AlohhhhhhhhhhhhhHA Maui! Aloha *groan* Mississauga (Mississauga Musings)

Video "Allow the Ontario Ombudsman into Municipalities!" Please click here to go directly YouTube

Last day on Maui. Back to *choke*....

Exactly this time last year, I'd have attended just three Mississauga council meetings. That's it, just three. I had decided to see Mississauga Council for myself with my own eyeballs and ears back in mid-June 2006.

When they tossed out and arrested Don Barber on June 7, 2007, I realized that there'd be no city hall Watcher and I knew that I had to step in. Someone's got to do it ---plus, the stories weren't jibing. (All that she said, he said...)

It was tough to decide between Mayor Hazel McCallion and Don Barber back then. Like so many Mississaugans, I'd supported and voted for Hazel McCallion since forever. And then there was Councillor Nando Iannicca's explanation as to why Council had decided to remove Open Question Period.

So there was McCallion and Iannicca on the one hand. Don Barber "trouble-maker", the other. Who to believe?

Edward R. Murrow helped me decide.

"I have always been on the side of the heretics against those who burned them because the heretics so often turned out to be right. . Dead, but right."

---Edward R. Murrow

There ya go.

I managed to observe only two Mississauga General Committee meetings and one Council meeting by last year this time. Since then... from September 2006 to end of June 2007..

Mississauga General Committee meetings
Mississauga Council meetings
Mississauga Municipal Election (all-candidates' meetings plus election night)
Bill 130 Standing Committee Deliberations (Queen's Park)
Read everything from the Ontario Ombudsman's office
Peel Regional General Committee meetings
Peel Regional Council meetings
Mississauga Audit Committee meetings
Read all agendas and minutes from all Council/General Committee for year 2000
Peel Youth Crime Prevention Committee meetings
Peel Police Services Board meetings
The Mississauga Corporate Security vs Don Barber pre-trial
The Mississauga/Pat Saito vs Antonio Batista Trial
"Freedom of Information" requests (quotations around this for the same reason I put quotations around the September 19th Mississauga "Town Hall Meeting")

Dear dear Readers, do not try this at home. It changes you as a person. A more optimistic or a smarter person would certainly have handled this research into municipal government better than me.

Research into municipal government --I can't begin to describe how unhappy it's made me.

A while back I wondered what I'd do if I were presented with a big RESET button. You know, like this one?

And I were allowed to select a pivotal moment that would undo All. Just hit RESET.

Erase memory. Or in my case, return to that happy la-dee-da oblivious life-path I had skipped along before Mississauga municipal government dropped in a quarter and played its perpetual game of Pinball with me.

It's true --Ignorance IS Bliss. It's infinitely a happier Mississaugan who goes about his day just going about his day and believing (if he bothers to read at all) The Mayor's Report and Councillor flyers he gets delivered to his door.

Reassured, he knows he has The Hazel et. al. takin' care o' Business. (Now his MPP might be a pinhead and well, you know what the Premier is like --and his MP might be an even bigger pinhead if he knew that dude's name at all and well --like-- he hasn't seen a decent Prime Minister since what decade was that? At least locally, he knows in his Heart-of-Hearts that Mississ(ShiningBeaconofTrustQualityExcellence)auga shines its Shine.

(YouTube Teleport)

*SIGH*

All I can say is it's a good thing I can produce Response Videos...

(YouTube Teleport)

and can draw cartoons.

HAZEL MCCALLION and ANDRE MARIN

Especially the cartoons --they help keep me grounded in reality.

Before this week's cartoons though I just want to thank The Mississauga News for hosting this Blog. I really can't express how grateful I am for the opportunity. They've served up some terrific editorials since I've been paying attention to government. But the best thing they ever wrote also arrived at a time when I needed to read the words the most. I thank The Mississauga News for this too.

It's a mantra of sorts that I've attached permanently to the bottom of this Citizen-Blog.

"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear."

---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)

"every possible tactic"... which brings us to this week's cartoons...

Seems someone else is leaving Maui today and going to Mississauga. (I wonder if we'll be on the same flight as Howzit and his action figure Yoda.. If so, I just hope we get to go through Security before they do...)

AlohhhhhhhhhhhhhHA!

c070901at

c070901bt

c070901ct

Signed,
The (HELP! I don't want to go back to Mississauga!) Mississauga Muse

P.S. Yes. I know. No one feels sorry for me. :-)
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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)