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“ That’s stupid. Your questions are ridiculous. Y’all ask crazy questions.”

Sulking basketball superstar Vince Carter attacks the press and does little to win back fans he has scorned.

U of T-rex fumbles football plan

U of T is/was the perfect site for a stadium/shopping complex to house the CFL Argos and the university’s teams. The project’s got tradition, a great location at Bloor and Bedford, plenty of transit and would provide revenue for the school. But U of T-rex is bailing, claiming a $20-million cost increase puts the scheme out of reach. Considering the donor cash the school’s swimming in and other revenue sources available to it, that sounds like chump change. It would all have been easier if Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment were still part of the deal. The company bailed, not wanting to spend money up front. Now MLSE has scooped up the publicly funded Ricoh Centre for its American Hockey League franchise. Watch for condos to sprout on Bloor where a great public-private sports collaboration could have flourished.

Star dishes double-talk

The Toronto Star out-double-talked its beloved Fiberals in an effort to bolster the faltering party. Try to follow this weekend’s reflection on one year of McGuinty lies, er, government. “McGuinty cannot escape the charge of broken promises, especially on the move to levy the health premium, which flew in the face of his unwise campaign pledge to not raise taxes. The decision was the right one. He had pledged to boost spending for the cash-strapped health care sector. We see it as a promise kept – not a promise broken.”

CanWest Cancon crap

A contradictory communication from CanWest’s Winnipeg HQ announced that Global Television’s owners have hired a pile of Americans to deliver on its promise to increase Canadian TV production. The history of the network Izzy Asper started is a series of broken vows to the CRTC – pledges for Canadian programming ignored, botched or half-heartedly attempted. Had to cringe as sycophantic subsidiary the National Post reported on its bosses’ move as “bold,” “ambitious” and guaranteed to drive growth.

Smitherman slimes public

Once promising provincial Liberal health minister George Smitherman claims, “There is no bribe here” about a controversial – and secret – new deal with doctors. Sure smells like a bribe when the increasingly slippery Smitherman offers to put $50 million into the fund used to pay Ontario’s doctors if they’ll cut $200 million in prescriptions for seniors, the poor and the disabled. And if doctors are “over-prescribing,” as Smitherman claims, shouldn’t they just correct it, and consider holistic options, without a cash payout at the end?

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