rondi adamson.ca

Alright, these self-important twits have sort of got the right idea, but not quite:

A hang-out session with Margaret Atwood or lunch with Michael Ondaatje are among the prizes in a new contest spearheaded by library supporters in Toronto.

A group of activists opposing proposed branch closures, service and program reductions for Toronto's library system — among a host of auditor-recommended cost-cutting measures for the city — joined a host of acclaimed writers in Toronto Thursday morning to announce details of the contest.

Prize-winning authors Atwood, Ondaatje, Vincent Lam, Linwood Barclay, and Susan Swan are just a few of the literary celebrities who are calling on the public to submit short essays and videos on the theme of "Why My Library Matters to Me." The competition is also open to children, who may submit drawings or short written pieces.

Apart from the obvious -- who on earth would want to hang out with Atwood or Ondaatje? -- they've got the wrong currency. People shouldn't submit essays and drawings and videos. They should submit bids of actual money to donate to libraries, as per my recent article.

Everyone is going bonkers about Blatchford's article  (which right away should tell you that the woman does her job) -- I think the timing is perhaps not optimal, but it is wrongly being portrayed as an attack on Layton, where it is primarily an attack on media coverage of his death.

How fitting that his death should have been turned into such a thoroughly public spectacle, where from early morn Monday, television anchors donned their most funereal faces, producers dug out the heavy organ music, reporters who would never dream of addressing any other politician by first name only were proudly calling him “Jack” and even serious journalists like Evan Solomon of the CBC repeatedly spoke of the difficulty “as we all try to cope” with the news of Mr. Layton’s death.

By mid-day, after Prime Minister Stephen Harper had offered a few warm words about Mr. Layton’s death and rued that their oft-talked-about jam session had never happened, Mr. Solomon even expressed sniping surprise that “Jack Layton wasn’t the sole focus” of the Prime Minister’s remarks.

Mr. Harper, who clearly had not spent the day watching the national broadcaster and thus was unaware that the NDP Leader’s death was the only story of note, had gone on to mention the families of the 12 people (including six-year-old Cheyenne Eckalook; now there’s someone who died far too young) who perished in the Arctic plane crash on Saturday and the tumultuous events in Libya.

(Emphasis mine.) Evan Solomon is a serious journalist? Since when?

And she points out a few things about his letter. I have to admit, when I heard he had written a "letter to Canadians" my first thought was "Barf Alert!" But I read it and while it could have used some editing, it was ok. Except for this:

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world's environment. We can restore our good name in the world.

We can restore our good name? So it's lost? And I mean, this was in the part of the letter addressed to all Canadians! Presumably, some of those "all Canadians" don't think our good name has been lost. I mean, since Harper became PM I am no longer embarrassed by my country's foreign policy. Perhaps Layton should have stuck that line in the section addressed to NDPers. (That's what I mean about editing.)