Reader Tips

Reader Tips 67 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Saturday night contemporary music show, here are Blood, Sweat & Tears performing the original album version of their Spinning Wheel (1969, 4:07).

David Clayton-Thomas was quoted as describing Spinning Wheel as being “written in an age when psychedelic imagery was all over lyrics [… it] was my way of saying, ‘Don’t get too caught up, because everything comes full circle'”.

Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.

67 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  3. Robert Fife is reporting on CTV that Danny Williams has launched a “campaign of intimidation” against Newfoundlanders who want to support Stephen Harper. Like threatening to destroy businesses of family members that support Harper.
    This is serious stuff. This is Newfoundland, not Zimbabwe. If Elections Canada is serious about running “free and fair” elections, this Robert Mugabe act from Danny Williams needs to be investigated NOW.
    Section 482 of the Elections Act:
    Every person is guilty of an offence who
    * (a) by intimidation or duress, compels a person to vote or refrain from voting or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate at an election; or
    * (b) by any pretence or contrivance, including by representing that the ballot or the manner of voting at an election is not secret, induces a person to vote or refrain from voting or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate at an election.

  5. John G, the sort of hijinks that are — finally — getting attention — who’d have thought it would be Fife, guess he’s reading his own personal tea leaves — are why I don’t take Newfoundland telephone polls seriously. It’s a very curious province. You really don’t wanna announce to some unknown person on the phone that you oppose “Danny.”
    I’ve spent time in Newfoundlandand it’s — politically only — small-town hell. Once the bully starts to fall, though, he’s really going down. And Danny Williams is a bully of tragic proportions. You can sense his downfall in the manner of his every utterance.
    Speaking of going down, it’s all over for Sarah Palin. She’s toast. I’m really sorry to have to say that, but I’m afraid that Randi Rhodes has unleashed such a cogent, devastating critique of Sarah Palin that there’s little chance Mrs. Palin can recover from it:
    http://pelalusa.blogspot.com/2008/09/pds-alert-randi-rhodes.html

  6. So much for “idiots” running Conservative communications:
    “Joan Bryden
    THE CANADIAN PRESS
    OTTAWA – Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were the hands-down winners of the air war during the opening week of the federal election campaign, a new poll suggests.
    The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey indicates Conservative advertisements had almost double the impact of those aired by the Liberals.
    Conservative ads ran early and ran relentlessly, said Harris-Decima CEO Bruce Anderson.
    “In terms of sheer tonnage, it was shock-and-awe,” the pollster said.
    Twenty-two per cent of respondents said they’d seen or heard a “great deal” of the Tory ads while another 28 per cent said “a fair bit.”
    By contrast, only eight per cent had seen or heard a lot of the Liberal ads, with another 21 per cent saying a fair bit.
    Recall levels for other parties were even lower, with roughly half saying they’d seen or heard no advertisements at all from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois or Green party.
    The impact of the ads appeared to be directly reflected in support levels for the parties. At week’s end, the Tories enjoyed a commanding lead with 41 per cent support, compared to 24 per cent for the Liberals, 16 per cent for the NDP, 10 per cent for the Greens and eight per cent for the Bloc.”
    http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/498894

  10. I really HATE “Spinning Wheel”, it’s the most self-indulgent piece of trash I’ve ever heard. None of the ’70s progressive rock bands, which were allegedly self-indulgent, came close — not even Yes or ELP at their most egregious. “Lucretia McEvil” is just as bad. Even “And When I Die”, which for some reason I don’t mind.
    On the other hand, “Brainwashed”, by DCT from 1966, is a GREAT song!

  11. Legacy M., 11:59, I think the most effective ads for the Liberals would show Dion him lying on the floor saying “Leave me alone! No one understands me!”
    IMO the Conservatives’ strategy seems to be to allow for a certain amount of outrage over the aggressiveness, en route to those offensive utterances somehow “sticking.” It’s not the sort of tactic that would work at all if there wasn’t a lot of deep-rooted context and a backlog of unsaid…data of a sort that the buffet-remora pundits are only going to acknowledge when the OPG buffet-pans start to disappear. It’s just human nature.
    Mr. Dion, as a human being, truly doesn’t deserve to wear the brunt of what his party has wrought. His party does, though, and he just happens to be the front-man. I really believe that any Canadian who met Stephane Dion at, say, a kid’s soccer game would absolutely adore the guy. He’s honestly a nice fellow, really sincere — so un-Liberal — but he’s just the wrong guy to hold the fort at a time his troops deserve a time-out from holding that fort.
    If not for the current context, the Conservatives’ “shock and awe” wouldn’t work — consider the Liberals’ ill-advised “troops in our cities” shtick — but when you’re broaching issues that have a certain amount of subducted cultural resentment behind them, those calculated transgressions have an effect of kind of smashing cultural dams and freeing up a kind of slow momentum that starts to pick up steam.
    It can only last for fifteen or twenty years, though.
    Oh, right, Reader Tips: If you’re a Liberal, look both ways before crossing the street.

  12. I love Spinning Wheel, and thanks for helping me rediscover so many of their great songs. Nobody else had that sound. Comparing them to Yes or ELP is way off base. They had more in common with horn bands like Chicago.
    Great band, great players, great singer, great arrangements!
    I’m not positive, but the arrangements for BST sound like they were done by Doug Riley, who, sadly, passed away this year.

  13. EBD- Randi Rhodes couldn’t convince a conservative the sky is blue. Her critique was very well presented, but the source will always be suspect.
    She and Air America had no luck convincing everyone that Bush is retarded. Even the ones who knew Bush is retarded hated her so bad they voted for him out of spite.

  16. May I add to your comment Enkidu? Bush was an Air National Guard fighter pilot. Anyone can’t get into fighter school. It puts him in the “one of ten thousand” class just to be selected for Basic training. (And he graduated) Anyone who calls Bush retarded should look in the mirror. Clinton did what? Al Gore did what? Obamma did what?

  17. ebd
    ‘cogent, devastating’…?
    It was a 45 second attack video- Randi Rodes??( I used your link – unless there was somthing else I’m missing…) just another lefty smear… Do you believe her?
    So ‘she’s toast’? How did you reach this conclussion?

  20. The latest Sarah Palin smear from the Left: teen molester
    She’s the woman who shows up at the kid’s birthday party and starts opining about everything from politics to lawn care. This is the woman that knows it all. Will shout you down, will get revenge on you. That’s who she is.
    She’s friends with all the teenage boys. You have to say no when your kids say, ‘can we sleep over at the Palin’s? No! NO!’
    More at:
    http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/13/the-latest-sarah-palin-smear-from-the-left-teen-molester/

  21. Download available.
    …-
    “newsflash
    Mashline Girl – “I’ve got a crush on Harper” hits Canadian airwaves with a BANG!
    Ottawa, Canada – Friday September 2008 – Mashline.com today announced their newly formed partnership with political social media giant BarelyPolitical.com. The partnership gives Mashline.com the right to produce a Canadian version of the mega hit Obama Girl- “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama”, which has been viewed over 100 million times world wide. The soundtrack entitled, Mashline Girl- “I’ve Got a Crush on Harper”, featuring Canadian artists, is set to hit the airwaves today and will be available for download on Mashline.com.”
    http://www.mashline.com/mashlinegirl/mashlinegirl_news.html

  22. Polls show that the female vote for the Conservatives is way up. The ‘Harper at home’ spots are the main thrust in the campaign so far, with obvious results.

  23. From the AP….and I certainly hope this is wrong.
    Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans — 140,000 by some estimates who ignored orders to flee ahead of Hurricane Ike — from another night among the destruction. Some had been rescued, but unknown thousands remained stranded.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ike

  24. The 140K figure from the post above seems to be more than a bit inflated as Galveston’s poulation is about 57K.
    Even if surrounding areas are included, there is something amiss with the report.

  25. Since when did “deserters” become “war resisters”? Why has the favoured term of leftist agitators suddenly become the preferred usage in the mainstream media?
    http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=5966ce7d-6371-4d19-84ab-801b1861f8cf
    http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAkfGIrWDTP2yhe_11neje_5ARLA
    http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080913/anti_war_080913/20080913?hub=Canada
    http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2008/12/c4087.html
    Only the Sun got it right.
    http://calsun.canoe.ca/canadavotes/news/2008/09/14/6760771-sun.html

  26. ebd – I have to differ on your assessment of Dion. I’ve never met him, so can only come to my opinions via ‘logical connections’.
    You say he’s ‘just a nice guy’ and ‘so sincere’. Well, aren’t we all. BUT:
    1) he did run for the leadership; that moves his intentions out of the safety of the seminar room where all you do is pontificate on what the Great Books have said.. to having to make strategic decisions in fields about which you know nothing;
    2) his first comments on Harper on becoming leader were ad-hominem (Harper is a control freak!). That’s not a Mr. Nice Guy strategy; that’s personal name-calling. He’s continued with the name-calling. Hardly a sign of a mature and adult intellect.
    3)His Green Shaft. Only someone ..well, dumb..could accept it. I’ve read it. All empty 48 pages of it, with the first 28 pictures and fluff. It has nothing in it about the envt. It just outlines what you, if your family of two-income earners with two children has a combined GROSS income of 20,000 per year (heh – who’s he talking to?)..will get in ‘cheques’ from the govt.
    Where will that money come from? Taxing ’emissions’.
    What about those companies leaving? Oh dear.
    What about those companies simply increasing their costs and passing it all off on to the consumer. Oh dear.
    What if those companies stop ’emitting’? There’s no more money for Dion to hand out. Oh dear.
    Is there any money in there to develop new technology? Nope.
    Any money for low cost loans to install this as yet not-designed new technology? Nope.
    Now, if Dion had a brain, he wouldn’t accept such drivel. That’s what puzzles me. How could he accept this document?
    It can’t be just that he’s a ‘nice guy’ and couldn’t tell the twit who actually wrote it to go jump in the lake. Or?

  27. (Via SWJ) Grim, Roundtable Roundup: Iraq Overview
    We have had a number of excellent roundtables with officers in Iraq. I’m going to combine these interviews into a single high-level overview of progress in Iraq.
    BLUF: progress in Iraq is outstanding in the regions south of Baghdad, but is running much slower in the regions to the north. In the west, Anbar — though behind the southern regions by some measures — has enjoyed an extraordinary turnaround from being the center of the Sunni insurgency to a region under Iraqi control. Overall, even in the slow regions, post-Surge Iraq is on the right glidepath…

  28. You used to say live and let live:
    (UK NEWS)
    “SIR PAUL: TERROR TARGET”
    SIR Paul McCartney has been threatened that he will be the target of suicide bombers unless he abandons plans to play his first concert in Israel.
    Self-styled preacher of hate Omar Bakri claimed the former Beatle’s decision to take part in the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary celebrations had made him an enemy of all Muslims.
    Sources said Sir Paul was shocked but refused to be intimidated.
    In an interview with Israeli media yesterday he said: “I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think and I have many friends who support Israel.”

  29. Heads-up
    BT Blogger Mike Brock will be a guest panelist on Monday’s CTS-TV Michael Coren Show at 8pm Eastern, repeating next day at noon.

  31. Yes, the obama camp is losing all its self-defined aura of purity and moral superiority, as it descends to trashing Palin by name-calling, smears, personal attacks.
    I was just called by a Harris-Decima poll, intent on trashing the Conservatives by linking food safety problems with them. The questions about food and safety were heavily ‘loaded’ and biased; that is, the questions inserted an opinion and gave you no option to reject that opinion.
    The opinion? That the Conservative govt was remiss and not protecting the food of Canadians. How? By not hiring public inspectors, and by cutting that inspection budget. The premise, inserted into the question, was that larger government involvement, by hiring 1,000 new food inspectors was required to ensure food safety.
    Is such an assumption valid? What they are assuming is that the food inspectors, if paid by the govt, can be functionally superior to a food inspector of the private company. How can you come to such a conclusion?
    After all, the company’s food inspector has a direct obligation to quality control, to ensure the success of the company. If he allows bad food to be sold – the company founders.
    A public employee has no such direct obligations. As we found out in Walkerton, the public employees, paid for by the town and the inspectors paid for by the govt – all failed to stop polluted water.
    Yet this Harris-Decima poll wasn’t surveying whether private or govt quality control was better. It has already made that conclusion and was inserting that conclusion into the ‘question’ and merely, trying to get me to agree.
    Then..Harris-Decima will announce its ‘findings’ but it won’t tell us that the survey was filled with leading and biased questions. Heh.

  32. Not unlike the Walkerton water story. It was all the fault of Mike Harris for cutting inspectors. You rarely hear the media mention the two incompetent, drunken brothers.

  33. Points about privatized inspection well made.
    I do think that there is a widespread faith in gov’t inspections which will be hard to change in spite of all logical arguments to the contrary.
    Some careful work needs to be undertaken by the party

  35. ghost of ed – yes, both the provincial inspectors and the govt-hired (by the town of Walkerton) two brothers failed to stop the pollution of the water; indeed, they even assisted by their changing of data. All of these people were public not private employees.
    My point is that the inspectors of a private company, who are directly involved in the well-being and success of that company, are far more likely to ensure quality control..than the more distant govt or public inspector.
    This public inspector has no direct involvement in the quality of the company, indeed, he may rush through his inspections to get as many done in a day as he can. Not because the dept is short-staffed but for his own personal reasons.
    Rather similar to our postman who rushes through his deliveries so he can go home early, handing out ‘pick up at postoffice cards’ for registered mail even though you ARE at home..because it’s faster to slip the ‘not home’ card through the door than stop.
    Public inspections aren’t involved in quality control; private company inspections are – or- the company can’t sell its products.

  36. Flopping Aces ends by saying:
    “If it weren’t so sad to see the 4th branch descend into an abyss from which they can never return, it’d be downright funny.”
    In Canada, “the 4th branch” is known as the mainstream media, aka MSM.
    The US also has “Hollywood”; thus, the left-liberals in the US deploy a double-barrelled propaganda machine.
    …-
    “The media/Hollywood tar & feathering… er… vetting of Sarah Palin
    It’s been amazing to see a media shunned… since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the McCain veep, the unofficial 4th branch of power has been in overdrive for their own personal “vetting”. And evidently, they are so insulted that they were not included in the campaign vetting, they’ve swarmed Wasilla like locusts, concentrating on just about anything *but* Palin’s political record.
    So here’s a roundup of the desperation, twists and turns, and tales of just what the media there is up to. And this doesn’t even include the antics of Obama’s team of lawyers, researchers and investigators.”
    http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/09/13/the-mediahollywood-tar-feathering-er-vetting-of-sarah-palin/

  37. Polls again.
    But, this is significant: “only Dion … “:
    >>>>> “Of the five leaders, only Dion registered a negative impression with respondents, 55 per cent of whom had an unfavourable opinion of the Liberal leader compared with just 34 per cent who reported the opposite.”
    …-
    “Conservatives solidify lead over Liberals: Poll
    By THE CANADIAN PRESS
    2008-09-14” http://tinyurl.com/5czv7o

  38. “On the other hand, “Brainwashed”, by DCT from 1966, is a GREAT song!”
    Thanks for that. Last week I was putting a workout mix tape together and added that song. I can remember we’d all listen to hear the word “dam*” bleeped out on the radio. Big teenage moment.
    Never really liked the other stuff, but it was well done, and Doug Riley was an important musical force in Canada.

  39. Too bad this thread on David C. Thomas seems to be interwoven with the “Danny hates Stevie” thread. There is a lot to say about DCT and the early 60″s.
    I knew David and his band members in the old “David Clayton Thomas and his Fabulous Shays'”days. They were a hard working and very good band. They played the cottage area dance halls on the weekends and when they weren’t at their day jobs hung out at the Golden Star restaurant at Yonge and Doncaster which is still there. I remember their driver Danny raced a ’57 Chevy when he could. Spinning Wheel and other great BS&T hits were born in this time frame.
    David was a fun loving guy who could be handy with his fists when it was late at night and people started throwing things. He and his band were well liked over all and should have gone on to much bigger things together. Even though that did not happen, no one was surprised and all were delighted when DCT showed up with BS&T. A man with a voice like 40 miles of gravel road and a love for the musical style of John Lee Hooker was a perfect match for BS&T. It looked good on them all.
    I don’t quite remember the date but DCT talked his way into a one time, Broadcast Network TV special which I was lucky enough to catch. Shot in LA, it was during a slow period for DCT and although it was tremendous nothing much came of it.
    Last I heard, DCT has a new band and was playing down in the Distillery District in Toronto. Hard Blues is still in the mix. I wish him well.
    TC

  40. Working on signs for the CPC party here in Don Valley West and am just amazed at the number of Liberal signs. I have spoken to our canvassers, neighbours and even some of the people having Liberal signs and they are almost all government employees. We were discusssing this at a local dance last Friday in the Beaches area of Toronto and it is the same results. It is staggering how many people work..are employed by various governments.
    No matter the corruption, theft, or total lack of doing anything for Toronto even with John Godfrey the minister of cities as DVW MP these brain dead people still vote for the Liberals. Any wonder Harper ignores Toronto, it will never change only get worse as more immigrants come here. When I mention to some of these Liberal voters that Godfrey ripped us off for $13,000 when he was working for his current employer while collecting his MP salary…blank stares.

  41. Enduku- My IQ is 195. I took the test online and found a bunch of errors in it, so I developed my own test.
    I actually meant to say those who BELIEVED Bush is retarded, not those who KNEW. I don’t think he’s retarded.
    I suppose I’m in trouble for using the word “retarded”.

  43. dave – exactly right. The Liberal Party is the party of bureaucrats, of people employed by the govt – civil service, teachers, health care. They are up to 40% and more of the urban population.
    The Liberal/Democrat party is a class-based party. Two classes: the professionals, who govern. And the workers, who are governed. You can see this in their reaction to Sarah Palin, who is viewed as a ‘worker’ and who has dared to presume that she has a right to govern.
    You can see this in their ‘beer and popcorn’ view of workers.
    These people, the professional class, will readily accept higher taxes to keep the ‘peasants’ quiet. After all, they’ll get higher wages, benefits and pensions in their next contract anyway.
    So, the DVW Liberal candidate, Oliphant, speaking about ‘community service’, ‘affordable housing’ and ‘immigrant care’ is telling these Liberal elite class that he’s looking after the peasants for them. They need not be concerned. Vote for him and he’ll assure this upper class that the peasants are kept far away and quiet.
    And govt jobs are VERY well paid. Plus, it’s almost impossible to be fired no matter how incompetent and useless you are.
    While the Conservative candidate, Carmichael, is telling the electorate about their opportunities in developing small and medium business. Heh. Liberals don’t go into small and medium business; they aren’t ‘capitalists’; they don’t compete. Never..competition is like free speech; only Americans do that. Liberals.. they work only in govt, paid for by the taxpayer (capitalists).
    Carmichael is telling these Liberals about the lower taxes from the Harper govt. But the Liberal professional elite aren’t interested in lower taxes; they consider that taxes are the key to keeping the classes separate…to keeping those peasants, those immigrants, those whatever..separate and far away and peaceful and quiet.
    Only we in the lower class are interested in lower taxes. And..only capitalists..are interested in lower taxes.
    The Conservative Party represents the middle class. [There is no middle class in the Liberal Party; there’s only the Rulers and the Ruled]. This is the class of the individual not the group, of entrepreneurs, of small and medium business, of workers and ‘regular people’. This class is actually the basis of any democracy – but, the Liberals don’t operate in a democracy; instead – they operate in an oligarchy.
    …and Now, we have Elizabeth May, coming on to the debates, to explain Dion’s ‘Green Shift’ to us. Because he’s incoherent. She’s another elitist.

  44. Over at NationalNewswatch there is a story on Lizzie’s latest catch,Blair Wilson,and hhow he may be in trouble once again over his election expenses. Of course,he is threatening to sue and it is all false. Lizzie may be in a bit of a jam. Does she keep him around hoping that the first Green MP isn’t charged with fraud? Or does she scuttle him and her ‘right’ to be in the leaders debate? I am leaning towards the latter.

  45. Citoyen Dionky’s Hidden Agenda. Is he suffering? Is Dionky detached from reality?
    Neurosis: where one builds castles in the air.
    …-
    McGuinty said: “absolutely nothing hidden”
    >>>>> “After two and half years, we know there’s absolutely nothing hidden about it,” said Liberal incumbent David McGuinty at Dion’s opening rally in Ottawa on the first day of the campaign.”*
    …-
    Citoyen Dionky:
    “Dion latches onto Harper’s ‘hidden agenda’
    Calgary Herald – ‎ 10 hours ago ‎
    Liberal Leader Stephane Dion raised the spectre of Stephen Harper’s “hidden agenda” on Saturday, an accusation Dion has frequently levelled at the prime minister to describe a Tory government he believes is secretive, ideological and more right wing …”
    …-
    *http://tinyurl.com/55cdak (canpress)

  46. Damn,I meant the former,really! Anyways.it looks good on her. You get what you pay for,picking up MP’s that the liberals won’t even touch,what did she expect?

  47. ET, your analysis is right on.
    Those of us who are not public sector employees who, as you say, are very well paid, are expected to carry the ball–that is, pay the exorbitant taxes to pay for their lifestyles AND the lifestyles of the ne’er-do-well-victim class who do no work and pay no taxes.
    If you’re not part of the elite, you’re a drone. And the Librano$ have created a whole lot of drones to protect and cossett their cash-for-life lifestyles.
    They’re in a real conundrum though: PMSH and the CPC are threatening to cut off their cash-for-life elitism; they’re threatening to change the governance of this country so that its policies and laws benefit ALL Canadians, not just those endorsed by “the natural ruling party” (sic).
    No wonder they and their allies in the MSM are like rabid dogs. There’s not enough meat to go around–or to ensure that they get first dibs.
    One only hopes that enough Canadians can figure this out in time to NOT vote Librano/Dipper/Green. On the other hand, maybe Ellie May was right–even though she denies she said it: Maybe Canadians ARE stupid.

  48. batb…some Canadians are that stupid,witness the so called conservative AtlanticJim’s postings about how Mr. Harper is a disgrace.One wonders how these people can even tie their shoes in the morning.

  49. Some thoughts on who votes Liberal and who votes Conservative.
    The Liberal Party is the party of a two-class society. The upper class who govern; and the peasants. The upper class are the professionals: civil service, lawyers, teachers, health care. Most of them are employed by the govt. Unions and unionized workers are collaborators of this class.
    The lower class, the peasants, are workers, small and medium businesses, etc.
    The Liberal Party is NOT about freedom of speech and action, individualism, etc etc. It is abotu repression and confinement. That is, the Liberal Party’s duty is to take your taxes and DEAL WITH the lower class. Confine them, keep them quiet and untroubling to the upper class.
    That’s why the Liberal party is endlessly talking about: ‘poverty’, ending poverty (heh; they need poverty); ..and endlessly talking about ‘the homeless, the ‘discriminated against’, the minorities..etc.etc. They aren’t going to alleviate these situations (no-one can do it completely) but..your taxes are used to keep these people AWAY and out of your view.
    That’s why Liberals also promote censorship, repression of freedom of speech, top-down governance.
    Same with immigrants. The Liberal policy is to fund them to live in isolate ghettoes, not integrate but live separate and in defined jobs.
    So – the bureaucrats, the cocooned professional class, ..they vote Liberal. They want the govt to deal with the Lower Class, and keep the two classes separate. And keep immigrants in their ghettoes.
    The immigrants also vote Liberal because they are funded, heavily, to do so and to remain isolate.
    The Conservatives are the party of the middle class. There is no middle class in the Liberal society. The middle class is the realm of individualism, entrepreneurship, small and medium business. [Liberals don’t set up their own businesses; they work in govt]. The Conservatives are the party of freedom of speech, innovation and new ideas.
    Who votes Conservative? People who don’t accept a class based society, people who believe in the individual work ethic and the reality of success that is the middle class; people who work for themselves and in small/medium businesses; farmers; …people who believe in freedom rather than repression.

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