NJN Network

St Paul, my kinda Christian and writer

By Stephen Pate

I’m not making this up. It’s too funny but too true.

I reported shenanigans over at the Guardian and I was right.  

Here again is the offending comment -well the Saturday one.

Friday was just spite because we scooped them on the real story behind the Alanis Morissette concert.

Here’s the offensive quote – our ears can hardly stand it, send the children outside to play for a few minutes.

St. Paul

Stephen Pate from Charlottetown, PE writes:The plot thickens and the net widens on the biggest corruption scandal in PEI history. MLAs, secret numbered companies, hush money to civil servants, accounting and legal fees inflated many times beyond the norm for Atlantic Canada, now a Deputy and perhaps soon to be discoved Minister and the Premier?

Money is the great corrupter of mankind.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. 1st Timothy 16:10. True then, even more true today.

The Guardian printed this and took it down. Smacks of censorship but it is their ball and they can run home with it.

Working backwards, I’m a St. Paul kinda writer, slam em into the boards Bobby Orr style.

Bobby Orr, stroke stroke stroke and knock 'em into the boards

Under freedom of speech and freedom of religion, I claim my right to read and quote the Bible. Anytime. Bob Dylan does that too – I showed him how way back in the 60’s when I’d read the Bible straight through. Jews do that too before their Bar Mitzvah, which I never had.

Hush Money

“Hush money” or unscheduled overtime of $20,000. Well that’s what the Eastern Graphic, those wild Kings County boys and girls, called it (quoting). I don’t feel too original in using that phrase, kinda borrowed it. They don’t care. They’re from Kings County too.

And a description for the truly skeptical might label the bonuses hush money aimed at keeping the civil service from spilling all the gory details of the Provincial Nominee Program.

I’m from Kings County so hush ma mouth for talkin in the mother tongue. You set out on a wharf in Murray Harbour North and yer’ll hear real plain talking like “hush money” and “hush puppies” and “hush chile, it’s time for bed.”

Biggest corruption scandal

The last offensive quote was “biggest corruption scandal in PEI history”.

I’ve been on the Island since 1957 when my grandmother married Captain Leam Peardon of Valleyfield. Old Leam, he liked to tell stories with the men at Temple Llewellyn’s store in Montague. We’d walk the mile from home once week.

I never heard any stories about scandal like $3 million let alone $300 million at Temple’s and they had some good stories.

Gary MacDougall, Guardian Editor - is it closing time?

Later on my dad, the Editor-in-Chief at CBHT in Halifax took me all over the maritimes on trips setting up “stringers”, people who call in stories from the country. He kept me up-to-date on the big scandals back then and I don’t remember any PEI scandals other than some drinking stories.

I thought Dunder-dave was jib at $7 million for a scandal. Then we got Polar at $30 million. Wow! They never got to the bottom of that one.

My question to Gary MacDougall editor of the Guardian is: which scandal is your biggest?

And now for something completely different.

Leonard Cohen playing “Closing Time” in Dublin at the Royal Hospital on June 13, 2008.

Enjoy.