Warnings

This BLOG will be taking a public service approach today to what will be written. I want to warn a number of people in town about certain things that I can see happening that they should know about before it is too late.

WARNING TO MARTY

Obviously, the Marty that I am referring to is Marty Beneteau, the Editor of the Windsor Star.

If it is true from the hint that we received in one of his columns that Gord Henderson is going to retire, then I would respectfully suggest that you ask John Coleman to watch his columns a bit more carefully. I believe that you stated that he and Gord work together on the columns when you were being interviewed by John Fairley on Face-to-Face.

It is bad enough that he calls BLOGGERs names since there are only a few of us but when he starts going at the paying customers that could hit your bottom line, then you may have real problems! I don't think that you should allow him to call your subscribers names or else they might decide to drop their subscriptions:

• If those perpetually bilious readers who respond to the Sound Off! section on The Star's website had their way


• I recognize these are the angriest of the angry


• And there will always be people with axes to grind

Come on Marty, tell him to lighten up. I mean, after all, if the rumour is true that the Star is going to ask me to replace him, I don't want him losing all of the readers by the time I write my first column.

Oh and by the way, I may not take that job even if you offered to me. I saw the comment that Gord made about six figure salaries and then this remark about it "just a fantasy for us peons." Tell you the truth Marty, if your pay is that low to your most important draw in the newspaper, then give the job to say, Dave Hall instead.

WARNING TO COUNCIL

I told you before that you had better start reading the Windsor Star Forums.

When Gord Henderson can devote good part of his column to a letter from a person who wrote on the Forum, then you know that this is a reason why the Star is looking at matters differently these days. It is interesting that the naysaying Bloggers' point of view is being echoed by the vast majority of people who write on the Star Forums.

And if you do not think that the Mayor reads the Forums or at least those in his office do so on his behalf, then you are very foolish.

He may not care about the comments or may choose to "dismiss" them but he's not going to run again. Do not forget that he is lame-duck and you have to be re-elected if you choose to run again. I'm not aware that lame ducks have coattails that you can hang onto.

WARNING TO THE MAYOR

Speaking of lame-ducks, I saw a number of references lately with respect to lame duck presidents.

You know how cruel American politics can be. Do a search and see the number of references to lame ducks and Daffy Ducks.

GREEN WARNING TO DWIGHT AND SANDRA

Did you ever wonder why the Mayor's State of the City speech is taking place so early this year? And on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. It has to do with "green" I am sure. And I do not mean GREENLINK

Last year it was delivered in May, also in May 2004 and 2006 and in late April I believe in 2005.

Have you also wondered why the ad blitz in support of Greenlink and against the DRIC road has not yet taken place?

Can there be a connection to this and the Ontario Budget on March 25? Will Eddie be demanding a lot of green to save Windsor from the Province or to try to put the blame on them?

I have absolutely no information to base this on but I wonder if Eddie will take a tough shot at the Province during his speech? Will he announce the beginning of a major campaign against the Province? After all, it is only about a week before the Budget to be presented by Windsor's own Minister of Finance, Dwight Duncan, where Dwight will talk about green money matters..

And wasn't Eddie embarrassed when he was out of town on a taxpayer green paid trip to Germany to get us the hope of perhaps a few jobs three years from now to send onions to Germany when Dwight was here on his pre-budget meetings. That was shocking that Eddie would be away at such a crucial time.

And does Eddie hold a grudge too since Dwight said: "THE MAYOR IS WRONG. THE MAYOR IS WRONG."

What a nice way to hit back at the Provincial Liberals if Eddie suspects that Greenlink is dead.

If in fact the City has paid taxpayer green for that recent survey poll, I would bet that it says that the City is trusted more than the Province on the border. Since he has nothing else to talk about on the border, what better than to play the martyr role again and spend taxpayer green attacking the Province in an ad blitz. Announce it at the speech so that when the Senior Levels finally impose upon us the "cheap" solution, Eddie would have spent thousands already of taxpayer green proving that it was not his fault.

Since it St. Patrick's Day, if I were Dwight and Sandra I would not want to appear green on a television interview after hearing Eddie speak! Rather, I would start forking over the green to run some ads against the City and actually outspend the City to make the Mayor green with envy. Naturally, the basis of the ads would be how Eddie is preventing jobs, jobs, jobs being created in Windsor by his stalling and delays.

I wonder if Councillors will be allowed this year to sit on the stage a la the few that did so for Kwame or will they again be seated with the rest of the audience so that the spotlight focuses only on our Mayor.