There is a saying that the true measure of a person’s intelligence is how much they agree with you. That makes Rosie DiManno at the Toronto Star a very intelligent person. We had frankly given up any hope of any writer at the Toronto Star telling the truth about the current casino controversy in the city. Just read her page two story today (April 16, 2013). It is bang on the target!
Mind you, Rosie is a superb writer. It is obvious in everything she writes that she really enjoys writing. And not since the days of Pierre Burton and Gordon Sinclair writing columns has the Toronto Star given a writer the same freedom. Rosie writes what she sees. If anyone dares to edit her copy, it is done with care and respect.
Rosie reminds you of Pierre Burton in one way. Pierre tended to be overly fond of his own wordsmithing. He could always write a thousand words when 200 words could do the job. In the modern 140-character world of Twitter, Pierre Burton would be a dinosaur. Rosie must also be paid by the word. Her columns are typically over 1000 words. You tend to use various speed reading techniques to quickly grasp what she is going on about.
But every word of Rosie’s column today is another gem. She could get into trouble with the Star’s lawyers for referring to one petitioner before city council executive as a “whack-job.” It is unlikely there is a judge who would fine her more than a loonie for that bit of slander. On the Internet, nobody cares.
Rosie gets you laughing by telling you about the petitioner who gives the politicians the raspberry. Here you have some 200 people having their three minutes of fame, making fools of themselves in front of the executive committee. This is high humour. The more she tells you about what they said, the less you understand about the basic question.
But Rosie helps. She recognizes that somewhere in the GTA, there will be a casino. ((She might not be aware of the illegal ones that have been thriving under the radar.) Rosie figures that what the Ontario government wants, the Ontario government gets. And it wants the easy money that a casino offers the proprietors.
Rosie says that the Exhibition grounds or Woodbine would be the best location for the Toronto casino. And that was Babel-on-the-Bay’s stand when this entire dialogue started. Welcome to common sense Rosie!
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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