Well, it's been 10 days since the edstelmach.ca fiasco began last week and I'm still surprised that it's still getting the media attention that it is. As I'm in and out of classes at the University of Alberta this week, I seem to be unintentionally playing a game of phone tag with one Mr. Ron Glen (who's .ca domain name is apparently still available...).
It's been a little quieter this week, which is good because I have now had a chance to catch up on the reading that I didn't get done last week because of edstelmach.ca. I'm looking forward to things dying down a little so I can concentrate on my courses before the expected provincial election begins in February (two new interesting classes I'm taking include POLS 419: Politics of the Canadian Constitution and HIST 460: Water History: Local, National, and Continental).
Here is some of the media coverage from this week:
- Is Stelmach made of Velcro or Teflon? (Graham Thomson in the Edmonton Journal)
- Stelmach's legal threats against blogger spawn backlash (Globe & Mail)
- Web-savviness not PC's domain (The Gateway)
- Stelmach's seeming lack of foresight unsettling (Letter to the Gateway)
- Will the real Ed please stand up (Calgary Sun)
- I was on CBC Radio's Search Engine radio show which aired this morning.
And to echo the Edmonton Journal's editorial "Tuppence for a smile," I think some people might need to take a breather and lighten up a bit...
Appropriation of premier's name for website an invasion of privacy
The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Re: "Tuppence for a smile," Editorial, Jan. 11.
The Journal calls the controversy over the website www.edstelmach.ca "a truly magnificent prank"? Horse manure.
How about invasion of privacy -- with an ulterior motive? Cournoyer sets up the domain, worsens the problem by pointing it to an Internet article about former Social Credit leader Harry Strom name, and then suggests that Stelmach should have registered his name first.
Cournoyer did not outsmart anyone. His actions have done nothing to enhance the Liberal party of Wilfrid Laurier and Louis St. Laurent.
Stelmach carries the very responsible position of premier. I expect he does more work in a day than Cournoyer has done in the last year. Stelmach concentrates on important issues and already has addressed teachers' pensions and royalties, among other issues.
I am an emeritus professor at the University of Alberta. My position has been debased by Cournoyer's actions, as he is a U of A student.
There are some jobs to be done: Kevin Taft should throw him out of the Liberal party. The president of the U of A should take away his student registration. Who can teach him some manners?
D.J. Laurie Kennedy, Edmonton
Posts
16 comments:
Wow I think that prof should just smoke up and chill out a bit. Talk about a major stiff.
He is representative of the stodgy old guard that are about to be turfed.
Hey old PC farts, your days of entitlement are about to end.
As a UofA Alumni and PC Alumni... Well done!
I wonder if Ed is an alumni to a high school?
Triscuits taste better with cheese.
I hope Ed Stelmach is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.
Is Dave Cournoyer the next Rod Love?
Calgary Herald
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Re: "Stelmach threatens to sue over web address," Jan. 9.
University student Dave Cournoyer has accomplished a marketing miracle, having made nearly $8 a month marketing Ed Stelmach's persona.
The Tory brain trust who managed to lose the seat Ralph Klein held for many years should offer this fellow a job. Who would have thought that a persona like Ed's would be worth so much?
Ed, don't sue -- this could be the next Rod Love.
Bob Cameron, Calgary
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/letters/story.html?id=8e48a93d-3092-4b36-881e-7450e83f5336
If U of A really wants to be the best university among other famous universities by 2020, the president should remove the professor from teaching or researching.
engineering students at the u of a have been 'debased' by kennedy's actions. he should be thrown out of the u of a for using his position to advocate a political position. his actions reflect poorly on the engineering department at the u of a.
he should be thrown out of the u of a for using his position to advocate a political position.
If that's the case, we can get rid of a whole lot of useless left-wing jokes pretending to be UofA professors.
Edmonton Journal darling David Marples, for example.
Firstly, the Liberal Parties of Wilfred Laurier and Louis St. Laurent would have been federal not provincial so any comparison to the Alberta Liberals is purely fictional.
Secondly, if Professor Kennedy feels his position has been debased it would involve a limited number of people because I don't think many people know who he is anyway.
And thirdly, pehaps he should either bend over and ask someone to gently remove the stick from his butt or ask for help down from his high horse.
Invasion of privacy? What the hell? Is this professor suggesting that people shouldn't know the name of Ed Stelmach? (Hmm.. on second thought..) Because that's the only thing related to his "private" life that one can get from either the Harry Strom page or this one.
Thank goodness this guy is retired already. "Emeritus"? More like "Embarrassing".
You should no better then to mess with Dave, he is a political tiget that will eat your face. SO watch out
Hmmm... Maybe we ought to be more concerned with the students who get drunk at the bars, or the ones that wear the silly Bermuda shorts. Or the female student who works as a lap dancer while obtaining her law degree.
How's this - to ensure that everyone meets this chaps standards we will introduce uniforms to the university, and dictate how students are to behave both on and off campus. All email correspondence will be strictly monitored, as will my space pages for any hint of impropriety.
You go Dave! We're proud of you - you are the steller example of what a University student SHOULD be.
Holy cow! Overreaction. Yeah, Taft should throw him out, U of A should throw him out, Alberta should throw him out and honestly, so should all of Canada, though you'd have a hard time convincing those bleeding hearts in BC.
Honestly, who does this professor think Cournoyer messed with? Ralph Klein? Ha!
Makes me wonder what he contributed to "Canadian Standards" to receive an award?
Maybe that, you actually have to be a mean spirited asshole, to be a conservative? Not that there's anything wrong with that as standard!
Yeah right.
Ok so, if all Liberals are lazy, dope head, malcontents who have never contributed, what then are Conservatives?
Hmmmer. Things that make ya' go hmmm?
"Stelmach carries the very responsible position of premier. I expect he does more work in a day than Cournoyer has done in the last year."
To me the volume of work the Premier has done in the past year is still irrelevant compared to the fact that Alberta hasn't had a Premier with an undergraduate degree since 1992. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'd love to be wrong about this. Call me an elitist snob, but I don't see how we can elevate people to the intellectual rigours and demands of high office without expecting them to be educated. The 'school of hard knocks' just doesn't cut it when you have to make decisions about social, political, and economic policies that require a grounding in knowledge that you can't truly get otherwise. Only the incredibly well-read could compensate for lacking a degree, but Premier Stelmach does not present himself as such. Kudos to Dave for pursuing his education.
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