Mississauga Musings

"Hazel McCallion PLEASE INVITE ME (Going to Extremes)" click here for video clip on YouTube

Readers' 2007 Challenge

How our Municipal Government is like the Bush Administration. If Paul Simon can find 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, surely we can find 50 Ways Mississauga Governance is Like The Bush Administration.

I've already found lots of ways but I'll start with an easy one first.

From their --"Like. How Perverted Is This?" Department.

Announcement of a "Town Hall Meeting" on the Fall election from mississauga.ca

Provincial Elections 2007 Featured Article

Town Hall Meeting
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Each official party will be invited to attend a town hall meeting, held in the City of Mississauga Council Chambers, with an invited audience of key Mississauga stakeholders as observers, and run by an external moderator.

The format of the meeting will allow each party to speak to the key issues as outlined in a series of reports (click here to view the reports). The party leaders or designates will be invited to speak, not the local candidates (unless they are the designate). The moderator will ensure the set time for each speaker would be adhered to and the town hall will last approximately two (2) hours.

It also allows the opportunity for Members of Council to clarify each parties stand on these issues, and through a moderated session, the opportunity for questions on any other topic, that the parties or Members of Council might raise."

Yes, The Corporation of the City of Mississauga calls the September 19th Fall Election "community engagement visionning charrette" that includes exclusively "an invited audience of key Mississauga stakeholders" a "Town Hall Meeting".

The *HORCCKK PTUI* Bush Administration calls that a "Town Hall Meeting" too!

Get this. An article from the German magazine Spiegel International Online. Quote:

"February 23, 2005

BUSH IN GERMANY

With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans

During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?"

The freedom-loving German government canned the "Town Hall Meeting". So, do you think the official Provincial parties invited to this closed session will refuse to participate in such a bogus-Bogosity, will rise up as One in the defence of Democracy and can the thing too? Yah, I don't think so either.

So what happened to Bush in Germany? They managed a *tee hee* compromise.

Spiegel Online continues:

"As an ersatz for the town hall meeting on Wednesday, Bush will now meet with a well-heeled group of so-called "young leaders." Close to 20 participants will participate in the exclusive round to be held in the opulent Mozart Hall of a former royal palace in Mainz, giving them the opportunity for a close encounter with the president."

Time to look up "ersatz" in the dictionary.

ersatz

Function: adjective
Etymology: German
ersatz-, from Ersatz, noun, substitute
Date:1875

: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation

BINGO! The Germans got that one dead-on. Ersatz "inferior substitute". Now boys and girls we will use "Ersatz" in a sentence.

"The Mississauga's "Town Hall Meeting" confirms we have an ersatz democracy."

There you have it. Mississauga --Right out of the pages of the Bush Administration. Yet we don't see Carolyn "This isn't a secret society" Parrish stomping on any Hazel McCallion bobble-head dolls.

Dolls... speaking of which. This week's comic strip!

GEORGE FIGURES IT OUT

Signed,
The (In Mississauga Happy Not To Be) Mississauga Muse
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"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear"
---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)

"Edward R. Murrow --My Hero". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

"Mississauga Saga". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

"A Flag named The Andre Marin". To Go Directly to the clip on YouTube or Google Video)

All "Antonio Batista Pothole Poet Trial" Blog entries:

THEIR MISSISSAUGA, yes, and ever increasingly --THEIR MISSISSAUGA (May 27, 2007)
Hypocrisy Democracy (May 28, 2007 7:27 am)
"What would Edward R. Murrow do? What would he want me to do?" (May 28, 2007 11:55 pm)
"We have to send a message to the public" Crown Attorney. (May 29, 2007 2:51 PM)
A pothole never loomed so large (John Stewart's "Random Access") (May 30, 2007)
"The government must not silence its critics by force." ---Clayton Ruby (May 29, 2007) (May 31, 2007)
"She does not think how you feel" Antonio Batista (June 4, 2007)
"Mrs. McCALLION what is wrong with the City of Mississauga?" (Antonio Batista) (June 5, 2007)
"Reasonable Person Test" --Crown Witness (June 6, 2007)
And I bet you thought that I'd forgotten about Antonio Batista, huh? (July 16, 2007)
On the nature of "accountable" "accountability" (July 18, 2007)
The Mississauga PotHole Trial --more insight from Freedom of Information results (July 19, 2007)
Bottom of The Bucket. Are we there yet? (July 24, 2007)
Another PotHole Poem: "Peering through a pothole of a Mississauga steamboat..."
(July 28, 2007)
Time Travel to Portugal 1920's-1940's (PotHole Poet Antonio Batista) -- heads up thanks to Don Barber (July 30, 2007)

Click here for John Stewart's Blog, RANDOM ACCESS
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