Mea Culpa

With regard to the apology we issued to Saskatchewan Finance Minister Ron Gantefoer and Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz in our Dec. 18 edition for mis-identifying the latter as the former in a cut-line for a photo that ran in our Nov. 6 issue; I was the person who made the mistake. The weird thing is that I'd actually seen Gantefoer in person last March at an embargoed press conference that he conducted at the Legislature prior to presenting the first Sask Party budget. During that press conference, I was about 15 feet away from him for nearly an hour. So I had a pretty good idea what he looked like. The night we went to press with the Nov. 6 issue, I took a quick look at the file photo accompanying Paul Dechene's article on recently announced provincial tax cuts, said "That's Gantefoer", and wrote the caption: MERRY MAN: Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer's tax cut benefits the poor, but at what cost?

You know how Superman gets ridiculed for the idea that the only real disguise Clark Kent uses to hide his identity as the Man of Steel is a pair of glasses? As if Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and other intimates of his at the Daily Planet wouldn't notice the resemblance, people always joke. After my experience with Gantefoer and Krawetz I'm not so sure. If you see a picture of Krawetz without his glasses, it was pointed out to me by Stephen Whitworth, the difference between the two men is obvious. But in the photo we ran, Krawetz is wearing glasses. With them, it's like one of those "separated at birth" things. Krawetz has slightly darker hair than Gantefoer, and a semi-prominent forehead curl, but otherwise, it's like trying to tell Owen Wilson and Ellen Degeneres apart. Or Sarah Jessica Parker and Dee Snider. Or Warren McCall and Matt Damon.

Still, that's no excuse for the mistake I made. So I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mr. Gantefoer and Mr. Krawetz myself.

Interview Revue '08: Naomi Klein

Back in September. Naomi Klein was passing through Regina on a book tour promoting The Shock Doctrine. I got to interview her in advance of her visit.

I posted the unabridged interview on the Act Up In Saskatchewan website. Harper had just called his federal election and I reckoned the province needed as much Naomi Klein as was available.

Act Up In Sask, by the way, is a great site worth checking out --- great political commentary and their event calendar is invaluable, especially if you're interested in knowing the when and where of progressive gatherings such as rallies, talks and fundraisers. Thanks to them for hosting this interview.

Interview with Naomi Klein

Interview Revue '08: Kevin Miller, Writer For "Expelled"

Back in June I signed up to write an article about the anti-evolution doc Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed starring Ben Stein. You may have seen it mentioned on several critics’ Worst-Of lists.

Turns out the writer and director are from Saskatchewan. (As I mentioned in the article, I accidentally wound up chatting with the family of director Nathan Frankowski after the Regina premier.)

As part of my research, I interviewed the movie’s writer, Kevin Miller, via the email but opted to write a more straight-up review of the film for the prairie dog and didn’t end up using any of it.

In hindsight, I wish I would have challenged him more on the misinformation in the film. Thing is, there was just so much crap in there masquerading as truth I found myself a little overwhelmed.

Anyway, here's the interview in its entirety. As a Google doc. (My first time making one of those so let me know if it doesn't work on your machine.)

Interview with Kevin Miller

Just a couple more days to cast a ballot in the annual prairie dog Best Of Regina poll. You're running out of time to vote for Best Seafood Restaurant, Best Shoe Store (men's), Best Band and Best Place To Have A Car Accident!

Fill out the ballot in the current issue of prairie dog and drop it off at our office (#201-1836 Scarth St.) and grab some Easter candy while you're at it. Or e-mail us here for a digital ballot.
So easy!

Polls close 5:00 p.m. Thursday. (We MIGHT count late ballots, MAYBE, but that's the last day to be eligible for the AWESOME PRIZE: a $500 Cornwall Centre gift certificate!)

Words On Warcraft

Faithful readers of the print version of prairie dog magazine will doubtlessly recall the November 20 cover story we did on the sociology of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) on the occasion of the release November 13 of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. That game proved so popular with millions of hardcore and casual gamers world-wide, apparently, that publisher Blizzard Entertainment accelerated production of the latest expansion to the franchise. It's now expected to hit store shelves in Canada in late January. After checking out the linked news story on the game all I can say is WoW!

In Other News, He's Now Known As Flavor McFlav ...

The Scots claim they invented rap music ... my mum (the pride of Kirriemuir, County Angus, the birthplace of J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan) and Bon Scott must be so proud.

The 'Mad Bomber' Of Saskatoon

Nice to know that the police department that brought us David Milgaard, Neil Stonechild and the starlight tours is working with its customary efficiency. Since owning a chemistry set is enough to have the SPS arrest you for possessing explosives, anybody playing HALO 3 should be arrested as a someone leading a terrorist insurgency.

(Hat Tip to the Zach Bell Show)

A Twist On The Layoff Stories ...

An American reporter on National Public Radio was doing a series of stories about how people who are getting laid off are responsind to the economic crisis. It has an O. Henry-style ending: she got her layoff notice from NPR while doing the project. (NYT registration may be required)

A Surprising Ripple Effect Of The Crash

I had no idea things had gotten quite this bad in the US.

CNN's Your Money show -- once the domain of stock speculation, investment tips and the idol worship of financiers -- is devoting another episode to "Jobs of the Future" (this is the second of these I've seen). It works like this... three business pundits sit around listing jobs that need people and how much you'll earn to start. While I've been watching they've listed off teachers, guidance councillors and home care workers as three growth professions that they're boffo on.

In between these lists of occupations, they're offering advice to job seekers. Apparently now is a great time for freelancers because companies are looking for non-committal relationships with their workers (that's a new thing??).

Business journalism just isn't the glam job it used to be, eh?

If You're Stephen Whitworth, You Don't Want To Read These Stories

Talking to native Winnipegers about the end of the Jets is a frustrating experience. No matter what you say or what evidence you have to prove your point -- that Gary Bettman wanted the Winnipeg franchise moved south to create a national footprint for an American television contract, and would have done it no matter what Winnipegers and Manitobans would have done to save the team -- the mantra is always the same: They blame the city, they blame the province, they blame the business community, and they blame themselves.

Well, as hockey fans know by now, the team is safely ensconsed in that hockey hotbed known as Phoenix, Arizona. And everything is going swimmingly in the desert, right? Somehow, I don't think this was supposed to be part of Gary Bettman's plan ...

Here's the smoking gun. The ESPN article states that the Coyotes have lost $60 million in the past two seasons, and will lose another $30 million this season. Asking for an advance on its television money isn't new, and it doesn't really matter (the club's just asking for its money early) except for two things. Other clubs have a line of credit to draw on whhen cash flow becomes irregular, and what an NHL team makes from it's television contract isn't that much. So if the Coyotes are asking for that money, it must mean that their line of credit is already maxed out, and they're really, really desparate for cash.

Now, would the Winnipeg Jets have lost as much money over the years if they played in Winnipeg instead of Phoenix? And if people thought that hockey in the desert made economic sense, and hockey in a hockey market didn't make sense, what are those people thinking today?