And now ... Quick Hits

Hands across the water: Windsor has things in common with Toledo Ohio. We share the same waterway and soon Toledo - birthplace of Jamie Farr and Katie Holmes - will have a casino. And something else we share, unemployment. 30,000 people submitted applications to work in the glittering new Hollywood Casino Toledo. - 24/1/12

EnWin or lose: Windsor's public utility will be taking it out on consumers who only thought they were doing the honourable thing like conserving electricity - by upping rates. Maybe the utility should change its name. - 3/1/12

The “R” word: Given the roll-out of alleged Windsor police wrongdoings of late, that was Windsor Police Chief Gary Smith’s resignation – oops, retirement – announcement Thursday, wasn’t it? – 23/12/11

Financial illiteracy: The geniuses running the City of Detroit, over the past five years, borrowed more than $600 million to shore up yearly budgets, adding to the city’s long term debt of $8 billion, which would cost $597 million a year to pay off, more than the city gets annually from taxes. – 23/12/11

And well she should: Our local daily tells us that a Windsor high school teacher is being honoured in Ottawa for transforming her classroom into a "vehicle for learning." Obviously so much non-learning must have been going on there in the past. - 5/12/11

Spoiler! Some slob had to screw up and commit Windsor's first murder in more than two years. And we had such a good thing going. Where are these criminals' civic pride? - 11/25/11

Occupy stomp: Occupy Wall Street militants were vowing to block frenzied U.S. post-Thanksgiving shoppers from getting into the stores. But even the Occupy crowd is no match for Black Friday's delirious consumers. - 11/25/11

Public service: The sprinklers the city turned on for late season maintenance at City Hall Square happened to spray the inhabitants of Occupy Windsor. That's okay. After all the time they've been camped out, they probably needed a good shower anyway. - 11/18/11

People as cargo: Windsor councillor Ron Jones might be forgiven for comparing passenger rail service to being shipped by freight. After all, passenger service has declined over the past several decades. Jones was quoted condemning a new study saying it wouldn’t be economical for high speed rail to extend to Windsor. But the councillor seemed to compare living, breathing passengers to inert freight. “Everything cannot be done by truck,” he said. – 11/16/11

You'll have to come up with something better than that: Testifying at his fraud and illegal narcotics trial in Windsor the good doctor, Colin Peter Sinclair, says he falsely wrote prescriptions to provide himself drugs because of mental delusions that he was being threatened by violent biker gangs. - 11/11/2011

Grecian formula: Joke making way around European Union debt crisis talks last week: “Why did Greece fail to get the latest instalment of EU/IMF aid?” “Because no one in Greece works long enough to complete the application form.” - 10/31/11

Bumper sticker stuck: It might be time to retire those union-backed bumper stickers “Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign,” given that Windsor’s largest employer, Chrysler Canada, is owned by the foreign automaker, Fiat of Italy. Pass the parmesan. – 10/11/11

Dictator pop: So much for the supposed liberalism of pop musicians. Nelly Furtado, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Usher all earned millions from concerts performed for the family of deposed Libyan dictator and tyrant Muammar Gaddafi, though they've now seen the light (Nelly only yesterday) and donated the tainted coinage to human rights charities. - 9/28/11

Forward into the past: Perhaps Windsor West MP Brian Masse should have picked another location touting high speed rail. The location he chose for his news conference calling for government & private funding for faster passenger trains took place in front of the dearly-loved but antiquated Spirit of Windsor steam locomotive, built in 1911 and retired in 1961. – 9/13/11