That's right Jane. Rick is such an upstanding guy.
But after a quick call to the MP’s office, it seems Mr. Dykstra was live-blogging at the event. In fact, he used his BlackBerry to take a picture of the cenotaph and the wreaths around it. Then he sent out a message, which he posted on his website:
“It was a very calm and peaceful two minutes this morning at 11am. With a picture of Warrant Officer Dennis Brown at the foot of the cenotaph. He gave his life in Afghanistan. I took this picture this morning during our ceremony at the Cenotaph in downtown St. Catharines, now named Veteran's Way.”
Let's have a look at the visual evidence again shall we. Notice the thumbs on the keyboard. Notice the index fingers positioned in the typing position around the top of the Balckberry and the other fingers wrapped around the bottom of the Balckberry.
I guess it's okay to live blog a memorial ceremony according to Dykstra's own defense of the offense. He was "live-blogging". Did you here that folks? A sitting MP was "live-blogging" a memorial ceremony. Far more important than just standing there and honouring Canada's finest like everyone else in the picture.
4 comments:
What else can one expect. These MP's have not been educated in social manners. An education isn't only an academic one, but also a cultural and social one. Many people don't know that and those who do, don't bother.
As I commented James - I'm not going to support Dykstra being enamored with his little toy - personally, I think that any MP or MLA "blogging" or "twittering" while they are supposed to be doing their job is offensive - so, I'm not going to stand up and say this was acceptable behavior.
However - as I blogged, the more the LPC and their supporters create "issues" over what are, at worst, faux pas, the more it illustrates the lack of substance coming from their leader, Michael Ignatieff.
It's almost tantamount to acknowledging the Conservatives are doing a good job - otherwise, one might expect more weighty matters to be brought to the public consciousness.
I'd have to agree with Rob, even if he is a Conservative. Scanning all the blogs these past few months, and Liberal supporters seem more enamoured with petty little issues like Rick's "twittering" during Remembrance Day, or the Olympic route ran through mostly Tory ridings, or that the al mighty Charter wasn't mentioned in the new Citizenship Guide (which it is, just not the way Liberals wanted it to be).
I don't think Canadians, especially new Canadians, care about this kind of stuff.
What's irritating/disturbing about the Dykstra situation is that it's such a minor faux pas, but instead of coming out with an apology, we get a smoke and mirror routine to make it seem as though Dykstra never did anything wrong in the first place. It seems typical of Conservatives to dig in their heels, make their hole deeper, before they take responsibility for anything.
But let's consider the bigger issues, like the failure in the flu planning, the Khadr situation, Afghan prison torture, the record deficit, medical isotopes....
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