From: Mike Ghaney [mikeghaney@yahoo.ca]
To: kate@katewerk.com
Subject: Newfie
Do a search of your site for the word “Newfie”.
You are a disgusting ignorant bigot. Unwelcome in a modern society.
Oh wait I forgot! Bloggers are above common decency.
That’s what I like best about the concept of blogs and freedom of speech, it let’s people see what type of scum is bubbling below the surface. Everyone seems nice until you ask them for an opinion.
Thanks for taking the mask off.
Mike
Dear Mike;
The search you refer to brings up two rather brief posts, neither of which contains a single word of commentary from me.
However, if you wish to file a formal complaint, please refer to this post for the proper procedures as outlined in the SDA Compaints Manual (3rd edition, approved June14, 2005)
Thankyou.
Kate, if we don’t hear from Mike again, can we presume he took your advice nailing the folded paper?
Once again the self-righteous lash out in a hateful manner at those who don’t agree with them.Methinks Mike is a scummy,disgusting,ignorant bigot or maybe just a member of rabble.
Dear Mikey,
Move to Alberta and get a job you tax-payer teat sucking drunken NEWFIE loser.
Or better yet, crack open another one (paid for by Alberta) and drink yourself into believing that the crypto-maoist Jerkoff Layton is going to save you by sending MORE Alberta money your way.
Even Dr. Phil would tell Newfieland to get off its lazy sponging ass for a change. You know, the Dr. Phil that you’ve been watching every afternoon after cartoons.= for the last ten years.
Doug in Alberta
we should probably cut Mikey some slack . . he’s obviously a victim, of what I have no idea, but he wears his victimization for all to see and we should have sympathy for him.
Which reminds me, you find sympathy in the dictionary between shit & syphilis.
So appropriate for Mikey & his victim ilk.
“Methinks Mike is a scummy,disgusting,ignorant bigot or maybe just a member of rabble.”
You repeat yourself.
Am I to take it that some newfie is trying to say that newfie is a derogatory term. None of the newfies I know think so. They use it all the time and as I understand it it is short for Newfoundlander.
Common folks, Mike deserves to be ignored. His views are his own and should remain so.
I cannot believe (for one) that anyone would be upset by the term “newfie” …since Newfoundlanders themselves use the term openly, in jest and often… regardless of whether Kate mentions it or not..or it comes from some one posting a comment on HER site… get that?
HER site.
How dare anyone take it upon themselves to spew such a hateful comment Kate’s way?
It might be that Mike is from Nfld. It might be that Mike has appointed himself as the language police on a blog he has absolutely nothing to do with creating and maintaining. If he wishes to spew invective, he can get his own blog and spew away I should think.
In the meantime, it all makes me think of that CBC special wherein the young and niaeve Alberta fellow travels to Newfoundland to invite folks to give up their welfare life and move to Alberta where there are jobs and a future. He, personally would be happy to play host as he and his girlfriend are already playing host to some of her family who have decided to make the move. (being masters of their own future rather than living off the government dole waiting for the fishery to revive,proved more than attractive to them)
There could be no more eye-opening documentary as to the mind set of many living in Newfoundland today: The goverment killed the fishing industry so they OWE us. ( one fellow put it this way: as long as there are 2 fish in the sea, then ‘da fisheries, you know, be comin’ back, by tunderin’ moses!’)… well it hasn’t happened yet and likely not to in our or our children’s lifetimes.
They may be right about the government screwing them over, and no doubt they are, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is no life in Newfoundland these days , certainly not the kind of life that can be had in Alberta. Jobs. Homes. A feeling of accomplishment from earning one’s own living. One young fella who was a recent migrant from Nfld put it this way:” It sure makes ya feel good to be earnin’ yer own livin’ rather than waitin’ for the welfare cheque to come’!”… out of the mouths of those who live it.
Newfoundland folk are decent folk, no mistake and they deserve a chance at a good life.
Trouble is, for good or ill, Newfoundland is not the place these days to find it.
Old ideas die hard… but some are making the move ( and odds are they will never return) and others find comfort in the familiar landscape and way of life that, whether they realize it or not, is fast fading and will never return.
And , as always, Kate’s Complaint Department has the ultimate solution!! 🙂
Call me clueless: I don’t understand what’s got Mike’s knickers in a knot. Two POSTS at SDA using the term Newfie? I thought Newfie was part of the Canadian vernacular: heck all the Newfies on This Hour Has 22 Minutes use it all the time.
It’s unsettling to see Kate bearing a barrage of vindictive, hateful accusations against her person, when all she has done is host a blog, where individuals are free to express their opinions, not all of which will be agreeable to others.
Hey, Mike, say what your grievance is, and go easy on the ad hominems. Your letter to Kate is over the top.
“Hi. I’m Mike. Mike from Canmore.”
We’ll never hear from Mike again, from Canmore.
Ars longa, …..
(H/T: The late John Morgan, Air Farce)
It’s been a tough day. Your Complaints Procedure made me laugh out loud: a great tonic, Kate. Thanks!
P.S. Mike, why don’t you try the procedure? It’ll ensure that your complaint days are over. A good deal, I’d say.
Mike. Loosen up. Sip some cool beverage. Take those extra knots out of your tie and shorts, and join the human race. The majority of newfies would then find you a pleasant chap, rather than the ‘who p!ss3d in your cornflakes’ toad that you appear to be. 🙂
Wandering around and searching for site to which he can wave his arms frantically and shout at the top of his lungs “you are a bigot”.
Laughable.
Bigotry should be stonewalled at every corner.
But running around looking under rocks for things to be offended at and feel righteous for? Isn’t that bigotry in and of itself?
A Newfie MoonBat? They come out a week after the full moon……..I LOVE THE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE!!!
Kate, this has made my day!
I did not have a good day today, but coming home and reading this is priceless.
Kate, this has made my day!
I did not have a good day today, but coming home and reading this is priceless.
Kate,
I love your complaints procedure. It sounds like the same one that’s used for 407ETR toll highway in Toronto. And, I bet it works.
Everyone,
Mr. Ghaney seems to have a problem. Not only with ad hominem attacks of people like Kate, but with the substance of his “complaint”. Reminds me of someone’s definition (Adriana Cronin) of “moonbats” as someone who has sarificed sanity for the sake of consistency.
Andy
Duck hunting in Newfoundland.
A big city lawyer went duck hunting in rural Newfoundland. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer’s field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.
The litigator responded, “I shot a duck and it fell in this field, and now I’m going to retrieve it.”
The old farmer replied, “This is my property, and you are not coming over here.”
The indignant lawyer said, “I am one of the best trial attorneys in Canada and, if you don’t let me get that duck, I’ll sue you and take everything you own.
The old farmer smiled and said, “Apparently, you don’t know how we settle disputes in Newfoundland. We settle small disagreements like this with the Newfoundland Three Kick Rule.”
The lawyer asked, “What is the Newfoundland Three Kick Rule!!!”
The Farmer replied, “Well, because the dispute occurs on my land, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times and so on back and forth until someone gives up.”
The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the attorney. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy steel toed work boot into the lawyer’s groin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick to The midriff sent the lawyer’s last meal gushing from his mouth. The barrister was on all fours when the farmer’s third kick to his rear end sent him face-first into a fresh cow pie.
The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet.
Wiping his face with the arm of his jacket, he said, “Okay, you old coot. Now it’s my turn.”
(I love this part) The old farmer smiled and said, “Naw, I give up. You can have the duck.
Let’s not be too hard on Mikey. While all the other little Newfie kids were out playing their rousing games of cod walloping and flounder slapping, he had to stay behind studying his Marx and Lenin homework and dreaming of the day when he too would grow up into a proud strong Newfie, finally entitled to collect the pogey he so richly deserved. Let’s all salute Mikey ! Two flippers up, I say.
Kate, when I do a
site:www.smalldeadanimals.com newfie
search via Google, I get 22 hits.
Explain yourself!!!!!!
I sense a massive coverup of Rovian proportions! The documentary makers at CBC Newsworld will be informed!
What a hoser!
I am a newfoundlander by birth, who left home at 17 and joined the forces. I cant remember a day in the army that I wasnt referred to as Newfie, or Newf. To Mike: dont take it all so seriously mate.
Having said that, while I consider Mikes comments over the top, some here arent much better.
Hey Kate, it is all my fault! I earlier tonight refered to Newfie Steak, otherwise known as bolagna or baloney. I didn’t realize I pissed in his cornflakes.
Having spent over a half century on this earth I can honestly say that after having worked and partied with many Newfoundlanders ( I’s be screeched in too). I find these people are hard working honest people who also know the best Newfie jokes. The military and Northern Alberta are full of people from the “Rock” and these are the ones sending part of their paycheque home to supplement those on pogey.
Me thinks young mikey needs to move out of his mom’s basement and see the world(after growing some thicker skin).
So did ya hear about the Newfoundlander playing hockey in the Gulf of St Lawrence? Got a breakaway and they didn’t catch up to him until Rimouski. Rimshot please!
I wasn’t going to touch this thread with a 10’pole(no,not the east Europian kind),but rws gave me the best belly laugh I’ve had in weeks.
Call me insensitive,but I’ve always considered “Newfie” a term of endearment for our brothers(no,not that kind)from the east coast.
So please let me know if “Newfie” is Canadas new “n” word,and if so,what the official replacement is.
I have worked on construction sites with Newfies too. Poor bastards, every time someone did something wrong it was usually a Newf who piped up “hey, that’s our department”. On job sites you want people to pull their weight, otherwise they don’t get asked back. I never once saw a Newfie asked to not show up tomorrow. Hard working, self depreciating nice people. I think the only problem is that there weren’t more of them around. My understanding is they do not want to leave the rock for long. I was never told Newfie or Newf was a bad word. Like Cdn Observer, I will stop if it is.
“Fascist” is too hard to spell. Or, as some would write it, “to hard to spell”. Also, “racist”. Too many c’s and s’s to keep track of.
So, the tough spelling kind of limits the pejoratives available to the trolling class.
So the guy doesn’t like being called a newfie, he was over the top, but my, what a groundswell of insults he has dredged up.
I live in Newfoundland, maybe a different place than some of the comments read above would indicate. I do well, as does everyone else I know.
I consider the term ‘newfie’ derogative, much like paki or nigger. My perogative. Some Newfs DO use the term, their perogative, but I believe they are being self-depricating.
Do you people REALLY think everyone here is on the dole?
I always figured readers here to be smarter than that (but as a ‘Dumb Newfie’, what would I know?)
Sheesh.
After too much screech and scrunchins, it appears Mike fell upon his head at the scuff
Hey,Well,he attacked first,if you or he can’t weather the insults maybe it would be best to remember,you don’t bring a cod to a shark fight.
“it let’s people see what kind of scum is bubbling below the surface”
Yes it’s depraved, but in a very poetic way…
wallyj, you lost me there. I didn’t come here for a fight, and I didn’t attack anybody. I just pointed out that many of us don’t take kindly to slurs, and to me, that term is one.
Lot’s of blacks seem to call themselves niggers these days. We’re I black (and proud), I wouldn’t. Same with newfie.
Dig?
(not we’re, d’oh! typo)
Wallyj,thanks for my second good guffaw of the evening!
Well,for someone so sensitive to slights you could do better than smearing ALL of us as ignorant.
On a quick search I came across an on-line poll that claimed of about 650 NEWFIES responding, 98%claimed they did not consider the term offensive.
MikeP,your reaction seems most reasonable and indeed a couple of comments were out of line,the rest is just some good-natured ribbing.
Kate,
Would there happen to be a special section in the SDA Compaints Manual (3rd edition, approved June14, 2005) for particularly obnoxious trolls?
For instance… after sending the $50.00, perhaps a troll such as BigCityLib could be asked to hyperventilate until he/she passes out each time the troll touches a keyboard. Maybe hypnotic suggestion like Kreskin or Ravine used at their shows to send the troll rushing madly to the nearest fire hydrant and do what comes naturally each time they get within typing distance.
Just a thought.
Daniel
Rule 1: When someone slips into infant reaction mode using personal attacks like;
**You are a disgusting whatever**
You know they are emotionally constipated and so must be promtly dismissed *till maturity begins to blossom, if ever.
Rule 2: Be consistant. Stick to rule one. TG
This is news to me. I had never considered Newfie to be derogatory; I thought it was just a contraction, like Jew. But then, you never know with these things. Where I went to university in the US they considered “Canuck” to be a derogatory term, which was news to me (being a Canuck). Yankee is considerd a derogatory term in much of the world, but said with pride in the (non-Southern) U.S.
I left the rock at 17 and have pulled my weight wherever I’ve lived from Alberta to Nova Scotia to Ontario. I’ve never drawn welfare or pogey in my life. And I’ve always been proud to be called “Newfie”. I don’t see how it’s insulting. I guess some folks will find something to get upset about if they really look. I think Mike had to go looking to find this one.
Sigh…
Once again, a leftist like “Mike” will use ANY nickname that has hitherto been in very common use by everyone and when he sees a conservative person use it, suddenly it’s an intolerant slur!
It’s just now happened with “Newfie”.
Looks like there’ll now be a movement to have the government bring in a bill to add Newfoundlanders to the list of folks we cannot nickname or whatever. Last it was that gay folks were included. Now it’s going to be Newfies!
What’s so special about Newfies? The rubber boots? The raincoats? They smell like cod?
Hey… I now want conservatives to be added to the list of folks that cannot be discriminated against. We should have special rights and protections, too! Henceforth, anyone slurring us as “rednecks” will be imprisoned!
Oh, fo’ fecksake! Political correctness run amok!
Fascists/Nazis are alive in Iran.
Fascism is latent in all places, all countries; on the internet, also. Fascism rears its deadly head under the right circumstances.
Who goes there?… Who goes there? What is your name. Where is your badge? …
Colour Coding
The Nazis used triangular badges or patches to identify prisoners in the concentration camps. Different coloured patches represented different groups. The colours and their meanings were: …
http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/holocausts
Iran eyes badges for Jews
Posted by Squawk 8888
On 05/19/2006 2:55:11 AM PDT · 42 replies · 530+ views
National Post ^ | May 19, 2006 | Chris Wattie
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country’s Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims. “This is reminiscent of the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis.” Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear…
freerepublic.com
Lord tunder’in jeezus Mikey!! Lighten up a bit bye!!!
Syncro
I am a Proud “Newfie” Mike get a life!
Love fergy’s Joke
Made my Day
Does this mean that Mikey sends a letter of comment to the CBC when ever the “Newfie” broadcasters show up on the Air Farce comedy show?
The other question I have is for Kate. Has any of the “Moonbats” who sometimes post here ever actually sent you the $50?
Additional comment to Kate. I love your rules. No ambiguity here.
I’d just like to point out that it isn’t all labour and tradesmen coming out of
The Rock, there’s some well-educated newfies doing quite well in Calgary, I’ve met a few graduates from Memorial University and I’m working right now with a newf who’s probably hauling in several hundred thousand a year at the top of his profession. “Newfie” is just convenient, “Newfoundlander” has too many syllables and is prone to mispronunciation, in the end it’s just a word and it all depends on how it’s used. I suspect the internet nutcase who started all this was just trying to justify his Kate-hate, for all we know he’s never even been to Newfoundland.
I can’t tell you how offended I am by a reference above, i.e. “What a hoser!” Posted by: andycanuck at May 18, 2006 10:58 PM
Until you start policing your comments section more attentively, Kate, I will not be returning to this site.
Mike is just pissed at Kate because he starting to realize the power of the bloggers paticularly the right leaning ones. He realized that individuals of Kate’s ilk help to oust the Librano regime. maybe mike doesn’t realize how much damage has been done to his region by the welfare policies of the serial Liberal administration. Prior to the elction of Pierre Trudeau the Maratimes had the fastest growing economies in Canada. The Maratime region is an incredibly beautifull part of te work with friendly resiliant people . Unfortunatly any place where you pay peole not work and reward inefficiancy in business you will end up destroying that economy. The Liberal like to boast that they redistribute wealth.In reality the Liberal patronage machine has been lining the pockets of it’s friends . What people have to understand is the Liberals and NDP are terrified of properity in the general populaion because with properity come independance. Independent people don’t need government handouts and wil not vote for someone who will rob them blind. The left has a very strong motivation to keep as many people dependant on their handouts as possible but this is where their support is. We need a government that rewards individuals and business for success instead of punishing them with and ever increasing tax and regulatory burden. I think under the current administration we will see a resurgence in prosperity in the Maratime region and people like Mike will lose all the wid from teir sails.
Go Kate Go!!!!
Love your complaint resolution method.
I met some Newfoundlanders who were more upset that I pronounced Newfoundland as NewFOUNDland rather than the more appropriate (to them) of NewFUNland. One friend said “we were found a long time ago, now were just fun!”
None of the people I met had any problem with the term “Newfie” in fact most of them used the term to refer to themselves.
I wonder if Mike has ever been there.
“cardcarryingconservative” said:
“Independent people don’t need government handouts and wil not vote for someone who will rob them blind. The left has a very strong motivation to keep as many people dependant on their handouts as possible but this is where their support is. We need a government that rewards individuals and business for success instead of punishing them with and ever increasing tax and regulatory burden. I think under the current administration we will see a resurgence in prosperity in the Maratime region and people like Mike will lose all the wid from teir sails.” …
Amen. …
More: …
Nothing for the money
Both Ontario and the Maritimes suffer from decades of federal equalization transfers
Brian Lee Crowley
Financial Post
Saturday, May 13, 2006
CREDIT: Joe Raedle, Getty Images
(Processing fish).
Almost 70 years ago, a Nova Scotian stood before a Toronto audience and gave a remarkable speech. He told that audience what his part of the country — the Maritimes — needed to overcome its underdevelopment.
The biggest obstacle to the region’s development was what he called “the tariff,” or the old National Policy of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, a policy we abolished with the free trade agreement with the United States. So what could Ottawa do to help?
First, lower the tariffs. Failing substantial reductions in tariffs, some compensation for the effects of those tariffs (such as reduced freight rates). Finally, and least satisfactory of all, he said, would be the granting of subsidies from the Dominion Treasury. “Subsidies do not increase the general level of the prosperity of the people. They may make the task of government a little easier. They may render the work of balancing the budget a little less difficult, but in the last analysis they do not add to the economic advancement of the people.”
No economist, the speaker still understood in his gut how things worked. His essential argument was that if you removed the barriers to people’s prosperity they would quickly make up any lag compared to wealthier and more developed places. Try instead to compensate for underdevelopment with money and it creates dependence.
Economic theory and real-world experience in places as diverse as Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, the Asian Tigers, China, India, Slovakia, and elsewhere agree: Lagging economies naturally catch up with advanced ones. Normally a lagging region should close the gap in economic performance with its relevant leading economy by 2% to 3% annually. Yet Atlantic Canada’s economy has converged with that of the rest of Canada at less than half that rate. The reason is massive federal intervention, financed, in large part, with tax dollars from Ontario and Alberta.
How massive has that intervention been? If you took the net transfers into Atlantic Canada (federal spending in the region minus federal taxes collected in the region) between 1971 and 2003 and had invested the money in the TSE/TSX 300 and reinvested all the dividends, that account today would be worth more than $2.2-trillion, enough to pay off the entire national debt of Canada four times over. And what have we got in exchange for this vast opportunity cost? A rate of convergence less than half what we would have expected to achieve if we had done nothing at all.
This failure is not due to Atlantic Canada and other underdeveloped parts of the country not being “normal.” In the postwar era to 1971, Atlantic Canada’s per capita economic growth often outpaced the nation. Only when Ottawa dramatically increased transfers in the early to mid-1970s did the region’s growth falter relative to the rest of Canada. To cite only one example, consider how unemployment in Atlantic Canada behaved before and after the broad liberalization of Unemployment Insurance in 1971. Atlantic Canada unemployment had just converged on the national rate in 1970. Then, bingo, we were clobbered by the insurance reforms (see graph).
Federal programs aimed at accelerating convergence and minimizing economic disparity have encouraged Atlantic Canada to become reliant on Ottawa’s generosity.
This phenomenon becomes particularly instructive when placed in the context of the complaints successive Ontario governments, including Dalton McGuinty’s, have made in the past 15 years or so that Ottawa is taking too much out of the Ontario economy. The trouble is Ontario has been asking the wrong question. The right question is not “Is Ottawa taking too much?”, even though I think the answer is unambiguously “yes”. The far more interesting question is “What is Ontario getting for the money?” Canadians would be far less supportive of massive spending if they know that not only do the transfers fail to achieve objectives of fairness and equity, they impose a burden of taxation on Ontario that is making it uncompetitive with economies across North America.
Ottawa’s good intentions have held back underdeveloped regions across the country, in this case making Ontario uncompetitive while undermining the Maritimes. Two examples demonstrate how bad policies affect behaviour for the worse, …
I know you are anxious to discover who the mystery speaker was from whom I quoted at the outset. It was …. more
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=0c9f1feb-09e6-4a3f-9fef-282b8fbf134e&p=4