Hiebert Poirot solves the case

Jordan Bateman has announced on the Orient Express, er, his weblog, that he is running for Langley Township council.

My "little grey cells" are always right, Hastings. Except when they are wrong

Little Marcy rocks

A gospel-loving blogger argues persuasively to would-be hipsters, that it is perfectly all right to simply take Little Marcy records at their face value. The singing puppet was intended for Christian kids and not jaded turn-of-this-century Gen Xers, y'know. Well said.

Never say never again

Those who remember Gary Collins, who was British Columbia's Finance Minister until last December, may be interested to know that he hasn't lost his skill at answering questions as a politician does.

Mr. Collins, who is now the CEO of Harmony Airways, was recently interviewed by Business Edge, a Vancouver business affairs newspaper. Mr. Collins gave a standard answer when asked why he had decided to leave politics.

(snip)

"Why did you resign as B.C. Finance Minister last December?"

[Mr. Collins] "Because I'd been doing it for 14 years and I have a very young family. I had sort of completed what I think I went there to do. I looked at all the indicators, all the work we had done and sort of said, "Well, where do I go for the next four years?" I thought it was probably an opportune time to get out of elected office and let someone else have a go at it. I never viewed it as a lifetime career. I viewed it as something I would do for a while, as long as I could continue, and then move on."

(snip)

Okay, we can conclude that Mr. Collins has had his fill of politics, right? Yes. No, I mean no! Well, you can imagine that I was a little confused by his answer to a qustion later on in the interview.

(snip)

"What would it take for you to be lured back into politics?"

[Mr. Collins] "People have asked me if I would ever go back and the answer is 'Yeah, I would go back.' I'm not planning on going back. It's not something that I am waiting for to happen. If the right issues come along and I felt I could contribute and I would add value to improving things or solving a problem, then you know, I might consider it. But its certainly not something I have written down in an agenda pad. I'm doing what I am doing now. I'm very interested in it. I have lots of challenges to keep me busy for the next number of years and we'll see what happens."

Let's parse this. The answers seem to me to be, in order:

1) Yes

2) Yes, but don't hold me to that.

3)Yes, if the generic conditions that led me to politics in the first place happen again. [Politicians are only unable to "make a positive contribution" or "solve problems" in places like Stalin's Russia or Castro's Cuba]

4. No, on second thought don't assume that I will go back to politics because I don't have plans to do so...

5. ...because I have lots of challenges to keep me busy...

6. ...for the next few years which may mean "until I become Premier of B.C.," or "retire".

Spin worthy of a Maytag washer. :) Within a single paragraph, no less.

It's elementary, Watson

Let's examine the clues. Blogger Jordan Bateman, who has been publicly mulling about running for Langley Township councillor, writes that he will be really busy in the next two months, so much so that his personal blog will be really dormant.

Furthermore my dear Watson, his friend Sam Kirk writes that he will be busy running a political campaign.

So, Sherlock Hiebert says that Colonel Mustard did it with a candlestick in the library! Er, make that Jordan Bateman will be running for councillor after all.

Good luck Jordan. Hope you can pull it off. Perhaps he thinks he has enough name recognition that he can win a six week campaign, especially since he has run before.

It is always interesting to see people change from commenting on politics to participating in politics themselves. I wouldn't want to make the jump, but that is just me.

Lazarus does not come forth

I've just learned that the Christian History Project is being wound up, with the series of books outlining the history of Christianity being unfinished.

It was the latest venture of my old boss, Ted Byfield. I was able to find out what had happened due to playing a miniscule role in the enterprise. (I had done a very small amount of research work for the book that was being done now.)

They are attributing the end of the project to a sin: theft. Their computer server was stolen last December. The ensuing costs and business hiatus has made the project financially unsound.

It's a shame, as The Christians could have been a valuable addition to church scholarship.

A pub with no beer

According to this website (which records which song was the weekly number one hit in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia), the first Australian-made Australian number one hit of the rock era was A Pub with No Beer by Slim Dusty.

The Uruguayan Beatles

Los Shakers tried gamely to emulate the Fab Four, to the point that they adopted the Beatles' outfits and hairstyles. That said, I couldn't imagine the real Beatles doing a cover version of It's My Party on one of their LPs.

My curiousity about these moptops was piqued after I saw a Los Shakers LP cover at the latest big Vancouver record collectors swap meet. There was no record inside the cover, though.

"I see dead people"

That is, to quote exactly, "...images of dead people...".

Isn't that the sort of thing that spritualists used to produce?

Oh well, at least he didn't see fairies in those pictures.

Ten cents a dance, that's what they pay me/ Gosh how they weigh me down....

News story--Two Young Men in Jail After 82 lap dances.

What do you call your act?

Tonight, live on stage, that vaudeville sensation,The Aristocrats!

;)

Number 98 with an anchor

The Globe and Mail is reporting that radio stations across Canada are refusing to play The Tragically Hip song New Orleans is Sinking following the recent hurricane.

Cute alert

A weblog devoted to a lady's pet guinea pigs.

Thou shalt draw

I see that Kevin Frank, creator of the very good Oboe Jones cartoon in Cornerstone Magazine, is still doing cartoons.