Security breach at public health lab

Officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are investigating a security breach involving the province's

Public Health Laboratory.

On Friday, justice minister Jerome Kennedy and health minister Ross Wiseman told reporters that an unnamed consultant working with the lab received a call from an individual claiming to be a security specialist. The caller said he had patient information that was on a computer at the lab consultant's home. As cbc.ca/nl reported:

The data, including lab test results for infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis along with patient names and health numbers, was stored on a government desktop computer, said Health Minister Ross Wiseman.

The computer was unplugged and taken to the home of a consultant working for the Provincial Public Health Laboratory, something Wiseman said should never have happened.

The lab's website describes its functions more broadly;

The Public Health Laboratory(PHL) provides routine, specialized and reference laboratory services in clinical and public health microbiology to all hospitals, clinics and other health related agencies in the province. These services are offered only through authorized health care professionals.

Bacteriological water quality testing service is provided to private individuals, communities, municipalities, private and public agencies, etc.

With a mandate, role, and functions at the provincial level, the PHL has been able to keep up with technological developments and maintain the state-of-the-art microbiological laboratory services, procedures and facilities.

The PHL has also been active in undertaking a wide variety of research and special projects in medical microbiology and infectious diseases epidemiology and initiatives in relation to existing and emerging public health issues. The PHL publishes periodically articles and abstracts pertaining to the above.

While the lab consultant appears to have been fired, there is no indication of other action.  The incident would appear to involve a breakdown of security practices at the lab that allowed a computer to be removed from the lab in the first place, let alone how it could be operated from an unsecured Internet connection. The incident calls into question both the security policies and procedures as well as way in which highly sensitive data is stored. A consultant needing to work from home could easily have been given external access to data through secure log-in procedures, including frequently changed passwords and data encryption.

Kennedy told reporters on Friday that "We don't now the extent of the breach, we just know a breach has occurred."  However,

Kennedy claimed the incident appears to "be an isolated situation," and that no files were lost from the province's wider computer network.

There is no explanation for Kennedy's assurance given that he had acknowledged not knowing the extent of the security breach. Other security-related information may have also been stored on the computer used by the consultant.

Curiously, a unnamed private security consultant is being retained by the province to investigate the incident alongside the provincial police force.  There is no indication the provincial officials considered using other police sources, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or data security and computer security experts with the Communications Security Establishment. Both federal agencies routinely secure information at least as sensitive as the patient information compromised by the security failure revealed on Friday.

This local security failure comes in the wake of news that security of 25 million records in the United Kingdom was compromised by the theft of compact disks containing unencrypted data. technology security consultants describe  government security for many types of data as being extremely lax.

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A breath of fresh air

December 4-5,2007.

Toronto.

The Canadian Institute's conference on social media.

For those outside Toronto, it would be a pricey affair, since the conference registration is nearly $2,000 not counting HST, travel and all the assorted things that go with it.

But take a look at the agenda and speakers and you'll likely agree it is a leading edge session for public relations professionals and well worth the energy and expense involved in getting there.

Here are descriptions of just two sessions:

Targeting Bloggers as Influential Media to Get Your Story Out

Susan Bloch-Nevitte, Executive Director, Public Affairs
Art Gallery of Ontario

Antonietta Mirabelli
Manager, Communications
Art Gallery of Ontario

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) last year launched a blogger outreach campaign to start a conversation with the public about the Frank Gehry: Art + Architecture exhibition. The alternative media coverage generated by blogs resulted in a very positive impact on the exhibition’s promotion. For the first time in the AGO’s history, the Web became a critical vehicle in building awareness, influencing public opinion and driving attendance. Learn how social media are a key component of the AGO’s communication and
marketing channels and how the AGO plans to optimize this network of bloggers going forward.

• Determine if you should be aiming your story to make the front page of the Globe and Mail or Google

• Find out how to research bloggers and determine who should be on your media list

• Learn how to build relationships with this targeted group

• Capitalize on the additional coverage of blogging that traditional media do not provide

• Benefit from the ability of media bloggers to cover events and product launches within minutes

• Understand the power shift from traditional media to networked blogger media

Fifteen Megs of Fame: How to Manage Your Brand in an Era of Consumer Control
Michael Seaton
Director, Digital Marketing
Scotiabank

Brands are now and forever outside ivory tower control –and there is no turning back. As social media, consumer generated content and digital distribution gain in popularity, everyone can readily achieve their ‘Fifteen Megs of Fame.’ But how can you achieve that? How do you manage your brand in today’s digital world where consumers are creators? Hear how one of Canada’s top banks developed a long-term
digital strategy that consumers have embraced and learn the tips and tricks that will help you develop your own strategy, whether you’re in the financial industry or not.

Radical stuff?  Not at all, at least in many parts of the world.  There's also an interest sidebar to the growth in social media that might surprise many in the PR business and even those outside.  Just as the advent of e-mail brought a renewed emphasis on writing skills, so too has social media brought to the fore once again the basic principles of effective public relations.

Like pitching a story, one of the components of media relations. This issue gets batted around on any number of public relations blogs out there and it all seems to come back to the simple principles that should be guiding relations with conventional media. What the PR blogs seem to have turned up is a lot of bad practices that are likely being applied to other media with equally disastrous results.

The difference between blogs and conventional media is that bloggers might be inclined to express their opinion openly on the blog about the fumbled approach. Notice the conditional word:  "might". Responsible bloggers, i.e. the ones with the target audience a PR professional or a marketer might want to reach, would be no more likely to have a free poke at a clumsy pitcher than a print or electronic media editor.

In this little corner of the new media, the experience has been, well, there is no experience. No phone calls, no pitches of any kind.  One lone news release that was forwarded after the date it was issued. Now that seems to conform to the general pattern in Newfoundland and Labrador in which social media have been completely ignored by both PR practitioners and marketers as possible tools in their own arsenal or as possible media to reach core audiences.

If you can forgive a little shameless self-promotion, look at it this way: Bond Papers averages 18,000 page loads and 11,500 readers. The daily readers include government officials, financial analysts, lawyers, people in the energy industry, educators and basically a core group of relatively affluent and influential people both within Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada. 

Reporters and editors read Bond Papers, too. Anyone who reads Bond regularly will know that posts here will turn up in conventional media fairly regularly. Part of the attraction for some people is being slightly ahead of the curve on some items, but that's another issue. Basically, after nearly three years, Bond Papers is a medium that reaches audiences individually and collectively, that would normally attract some attention from PR people or marketers. 

Bond Papers isn't a blog focusing on mothers - as in one post linked above - nor is it focused on a technical issue like the latest digital cameras. It's easy to see a connection between the blog and the marketing possibilities in those cases. But still, it would take no more energy to research those blogs than to find out about Bond or any other blog in the province to see if there is a possible fit. 

This post came, inadvertently, out of a conversation between your humble e-scribbler and an old hand at the PR game who has  forgotten more about PR than most of us will ever know;  that's not a cliche in this case. This guy likely inspired that remark in the first place. The local Leo was excited about the conference and passed the brochure along since he reads Bond Papers regularly. He keeps abreast of issues in the business even though he's been retired for a while and it seemed a good time to remind him that so much of what PR people do today is exactly what he has been doing his entire career.

The new media wind up reinforcing the basic lessons of the past, with a new twist for a new age. The new media wound up breathing some fresh air into some skills some people have forgotten.

And at the same time, it led your e-scribbler to wonder once again about the difference between the local market and those elsewhere.

Maybe there's something to the observation that the only obvious reference made to new media at a recent local conference was made in a keynote speech by the guy who publishes the province's largest circulation daily newspaper.

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Leaving out crucial facts damages cred and rep

One of the things that undermines any marketing or public relations effort is the gap between claim or statement on the one hand and fact on the other.

It's called a credibility gap and when it comes to the provincial government's triffids brand cum "brand signature", the credibility gap keeps opening wider.  The business ministry issued a "news" release on Wednesday claiming that "[t]he brand signature of Newfoundland and Labrador is fast gaining international recognition."

The basis for the claim is that the "animated television spot featuring the brand logo captured a prestigious Silver London International Statue in television at the world-renowned London International Advertising Awards November 12 and also earned a finalist award in the animation category."

Okay.

Bravo to the creative crew at Target Marketing.

But the rest of the release is just puffery, rehashing the entire brand signature/brand logo mythology that's been spewing from every government orifice since the $1.1 million plus farce was unveiled last year.

The London International Awards recognize excellence in various aspects of advertising and design. It's a big deal for any company to be a finalist, let alone win a silver or gold award as the best in the category. The creativity involved in the project had to stand up against some stiff competition and to be sure, anyone familiar with target's projects over the years will recognize that the pitcher plant logo thingy is by no means even close to the best work the company has done.

But at no point did the logo receive international recognition of the type the provincial government claimed.

Check it out for yourself.

Target won an award for a specific aspect of a specific component of the project.

That's nowhere the same as saying the "brand signature... is fast gaining international recognition,"  since that implies the logo itself won recognition.

The video created for the launch - the one with the wailing banshee voice - garnered an award in the Television/Cinema category for original music with lyrics.

That's it.

It also finished as a finalist in the cel animation section of the same category.

Congratulations, Target.

And a giant raspberry to a release from a government department that first of all isn't "news" of any sort, and second of all, tries to claim credit that properly belongs to the creative talent at Target. A new minister and a few other changes and the department responsible still hasn't learned from the mistakes of the launch.

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A good start, the City Hall version

The City of St. John's is short on its budget for next year.

$6.0 million short.

So councilors are considering axing funding for community groups and skimping on New Year's celebrations.

Here's a simpler idea that would save at least $3.0 million a year:

Sell the Mile One sinkhole.

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Wow, Peter Whittle

Liz couldn't have scripted a better comment for CBC's Morning Show talk back line.

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The old fat poll goose

18 happy-happy joy-joy news releases from the provincial government on Thursday, triple the number issued each of the previous two days.

Among the "news":

1.  An announcement that the province has finally completed a set of guidelines for health care on how to respond to a pandemic.  No, it actually says more than "Treat it."

Among the floaters and other fairly obvious revelations from this bit of "news" is this gem is this quote from Faith Stratton: "These guidelines will prove tremendously valuable for our regional medical officers of health and front-line health care managers".  The province's chief medical office is right. The guidelines will be useful.

But.

The real proof of the pudding of pandemic preparedness comes not in having lovely lists of things to do and how to do them.  It comes from having people in place to perform with the bits and pieces of equipment they need.

Any chance they can have a newser on that substantive issue?

2.  A raft of ACOA and province joint announcements.  Those look suspiciously like the feds trying to continue the campaign they started last week to actually take credit for stuff they do.  Then again, it is poll goosing time and maybe ACOA has a few questions in Don Mills' quarterly.

We know the provincial government does.

That's why they goose the polls.

And why Don Mills loves to talk up the stunning success of his client.

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Military oil demand

From National Public Radio, an interesting article on oil consumption by the United States armed forces.

Note the reference to a Hercules being able to fly from the US to St. John's. It's no accident they chose that as a reference point.

St. John's is a favourite military refueling stop on the way across the Atlantic.

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Hibernia at 10

The Hibernia offshore oil field produced its first oil 10 years ago this week.

The project - regarded as a gamble at the time - was never expected to achieve payout owing to its high cost and the low price of oil.  However, it will hit that milestone within the next four years.

With almost double the amount of recoverable oil first estimated to be in the field, the provincial treasury's share of the revenues will jump dramatically just as it did on the lower-cost Terra Nova project and as it will at the White Rose field. That high revenue will continue for the better part of a decade - unless even more oil is found.

It is easy to forget history, even recent history, just as the past four years of super-heated political rhetoric have shown.  Politicians, academics and journalists have all displayed an appalling ignorance of Hibernia and the rest of the offshore. Information is deliberately distorted, such as in the provincial figures cited by Canadian press in the link above. Those figures deliberately omit projected revenues flowing after payout.

Far from being the give-away some have simplistically claimed, Hibernia was a gamble by the provincial and federal governments and the oil companies on the first project in what has proven to be a solid and lucrative oil industry. Had the provincial and federal governments not provided a variety of financial breaks through taxation changes and federal loan guarantees, it is doubtful the project would have ever been started in the economic climate at the time. When oil plummeted to US$8.00 a barrel in 1992, Gulf Canada pulled out of the project.  Some of the Gulf shares were taken up by other operators but ultimately it was the federal investment and an 8.5% share that kept the project alive.

The gamble paid off for the operators and for the provincial and federal governments. The gamble is paying off each day with the millions in revenues flowing into provincial coffers from the three existing offshore projects.  When Hebron starts flowing the lion's share of the revenues from that project - royalties as well as other provincial revenues - will come from the government's generic royalty regime. 

That regime evolved from the Hibernia model negotiated first under Brian Peckford and concluded under the Clyde Wells [photo: left] administration. Wells' Liberals defeated the Progressive Conservatives under Tom Rideout [Photo: right]. Hibernia had been an issue in the election .

Seventeen years after the Hibernia deal was signed, it's interesting to go back to media reports at the time, like one from CBC television. There was optimism and there were words of caution from economist Wade Locke. Wells himself uttered both, as well, although he was criticised at the time for cautioning people that offshore oil would not produce the thousands of jobs some expected to be available in place of other industries like the fishery.

On the 10th anniversary of Hibernia first oil, it's worthwhile to consider how far the province has come economically as a direct result of decisions taken almost two decades ago. It's also worthwhile to consider how far we have regressed in other terms.

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All in favour of extras?

Some Honourable members:  Aye!

No surprise the miniscule and ineffective Liberal Party caucus in the House of Assembly likes the idea of Yvonne Jones as leader.

As Leader of the Official Opposition, Jones herself will collect $52,297 on top of her salary as a member of the House.

Opposition House Leader Kelvin Parsons will collect an extra $26,246 for taking that job and Roland Butler, the deputy house leader (in a caucus of three mind you) will earn $17,919.

Since the chair of the public accounts committee is an opposition member, someone is entitled to another 413,123 for that job.

And if by some bizarre amount of rationalization, the Liberals appoint a party whip and caucus chair, each of those positions comes with $13,123 in extra pay.

That is, unless the House management committee steps in and changes are introduced to the Green integrity legislation.

Contrary minded?

[dead silence]

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Doomed

You read it here yesterday.

It was cemented at a hastily called party executive meeting Monday night.

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Sell the pig

Mile One could be profitable.

It can't be profitable in the hands of St. John's City Council.

This year's deficit will be over $2.0 million.  That's a $600,000 shortfall plus the increased operating subsidy from Council.

There's only one sensible solution:  sell Mile One stadium.

-srbp-

Reid to go; Jones to lead party?

Gerry Reid will announce he is leaving politics today.  That's the most likely announcement he'll make.

In the meantime, the Yvonne Jones will take the job as leader of the party.

She'll also be a candidate for the leadership at the next annual general meeting in October, 2008, but for the time being Jones will claim she's just thinking about it.

Then, like party president Danny Dumaresque is already reportedly doing, Jones will quietly assemble her team and her supporters. It gives the party insiders an unfair advantage over all other comers.  Heavens knows the party doesn't need either Jones or Dumaresque at the helm, let alone after letting them have the chance to rig the process in order to get the job.

Here's the thing:

Dumaresque should already be punted as party president.  The fact he's considering a run at the leader's job is just one more excuse beyond the dozens of reasons why he shouldn't be party president. He won't resign. So put the question to him about the leadership.  If Dumaresque cannot categorically state he won't run, it's up to the party executive to fire him. On the spot.  No questions asked.

Ditto Jones. 

Either she commits to stay out of the leadership race or she doesn't take the leaders job.

The Old Hand Shuffle is one of the things that got the party into this mess in the first place. More of the same will only guarantee the political hole Jones and her friends are in will get deeper.

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Getting our fair share, the Nevisian view

From a 2006 commentary in The Leeward Times, St. Kitts and Nevis, the following observations about a development by Newfound Group in the tiny Caribbean nation.

The election mentioned in the paragraph did take place and resulted in a new administration. The local government and the developers entered into a new agreement which reduced Newfound's tax holiday from 30 years to 20 years, returned some 172 acres of land to the local government and reportedly included a commitment by Newfound to establish a trades school specializing in tourism-related courses.

We now hear that the government has entered into an agreement to sell some 600 acres of Nevis’ best land to Newfound Group Ltd. The plan of Newfound Group, according to Newfound at the ceremony held in their honour on September 18, 2005, is to have a 150-room hotel and some 400 villas on not less than one acre of land. These villas will be for US1Mmillion. Why did government not do the reverse and make them have 400 hotel rooms and 150 villas? Hotel rooms generate more employment and revenue than villas. In St. Kitts the Newfound Group is building a hotel on 40 acres of land, which would have more hotel rooms than in Nevis where they will have 600 acres. Imagine in St. Kitts they got 540 acres less yet they are building more hotel rooms. It is obvious that the St. Kitts Government is way smarter than the Nevis Government. Why did Government allow these people to buy so much of public land? Couldn’t they only sell them 300 acres and leave the other 300 for another potential hotel development? Why is it that the Government made this deal without any public consultation? Is this deal truly in the best interests of the people of Nevis? Minister Guishard, at the same ceremony on September 18, 2005 boldly proclaimed that there is now NO MORE BEACHFRONT PROPERTY IN NEVIS LEFT FOR HOTEL DEVELOPMENT on the best side of Nevis, i.e., the Caribbean Sea. Is this what we really want? Why have we put all our eggs in one basket? Does the government realise that by selling villas for US$1M they are creating a Nevis that will be on sale to the VERY RICH and VERY FAMOUS as NO Nevisian can afford to buy any of those villas? Nevis is 36 square miles. Does the Government realise that it has sold more than one square mile of the 36 that Nevis has to some foreign developers for them to turn the island into a place almost exclusively for foreigners? Why is it that the Government was in so much of a rush to enter into an agreement with these people? Is it because an election is looming that they hurriedly decided to sign the deal so that they could say that after 14 years they have finally brought some sort of meaningful foreign investment?

It must be interesting for Newfound's Newfoundland officials to be on the receiving end of this sort of criticism or commentary.

Will this story ever be covered by The Independent?

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Newfound NV unable to secure US$21 million loan

Newfound NV announced on November 8 that it has been unable to secure US$21 million in working capital for the company's Newfoundland operation at Humber Valley.

Newfound will now attempt to raise five million pounds sterling through a new issue of shares to existing directors "at a significant discount to market price".

Newfound reported in late September that it was "in the process of finalising" the financing for it's Humber Valley Resort. The company also reported a pretax US$7.4 million loss in the first half of 2007 compared to a US$1.8 million profit the previous year. Newfound's current trading information may be found at several spots including google financial reports.

None of these news releases is contained in the publicly accessible "press room" portion of the company website. They may be located in the "investor relations" section, however, a prominent legal warning requires a viewer to confirm that they do not reside in one of several jurisdictions - including Canada - before proceeding to other pages. Oddly, the warning page is posted through flash animation and cannot be copied. Likewise, the navigation links blocked the page path and thereby preventing posting a link to even the page containing the warning.

According to Thomson Financial, Newfound's September 26 statement indicated the company was also seeking financing of US$30 million for its St. Kitts and Nevis development. In May 2006, Newfound purchased land in St. Kitts and Nevis for the development of a resort to include a 150-room hotel, 400 "upscale" villas and an 18-hole golf course. Reported cost was US$21 million.

In the photo at right, Newfound corporate vice president and attorney Derrick White is shown presenting a cheque for US$10 million to Premier Vance Amory as part of the land purchase.

Two years ago, St. Kitts and Nevis prime minister Dr. Denzil Douglas told carribeannetnews.com:

“Even in Frigate Bay, which is now virtually built out, the Newfound Group out of Canada, in conjunction with National Bank, TDC and Rams, is pursuing a major hotel and condominium project; and the Frigate Bay Development Corporation is in the process of constructing a very impressive villa and commercial development project that will significantly enhance the tourism-related amenities in Potato Bay and the surrounding areas,” said Prime Minister Douglas. [Emphasis added]

The project was renegotiated earlier this year:

According to Parry, the initial agreement between the Developers and the former CCM Administration was renegotiated to reflect a reduction of 10 years tax holiday from the initial 30 year period under the old contract to 20 in line with the regular arrangements of that nature here.

The new agreement also reflected the recovery of over 172 acres of land in addition to the historical sights (which had not been mentioned in the previous proposal), for the people of Nevis in exchange for a reduction of the purchase price from $21 million to $19 million.

“What this means is that as the value of these lands increase and improves in value and there are capital gains, we (Nevis) would benefit to the point where we will end up having millions of dollars for the continuing development of Nevis.

“I wish to make this point as well, we (Nevisians) were told that the cost of the lands was $10 million but when you are building, the cost of the loan to cover the 10 million you are really paying $18 million and we would have only benefited to the tune of $3million. So now we are talking about millions of dollars because of this deal that the Nevis Island Government will have for future development of the island,” he said.

The project is now reported to commence construction in 2008, but had been originally touted as beginning in January 2006 with estimated completion in March 2007.

[h/t to Gary Kelly and crazyaboutnewfoundland.com]

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Top o' the Pile: Gary Kelly

One of the better blogs around is written by Gary Kelly; Gary offers sharp writing on diverse topics backed by research and accompanied by links.

Regular Bond Papers readers will recognized the links labeled Top o' the Pile.  That's where Gary belongs and that's where he is now.

In a post last week, Gary discussed an issue that arose over his use of a photograph from the Western Star. The Corner Brook daily took exception to Gary's uncredited use of one of their images, which Gary freely acknowledges was the case.  He also linked to the original story, so, as Gary notes, he wasn't stealing their bandwidth. Gary took down the photo.

While I technically understand the position of the Western Star in asking me to take the photo down, I have to question the we vs. us mentality.

You know what really must frighten the Western Star? I took the photo down four minutes after receiving their email. How long would it take them to do that? How long does it take to print a retraction?

You know what else must frighten the Western Star? If you do a Google search for Corner Brook City Hall - this blog comes up third on the list. I have no fixed costs compared to the local newspaper. That could be the subject of an entire blog all by itself.

Honestly, Gary might find that not to be the issue so much as the uncredited use of the Star's intellectual property. Gary cites some statistics on blog traffic and the value of blog links. He might be right but there might be a way of coming to an agreement with the Star's editorial board that would work for both sides.

Using photographs is an issue that all bloggers come across at some point. Over the past two and a half years, Bond has has taken to giving a photo credit unless the photo comes from the anonymous pile of stuff that is just untraceable.  Yes, as some have noted, Bond has used commercial shots, like say the Simpsons, but more often than not, photos come from Canadian Press, the CBC or the Telegram.

Most Bond posts these days are composed on Windows Live Writer and that piece of software has been a godsend.  The picture handling feature allows for watermarks to be included and that's where the credit goes, as in this shot by Jonathan Hayward of Canadian Press. Adding credit in this way doesn't detract from the image and it makes damned sure everyone knows where it came from. 

In one of the most popular photos at Bond - voted by reader calls and e-mails - the origin of the shot is actually contained in the lower right on the original.  Yep.  It's from the Mother Corp, so there's no additional credit listed.

CBC has a fairly extensive policy on the use of its online materials and, as with the Star in all likelihood, the Corp will defend its copyright. Any time any copyright holder has exerted his or her rights, Bond has responded accordingly. In some cases, pictures have been removed.  In others, the copyright holder has given express permission based on certain conditions being met. It isn't always a matter of money changing hands - sometimes it is sufficient that credit be given to the creator of the intellectual property.

Blog writers should understand that simple concept since they generate intellectual property of their own. While it's done for free and made readily available through the Internet, people shouldn't be claiming ideas, words or phrases contained on blogs without some measure of credit.

More often than not, Bond has been able to operate successfully using photographs and other images based on the understanding that this is not a competitor of the originator.  In other words, a blog like Bond Papers isn't a news outlet like the CBC or the Telly and it isn't a commercial enterprise.

Maybe that makes a difference.

Maybe the Star will take a different view.  It might only take an e-mail from Gary back to the managing editor proposing a straightforward arrangement.  If Gary can demonstrate through his traffic statistics the value of his links, then the Star might relent. Editors and producers aren't usually stunned. In fact, Gary will likely find that most of them are interested in working out a problem to the benefit of all concerned.  After all, rather than competing with news organizations, blogs can add to the mix of opinion and commentary and sometimes serve as leads to stories. The whole thing can work for all concerned.  it just has to start with an appreciation by one for the other.

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Reinforcements

From Oh!, What a lovely war, a poignant commentary that combines a popular soldier's ditty from the Great War with one of the best known lines of poetry from the same war.

Remembrance

1. Attack, Siegfried Sassoon

At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun

In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun,

Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud

The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,

Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.

The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed

With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,

Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.

Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,

They leave their trenches, going over the top,

While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,

And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,

Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!

 

2.  Escape, Robert Graves

(August 6, 1916.—Officer previously reported died of
wounds, now reported wounded: Graves, Captain R.,
Royal Welch Fusiliers.)

... But I was dead, an hour or more.
I woke when I'd already passed the door
That Cerberus guards, and half-way down the road
To Lethe, as an old Greek signpost showed.
Above me, on my stretcher swinging by,
I saw new stars in the subterrene sky:
A Cross, a Rose in bloom, a Cage with bars,
And a barbed Arrow feathered in fine stars.
I felt the vapours of forgetfulness
Float in my nostrils. Oh, may Heaven bless
Dear Lady Proserpine, who saw me wake,
And, stooping over me, for Henna's sake
Cleared my poor buzzing head and sent me back
Breathless, with leaping heart along the track.
After me roared and clattered angry hosts
Of demons, heroes, and policeman-ghosts.
"Life! life! I can't be dead! I won't be dead!
Damned if I'll die for any one!" I said....
Cerberus stands and grins above me now,
Wearing three heads—lion, and lynx, and sow.
"Quick, a revolver! But my Webley's gone,
Stolen!... No bombs ... no knife....
The crowd swarms on,
Bellows, hurls stones.... Not even a honeyed sop ...
Nothing.... Good Cerberus!... Good dog!... but stop!
Stay!... A great luminous thought ... I do believe
There's still some morphia that I bought on leave."
Then swiftly Cerberus' wide mouths I cram
With army biscuit smeared with ration jam;

And sleep lurks in the luscious plum and apple.
He crunches, swallows, stiffens, seems to grapple
With the all-powerful poppy ... then a snore,
A crash; the beast blocks up the corridor
With monstrous hairy carcase, red and dun—
Too late! for I've sped through.
O Life! O Sun!

3. Infantry, near Nijmegan, Holland, Alex Colville (Canadian War Museum collection)

4. Military mom at home

Suddenly uncocky

Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't seem quite as smug this Saturday as say he has on any day over the past two weeks.

There's a new affidavit in the old Mulroney-Airbus scandal and this time it mentions Harper. There's a letter to harper from Karlheinz Schrieber, the man at the centre of the allegations.

All this has the prime Minister appointing an independent review of the allegations, essentially something far short of the public inquiry needed but still far from Harper's insistence that it would be dangerous to investigate allegations involving a former administration or prime minister.

Volte-face, the Globe calls it pretentiously.

Most of us would say about-face, or if you are from Newfoundland and Labrador, you'd know the political flip-flops all too well from watching Harper's provincialist doppelganger.

Such is its magnitude that even the National Post couldn't ignore the change-in-direction story, although the coverage has a noticeably different tone to the Globe work.

Catch video of the Prime Minister's news conference at ctv.ca.

Note one really interesting thing toward the end of harper's remarks in English:  Harper says that Mulroney never spoke to him "on behalf of" Schreiber nor presented documents from Schreiber.  he didn't deny in his own statement that former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had never discussed the Schreiber allegations and the entire affair with the current prime minister.

In a carefully crafted statement that said the same thing in French as in English, those particularly carefully chosen words might turn out to the the pivot on which the whole affair turns.

Expect the federal Conservatives to back off their election provocation pretty quickly.

-srbp-

A national gallery belongs in the national capital

Canada's toddler government wants to ship the National Portrait Gallery to a permanent home in one of nine cities across Canada.

These cities have a relatively large population, which will provide an important local visitor base; are easily accessible with effective transportation networks; and have the potential to attract both domestic and international visitorship.

Ottawa meets all those requirements and it has one other significant advantage:  it's the freakin' capital of Canada, where most human beings around the world and certainly most Canadians would expect to find a national asset like the portrait gallery located.

As it is Canadians have in front of them a fine start to one of the usual rows that occur when the national government is reduced to yet another source of pork to be argued over by parochial/provincialist interests.

Quebec nationalists will make a pitch and will likely get it since two of the sites chosen are in Quebec.  It won't hurt that the anal retentive first minister's office needs seats in Quebec and is currently hurting politically in that province.

Newfoundland nationalists, led by Danny Williams and his own afternoon VOCM radio version of Lord Ha Ha, will see the exclusion of Newfoundland from the list of potential cities as yet further evidence of the failures of Confederation. 

Don't be surprised if there's a pitch made to have the gallery located in Corner Brook or a sudden provincial government initiative  - introduced as having been under consideration for many months - to create a national portrait gallery "of our own" on a "got-it-alone basis. "

That will definitely be located in Corner Brook, unless AbitibiBowater decides to shut the Grand Falls mill.

-srbp-

Excited about excrement

The penchant for pushing "good news" in this the last polling period for government's official pollster has reached new highs.

or is it lows?

Depths, anyone?

Approval of a new sewerage lift system for the community of Heart's Delight-Islington warranted a news release from the municipal affairs department in among the veritable core dump of "news" from the government's division of poll goosing. 

While this is no doubt of great interest to the people of the lovely Trinity Bay community, it hardly seems necessary to make such a large issue of this that it involves not only flatulent comments by the minister responsible for scheisse-shifting set-ups but flowery verbiage from his cabinet colleague and the member for the area.

Said "news" included comments by municipal affairs minister Dave Denine linking "strong, sustainable rural and regional economies" with things like the installation of a new merde-motivation machine. One can imagine the endless promotional possibilities the business department can make of this development.

Local member Charlene Johnson praised her colleague for approving the project and added that the new excreta elevator will ensure "maximize safe and reliable service for the residents of Heart’s Delight-Islington...".

Reliable turd trucking is certainly something we would all wish for the lovely people of Heart's Delight-Islington.

And, in most circumstances, few would argue against ensuring that drek-disposal was maximized.

But safe?

It makes one wonder what lurks in the 'loos in Johnson's neck of the woods and whence comes the toilet-borne terrors.

It seems especially ill-chosen a word considering that the provincial government's communications division's evacuations  - like this one  - lay about stinking up the joint, in seemingly increasing numbers.

-srbp-