nominal when you consider the other troops based there. The business model should stand up fine and Timmy’s should be able to outfit a mobile truck to move with the armed forces, and ship in the goods.

At first I thought an airport kiosk would be best (as I commented at NAP’s Site) but the more I think about it, the more I know this business model would work.

So until Tim Horton’s agrees to give our boys a taste of home, I am going to visit other coffee shops like Coffee Time, Second Cup, etc. (No Starbucks, they charge too much and I don’t need an Italian lesson to order coffee).

I highly urge everyone who reads this to e-mail Tim Horton’s and let them know you want them to support our troops.

Addendum – January 30th, 2006 – 10:53 am EDT

FYI, for those of you in Ontario you can Click Here For CountryStyle Store Locater and find one nearest you.

Something I also forgot to point out is that of that 30,000,000 Canadians, many are children. When you think that the 3,000 troops plus other nations soldiers are all adults, you can see the business case look better and better.

Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay Jurors To Be Selected Today

Mulder

Well the big boys are finally starting to get into the swing of a trial. Former CEOs of Enron Jeff Skilling and Kenneth Lay will have the jury selection process begin today for their upcoming fraud trials. Lay is being charged with 7 counts of fraud, and Skilling is being charged with over 30 counts. This is primarily related to the inflation of numbers by the Enron to the investment community.

If you want a good read, Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy Of Fools, is an in depth look at what happened to Enron. It starts a few years before the debaucle, and via interviews with numerous employees and outside workers who dealt with Enron, Eichenwald creates an easy to read, enjoyable book. Considering the content is a business going bankrupt, it is written like a novel.
(Note: if you pick it up via the link above, you will, in a very minute way, help keep this site operational.)

For those who are new to this story, Enron was a large US based conglomerate that started building a mountain out of a deck of cards. They borrowed money on a financial base that was built on assuming profits from 20 years down the road. The year they made this reporting change their profits spiked. With a precedent set on the growth, they had to keep building the cards to meet or beat the earnings expectations.

I paid a little bit of attention through the whole commission which investigated this, and many know that the CFO Andy Fastow, a fast living, smooth talking, salesman with little or no financial experience, is sitting in a jail cell. That raises the stakes for Lay and Skilling. This trial will, definitely, be one I watch the details on.

A Lazy Sunday Searching A Lazy Site

Mulder

Today was a lazy Sunday for me. Some light reading online….my daughter had two separate 2 hour stretches of gymnastics and my son had Taekwondo and we did our usual Sunday dinner out. This has gotten to be a family ritual. We alternate weeks picking restaurants. This week my wife chose. The remaining three family members (in this case, Cookie, T-Bone and myself) each scribble down on a piece of paper their guess as to what restaurant will be chosen. Then when we get in the car, we play hangman with the restaurant picker playing host. Once we figure out what the restaurant is, we open up our scraps to see if anyone got it right. I think today was the second time ever someone got it right. T-Bone guessed Jack Astor’s and that’s where my wife chose.

Anyway, aside from that I have been online sporadically looking at the City of Ottawa website, trying to see what kind of information I could gleen regarding this foot bridge they are building over the Rideau. I found a few scraps, but I must say this. The City Of Ottawa website is up to date, but impossible to really find anything specific. Am I missing something?

If anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them.

p.s. Ottawa Blogger gathering will be happening. I will have details online in the next day or two.

Bloc-Harper Add On – Hat Tip And More Info

Mulder

When I had written about the Bloc-Harper advertisement on google adsense, and warned pro Tories out there to make sure they were on the blocked list, I had forgotten where I had read about the Bloc-Harper site so the details were shady.

From my comments:

Comments: Bloc-Harper was started by Sinclair Stevens last spring. I posted on this here

Click Here (URL removed due to size)

Stevens also registered the domain name for the website through a registered charity, the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto which was not a very good idea on his part, because the RCS has the Governor-General as it’s patron. See here

Click Here (URL removed due to size)

The domain has since been re-registered.

Thanks Bill. It was, in fact, your page which I had read all the juicy details above about Sinclair Stevens and the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson. Great posts.

Any Ottawa Valley Bloggers Want To Hook Up For A Meet And Greet?

Mulder

Well, I noticed pictures up at N.A. Patriot’s site for a blogger gathering at the Fiddler’s Green in Toronto.

If anyone in the Ottawa area is up for a big blogger gathering in our neck of the woods, please post here in the comments.

I live out in (rural *snicker*) Kanata so am partial to having it out here, but I am open to suggestions.

I would think somewhere close to a bus route, cab access, hotel rooms for out of towners and plenty of parking would be a good idea.

Come on OttawaCore, Raging Ranter, Brent Colbert, ShamtheToryMan, Hawkwatch2, and anyone else in (or outside) the Ottawa Valley.

You up for it?

The Mouse That Roared

Mulder

Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!
Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!
Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!

Well Toto, it looks like the rest of Canada is roaring back at the Lion’s pushing a rural/urban split in this country.

I blogged about how urban sprawl was discounted here on Tuesday the 24th.

Kerry Diotte wrote a piece in the MSM about the other big cities in Canada here

Then I researched the city numbers and gridded for everyone nicely here.

The latest to roar back at the big three is Kate at SDA with her post and a link to a great story by Lorne Gunter which is here

’nuff said. There is no urban/rural divide.

It's Miller Time Folks!

Mulder

It’s always good to know scandal isn’t reserved for the federal politicians. In this story Toronto Mayor David Miller has requested the services of the ethics commissioner with regard to the disbursement of $400,000 in contracts to the employer of his campaign chairman. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong was the one who noted the name in the contract bid.

Mr. Minnan-Wong said yesterday that city staff had shown him Northstar’s confidential bid information. He said Mr. Laschinger’s name appears three times within the first 15 pages.

Stephen Tile, Northstar’s president, said Mr. Laschinger’s name appears only in lists of staff that worked on previous government contracts for the firm, which Northstar was obligated to provide.

He said Mr. Laschinger’s name and links to the mayor “did not come up” in any conversations with the city staff evaluating the contract or in the oral presentation his firm made to win the work.

This looks to me like a classic case of name dropping. Let’s see what the Ethics Commissioner comes up with.

Via The Reclusive Antiquarian

Tory Campaign Manager Thanks Blogging Tories

Mulder

I just got an email I think every Blogging Tory may want to read. It describes a huge pat on the back from Conservative Campaign Manager Doug Finley.

At last nights reception, after Harper’s speech Doug Finley got up and thanked hordes of workers who gave their time and effort to the just cause. Right near the end he also thanked thanked the blogging tories and got a great applause. Guess some of us made a difference in our own way.

I’d like to think we had a part to play in the outcome too.

Addendum – January 27th – 09:08pm EDT

A bit more from a follow up email.

The band was playing until Harper came in and gave his speech thanking all the people who made the election victory possible ….After he left Finley(who by the way is married to Finley the M.P.) went up on stage and in his scottish accent he said we must also thank the B.T.’s This was near the end of Finley’s speech up on stage after he thanked many people on staff., the reception was rsvp at the Congress centre, live band, cash bar, canapes and finger foods, lots of big names and M.P.s. from what I observed, lots of YOUNG talent in that room no way we can lose with this team.

Block The Bloc-Harper Site! ** must read for Tories **

Mulder

There is a site out there called Bloc-Harper. I just noticed them on someone elses Google ads. This is an anti-Harper site that has been blogged about frequently. Since Google slips in words based on your site, I wouldn’t be surprised if any Tory blog out there doesn’t have this slipped in to the mix.

Let’s turn off their tap. Remember, they get paid for everytime that ad gets clicked, and on a site that politically inclined people read, a link saying Bloc-Harper at the top of your page could be making them money. Don’t let your Tory site advertise and make money for non Tory ideals.

If any Tories out there use Google AdSense might want to go add the url to their blocked advertisement list.

Please post about this in your blogs to spread the word to any Tories with google ads.

Big City Britches Too Big

Mulder

How many Torontonians does it take to change a light bulb?

One, he or she just holds it up and lets the world revolve around them.

OK, OK, it’s an oldie, but I need to make a point here.

Everyone is still talking about the urban/rural split in the election. I criticized those promoting this hogwash once when I wrote about urban sprawl. This time I have a little help from Kerry Diotte.

Complainers should venture onto the Elections Canada website to check the voting results.

That site declares there were eight Conservatives elected in Calgary and eight in Edmonton. Last I checked, citizens in those cities aren’t allowed to keep pigs and chickens in their backyards – and both burgs have a metro population of roughly one million people.

According to Elections Canada there were also three Conservatives elected in Winnipeg, five elected in metro Ottawa, four in Quebec City, three in Regina and three in Halifax.

Don’t those qualify as urban seats?

It is so typical that people in Toronto would make a criticism about this phony urban-rural split simply because they didn’t elect Tories.

You see, this is exactly how I feel. I lived in Toronto the first 26 years of my life. It’s home, and I visit regularly. But until I moved to Ottawa over 10 years ago, I thought Toronto was the cat’s meow. But it didn’t take long after I left the Big Smoke to realize that it wasn’t “all that”.

But taking Kerry’s advice, I did venture over to the Elections Canada website. One I am all to familiar with. And from their data, I created the following spreadsheet.


click to enlarge

Every city listed is an urban center. Just looking at the three biggest cities is not giving a true indication. If you include them all, the Liberal/NDP combination is 2.46 Million Votes. The Conservative total is 1.58 million. When you think about how lopsided the three biggest cities are, the rest stack up nicely and even put the Liberal/Conservative vote ratio at almost 50/50.

If you add up all the smaller urban centers of 100,000 or more people, and toss in the urban sprawl of places like Oakville, Coquitlam, and Whitby/Oshawa, you can quickly see that the urban total would shift pretty quick.

I would also like to point out that the % who voted in each urban area was a dismal 64%. Ottawa, however, blew the national average away with a voter turnout of 74%. Well done Ottawa!