WikiLeaks Piece In The Mark

My first post on Wilikleaks has appeared in The Mark, where it will be read and commented upon at the highest levels. I predict that CSIS steps in and screws around so my debit card won't work.

And, incidentally, anyone that tells you there's no news in those cables hasn't been paying attention.

Black Bloc Story In The Mark

What seemed bizarre and freakish on a mere blog, acquires authority when seen in this new context. You may have thought "This guy is seriously messed up in the head!" Now my words seem both true and inevitable.

Just the change in fonts adds a ton of credibility.

Keith Martin Strikes Again

In his new post on our government's alleged G8 Maternal Health initiative, Mr. Martin makes one very salient but under-appreciated point:

Time is running out for mothers and children in the developing world. Less than six weeks remain before the G8 Summit begins in Ontario, and the Canadian government has yet to articulate any plan to reduce maternal and childhood mortality and morbidity, a key objective for the summit announced by Prime Minister Harper a few months ago.

We're getting close, in other words, and despite all the debate Harper's plan-to-have-a plan has generated, it remains in fact a nothing-burger. And it isn't out of the question that what will be eventually revealed to the G-8 will be so minimal as to extend little beyond the initial press release. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that wasn't the final result: a press conference and we're outta there and the whole episode is forgotten.

Martin is less cynical. He goes on to to outline a plan, which I too have been talking up (because it seems similar to what the government might have in mind), in which

Harper [would] propose a "framework" for action on Maternal Health, with this framework being divided into discreet little pots (as it were) named names like "training health care workers", "contraception" "safe abortions", "micro nutrients", and so forth. G-8 countries will be invited to drop money into one or more of these pots, with Canada assiduously avoiding the one marked "abortions".

Its interesting to note that, under Martin's hypothetical plan, its France (inventors of the "french safe") that get stuck with funding abortion.

Anyway, the third link is to last week's Christian Right piece as it appears in The Mark, where the publication's added credibility makes it seem twice as true.

E-Voting Article In The Mark, And Twitter Sucking Harder

Same as what I wrote Saturday, but the new setting gives it credibility you can just feel.

And, reading this again, it occurs to me that the Toronto Local 416 twitter feed is being hijacked in exactly the same manner as the Blogging Tory twitter feed was previously. Which means twitter "security" is non-existant and twitter spam cannot be far behind.

O wait, its already here.

BCL In The Mark

After receiving a kind invitation from Jeff Anders, I decided that I would try my luck writing for The Mark, one of those nifty on-line media outlets that have been springing up recently. Its particularly interesting for the way in which Anders and Co. are trying to reach beyond "the usual suspects" for content. As an example, here's Lib MP Keith Martin writing on marijuana decriminalization, and Tory MP Garry Breitkreuz mewling pathetically about the gun registry.
What I hope to accomplish is to have the people I am trying to contact for various pieces I'm writing respond to my emails. Saying I'm with The Mark will presumably carry more weight than telling them I'm, like, some guy with a blog. We shall see.

Anyway, my first piece is here, and my bio/photo here.

Now, a couple of things. I will be writing as M.J. Murphy, my "real" world pseud. But don't worry; it's still me. Also, in my picture I was going for the disheveled, "he got this hot by accident" look. The unkempt part comes through A-OK, but the "sexxxiness" appears to have been replaced by a dorky/pervy plus extra chin quality that has become my lot as I grow older.

And before I submitted it, I actually took that photo to one of the graphic designers at my firm. They told me that while photoshop was a wonderful program it was incapable of miracles. They also suggested that I consider liposuction.

"Art Girl" won't be getting her Xmas bonus this year.

Anyway, soon it won't matter. This blog will monetize and I'll be famous. So...Monetize, baby! Monetize NOW!!!


(PS. I hope I haven't given the impression that The Mark actually pays me. It doesn't. Its just that now...book deals...endorsements...hot chicks. Presumably they'll all be coming my way. Real soon.)