"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 22 May 2013

From the mouths of babes

Habits are easy to  acquire.  Fortunately, just as easy to drop.  David Letterman may be politically seasonal In humor.

I decided last week when  Bea Arthur's  portrait was used , I could do without  Letterman for a while. 
The portait of the decesased  followed a bout of particularly tasteless  and humurless excess..

This week, I've been thinking about  a video seen  on Letterman regularly  during the presidential election.

Apparently a book had been written about Mitt Romney the Republican nominee  for president. A story was told how he took the family for a drive and the dog, an Irish setter, travelled in an open crate on the car roof. 

Th video showed Romney driving and the dog dropping over and tapping on the window.

Of course it could not have been authentic. Of course it was being done for a purpose other than entertainment

But at no time did I  hear  anyone suggest Mitt Romney should have to address the question of whether or not he actually took a trip in a car with the dog on a crate on the  car roof.

The election was in full spate.His image was on display . But at no time did I hear anyone demand he account  for what the vdeo depicted.

On Sunday , on Global television, Focus Onatrio  had the publisher of  Toronto Star  as guest. 

He was  jovial. Stated  reporters covering the story of the video made by  drug dealers and offered for sale  for $200,000. , are  convinced it  is genuiine.

I've seen ,on T.V.  two stills presumably taken from the video. One is a picture of a cheerful Mayor in his green football sweater, between two characters with beards and bandannas.The other I've only seen twice. It shows a figure in a business  suit, collar and tie with a pipe clutched close to its chest.

The head looks like it had been attached to the figure after the fact. I only saw it twice. And I'm  a sceptic. 

But how ard could it be? Anyone who kows anything about computers , knows hw easy it is to 
create  an image. 

Why has ithe media not  asked the  obvious question.about authenticity?

Why is  the sale of a video produced by two drug dealers, the responsibility of the city's Mayor to validate? 

He sad it  was not true. It was ridiculous. It was The Star continuing their attacks. 

Then they said"The Mayor must say something"He already  did. 

How often should he say it before being accused of protestng  too much. 

The latest headline has "Wynne and Trudeau "   mixing in. to the question. . 

Now that's rich. The squeaky clean Harper Conservatives have a video of Trudeau in  an ad doing a strip tease . The Conservatives are questioning  his judgement and fitness 

A class of Grade 5 students somewhere in Canada have cried foul. 

How is it children can see unfairness  where  adults don't?


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought Trudeau's strip-tease to raise money for a charity was just fine. But then, the idea of Harper removing his shirt does not illicit a grin.

Anonymous said...

The weird thing is that if Make Duffy has controlled his urge to brag about Nigel's ' gift ',the entire story might have stayed below the radar. He really has done this to himself.

KA-NON said...

A few things, Evelyn.

While I could be wrong, I think that the picture of the Mayor between the two purported drug dealers is NOT from the video, but rather it is a completely independent photo. I don't know of the other picture to which you refer.

Regarding doctoring images, it is one thing to "photoshop" a still image. This is relatively simple, and it involves technology that is readily available to an average computer user.

It is quite another to create a high-resolution video, with perfectly matching audio, that shows the Mayor, a readily recognizable figure, smoking from a glass bowl pipe, in a manner that could persuade two universally acknowledged professional journalists (many other journalists not associated with the Star have vouched for their integrity) to be convinced that the subject is, in fact, Rob Ford. If fake, it would take James Cameron-type skills, he of the Titanic fame, and lots of expensive technology. To be convincing, it would have to be better than the baby-snatching bird created by the Montreal university students a while back. It is highly unlikely that whatever Donovan and Doolittle is a fake. SO, the way I see it, it's either real, or they are liars. I don't see the middle option.

Further, Rob Ford did NOT say that it was not true. He only said that it was "ridiculous". And he is right about that. It IS ridiculous. If it were, in fact, not true, he would be screaming that from every rooftop, just as you or I would do, if we were in his shoes. He has not denied it. His brother has not denied it. They are in radio-silence on it. The silence speaks volume, in my opinion.

I think his time as mayor might be up.

Anonymous said...

" Stuff the Duff -
PEI man looks to profit from Mike Duffy's troubles "

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with many of your stances, but I truly can't fathom your take on this or any previous issue regarding Ford. It would seem that some of your supporters are having the same difficulty.

I think KA-NON, someone else whose views I don't normally share, nailed it.

Anonymous said...

KA-NON
I think you are correct although it is hard to take. But, if so, he has done a Duffy himself. Can't see where blame could go except back at him. Stupid to have provided the ammunition to the Star.

Anonymous said...

@12:18 PM
Do you really believe that Evelyn's ' support ' rests on her opinion on any single topic ? Seems to be me that it is a heck of a lot more broad-based, not dependent upon the winds that swirl.

Anonymous said...

No, I don't, 3:00 PM, which is why I never said that it did. I'm not sure about any "broad-based" support, though.

Anonymous said...

Canadians are preparing themselves for Ostriches running for politics within a couple of years. As soon as we will accept Harper and Ford saying absolutely nothing in response to accusations against them in hopes they will go away, we aren't far from having our politicians burying their heads in the sand and believing we don't exist at all.

Anonymous said...

4:27 PM
And you present as evidence of your theory what?

Anonymous said...

So predictable, 4:27 PM. Someone receives a compliment and you have a Meow Moment. This is not about you.

Anonymous said...

I didn't offer a theory, 6:48. I also didn't assert - without any foundation - that Cllr Buck's support "is a heck of a lot more broad-based."