Dear Premier, Our Premier, My Premier: DON'T FUCK THIS UP!

Sources say the price is more than $160 million and the stakeholders are now huddling to determine what comes next. The project will require extra money or the design could be altered to make the stadium fit the $115-million budget used to put together the existing funding package.


Dearest Greg,

Oops, where are my manners? May I call you Greg? No? Am I being too personal? Really? If so, I apologize... err... (ahem) let us start again.

Dear Mr. Premier,
(The same one who promised all Manitoban's we would only be on the hook for no more than $90 MILLION of our hard earned tax dollars to fund yet another Asper vanity project... i.e. a new Winnipeg Football stadium),

Must say sir, I was quite disheartened to read the this news. Forget about the insipid calculated timing of the release of this story mere days after our recent civic election... how odd? Wow, what a coincidence? I mean who knew this was in the pipe? Did you? Did Katz? Did Asper? I bet one of you "True Blue" knew? But as that fat corrupt mafia guy on TV used to say: "fogetta-bout-it". Who-knew-what-when-was-convenient-for-them is not my point here.

My point here, and what is bothering me, is that I fear you, our Premier, my Premier, our Dear Premier, are about to break our trust. I fear that you, our Premier, my Premier, our Dear Premier, may soon succumb to the most debilitating Manitoba political disease of all ... aka: "The AKA's" ("The Asper-Katz Appeasement Syndrome").

I fear that even now this affliction, the "AKA's", may be taking hold of your person and senses and causing you, my Dear Premier, to lose your bearings, good judgment, and moral compass. Please, my Premier, our Premier, ... our Dear Premier, ... please say it isn't so! Please confirm for us that you are healthy. Please confirm, in no uncertain terms, that you are not afflicted. Please confirm you are immune to the "AKA's" by announcing that you refuse, ABSOLUTELY REFUSE, to enter into any further discussions regarding a rejigged/re-vamped funding agreement with either of these these boldfaced opportunists.

You made a deal with Asper... a deal is a deal. Cost overruns are his responsibility. Further, it is his responsibility to deliver the product originally promised (amenities and all). Anything less is a deal breaker. Surely, my Premier, our Premier, my Dear Premier, you don't want to be seen as one who breaks either deals, or the trust of the people - certainly not at this juncture. Not when so much is riding on your integrity. So, my Premier, our Premier, our Dear Premier: NOT ONE MORE RED CENT for the AKA's! Not now, not ever - - A deal is a deal!

On Truth, Trust and Integrity

So when did it become de riguer in our daily lives that we could no longer trust in those who tell us 'truthfully' what they will and won't do? Can't remember for sure, but I think it has a lot to do with the ascension to power of this guy.

Sadly, that 'truth' offered up to us by our leaders, our bosses, and ... all too often, our erstwhile friends, rings false. It wasn't always this way. Once upon a time men stood by their words and meant what they said. Sadly, in this country, this has become rarer than gold.

I mean, if this guy can't stop lying, and this guy can't find the truth and this guy just ducks... what does that leave you with? Your friends? Apparently, even that is a fleeting proposition. In today's world trust is a waning concept. No one seems willing to live up to their promises. No one will commit. And all the 'no one's' do when caught lying is to obfuscate the truth as they try to rationalize why they have broken their word.

Is the telling of truth passe? No, of course not. It just that, some day's, it is at a premium. In an ideal world no one would lie about their motives or pretend their word was not their word!

'No one's' all profess to speak truth. But then so again did Stalin. For them, integrity is just a another word. With no meaning beyond it's sound.

You see, once a 'no one' pledges to do something, and then chooses not to, they always rationalize their failure to honour their word by citing 'changing circumstances', unforeseen imperatives, faux grievance - or just plain expediency. And in their hands, truth and honesty are cheapened. Debased all. In short, the concepts for these people become little more than twisted phrasings - the arsenals of cowards who don't, can't and never will live up to their word.

Pity.

Now, this brings me to Smart Arse. Regrettably we have parted ways. I posted a good bye on Two Ripping Arseholes - but he has taken it down. Now he is accusing me of plagiarism. Oh well. I will not deny that he did have some input on some of the posts published under We Two Arseholes. Good at finding pictures, good at correcting my horrible punctuation and able to offer the occasional turn of phrase - he was important to the process. But of all the posts I moved to this site I can say honestly that the genesis of the ideas were originally mine; save "Debbie Does Taxidermy" which I rightfully should have left on TWA . That idea was truly his; I just typed it. But the fact remains, I carried the heavy water on the other posts. I originally drafted them, re-drafted them, and after sometimes consulting with Smart Arse, I posted them.

I stand by them.

When we decided last November to collaborate on a blog, Smart Arse wanted me to create a new identity for us. Which I did on my computer - ergo Two Ripping Arseholes. After a while it became apparent that Smart Arse was overly worried about 'branding' and 'identity' and the kind of comments I wished to post on other blogs. He didn't want me posting some observations as 'Fat Arse' because he felt it endangered our "image". Thus, I created 1Eyedpecker to serve as an outlet for posts he felt did not reflect his 'vision' of TWA. Also, it allowed me to comment on other people's blogs without having to listen to him say I was 'tainting' the Arsehole's good name. At any rate, I will let others judge if I am guilty (as Smart Arse asserts) of 'schizophrenia' or not.

In the end, people can judge for themselves the merits of Smart Arse's accusations. But by allowing his churlish, petulant and largely baseless comments to remain on this site I think it is self-evident that I am at peace with my decision. One things for sure, he would never let such vitriolic comments appear on (what is now) his site - TWA. He would remove them and, just like a WRHA security tape, deny their very existence. I am choosing not to do that. I'll let the readers see his remarks and judge for themselves who has broken trust. I know I didn't... all I wanted to do was criticize the Doer government.