A wee bit of housekeeping

1) What is it with French people and U2?

Jamie O’Meara, who is one of two good things to leave London, Ontario (hello, Rachel), writes a hilarious takedown of the Canadiens organization for its continued and egregious use of that friggin’ U2 song whenever the Habs score. James found solace in silence following the recent blanking at the hands of the hated Toronto Maple Leaves. “[T]here is a bright side to every reaming of the buttockle region (isn’t there always?), and that is this: At least we didn’t have to suffer through, not even once, U2’s Vertigo, our absolutely unlistenable, unexplainable, unkillable goal song. For the blissfully, luckily ignorant, the refrain goes like this: ‘Hello, hello, I’m in a place called Vertigo.’ Translation: ‘Where the fuck am I? I feel like I want to fall down and throw up.'”

He isn’t alone. There’s a Facebook page and an online petition to having the thing chucked, yet the song remains. Potential reasons: it’s catchy, it’s a ringtone, it has a head-slappingly simple chorus consisting of ‘Woo-hoo/woo-hoo-hoo’ sung by a pint-sized Irishman with whom the French seem to have an enduring affinity. “Like the Irish, we’ve been conquered and mastered by British bastards,” says this guy.

You see? Everything, especially hockey and even hockey jingles, is political.

2) Give this guy your money. It’s for a good cause. Or so he says.

Fagstein, who despite appearances doesn’t sell discount mattresses or even off-brand flat screen TVs, is a hammy and prolific Montreal blogger. He’s doing a worthy subscription drive on his blog once again this year. His charity of choice is the Welcome Hall Mission. All you have to do is subscribe to his bloggy blog, which you can do from here. “This year… I’ll donate 50 cents for each of [my 1,126] subscribers ($563), and add $1 for each new subscriber between now and a week before Christmas.”

So if you’ve ever wanted to stick it to a broke-ass journalist and donate to a worthy cause all at once, now’s your chance.

3) Public inquiry? What public inquiry?

Everyone and their cat wants the Quebec government to establish a public inquiry charged with looking into the rotten, filthy smell emanating from this province’s construction industry. (I wrote about the Montreal end of things here.) Everyone except FTQ-Construction, which coincidentally or not is implicated in the alleged said smell. Quebec preem Jean Charest, for one reason or another, continues to resist, suggesting the calls for such an inquiry are politically motivated. Funny, Charest wasn’t above a politically motivated commission when it suited his purposes. Remember the (deep breath) Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles (CCPARDC for, err, short)? Back in the heady days of 2007, when the debate over frosted windows and pork beans somehow threatened his government,  Charest’s government called hearings into reasonable accommodations faster than you can say ‘burka’. But the province’s corrupt construction industry, the endemic fraud of which continues to cost us money and reputation? Bah.