Dykstra UnRepentant

...re the now infamous picture of him on his blackberry during Remembrance Day Ceremonies:

The picture is fine, actually. It shows me on my BlackBerry, looking serious and intent. What they didn't tell you though, is what I was actually typing. As some of you know, I live-blog events and happenings to my website. That's what I was doing here.

The purpose of writing about these events is to give folks who aren't able to attend the chance to get a feeling for what transpired. It also gives people a chance to see what is transpiring through my eyes as the MP.

[...]

I'm going to keep using the picture, though. I think it's kind of neat actually, me looking contemplative and serious while writing a tribute to our veterans and the municipal politicians who succeeded in their effort to honour them.

Well, since the picture and post didn't appear until 2:53 PM that day anyhow, I don't see why Mr. Dykstra couldn't have waited until after the ceremony to write it up. Would you live-blog your own wedding, for example, or a funeral (unless it was Michael Jackson's, in which case you might)?

But I do agree he looks quite wonderful in the picture. Dark glasses really work on him. They make him look like a rock star. Maybe middle-period Van Morrison.

The Dysktra Affair

Did Dykstra disrespect our soldiers, or was he just live-blogging the event? And if you are live-blog a veteran's day ceremony, isn't that in itself disrespecting our soldiers?

Interesting as to when Dykstra's origonal blog post (which contains the picture he allegedly took with his blackberry) was written. He claims 11:38 AM on Remembrance Day, but Jane Taber writes:

Update The Liberals are disputing Mr. Dykstra’s version of events, pointing to an RSS feed that suggests the item was posted this morning at 11:06 a.m. - after the photo went out - and not on Remembrance Day at 11:38 a.m.

Here's a screen shot of the front page of his blog, retrieved from google cache:

Don't know how easy it is to see, but the time-stamp here reads 2:53 PM. Meanwhile, the most recent version of the page bears a time-stamp of 11:38 AM. Note also that the wording of the post suggests it was written yesterday afternoon. So it looks as though both sides are wrong, although it also looks like Mr. Dyskstra diddled with the timestamps on his RSS feed and blog for some reason or another. I demand his immediate resignation.

Don't know if that helps solve much, but I do love a mystery.

Text You Very Much

...Tory MP Rick Dykstra, seen here responding to incoming blackberry messages during a Remembrance Day Ceremony. Stay classy Rick!

(And is one or is one not allowed to text/twitter during the minute of silence? What's the appropriate etiquette?)

h/t