Are you watching me up there?

That was one question asked to Santa Claus during by a little boy named Cameron. Yvonne and I nearly died listening to all the kids during hour number 2 - it was so cute! I love the innocence and kids and their utter honesty. Santa asked one little girl what she was doing and she said "I'm licking a popsicle". Another kids asked for some "vampire things", it was awesome. Another honest moment was this:

Santa: Do you like school?
Kid: Not really.

He did like gym class though!

It was a great hour and big props to Santa for taking time out of his busy schedule to come talk to the great kids in Halifax. I asked Yvonne to ask Santa how I stood in his book this year and he says I had a couple of dicey moments, but if I'm good for the new few days, I could be in line for a present on December 25th. Thanks, Santa!! I have to definitely echo what Yvonne said when she was asked what she wanted for Christmas. We are so lucky to be able to give and receive gifts that, honestly, we don't even really need. Gratitude is everything and what a great lesson for kids to remember how lucky we really are, with or without the presents.

Despite that - one of the toys mentioned a couple of times was "Butterscotch". You've got to check this thing out:

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-76471-FurReal-Friends-Butterscotch/dp/B000F2JZKO

My brother and sister-in-law bought it for my niece and she's going to love it. You don't even want to know how many batteries this thing takes. You can actually feed this horse real carrots!!

On a completely unrelated topic, great call from Mohammed today about Muslims in the media. That is something that is definitely an issue. Rick was thinking about doing a show on the topic in the new year, Yvonne says she's going to mention it to him. I think Mohammed definitely had a good point, even though if an Evangelical Christian murdered his daughter because she got pregnant underage or something, religion would definitely be an issue there too. Another issue is reporters always come at something from an angle. They ask why, because their listeners and viewers ask the very same questions. It's an interesting debate and thanks to Mohammed for calling and bringing it up. He sounded incredibly frustrated, it's not hard to see why he would feel that way.

Well, this is going to be my last blog for 2007. It is an honour to work on the Hotline and I'm flattered that anyone wants to read my thoughts after the show. I want to thank you so much for listening, reading the blog, taking the poll and overall being a part of the best call-in talk show in Metro.

I want to wish you the happiest of holidays - whatever you celebrate!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Amber

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It is really snowing right now, but it's not bugging me. Snow around Christmas is pretty much the only time it's acceptable. Yes, I know, I live in the wrong province! Cindy Day absolutely loves snow and I think her love it might be rubbing off on me! It does look kind of pretty outside, it would look prettier if I were at home with my Christmas tree and not at work!

Yvonne had a great show today! I wasn't surprised - she's such a pro! A huge line-up to start at 10 to speak to her - if you got a busy signal that's why. We had an interesting political discussion with Mike Savage and Alexa McDonough during hour number 2. Alexa's disdain for Brian Mulroney was kind of obvious, wasn't it? We totally switched gears and spoke about what Mike Savage had wanted to talk about - Christmas!! We heard lots of Christmas stories during the third hour which was really nice. We gave away three copies of Bruce Nunn's latest book called Buddy the Bluenose Reindeer and the Boston Christmas Tree Adventure. It looks like a really great book, here is the link:

http://www.nimbus.ns.ca/Store/CatalogItem/tabid/904/ProductID/4873/Default.aspx

Here is his website if you want to check it out:

http://www.geocities.com/mrnsknowitall/main.htm

It was a fun hour and in the newsroom after the Hotline, Bruce's mom called and wanted to speak with Yvonne. She wanted to tell her how much she enjoyed the hour! Thanks, Bruce's mom!

Tomorrow is going to be so great. Santa Claus will be our special guest during the second hour of the show. It is always so great to hear the kids talking to Santa and giving their Christmas lists, etc. I can't wait! That starts at 11...it's sure to be busy, so just keep trying if you get a busy signal.

Be sure to tune in - it's the last Hotline show of 2007! I don't even think I could put into words how fast this year has gone by. It's been an absolute blast though, big thanks to Rick and Yvonne for lots of fun times this year!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

Amber

It really felt good

That's quote from Bill Casey who was very honoured to win Hotline Nova Scotian of the Year. A huge congrats to Bill and to our runners up Travis Price and David Shepard, the two students who launched the Pink Protest at Central Kings Rural High School. Both of them told Rick they want to do degrees in criminology and then become RCMP officers. I think they are great kids and I wish them the best of luck. However, I voted for Bill Casey who did the right thing, stood up for Nova Scotia and did it for us, not for himself. His motives were pure; when is the last time you said that about a politician. A big congratulations goes out Tina Chaulk (who had a very strong following on the internet) and Jim Connors. We have so many great people in this province - can't wait until next year.

I want to wish one of our listeners our condolences. Joan Murphy lost her husband on Monday after a battle with cancer. The obit is in the Chronicle-Herald today. Despite her fierce battles with Cecil, Joan is one of the sweetest ladies and she was so devoted to her husband. She is devestated and it's so sad. We care about you Joan, and we're keeping you in our thoughts.

So, it was Rick's last show of 2007 and Yvonne will be in for the next two days. It's been another crazy year, my second full year of working with Rick on the show. I don't even want to add up how many phone calls I answered this year, it would be in the thousands. The Fage issue kept us busy during the dog days of winter in January, so we can only hope there will be another juicy scandal to keep the phone lines lit up through those long winter months!

Thank you so much for all the Christmas greetings and calls today and thanks for your participating in the Hotliner of the year contest. We wouldn't have a show without the listeners, so THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Merry Christmas, and I'll chat with you tomorrow during Yvonne's show!

Cheers,

Amber

P.S. Ben, Rick is going to PEI!!!! HA! Now that he's on vacation he can't strangle me for telling you!!!!!!

Good for your blood circulation!

God love the mayor.

He purposely comes in just in the nick of time for every in studio interview. He does it because he knows it drives Rick crazy. Rick paces around the hallway, orders me to call the Mayor on his cell and tell him to "get his butt in here" and it's just hilarious because Rick normally pretty unfazed by everything. So, the Mayor comes in with this mischievious smile and Rick is freaking out and the Mayor says, "Rick, it's good for your blood circulation". Ha ha! It was great. Plus, the Mayor brought us some truffles, so he can't be all that bad!

Caller Kim made a pretty valid point today about elections. It is pretty sad that the newest member of city council received 600 votes of a possible 12-thousand! Something about that doesn't seem right, does it? I think Jackie Barkhouse took some unfair hits on the show today, but hey, welcome to politics - it's a dirty business.

Here is some breaking news for ya - Ernie Fage will NOT be allowed to run as a Conservative in the next election. Rodney is not sticking by his man for a third time, which I think is the smart thing to do.

In other political news, I've got to give the Liberals some props. I've come down pretty hard on Stephen MacNeil in this blog, but with the help of the Tories, the Liberals got a lot of good ink this very short session and are trumpeting their accomplishments with a very effective ad in the Daily News today.

Very exciting - we will be announcing our 2007 Hotline Nova Scotian of the Year tomorrow! It's Rick's last show, Yvonne will be filling in on Thursday and Friday. So...scroll down a bit on the blog and cast your vote! Apparently Rick will be on the CTV news tonight with Steve Murphy - check it out!

Well, that's it from me today. Be sure to tune in for Rick's last show of 2007!!

Cheers and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Amber

They came in, they breathed

That was the word from the always entertaining Curtis Sliwa today about his new Halifax Guardian Angels recruits! There were about 20 people there interested in becoming members, but they still have to undergo background checks and the like. Some of the callers echoed my position today on the show - that the Angels are here to help Halifax. As Sliwa said, they will be going out and patrolling, it's not going to be Deathwish with Charles Bronson, they are walking around and will report crimes if they see them, they aren't another dangerous gang who will willfully incite trouble. How about we appreciate people trying to help and stop coddling the criminals?

How about that storm last night? The winds were so strong, my house was shaking around all night long! I think it was a good decision to cancel school because I walked today and was slipping and sliding all the way to work. Plus, what wasn't frozen was just puddles so I got 2 major soakers and had to go buy new socks at Shoppers! The laces on my boots broke as I was putting them on at home...yes it was that kind of morning. Luckily, things got better at work when we played trivia during hour number 2! That is my absolute favourite thing to do on the show. Anyway, thanks for your calls, it was a lot of fun and congrats to our winners: Shirley and Craig.

I cannot believe Hotline listeners were dumping on pregnant women today! The pink spots are courtesy spots for someone who may be pregnant or a mom with small kids. At our big malls, what are there like 4 out of 7-thousand parking spots? I found it kind of ironic that Hotline listeners would pitch in to help someone with 5 kids pay their power bill, but would disagree with a mom like Heather being able to park close to the grocery store while managing her brood? It was a good debate though - you just never know what's going to be a hot button topic on the Hotline! Big thanks for Jerbear for raising the issue of handicapped parking with us on the pre-show with Rick, Deb and Caroline.

One week until Christmas eve...are you excited? I managed to get my tree up on Saturday, wrote out my Christmas cards yesterday and now the countdown is on! Rick will be taking Thursday and Friday off, and Yvonne will be back so I'm really looking forward to that. Santa will pay us a visit on Friday, so make sure you call in so your kids can chat with the big man himself.

Have a good one!

Merry Christmas,

Amber

I missed it!

I can't believe it. After plugging Rick's appearance on Cecil's show yesterday - I completely forgot to tune in!! Apparently, Rick did well and I'll definitely have to catch part two next week on Eastlink.

Cecil made an appearance on our show during hour number 2 and it was a fun hour. It's always great having Cecil in - he loves giving it to Rick and I love hearing it! He threw out the ultimate insult to Rick - bringing up his beloved Montreal Expos. I had to play the feral cat sound effect for that one. Touche!

A pretty good day today, lots of different issues from an elderly man losing his Santa garb to the closing of the MacTara mill. How horrible...finding out you're losing your job with 2 weeks before Christmas. Yikes. Another caller talked to us about pet stores and the fact one local stores had dead fish floating in the tank. When he pointed this out to an employee, the guy told him that's how that particular breed swims! Uh, okay. As Rick called them, the "upside down floating dead fish" variety.

A big congrats to Keith LeBlanc who was the winner of legislature poll. He guessed 16 days and a short 16 days it was. Looks like Nova Scotia is well on its way to being the province where the MLAs serve the least amount of time in the legislature! Congrats to us!

Anyway, it's Friday! When Rick wrapped up the show and started talking about having a good weekend, I was stunned - this week went by so fast!!

Have a great weekend - be patient out there. There is some snow on the way for tonight and we're getting a Nor'easter starting Sunday afternoon - could see up to 30 centimetres according to my friend Cindy Day!

Merry Christmas,

Amber

Anti-obesity pasta

Seriously.

Brian Mulroney just read a letter from Karlheinz Schreiber about this "pasta business". They were apparently going to cure obesity in the United States by introducing an "anti-obesity pasta" to school cafeterias in the U.S.! I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard that! 300-thousand dollars...for that?

This testimony is incredibly fascinating! B.M. is kind of funny, he just made a pretty funny joke about the Liberals supporting the GST. He's very smooth too, I'll give him that. But, would K.H.S. put himself through this simply to stay in Canada? Is that his only motive? Who to believe? They are both equally unsavoury.

Peter Duffy paid us a very entertaining visit during hour number 2 today. He became very sarcastic with the Deputy Mayor of Wolfville who called to defend their no smoking in cars with kids by-law. Peter says we live in a "Nanny State" where citizens are so laden with laws, one isn't encouraged to accept any personal responsibility for individual actions at all. I'm definitely with Peter on this one. Although I definitely think it's wrong to smoke in the car with kids, do we need to legislate that? I've written it before - I don't think one level of government should be able to legislate on something that is legal and that other governments are profiting from. That's hypocrisy. In turn, municipalities get some of the taxes on cigarettes from the other levels of government. Hypocrisy, anyone?

Another topic was P.D.'s hate-on for blue Christmas lights. As Rick was wrapping up the show I glanced around the studio. Everyone Christmas decoration in the room is blue! I can't believe I didn't notice that as Peter was going on his rant! Rick and I had a good laugh after the show about that! I'll try to remember to take a pic of the studio and post it. Remember, you can catch Duffy's columns in the Chronicle-Herald every Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday.

Hey - tune in to Eastlink @ 8pm tonight. Cecil Wright has his own show and guess who is his guest of honour tonight - THE RICKSTER! Our buddy Cecil will be on for sports during hour number 2 tomorrow.

Still dealing with this cold! Blah!!

Joan (Cecil's nemesis) called and gave us an update on her husband. He's not doing too well and she needs us - keep them in your thoughts, okay?

Thanks...have a good one!

Amber

It's going around

This stupid cold, I mean! Yesterday around 3:30, I started getting the sniffles. No problem. Then 2 hours later, it's a full on cold!! It's not so bad though, my head just feels very heavy. That could be, as I told Rick, on account of my huge brain. Ha!

Hey...you should check out this website that's up and running. Thanks to Will for the heads up today. It's www.citizensforhalifax.ca and it's the new website for the group with the hit list of city councillors in the next election. The website is very civilized though, and does not refer to any upcoming political massacre. Check it out - if you become a "citizen", give us a call on the Hotline and let us know why!

So...Keith Urban is one of the concerts on the Commons next summer. I ran it by my boyfriend who is in the music biz...and he thinks it's going to be a big draw. Rick says Deb thinks he's hot. He's okay, he's a little too pretty for me. Apparently one of the other performers has a hit called "Hold my beer". Harold MacKay told Rick he's working on more concerts for the summer. If the Eagles don't come this year - I fear for us. I fear that we will never hear the end of the Rick wanting to see the Eagles saga. Help us, Harold. It's for the greater good.

That was kind of a shocking statistic today from Doug Hadley that only 30 per cent of students showed up at Auburn Drive today. Is it students taking advantage of the situation or a real fear that there could be another outbreak of violence at the school?

I completely agree with the councillors last night who say forget the fast ferry - and bring on more Metro Link buses! They have proven popular with commuters. One of the most intelligent things I heard was from Chebucto Rd. widening opponent Kevin Moynihan a few weeks back. Why not do a Metro Link bus from Exhibition Park to downtown Halifax? And now they say Clayton Park won't get Metro Link until 2012? Insanity.

I just wanted to mention to anyone who didn't hear - Brian Phillips' surgery for his knees went well! We wish Brian a speedy recovery and cannot wait to hear his one liners on the air again!

Random moment from this year: (from Brian to Ben) "Green side up this time!"

Have a great day!

Amber

I miss Jean Chretien

I stayed up late to watch an interview with Jean Chretien last night on TV. Watching I realized how much I missed him and what a great Prime Minister he was! He's tough, smart, yet affable. I really want to read his book. I had to give Rick back his copy of the Brian Mulroney book, honestly, I couldn't get through it. The guy is so incredibly pompous. There is a paragraph about something that happened, then a journal entry from the time. It.is.so.boring.

What do you think about this new crime strategy? I think it sounds okay, but what is with this government and the major delays on things that might actually do some good? Greenhouse gas reductions by 2020, the mental health court up and running by the end of 2009? We don't trust governments as it is, so it's a little hard for me to believe the programs will be up and running by the time they say - heck, they could be booted from office at that point!

For those interested in St. Patrick's Church on Brunswick St. here is the website Blair told us about:

http://www.givesaintpatrickahand.com/

I want to give a shout-out to my buddy Ben on PEI! Whoo-hoo!! I, like Ben, am a huge Gloria McCluskey fan. He's nominated her for Hotline Nova Scotian of the Year! We'll see if she makes the cut tomorrow. Rick will list the top 4 or 5 candidates and then we'll vote until next week. We'll have to see if they are shutting down the leg. too, and we'll have to count the days to see who won our leg. poll. If they just close for Christmas, we'll keep tallying the January numbers too, but Rick thinks they are going to shut it down soon! What a farce.

A big thank you to the Hotline listeners who opened their wallets to help a stranger. That speaks to the generosity and caring natures of the Hotline listeners and it's very touching. Thanks again!

Have a great day! Here's another thing I like to say: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Amber

Maelstrom Monday

I didn't know what to expect today after being gone for a week, but I was tossed into things pretty quickly! We had a little bit of snow this morning, a story about a mom who couldn't pay her phone bill and an interview with Margaret Murphy. I nearly fell over when she agreed to speak to Rick because she hasn't been on the air with him since Hurricane Juan - that's right, 4 years ago! They had a good chat about the policy for cutting off people's power and we actually found out something new - they have an ombudsman named Mr. Farmer who helps people who have problems with the utility! Good to know - now that we know the information, I expect Mr. Farmer is going to be a busy man! The most hilarious thing was that as they were chatting - the power went out! We lost all of our phone lines and I had to call Margaret back to get her on the air. The power is back on in the central Halifax area now.

During hour number 2, one of my favourite councillors stopped in for a visit - that is, of course, Gloria McCluskey. Jim told me off the air that he wanted to challenge Gloria, and I put him in the line-up, while at the same time saying a wee prayer for the nice man! I wouldn't want to meet Gloria in a dark alley, that's all I'm saying - she's the toughest lady I know. I know it's totally against my journalistic integrity to gush over a councillor, but I just think she is amazing. With her, Councillor Macaroni, as one caller referred to him as, aka Harry McInroy, who was in a bit of pain after hurting his back shovelling his snow! Feel better, councillor!

So, I visited my hometown of Windsor, Ontario last week and had a great visit with my family. I'm kind of sad today because I miss them so much, especially my niece who is about to turn 3 years old. Windsor is known for being the home of the big 3, which is why it is in recession right now because a lot of the plants are closing. My point is, most people have cars. However, since the last time I visited, the majority of streets have painted bike lanes on them! Halifax, a city with tonnes of cyclists has what - 1 lane that's in the middle of the Bedford Highway? It's really not that difficult, it's the issue of painting a solitary while line 2 feet from the curb. I drove a lot when I was home and it was just so awesome. It was awesome because when I was making a left hand turn, I wasn't fearing for my life. It's because on all major intersections, there is a dedicated left hand turn lane with its own light. It's so safe and makes SENSE. Yesterday, my friend and I almost died trying to turn left on Almon from Robie street, as there is no advance arrow and you have pressure from cars behind you trying to turn as well. Put a green arrow at least at major intersections like that - it will improve flow and improve safety.

But what do I know? Rick's accused me of changing from being in Ontario for one week because I wasn't feeling all that much sympathy for the plight of "Heather". I guess my point is everyone has a sad story, everyone has debt, but we all have to make choices that help us to manage it. I'm so excited for Heritage gas to be up and running - give NS Power a little competition, maybe then the rates will come down a bit.

Anyway....time to write some news! It was great to talk to you today - oh, and thanks again for making the Hotline the number 1 show in Halifax!!

Cheers!

Amber

Celebrities on the Hotline

You could feel a palpable buzz in the halls of the pink palace this morning. It was all because of a man named Bret Hart, one of the most famous wrestlers in the world who was our guest during hour number 2.

Rick asked me what I thought about him after he left. He's very hard to describe. He wasn't overly jovial, but he also wasn't. He was kind of zen. He was calm, and seemed a little world weary. It seemed like nothing could faze him, and he was genuinely moved by the comments made by Hotline listeners today. It was great that we heard from some true superfans today! Anyway, it was very cool and David Rodenhiser was such a fan he stuck around for the hour! Little known fact: Bret started wrestling as "Buddy the Heartthrob". He looked very sheepish as he made that admission. Good news - he says Roddy Piper beat cancer which is good to hear. He says Andre the Giant was an incredible athlete (which I was suprised by) and that Andre actually played national soccer in France before he got too big. He blames the Chris Benoit tragedy on concussions and not steroids, which was interesting to hear.

Speaking of Rodenhiser, another and opinionated hour with him to start off the Friday free for all. I am in complete agreement with what he says about squeegee kids. They shouldn't be in the streets and it's a toss up whether they are even out there telling the truth or not.

Gloria kills me every time she comes on the air! The "venerable iron lady of Dartmouth" as Rick calls her was in fine form today. She told me on the phone she was shaking and I naively asked her why, was she outside? She said, no, I'm so scared I'm going to lose my job now because of Don Mills! Ha! Everything she said was dripping with sarcasm today and I loved every minute of it. She called Bill Black a "two time loser" and said this group was essentially a south-end boys' club! Another super sarcastic quote "They know so much, they are so intelligent". Rick and I were dying, she is at the top of her game. I wish I could have seen her in action as Mayor of Dartmouth! I love Gloria!

Well, I'm off next week, so when you call you're going to hear the mellifluous tones of Austin Price! No blogging, so I'll catch you back on the show December 10th. Be nice to Rick!!

Cheers!

Amber

Up with Chavez!

Caller Barry, who lives in the South end of Halifax, and I have a familiar routine. I say "How are you" and he says "Grumpy". I am always happy to hear that because grumpy people have the best complaints and that makes the Hotline so much fun to listen to! Anyway, Barry was actually in good spirits today and says we sould appeal to Chavez in Venezuela for some cheap oil so many seniors can survive the winter!! Thanks for the suggestion, Barry!

I'm currently riveted to Karlheinz Schreiber's testimony in front of the Commons Ethics committee. He's crafty. He's not going to answer any questions until he gets the details of his extradition sorted! Nice move! It is really high drama with some gasps going through the gallery. I love politics!!! Now Schreiber is answering a few questions, he says he had an agreement with Mulroney, but never had offered him any employment. As for the 300-thousand dollars, a member of Parliament asked why not write a cheque - and Schreiber said simply, "The cash was available" and refused to mention anything more.

It was interesting when Jim brought up the point about no one saying boo about Ozzy Osbourne coming to town! I mean, this is a guy who bit the head off a dove, is an admitted drug addict and is generally regarded as kind of messed up. In fact, I read Motley Crue's autobiography a few years back and one of the members actually witnessed Ozzy snort a line of ants!! Great book, by the way. Anyway, Jim's point is that Celine is squeaky clean, one of the biggest stars in the world and there was an outcry. Rick said we weren't interested in that concert and I'm just wondering - what is this city interested in? Moncton is going after a CFL team, what do we want? Does this city have a future? Sometimes, I'm not sure.

This HMCS Toronto business is interesting. I was initally aghast, but ex-Navy wife Mary essentially said the wives/husbands need to suck it up! I think both reasons being tossed around why the ship will be coming in on Tuesday instead of Sunday are both equally lame. The first - they need to save gas money? The second - that Peter MacKay can't make it on Sunday to welcome the frigate home - LAME. I can imagine how the families could feel so disappointed though - you have marked that date on the calendar and have to wait two more days. I know 2 days isn't a long time, but when you have your heart set on something...it feels like an eternity.

Walter Thomson was such an interesting guest during hour number 2. Normally, you hear about someone who defends civil liberties and you're picturing someone who is so far to the left it's out of control. You know, someone Gene would label a "Commie"! Walter though, was incredibly balanced and it was very interesting to hear his take on some of the big issues going on right now. I did learn something too: Walter says we have the freedom to be as crazy as we want to be. Good to know.

Caller Shannon voiced her concern about the malls/stores opening on Boxing Day. Even though I have no issue with Sunday shopping (it's been a godsend for me this year), I do think the stores should be closed on Stat. holidays. Let's hope the Liberals do get behind this and support the NDP.

Well, I'm going to go watch more of these proceedings on TV. Total soap opera.

Cheers,

Amber

Smoking

Rick's conversation with the Mayor of Bridgewater certainly sparked a good number of calls and a diatribe from Rick himself about smoking. Rick thinks we should ban cigarettes and I agree, but if there's one thing I hate more than smelling cigarette smoke, it's the hypocrisy of governments collecting tax money off these things, while at the same time spending money trying to get people to stop smoking. PLEASE! In Bridgewater, they've moving forward with a bill that would ban cigarettes from all public places, including walking down the sidewalk. Here's the thing, I don't think you can have one level of government decide something when another level of government profits off it. Cigarettes will never be illegal because of the tax revenue they provide, which is more important to the government than health care costs, apparently. So, it's government hypocrisy that keeps cigarettes in society and helps people to kill themselves with them. You can't fault a person for using a product which is fully legal. Like I said, if governments feel cigarettes are dangerous to the public, just ban them - don't do this piecemeal approach which is only a ruse so you can keep collecting millions in tax money. Please, we're not that stupid.

This story about the woman in Saudi Arabia being gang-raped and then lashed for it is disgusting. It is vile to think about rape, but then to be punished for it too? I'm desperately trying not to be ethnocentric here, but I'm finding it very difficult. I didn't read the Mail Star yet, but apparently there is a woman who has started a letter writing campaign about this. Maybe Rick will have her on the show, so that this issue doesn't die.

It was great to have Paul Pettipas of the Homebuilders' Association in today. I had spoken to him many times on the phone, but had never met him. It was an interesting/disturbing hour. Disturbing in the sense that you don't need a licence to build a home in N.S.? Of course you don't. Hairstylists are licenced, but not homebuilders. That makes a whole wack of sense, doesn't it? According to the CHMC, there are forms of licencing in B.C., Ontario and Quebec. I'm glad the province is taking baby steps to at least look into the leaky condo situation. I would not buy a condo that's just being constructed now. What a risk! The best thing to do would be to make sure the builder is a member of Paul's group, get some second and third opinions...and they just pray! It was funny because Rick was talking to Curtis Sliwa before the interview and Paul was listening and laughing at all Curtis' little sayings and slang and that in turn was making Rick and I start to laugh, so we're all essentially laughing in the studio, it was great.

What do you think about lawyer and former school board member Steve Boyce's move to raise money for the legal fees of the fired members of the Halifax Regional School Board? It's a nice thing to do, but it's not like they weren't warned! They received a warning letter and they didn't shape up. Wouldn't it have been anti-democratic to leave in people who weren't doing their jobs? It most definitely would have been unfair. The fired members might have been dedicated, but that dedication wasn't clear. Howard Windsor seems genuinely concerned about education and the issues, he has proven that on our show. Democracy is also about electing the right people to do the job. Howard Windsor was appointed by Karen Casey who was duly elected. We elect M-Ps, which in turn brings a Prime Minister to power, who in turn appoints judges. I don't think the firing of the school board was undemocratic, it was necessary. We've had Howard in twice, I think, and we were not bombarded with calls telling him how much they missed their elected representative, I think that says a lot.

Well, it's a beautiful sunny day, can't ask for more than that. Thanks for the calls today, sorry we had to let go of everyone at the end - please try back tomorrow!!

Thanks for today!

Cheers,

Amber

The Morroccans basically ruined everything

That's one fact I leared about Timbuktu today! I felt kind of embarassed when Rick told the world I just found out from Marq de Villiers book that it was an actual place! Oh well, I guess I don't know everything!

Great show today - thanks for the calls. The topics were all over the place - from tasers, to crosswalks to assisted suicide to greenspace - it didn't stop today.

We had our Hotline crime expert Jim Hoskins in talking about everything crime related. He says he wouldn't want to be tasered because he has hypertension and he fears for his life. Tasers are supposed to save lives and I'm not denying that they have in the past, but they are on quite the opposite tear lately, unfortunately. Is it just an unlucky streak or are they dangerous? I can't decide.

I was kind of upset with the police chief after I read the article in the Herald today about the Guardian Angels. Then I talked to him briefly on the phone today before the interview - YOU CANNOT BE ANGRY WITH THIS MAN - HE'S TOO DAMN NICE! Gah! I just think to say they aren't welcome in this town is kind of harsh, but who knows if the newspaper kind of put those words in his mouth, because it doesn't sound like something Chief Beazley would say. I totally understand him not wanting to put citizens in harm's way, of course, but why not try working with them? I think we need all the help we can get. Give the Guardian Angels tasers if they aren't dangerous! Ha! As for Curtis Sliwa not getting him the reports, well, it's only been 3 weeks. This is a man who does a morning radio show in NYC and is the head of an international organization, he's travelling the world looking to start new chapters. I mean, he's busy!!!! I just think maybe more of the tough talk should be reserved for actual criminals and not for someone who wants to come here and try to help us.

I'm on vacation next week and kind of anxious, so I think everything is putting me over the edge! I lost it when I was reading the paper and saw a little article about how the Education department is looking for input about student loans in the province and they want to hear people's issues with them. That's all well and good, but it's EXAM TIME! Nice timing there! Anyway, there's a forum at the SUB @ Dal tonight and one @ the Mount tomorrow. Or, you can e-mail: www.ednet.ns.ca. Exam time, let's schedule a meeting. Nice.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I need a vacation!

I would die laughing if I saw Bruce sitting in his car holding a hair dryer and freaking people out thinking it was a radar gun! Thanks for the laugh today, Bruce!

Totally off-topic: Oprah is another person that's bugging me. Can we trust her judgement? She's holding a fundraiser for Barack Obama. I mean, she gave us a fake memoir, thanks to James Frey and then hired someone who is alleged to be abusing kids at her Girls' Academy. Can we trust her judgement for who should be the next President of the United States? This is a very important decision for the fate of the world, wouldn't you agree?

Brian Flemming's column in the Daily News today was excellent. A Dex-Mac co-alition government! Bring it on!

Anyway, gotta run, but have a great day! Don't blow away!

Cheers,

Amber

I hate computers

I just spent a half hour writing my blog "A few concerns...." about the changes to the Motor Vehicle Act. I saved it, published it and then went to make sure it was on the blog. I clicked on www.cjchhotline.blogspot.com and guess what? It's just a blank entry. There goes a half hour of my life I'll never get back. GRRRRRRRRRRR. Why on a Monday?? Why?

I'll give you the Coles Notes now, because I've got to get to some other work:

-you can't legislate everything, people have to have some personal responsibility for their actions
-you can't leave it up to police to do everything, maybe the fines/jail times should be increased in order to increase deterrence that way
-they aren't criminalizing running someone down in a crosswalk, they're just increasing the fines, it's still just a cash grab and people will not go to jail for killing someone in a crosswalk, that's not right

And there was some other stuff, but I'm frustrated with this stupid thing now. Blah.

I'll write more tomorrow, but I can't promise it will appear on the World Wide Web!!!

Cheers,

Amber

A few concerns...

Too many buzzkills

That's how Darren characterizes a part of the population of Halifax. Would you agree?

As expected, the Taser issue was front and centre today. I agree with Rodenhiser 100% when he says the mental state of the patient must be taken into account, along with whether or not the disturbed person is on drugs on not. It seems like a good number of the taser-related deaths happen when the person is schizophrenic. I mean, there were 30 hours in between when the Howard Hyde was tasered until the time he died. There is still the issue of whether he was tasered in the Burnside jail. It seems like police were justified in using the taser inside of police headquarters, at least. It's a sad story. What are the odds of something getting tasered on two different occasions in their life?

This has been a long and busy week! The Rodenhiser is no stranger to long, busy and strange weeks being thrust into the media limelight himself. He did Entertainment Tonight, appeared on Perez Hilton's website and said he did an interview with the BBC! It was the absolutely strangest thing and my Facebook group has over 118 members now! David Rodenhiser did nothing wrong - check it out!

Wasn't it fun listening to Rick and Michael Harris spar today? I'd love to hear them do a point-counterpoint on time, wouldn't you?

It's going to be incredibly cold tomorrow!!! A high of minus 2...the temperature has completely dropped, I just stepped out and the glorious warmth of this morning is over.

Enjoy your weekend...I really need to re-charge for another week of the Hotline!

Cheers,

Amber

It.never.ends.

There are traditionally a couple of slow news times. One is in the summer, the other is around the holidays. Well, the summer was a whirlwind of activity and so far, almost a month before Christmas, things are just insanely busy. From Celine Dion, to the legislature going back to this Taser death....it has been crazy!!!

I'm watching the news conference on the Taser death right now. From what it looks like, there was a violent struggle with police in the police station, he was tasered, he was taken to hospital, cleared medically and then died 30 hours later at the Correctional Facility. The 45-year old was facing an assault charge. That's all I have right now. Deputy Chief Tony Burbridge is leading the news conference and the Medical Examiner is doing an autopsy, so it's unclear if he died from something Taser related. I'll keep you posted!! This is going to make for one busy show tomorrow. The Rodenhiser is at the conference too, so it's going to be busy.

We were taking people's guesses today with how long (or short) this session of the legislature will be! I really want to watch the throne speech, but this police news conference is going on right now. I have no idea what the Premier is planning except for this anti-right to strike legislation. As if the Premier requested "late last night" for Labour to meet with him today! Then he's shocked that they said no. I hate politics sometimes!

On a completely different topic: pressure. I feel incredibly nervous for Ted Abraham who will be starting for SMU tomorrow at the Vanier Cup! Rick says they did an interview with his mom and she says he is ready to go since Eric Glavic is out with a torn ACL. Good luck Ted and Saint Mary's!!!

Anyway....I have tonnes of work to do. We're trying to get Cecil Clarke on tomorrow too, but Rodenhiser will be in during hour number 1 and then one of the best investigative journalists in Canada - Michael Harris (not to be confused with the former Premier of Ontario).

Have a good day!

Amber

Out of freakin' control!

Okay, this Rodenhiser thing is spiralling out of control! He made Perez Hilton's website. If you've never heard of Perez, he's probably the world's most popular and powerful blogger. His site gets about 10 million hits per day and the name "David Rodenhiser" appeared in his blog today.

http://perezhilton.com/?p=9243#respond


Unreal! I actually started a Facebook group today called "David Rodenhiser did nothing wrong!" Search for it and join!

Today's show was incredibly busy - I feel like this Celine Dion topic won't die! We had the Mayor on, along with Cathy Jones from This hour has 22 Minutes. She was great - very funny off the air.

I know this is incredibly short today....I promise a longer one tomorrow!!

Have a good day!

Amber

Rocks in our heads

First off, I just read Rodenhiser's column from Saturday on Ernie Fage, check it out:

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=81137&sc=157

As per usual, the people who "talk back" after the column are in fine form. David defends himself, it's all very entertaining. I liked the column, but that's nothing new, you know I'm a huge Rodenhiser fan!

To the show...a busy one today, lots of talk about Celine Dion. We lucky listeners were treated to Rick's Celine Dion impression, which I thought was absolutely hilarious!! I wish I could post audio, it was classic.

DON'T WASTE A MILLION DOLLARS TO CHANGE THE NAME TO HALIFAX! Honestly, I've heard a lot of dumb things on the show and this is one of the dumbest. I've been against this since I've heard about it. We live in HRM, it's not that hard to say, you get specific when you need to. They say GTA in Toronto or they get specific when they are talking about Scarborough or something. It's ludicrous! You might as well bring the million dollars to Rick's Celine Dion CD burning party and just watch it go up in smoke. So insane. I'm so glad Steve Streatch made that comment about having "rocks in our heads". Unreal.

I have to give kudos to the province today, which is kind of shocking. 2 decisions - not to burn tires for fuel in Brookfield and no quarry in Digby Neck. Two actual green decisions that won't propel Nova Scotia "to the forefront of the environmental movement by 2020". Way to go! Hey, check your mail today and watch for a new missive from the Premier trumpeting the fact that the Atlantic Accord is "alive and well". Then think back to 11:45 when Mike Savage and Bill Casey called us from Ottawa to tell us the 4th meeting scheduled with bureaucrats to give them the scoop on this new deal had been cancelled....14 minutes before it was scheduled to start. Back to the Premier, I am so intrigued by what this Throne Speech is going to offer Nova Scotians. What kind of goodies are we in for in the next 15 years? It's going to be interesting. 2:15 and you can watch the speech on Eastlink. I can't wait!!!

Anyway, big show tomorrow with the Mayor during hour number 2 and then 22 Minute's Cathy Jones will join us for the last half hour of the program.

Talk to you then!

Amber

Heaven on Earth

That's how one caller described Rick today, Heaven on Earth! Agree, disagree? Leave your thoughts after the blog!

It was either that title or something Richard said "Sooky French Folk" in terms of Celine Dion's husband saying she didn't come here because we're so negative. Despite the fact whether it was that or this free concert planned for Quebec City the day before, we are indeed quite negative! I mean, it's good for the Hotline, so I'm not complaining, but who wants to feel negative all the time? It's not good for you! Tim called after I played the little clip of Celine going into a break and told me I ruined his car speakers. Ha! Rick was having fun with this idea to hold a Celine Dion CD and poster burning party. The problem was - everyone we asked could contribute neither a poster nor a CD, so I'm pretty sure it's been postponed.

I was getting kind of anxious thinking about aging during hour number 2 and how it would feel not be able to care for yourself anymore. Scares me to death! Now, there's ANOTHER insurance we're being urged to get, this one for long term care. It stresses me out just thinking about it. My grandma is kind of going through this issue right now. She never got her driver's licence and my grandpa had 4 mini-strokes over the summer and can't drive right now. She has bad arthritis and is relying on family members to take her to get groceries etc. It's incredibly stressful for everyone, especially my grandpa who just wants to be able to do everything he used to do, he loved driving, travelling etc. You just never know what's going to happen - that's the only guarantee life offers.

I thought Rick had a great conversation with Deputy Chief Tony Burbridge today. He was very measured and fair, I thought. Apparently the issue with the Taser isn't the voltage, it's the amps involved. Knowing absolutely nothing about electricity, I have no idea what to make of this, but one would think a little less power would make some sort of difference. Amnesty International is leading the charge to ban tasers. Here's the website if you want to check it out:

http://www.amnesty.ca/

On the other hand, I'm sure glad they tasered the sword guy at Halifax Shopping Centre before anyone got seriously hurt. The Deputy Chief told us the Canadian Assocatiion of Chiefs of Police is studying this issue; Burbridge will be a part of that and news is expected sometime next year.

Football fans will no doubt be gathered around TV sets at 8:30 on Friday night. That when the Saint Marys Huskies face the Manitoba Bison in the Vanier Cup. Go, SMU!!!

Enjoy this sunny Monday!

Thanks for everything today.

Amber

C, J, Z

Those are codes in the Commonwealth games information that denote first class travel. The document is 80-some pages, but it sure is interesting! Check it out here:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/index.asp

I found it quite interesting the Executive Committee voted to give some of the staff members extra months' of salary, namely Tony Holding, the Senior Director of Strategic Relations an extra 4 months salary on April 17, 2007 - a full month after the bid was scrapped. I'm sure this is going to be a very topic for Monday!

A caller told me off air that "unaudited" means the company that compiled the information based on what the committee told them, and didn't have to provide the actual receipts, so do with that what you may!

The big topic on the show (besides flyers) was this disgusting killing of the Polish man in Vancouver. Sickening. I can't even bear to watch the video. I keep turning away when they play it on TV. I feel so terrible for his mother, who was just feet away when her son was killed. I can't remember the caller who mentioned this, but why can't they reduce the voltage? You know how much it hurts when you get a regular shock? Okay, ramp that up to 50-thousand volts. The guns would be just as effective with a lot less voltage. The poor, poor man. He was agitated, yes, but to taser him twice?

No one deserves to die like that.

Kind of a downer way to end the blog for the week, but it's grey outside and the story has me totally bummed out.

Oh, the Ernie Fage trial has been delayed until Tuesday. Click on www.herald.ns.ca for the story or tune into my news @ 4 and 5 on C100.

Have a good weekend,

Amber

Ho, ho, ho!!!

Are you offended?

According to officials in Sydney, Australia, you might be by Santa's trademark greeting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliachristmasoffbeat

Little by little, Christmas keeps getting ruined every year, doesn't it?

-people don't say Merry Christmas anymore
-no candy @ the parade of lights
-no more Ho, ho, ho??

Is Santa going to be banned because he's a poor role model in terms of healthy body image or something? This world is out of control!

We have to band together and save Christmas!!! Are you with me?

I was watching the Mayor's Roundtable on Violence on Eastlink during the show today. There were a lot of people speaking like Deputy Police Chief Chris MacNeil and Stephen Kimber. The focus groups were outlining their reports today. Even though everyone slams the Mayor for too much talking, I think a lot of really important information was presented - let's just hope some concrete action comes of it and it doesn't just sit there collecting dust. During the lunch break, they were showing all the councillors' contact information ad nauseum and I discovered something new: Hendsbee's online! Check out his website:

http://www.hendsbee.ns.ca/

My fave: Late summer sunset...somewhere in District 3.... and he's an Aries! Seriously though, his Communiques are very informative. Good job, councillor!

The Ernie Fage trial is underway - here's a link to a story about it on the Daily News website:

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=80591&sc=89

I really thought he would plead it out, but it's going ahead. In fact, Rodenhiser can't come in tomorrow because he's covering the trial. A little dishy so far, eh?

So, I've decided to change careers. Please tell me you'll patronize Amber's Convenience Store! I mean, not like I'll need the money with all my retail lottery wins!! Over the past 4 years, there have been 29 wins over 25-thouand dollars and 7 of those were won by the same retailer. Now that's lucky. I'm not buying any more lottery tickets until Michelle Carinci steps down. The head of the B-C Lottery Corp. stepped down for similar allegations. Ridiculous.

Hey.....Celine Dion tickets go on sale November 24th! I'm just putting that in the blog today for the whopping 1 person who responded to last week's poll about Celine and clicked on the "I'm sooooo excited" option! I do think it's great that a star of her stature is coming. She was on Oprah on Monday and she is a great singer, no doubt. I'm just being selfish, hoping someone I like comes, like Elton John or Justin Timberlake (despite the fact Rick will make fun of me - he's very talented!!) Actually, I'd take the Eagles over all of them so we won't have to hear Rick massacre Eagles songs on the air. See, that's how much I care about you, the Hotline listener!

I know some people might hate me for this, but I really want to leave this Brian Mulroney thing alone. Estimates of 30 million dollars for this inquiry? We already hate Brian Mulroney, is it possible to hate him more? Even if he's clean as a whistle, it's not going to improve his reputation with Canadians, so let's just let it die! I'd rather take 30 million dollars worth of tax cuts. Let's move on! Fun Brian fact: I'm reading his book right now (which contains exactly 0 mentions of Karlheinz Schreiber) and turns out in 1959 Brian Mulroney was hired to read commercials on....wait for it....CJCH.

Have a great Thursday!

Amber

De Show

I couldn't resist - we've been throwing around the "de" in front of everything all day, because of the ueber-talented Michael de Adder. It was a pleasure to meet him today and I got to thumb through his book during hour number 3 and I really think he is the best cartoonist in Metro and definitely one of the best in the country. He can so succinctly sum up a mood of a city, and even the entire country, in one drawing. It's incredible! Like I said before, I'm a huge fan, but I didn't really get a chance to chat with him because of the demand for the book. I must have entered at least 70 names in the draw, so it was a busy hour for me! Congrats to Ray, who won the book. It's a great book, good for a Christmas present, and it's only 14.99. What's not to like?

I have to tell Dawn Sloane her new nickname compliments of Barry (the one vehemently against the sign at the Freak Lunchbox downstairs). He called Dawn "The Amenderator" today. Catchy.

I had to laugh today when Rick called the Senate of Canada an "old folks' home". Ha! If you want to read a book about how much of a joke the Senate is, you've got to read "Nice Work: The Continuing Scandal of Canada's Senate" by Claire Hoy. It's dishy, not at all educational, but very entertaining. I was just reading the review on amazon.ca where one very literate reviewer gave it one star - a senator, perhaps??

One thing I'm having a very hard time understanding is why there are so many concerns about the Guardian Angels. They are a volunteer organization who will patrol the streets, call the police if they see something happening and intervene if necessary. Rick talked about their desire to intervene. Curtis Sliwa said before, if they saw someone getting their butt kicked, yeah, they would step in. I would hope we'd all do the same. They are unarmed, meaning their training isn't going to be that intense, because they aren't getting weapons training like police. They will probably be familiarized with the law in terms of a citizen's arrest and how you cannot exert more violence than someone has perpetrated against you, etc. Bring it on! Curtis Sliwa does talk tough, but it will be Halifax residents simply walking around the street being "Guardian Angels", trying to protect people by being extra eyes where police might not be. It's not that big of a deal, I can't believe people are freaking out so much. Again, they are unarmed and it's free.

I still haven't had a chance to watch Fifth Estate with Sandy Munroe last night, but I'm hoping I can do that tonight.

Anyway....lunchtime!

Have a great day! I'm excited because I did break down and turn on my heat, but it's going to be so balmy over the next few days I'm cranking it off again!

Cheers,

Amber

P.S. The entire Halifax Regional School board is on tomorrow!

Sandy Munroe

Man oh man, who do you believe?

I'm going to watch the Fifth Estate tonight, I taped it over the weekend. Having Sandy in the studio, his brother on the phone, and Carol Sifton, the caregiver on the phone, it was certainly difficult not to have empathy for the man. If he did abuse her, why has he spent the past two years in the media spotlight trying to get her back? What about airing the family's dirty laundry in public - how does that benefit Sandy? I'm not taking a side, I'm just asking questions I thought about during the hour. I'll check out the program tonight and have more to say tomorrow.

As much as I'm not a Brian Mulroney fan, I'm sure we can all agree there are bigger issues to focus on than this Schreiber mess? I was suprised the new poll numbers Rick read today on the air, saying the Liberals and the Conservatives are in a virtual tie! Given Stephane Dion's performance, it looks like a potted plant could remain tied with Harper right now. Yikes. Sorry, Mike. (I know Mike Savage reads the blog from time to time.)

So, I spent the weekend in the Premier's hometown of Mabou. It was very relaxing, namely because there is nothing to do there except relax!!! I'm a city person, small town living is definitely not for me, but it's fantastic for a weekend. If I can figure out how to post pics on my blog, I'll post a couple. Turns out a couple of the amazing scenery shots were taken a couple minutes away from Deb Smith's home village of Long Point! They even know the "Christy" of "Christy's lookout" fame!! I should have stopped in and had a tea with Mrs. Smith and told her how great her daughter is!

I was reading Peter Duffy's column today when something caught my eye - my own name! I e-mail Peter from time to time and he actually quoted me in his mailbag column about cell phones!! It was from an older e-mail because now I have my wonderful car, which brings me all kinds of new complaints about cell phones. I won't talk on the cell when I'm driving. Because of the lack of road signs I need to pay complete attention to where I'm going!

What a miserable day outside! However, it looks like a little bit of sunshine later tomorrow and a little warmer too!

Have a good one,

Amber

My heart will go on...

Ah, the timelessness of the lyrics of Celine Dion....

We played "My heart will go on" for the Rodenhiser instead of his normal heavy metal wailing theme song and it was pretty funny! Sadly, joke's on me as I can't get the freakin' song out of my head!!!

Great hour, as per usual, with the Rodenhiser. Caller Joanne rang us to ask "What the hell is wrong with us?" in terms of our super negative attitude towards absolutely everything. During a break we were chatting about how you can leave comments about stories on the Daily News website (www.hfxnews.com) and someone made a comment about all the negativity asking "Why don't you head out to the airport and protest safe plane landings?" HA HA HA HA!!! That totally sums up the attitude sometimes. As caller Sharon put it, if you don't like the concert, it's simple - DON'T GO. For those who live near the Commons, I feel your pain, but she is an amazing singer, her songs are just a little on the schmaltzy side.

Is it just me or are you anticipating some major drama next Thursday and Friday? Those are two days set aside for the Ernie Fage trial. Some big political names have been called as witnesses....is the trial going to go ahead? Is he going to plead out? Should be interesting!

Again, I ask - is it just me or do you find the Bruce vs. Will ongoing slamfest utterly entertaining? When I wrote Rick the note about "The 36 hour day", the book dealing with how to deal with people living with Alzheimers/Dementia....Will called. He said he wanted to recommend another book, "The 72 hour day" - living with Bruce Devenne! These guys snipe at each other all the time. I wonder if Will lives in Sackville...I wonder what would happen if Bruce knocked on his door looking for a vote!!

We spent a good portion of the show talking about the Sandy Munroe story. I haven't seen the Fifth Estate yet, but I'll be checking it out tonight. The revelations in the piece certainly make it a ratings grabber. Maybe that's why they were running ads for the program every 15 minutes on Newsworld today. You have to wonder, especially since both Don Munroe and Sandy Munroe told us they were utterly duped by the CBC. It's hard to know what to believe and it seemed like support was pretty much 50-50 on the show today. Like I said yesterday, incredibly sad, any way you slice it.

I think it's excellent news about the possibility of HRM getting its own charter and getting out from under the province's thumb once and for all!! Seeing what decisions are made after the Charter is in effect will prove if this council deserves to be re-elected next year. I'm so tired of hearing "we can't do it because the province won't let us", like it is some regressive, strict parent or something.

It was a very busy day today, and Colleen Jones paid us a visit during our last half hour. She was great, very bubbly and accused me of being loud!! Obviously, she's very astute! Her new book looks really great, for all athletes, especially curlers! During the break we were talking about sports psychology and how it benefitted her. I think I may need one before I run in the Bluenose Marathon next year. I told myself before the race to "stay positive", but I think I really did myself a disservice during the race when the only thing going through my mind was, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die." I have to read the book and get some tips!!!


I know I don't have to remind Hotline listeners, but it is Remembrance Day on Sunday and I'm going to take a little time to remember what all veterans fought for and continue to fight for. I want to say a huge THANK YOU.

Until Tuesday,

Amber

Battle of the Atlantic Canadian cities

Someone made a horrifying suggestion today - what if Barry Manilow opens for Celine Dion????

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Celine, I can handle, Barry, I cannot.

Rick says he's not backtracking, but seems like he wavering slightly on whether the Eagles will be here on August 30th. It seems like every city in Atlantic Canada is going after concerts for next year, Rick says the "evil-doers" in Moncton are going after Elton John, a concert that supposed to be on our Commons this summer. As for who is bigger, I definitely feel like Elton John would attract a bigger cross section of fans than the Eagles. It's great to finally see ANY acts coming to Halifax, I completely agree with Rodenhiser - the bigger the name that comes to Halifax, the bigger the name we will get in the future.

As for Bruce, kind of being the lone voice in the wilderness about giving money for the concerts, I see where he's coming from. His point, I think, is that HRM should do its core responsibilities well first (roads), before getting into these other events. I hear that. On the other hand, someone called me off the air today and told me whenever he hears Bruce crapping over something, it "ruins his day"! I told him a great lesson my boss Rick taught me: "Don't take anything personally"!

I didn't see the Fifth Estate about Sandy Munroe last night....I thought it was on an hour later than it was. I'm sad that Sandy wasn't available today to defend himself. I'll hold my judgement until I see it myself. It's a sad situation either way, that's for sure.

Anyway..enjoy the sunshine...and I'll chat with you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Amber

Groovin' with the Eagles!

That's what Rick plans to do when the Eagles come to town next summer. I don't know....how much would you pay to see Rick groove? That's worth the ticket cost right there!!!

Although Rick swears the Eagles are coming, various media sources say Celine Dion is, in fact, booked at the Commons for next August 23rd. I checked on Celine's website, but didn't see the listing. She's touring Germany though!

I do respect Celine as a singer, but I couldn't say I was a fan. I'm not sure that's a concert that's going to attract the cross section of fans, from young to old, male to female, that the Rolling Stones concert did, you know? I think it will be more like a million mom march. And will Celine Dion fans want to stand out in the pouring rain, if that happens, for 5 hours? At a rock concert, it seems like the thing to do is to get dirty!!! Do you really get covered in mud and are okay with being soaking wet at a Celine Dion concert?

You know, we rag on politicians constantly on the show, but I want to give some props out to Krista Snow. She's been working to make improvements to the 118 and the Fall River Exit and today, she and Percy Paris were going to walk with one student in the district today to showcase the unfairness of this program where students have to pay for their students to stay for lunch. Krista and Percy seem to be working together to make some positive changes for the area and I think it's great. Keep up the good work!

Can I just say that I love Michael de Adder? I think the man is a genius! He has a new book out too, I hope Rick gets him on the show. I've seen him at parties, but I've been scared to go and introduce myself to him. I know, it's lame, but I am a huge fan!

So...John Merrick, our energy consumer advocate, thinks the Fuel Adjustment Mechanism might be of some benefit to the consumer. However, he says that would hinge on total and complete transparency from the Power Corp. Judging by the massive distrust consumers have with NSP, I don't think a lot of people are going to go, "Oh, Okay"!

Anyway....I have to write some news for 4 and 5 on C100...so have a great day!

Cheers,

Amber

Absolutely no progress

A very busy Tuesday - thanks for the calls! Sorry to Tim who got bumped at the end because of the Sandy Munroe interview, many apologies!!

I think this whole sign debacle on Barrington street is insanity. They're going to go with bolt cutters to cut this thing down? Freak Lunchbox owner Jeremy Smith says there is 10 feet of sidewalk for people to walk on...plenty of room, I think. Come on, business are dropping like flies on Barrington St. - are we going to deliberately tick them off now? Leave them alone!

So, we're expecting to hear more about the UARB and this Fuel Adjustment Mechanism today. Yeah, like I want Nova Scotia power to be able to raise my rates willy-nilly. Please let the UARB stop the madness!! Still haven't turned on my heat at my house!!! The heat is on in the basement to keep the pipes flowing, but I just put on a few, 10, layers and I'm fine. I might crack by this weekend though...on Friday, the HIGH temperature is going to be 4. BRRRRRRRR. I had a flashback to Juan when caller Kathleen was talking about how she had no power on the Station road in Kinsac. She says she called the outage line (428-6004) and the automated service said they were tranferring her call - and then the phone went dead! I heard that so many times in the aftermath of Hurricane Juan. How incredibly frustrating!

So, there are a couple of concerts coming to town next year - I think it's great! They've finally heeded to Rick's pleas on the show to get the Eagles to come. Rick says it's a done deal - the Eagles are coming!! That would be great, or Elton John, U2...all would be amazing to see live. I completely disagree with Bruce about this. Although I am a big fan of spending money on things we actually need (road signs, hello), these concerts are huge draws, draw positive attention to our city and the citizens (most of them) really enjoy them. Bring it on - so at least we won't have to hear Rick sing on the air again!

Lots of rain on the way tonight, 20-30 mm!!! Stay dry! I really hope everyone who is currently without power gets it back...it's getting pretty ridiculous.

Cheers,

Amber

Survived the storm

I'm trying to upload a picture I snapped of a collapsed cart corral at Sobeys from this weekend, but for some reason, it won't let me. Don't you hate when computers won't do what you want them to do????

Anyway.....I made my way to Masstown yesterday and saw lots of downed trees, but no major damage. The gate on my fence was half blown off, but that was about it, in my area, anyway. It was extremely windy! Wow, I felt my house shaking quite a few times, that was slightly nervewracking! What are you? Do you have power, telephone, etc? Seems like those in the Passage are getting the shaft this time around. We had two callers from Eastern Passage who say they have no power...and the outage line is saying tomorrow! Yikes!!

We heard from one woman who got through to a live human being at Nova Scotia power and says she was spoken to in a very rude manner. That's just the icing on the cake isn't it??

Mayor Kelly told us if you are dissatisfied with the service NSP is providing, you do have an outlet to complain. You can write to the Utility and Review Board. Here is the contact info:

http://www.nsuarb.ca/


Office:

Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board3rd Floor, Summit Place1601 Lower Water StreetHalifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3P6

Mailing Address:

Box 1692, Unit "M"Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3S3

Telephone:

(902) 424-4448

Fax:

(902) 424-3919

Email:

mailto:uarb.board@gov.ns.ca

I'm going to be complaining to a certain grocery chain after they had 3 lanes open on Friday night...with lines about 15 deep. It was ridiculous!

It seems like Curtis Sliwa's trip was a good one. You might not agree with what he says or how he says it, but he is very entertaining! You can tell he does an American talk show, can't you?

Don't forget - the last 2 sessions of the Mayor's Roundtable on Violence happen tonight in Porters Lake and tomorrow at Dartmouth High. Both sessions start at 7pm.

What do you think about a curfew for teens in Halifax? When I was a teen, I would have hated it, but now, I'm all for it. Lock 'em up! There are good teens out there, but those good teens are probably going to be doing homework or working at a part-time job anyway. This is going to keep the thugs who are tagging, vandalizing and tormenting innocent people, pets and things inside, hopefully! Good job, Jim Hoskins - I certainly hope council moves through with something like this. Cats are not the ones swarming people, so move on - PLEASE.

Have a great Monday!

Cheers,

Amber

Stormwatch 2007

So...we'll see how this storm business plays out. Noel, or what's expected to be post-tropical storm Noel is going to bear down on us tomorrow. It looks like, from what Cindy Day told us today, that it's going to be intense, but quick. Stay tuned to the weather on CJCH and of course, C100 this afternoon at 4 and 5 for the latest!! You never know what Atlantic Canada weather is going to bring!

Wow, what a busy weekend ahead..and it hasn't even started!! Curtis Sliwa comes to town today and the Mayor will be meeting with him. He'll be meeting with the police chief too. Tune in Monday, I'm sure we'll have either one on to talk about how it went.

The death penalty issue came up today, Rodenhiser made a couple of interesting points about it. I agree, to a point. What is the point of keeping Paul Bernardo alive? He can get any education he wants, he just had to murder people. I, a non-murderer, had to pay 30-thousand dollars. It's just strange when an issue you thought was dead (sorry), presents itself again. Take our Hotline poll today and let us know what you think!

Anyway, I've got to run to start doing some storm stuff. Take care, let's hope this isn't as serious as they think it might be, but better safe than sorry, right?

Talk to you Monday!

Amber

Taxes are awesome!!! Let's raise them!!!

That's the message Liberal leader Stephane Dion is sending. I just stared yesterday, mouth agape, when I read on the newswire that Dion would considering putting the GST back to 7 per cent if the Liberals were elected. Wha????????????????????????????????????????????

The article in the Herald was pretty funny though. Apparently after one Liberal heard the news, he buried his head in his hands; others just cursed. I told Rick, only a coup d'etat is going to save the Liberals now, or someone needs to be travelling behind Dion at campaign stops to tell him what to say, Cyrano de Bergerac style.

If anyone thinks Jim Hoskins curfew idea is a good one...feel free to drop him a line at jamesfhoskins@yahoo.com.

Ahhh...Curtis Sliwa. He can certainly turn a phrase, can't he? I love it! You have to remember, he's a talk show host, so his job is to inform and entertain, and he's from NYC - the land of the blunt, tough talker. Growing up across from Detroit, hearing this kind of rhetoric doesn't bother me, but Rick doesn't like it, neither does Dawn Sloane. Wendell called me off the air to agree with me though - this Mr.Rogers nice-guy approach isn't working. Our quality of life is being decimated by thugs - we have to get tough!! It's not even really getting tough though - it's having more eyes and ears out on the streets to let police know where a crime is going down. As for Curtis trying to intervene, his point I think, was if someone saw someone being assaulted, I'm sure one Angel could get on the horn with the cops and I'm sure the other few would step in to help. Wouldn't you? Everyone on the show says they're tired of all the consulting, having the Guardian Angels would be an actual concrete step of attempting to do something to fight crime. With Jim's idea, along with the strengthening of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, more police officers, maybe we'll see a little progress around here and the newscasts wouldn't be filled with stories about swarmings, beatings, robberies etc. I can't wait to hear how the visit went on Monday. I personally want the "Uzi-toting, crack sucking psychopaths" off the street. Don't you?

For those suffering from chronic pain, there's a conference taking place this Saturday at Dal. It goes from 11am-2pm at the MacInnis room in the Dal Student Union Building. It's 10 dollars and includes a light lunch. Thanks to Terry for passing on the information to us today.

"It wasn't easy, but I guess I was a pretty tough bird" - Aubrey Spidle.

Read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Brigade

Thanks to everyone for the calls today. Great show!

Tomorrow should be fun, because Fridays always are. Rodenhiser makes his return tomorrow, followed by a little "Sportstalk" with Paul Hollingsworth!!!

Have a great day!

Cheers,

Amber

Flu shot blues

I got a flu shot this morning and I haven't felt right since!

My head is pounding...and no amount of medication is helping!

Nothing happened last year when I got it, but this year, yikes. Rick was very comforting. He said something like, "I told you not to get a flu shot!"

Anyway....it's Halloween. Bill Jessome was in with some creepy stories during the last half hour of the show. I enjoy his stories so much, I should go buy his book. He's a really nice man and it was great to see him again. He was in this summer for an hour with Yvonne.

So, we're monitoring this tropical storm that could be headed our way. It's Noel and at the least, it's going to give us a wet, windy weekend.

John Boileau was in during hour number 2 talking about Afghanistan. He's got a new book called "Historic Eastern Passage". His article in the Daily News is quite gripping today too...check it out! John agreed with Delores and very candidly admitted he has no respect for politicians. Join the club!

As I was coming in this morning, I go up the stairs and I see this stranger come towards me. It took me a minute, but it was Dave Rodenhiser. He sits in on another radio show on Wednesday mornings, but he was pretty unrecognizable. He said Rick walked by right him and didn't even know it was him! I'm not exactly sure what his costume was though. At first I thought he was a German guy from Bavaria, because he had on a felt hat and had this Lanny MacDonald type moustache. Then he took his coat off and he had on a pinstriped suit and a bow tie. So, I'm not sure if he was a gangster or a carnival barker. I'm sure he'll explain on Friday. A few people on the show, including John Boileau, told Rick they liked his costume. Problem was, he wasn't wearing one!

I also laughed when Rick was talking about when he used to frequent the downtown area for cheap drinks. He affectionately refered to that time as his "stud years".

I'm going to try and get rid of this headache!!

Happy Halloween!

Amber

150th post

Wow, time flies. I started the blog in April and now we're staring at Christmas. Thank you so much for reading the blog and taking our daily Hotline poll. I keep meaning to bring my camera to work so I can post some pics of our guests on the blog to spice it up! It's always nice to put a face to a voice you hear on the radio too, right?



I know some people are going to rail against me for this, but I actually kind of felt bad for Dave McCusker today. He's a nice guy, it's not like he's trying to deliberately create unsafe roads for people to smash their cars. Remember, it's not like he has a final say, he has to work with a team too, deal with council etc., so my point is, not all the wrath should be directed at him. However, it is a good place to start! I'm glad I got to share some of my own concerns too! As Ray said, we could have gone another hour with him, because traffic is really one of the banes of everyone's existence!



We're going to delve into the topic of Afghanistan tomorrow. I finished this book last week called "The Kite Runner", which is set in Afghanistan. It's fiction, but I would highly recommend it. Our Afghanistan panel will be in during hour number 2. Hey, we heard Stephane Dion on our show last week promising to bring down the government over the Afghanistan issue. It certainly wouldn't be a good idea to bring down the government over tax cuts - something most Canadians are clamouring for! Speaking of, the Conservatives are mad at the NDP today because the NDP isn't allowing the Conservatives to release the economic update in the House of Commons. Didn't you love the story about Elizabeth May bidding on the dinner with Jack Layton!!!! LOVE IT!!

If you are female and want to attend Titz n' Glitz event: http://www.titznglitz.com/.

My computer just crashed, so I'm on a new computer and now I have to start writing my news!! More tomorrow!

Cheers,

Amber

Mabou, we have a problem.

Thanks to Richard for the blog's title today!

You've got to check out this Planet Space website:

http://www.planetspace.org/lo/index.htm


Here is the link to an article from last August about the company's plans for Cape Breton:

http://www.planetspace.org/pdf/thestar081606.pdf

What do you think about this? Is this some "cockamamie scheme" as Rick sees it, or do you think this is going to be a major, long-term investment for Cape Breton? I'm kind of agreeing with Rick, but I guess I'll have to see it to believe it! I laughed so hard about the giant cucumbers today! Hilarious. Who would you put on the space shuttle first? Rick? The Mayor? Fougere? The Premier? Would you ride on the "Silver Dart" yourself when this company has, according to Rick, yet to even put a rocket up in the air?

Lots of things to shake your head at today. Weren't you sickened to hear about the dad who gave his son pot at the age of 8 and taught him how to steal? Unbelievable and sad, but it sounds like the kid really wants to put his life back together! I hope he's serious...and wasn't just sweet talking the judge in order to be free.

I forget who mentioned the story about FEMA and its pretend news conference held last week in relation to the California wildfires. They used some of their own employees to pose as journalists and lob softball questions at officials in terms of how they handled the disaster! Way to go, guys, way to go.

Someone from the Ecology Action Centre called today telling us about a petition to stop the Chebucto road widening. You can access it at: http://keepitlivable.org. They have almost 15-hundred signatures so far.

Gloria and Brad Johns were in during hour number 2 and it was a good hour. There were a couple of funny exchanges, because Rick is so funny and Gloria is so blunt.

Rick: Gloria, is Brad Johns out to lunch on this? (talking about the cat by-law)
Gloria: Yeah, he is. Sorry, Brad.

It is very cold in our studio, so Brad ran out to grab a coat. He grabbed this plaid padded coat that made Rick retort: "I'm sorry, I thought we were interviewing Brad Johns, not Elmer Fudd!" If you saw the coat, this statement would be very funny to you.

So, the N.S. Supreme Court says the fired school board members will not be getting their jobs back. I wonder what's going to happen if the same crew runs next year and are all re-elected and have the same amount of bickering? Will Casey have to disband them again? Honestly, even since the board was disbanded, I haven't heard a lot of people lamenting the loss. It seems like Howard Windsor is going a good job, at least that's what I'm deducing from the lack of calls on the topic!

Here's the court decision if you want to give it a read:

http://www.courts.ns.ca/decisions_recent/decisions_weekly_list.htm


Freakin' cold today, but it's going to warm up later this week, according to Cindy Day!

Have a great Monday,

Amber

Good bye to Woody

It's official - Woody is gone. Click here to read the Chronicle-Herald story about it.
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/974616.html

Free free to let me know why he will be missed? Is the familiarity or the fascination with something so random - a talking Christmas tree? It's so bizarre.

Busy show today! The animal control by-law continues to delight some and enrage others. A guy called me off air and says his garden is an outdoor litter box for at least 7 neighbourhood cats! Some are actually excited to trap their neighbours cats, but there are others who feel this by-law is unenforeable, asinine and a waste of money. Apparently Steve Adams has lost the vote of one constituent, Wayne, who had a really bad day yesterday when he stepped in animal doo-doo, not once, but twice. Yikes. He's upset Adams may try to block any funding for the new shelter in next year's budget deliberations. As I stated before, we haven't heard the last about this by-law, in fact, I agree with Rick - the worst is yet to come!

It was kind of strange to not have our good buddy "The Rodenhiser" in today! We missed hearing the song!!

The hole seems to be getting deeper and deeper for the Conservative government over this Immigration program. Why can't the Premier (who was immigration minister at the time) step forward and tell the truth??? Len Goucher is pleading "newbie" to the whole proceedings. They have this news conference that promises accountability, when it would be easy for Rodney to step forward and make this right. I cannot wait for the leg. to get back in session.

Anyway, I'm beat! What a week - thank you for all the calls and I'll be chatting with you next week!

Cheers,

Amber

Total exhaustion

I don't know what it is, but I think I may have answered more phone calls today than I have since the new season began. David Phillips is like the Elvis of the weather world and everyone wanted to talk to him and win his calendar! For those who didn't win, it is available at most bookstores and it is awesome. The pics are stunning and it makes you realize how lucky we are to live in Canada! (If you didn't already!) Dave is a great guy and he's from Windsor, Ontario, so obviously he's cool! Although I agree with caller Sandy that this fall weather we've been having is awesome, I am looking forward to the first "killing frost" so that my allergies stop acting up! I'm sure you've probably heard me sneezing or blowing my nose during the show. My allergies are out of control and I know I'm not alone.

How about that police chase yesterday? I'm so glad no one was hurt, except the suspect, of course. What total drama! It certainly made for a busy afternoon, that's for sure. Apparently, multiple charges are pending. Lots of other news today too - Deep Panuke is going ahead, the Stock bus driver who left the kids on the side of the road has resigned his position - before they could fire him.

Gene mis-spoke slightly today which was kind of funny. He said a video of something should be posted on "Facetube". It was also kind of strange, as Rick agreed with Gene, not once, but twice in a 30 second time frame. Is it a full moon??? Gene was also shocked Delores agreed with him during the Rick, Brian and Deb preamble.

I know I may get some calls/comments on this, but that Woody thing at Mic Mac Mall was horrific. It was terrifying, yet oddly mesmerizing. I understand how some could be upset, if they had been seeing it since childhood and all, but it's really creepy and I'm not all that bothered that I don't have to see it this winter. Sorry!

I have some really sad news to share with you. You know Joan, who always spars with Cecil? Well, she called today and her husband is really, really sick. I told her I would pray for him and so I would ask you to keep them in your thoughts. Joan is a sweet, sweet lady and was really upset today, so I certainly hope he gets better. Good luck, we love you Joan.

Have a good one,

Amber

Seriously. Seriously?

Most of this blog will be dedicated to something I've proclaimed to be sick of - the animal control by-law. It's not over. It's not even close to being over!!!

Here are some of the "highlights" of this budget:

-cat owners will pay 10-30 dollars to register their cats of as April 1, 2008
- a shelter will be built, at a cost of 1.6 million dollars; the total cost of the by-law is 3.3 million
-no dog or cat can run at large
-excessive barking is defined as when it goes on for 20 minutes or more


I can tell you right now I'm not paying anything to register my cat! My cat is an indoor cat. If it got outside, it would be a fluke and if he was lost I would be devestated. However, why would I pay the money if, as of now, there is no shelter for him to be taken to for someone to call me to come pick him up? Maybe when the shelter is built I would register him, but it's just absolutely ridiculous! 3.3 million dollars for this by-law? As staff says, no money has been allotted to this and that will be part of the budget debate next year. As if there are some streets in Metro where residents foot the bill to pave their own street - and this by-law is going forward? Even the SPCA is shaking its head over this issue - saying there is not enough room at its facility to handle an influx of licenced cats. As for trapping cats - there are so many sickos out there, god knows what will happen to a poor cat if it's in the wrong hands of someone whose garden has been compromised. I don't even want to think about it. I actually said "hear hear" to myself reading Sue Uteck's comments today in the paper. Kudos to the 9 who voted against it including Sloan, Mayor Kelly, Uteck and Fougere. I felt a little bit relieved when I spoke to Tony Rodgers during the commercial break. I asked him (as a hunting expert) if he thought rats would start overrunning the city if feral cats were taken on the streets and he said no. So, we'll see.

Now, Will suggests council start working to make the by-law workable. I agree, great idea in theory. In practice, trying to get some of these councillors to look at the greater good instead of their personality conflicts is next to impossible. A lot of people, I think, will be sharing the opinion of Wade, who said after Rick asked him about it: "Hell will freeze over before I register them". Okay then!

Plus, this whole registering bikes thing? How much money needs to be raised to paint some lines on the roads? What else needs to be licenced? As Pat told me off the air - stuffed animals?

Scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, other than that everything is okay!

David Phillips will be in tomorrow to talk about the weather and his new calendar - a calendar which you have a chance to win!!! Listen to the Hotline for all the details tomorrow!!!!

Talk to you then,

Amber

Pretty lame

That can be applied to a lot of different topics today on the show.

First of all - the MacDonald government cabinet shuffle. What gives? Is he doing it because DD changed some of his critic assignments last week? On October 1st, Rodney MacDonald said he's heard from cops and people on the street that Murray Scott was perhaps the best justice minister in the history of Nova Scotia. Now, he is being shuffled to the newly titled "Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal". I think this is a mistake because it was something I actually agreed with the Premier about - Murray Scott was a good minister and a good performer for the government. Very suprising.


Also pretty lame - this immigration scheme the government cooked up and is now paying millions of dollars to correct. Rodenhiser has a great column today about it today in the Daily News.


The "no candy" policy at the Holiday Parade of Lights can also be summed up as "pretty lame". It was a complete fluke that the boy was hit with the piece of candy that actually cut his face. That was a shame, no doubt, but the odds of it happening again are probably pretty low! Maybe with things like childhood obesity and the rising cost of health care - maybe they should be throwing out things like vegetables, toothbrushes or just save the money and put it towards buying students textbooks!

During the Brian, Deb and Rick half hour, a caller referred to Rick as a "left-wing softie". Thoughts?

Rick took a little heat today for playing the cat sounds when he was referring to Marilla Stephenson. As Rick said, he played it to show Marilla came back with her first column with her claws out for Mayor Kelly. It was a joke!! No one complained when we played the dog sounds effects and baby crying effects for Peter Mackay, or the chickens for the Premier.

Richard Gywn was amazing to listen to during hour number 2. It could have been the information or the fact I love the British accent! Ha! It was interesting to hear his take on the current political climate and I completely agreed with his statement that watching Harper take on Dion is like watching a chess player take on a checkers player. That is so, so true.

I was taking names to win a copy of his book about Sir John A. MacDonald (Gwyn will be at the book room tonight @ 7PM for those interested) and Victoria called and told me she was getting boxes ready for Operation Christmas Child, something I mentioned on the blog yesterday. It doesn't suprise me that Victoria is doing something like that, she is probably one of the sweetest people I've ever spoken with.

Anyway, breezy, but sunny today - no complaints here!!

Have a great day and don't forget to tune in your favourite left-wing softie in tomorrow - Rick Clarke and Joan Jessome will be taking your calls during hour number 2.

Cheers!

Amber

Euthanize it!

That was Rick's advice for council in regards to the animal control by-law coming before council, yet again, tomorrow. I don't even know what to say about it. Even though it provides endless amounts of talk on the Hotline, I'm just so sick of hearing about it. I'm totally with Dawn when she talks about the sane plan of trapping cats, fixing them, and then letting them go. I'm kind of scared about a city overrun with rats, aren't you?

I think I may head out to one of the meetings for the Mayor's roundtable on violence. Peter Kelly is calling on us to come out and talk about the issues. It will be interesting to see what the turnout is like, but more importantly, what is being done about crime after the fact.

So, Rick and Linda Mosher got their wires crossed and Linda couldn't come into the studio today with Pat Murphy. We made a quick call to the very accessible Dawn Sloane who got to the studio from City Hall and spent the hour with us talking about mainly traffic issues. It was a good hour, I'm just so glad Patrick didn't come wearing his spandex like he did last time. He's in pretty good shape, but seriously, spandex is appropriate for the gym only!!!!

I've driven on the new Windsor street exchange and I agree with Patrick - it's very dangerous as people are speeding down 4 lanes of traffic into 2. I just don't get this city. Why aren't there more advance greens and road signs??

I heard a commercial during the Hotline today and it really grabbed me. It's something called "Operation Christmas Child" and you get a shoe box and they send it overseas to a needy child for Christmas. I think I'm definitely going to do it!

For more information click on: http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/

Well, how about this weather?? I'M LOVING IT! What a cost savings not to have to turn on your heat - which is something I'm refusing to do until at least November 1st.

Have an excellent Monday!

Amber

Rick versus Rodenhiser

Rick and Dave went head to head this morning on the issue of health care workers' right to strike. Dave supports the Premier fully, but Rick thinks the Premier is only doing this for political gain and thinks it's leading the province down a slippery slope. I was listening to them both all hour and agreeing with one and then agreeing with the other and then going back again! I guess it's pretty much a non-issue until Stephen MacNeil changes his mind and decides to support it. It's actually pretty much a non-issue until the legislature is called back!!! They need 30 days notice, so hmm...who's taking bets that the leg won't sit until 2008?

Did you see the picture of the minivan on top of the car on the front of the Mail-Star this morning? I was reading the police report in shock. Here is what it says:

At 11:57 AM A 57 year old male was backing out the parking lot at 5 Dentith Road in Halifax when his foot got stuck under the accelerator of his vehicle. He went backwards across four lanes of traffic, jumped a curb, which sent him air born into the South Center Mall parking lot. The vehicle came to rest on top of an empty vehicle in front of Canadian Tire. A second vehicle also had some minor damage. The driver of the run away vehicle was taken to hospital for treatment of non life threatening injuries. The matter remains under investigation but charges are not likely.

Now, I asked Rick about this, being new to having a car and all. Last time I checked, if I were to put my foot under the gas pedal, my car wouldn't start accelerating. And, since I have two legs, I would probably take the other leg and put it on the brake. Is it just me? What a bizarre story and thank goodness no one was hurt.

I'm in shock over this Sobey's day-old thing. Rick thought it would have been a bigger issue on the show today! The stuff that is a day old is now getting thrown out instead of being marked down. That's a shame. I know seniors buy a lot of this product, along with students and I've even bought day old bread. It's great for croutons or even to make some garlic bread or something. Who doesn't like a deal? Given the fact the grocery store competition is so fierce here, hopefully Sobeys will change its mind on this issue.

So, Rick loves the Ryan Duffy's caesar salad! He raved so much about it, I'll have to check it out myself. Bill Spurr and Rick go way back, it was fun to listen to them razz each other and talk about one of my favourite things - food!!! Rick was over the moon when he heard about not one, but two places in N.S. to get goulash soup! He says he's planning to go to the Colby Alehouse this weekend, so a big "danke" to the man who called with that information.

Rain tomorrow....but then Cindy Day tells me Sunday looks a bit better, so don't despair!

Have an excellent weekend!!

Talk to you Monday,

Amber

Rick's not running for mayor

During the half hour run-up to the Hotline with Brian and Deb yesterday, Deb jokingly stated Rick was going to, today, announce his candidacy for Mayor. I'm sorry to have to inform you - that was a joke. He's very happy doing his current job, but I agree, he would be an excellent candidate!

Big kudos to Bill Estabrooks. He was a great education critic, having worked as a principal for many years, but he wanted a new challenge. He is now the justice critic and one of his key reasons for wanting that job is to keep the Paula Gallant murder in the forefront of people's minds. Can you believe it's almost been 2 years since her body was found in the trunk of her car at the B-L-T school? The case is incredibly sad and kudos to Frank Magazine for keeping the issue in the spotlight as well. Good luck, Bill!

I went to send a huge Hotline hiss (I don't know what we usually say when we're disgusted by something) to Peter Mackay. We listened to his exchange with Bill Casey yesterday in the House. It was gross. Bill was asking reasonable questions and Peter Mackay, of course, takes it to the lowest level possible.


Trivia was so much fun during the second hour. We had tonnes of calls and Lloyd was our big winner! Congrats, Lloyd. I think was a decent lifeline today. I was on a roll, but then Andrew called and jinxed me!!! I love playing trivia, so I was happy when Rick said we would be playing it again sometime before Christmas. Seriously, who cares about Wilf Carter? (No offense to his family or anything).

A running gag that has me cracking up every time is when Rick says, "Gary Meade -who? Garry Meade - who?" It's just so incredibly hilarious because seriously - "Garry Meade - who?"

Just wondering: How many times is Sheila Fougere going to announce she's running for Mayor?

Oh yeah, before I forget, we don't ask for much on the show, but if you're half naked when you're calling us, could you keep it to yourself? Thanks, Ray!!!!!!

Friday tomorrow - can't wait! We're going to have Bill Spurr, who is the restaurant critic for the Chronicle-Herald in, so it's going to be fun. The only downside is that at noon, I'm going to be starving after talking about the delicious food Halifax has to offer! Plus, Rodenhiser in the first hour!

Take care,

Amber