But...you do realize it's bullshit, right...?

(Uh-huh, that's Nero...and yes, that's Rome. Although it ain't a 'fiddle' he's playing, but a lyre.)

I'm referring to the notion that the Pan Am Games Stadium Site Selection Débacle is the Number One Election issue.

*stares at the screen and considers that some people actually believe this*

The loss of our participation in the 2015 Pan Am Games because we just couldn't develop an equitable solution regarding a stadium would be a sad development.

But it's not going to damn us to oblivion.

And the Tiger Cats are going nowhere...so please; everyone off the ledge and back inside the building.

What would a retreat from involvement in the Games mean? What would it mean if everything just fell apart over the next little while? Hmm...

Well, firstly, it would certainly raise questions about Hamilton Council in toto's capabilities regarding making strong management decisions and moving Hamilton forward; there's something horribly wrong with the 'setup' when a decision-making process is clearly so fuckled.

Secondly, it sure doesn't reflect well on Mayor Fred. Never mind that a bad decision still might result from this 'extendamix' version of site selection (that is, a poor selection), the fact is that all of 'this' has happened on his watch.

Does this mean that his re-election chances have just gone into the crapper?

And does it also mean that the anticipated ire of the voting populace will result in scads of his Councilmates being turfed out?

My fervent hope is that neither possibility comes to pass.

Let me clarify: I do not believe that this issue, no matter how much column-space it continues to garner, is in and of itself one that any self-respecting, informed, discussion-capable person would see as being 'a deal-breaker'. And not sufficient in itself to be grounds for 'dismissal'.

While all of 'this' has been unfolding, while it's been played up not only in MSM but also on blogs here, there and everywhere, I've been wondering 'What's being neglected?'

What elements of the maintenance and propagation of the City of Hamilton have suffered while this circus has been leeching off valuable resources?

Because the impression I've gotten about the financial state of affairs in the city is that we are far closer to 'not doing well' than we are to 'doing well'. (And in this, a fascinating parallel with Mr. Young's Ti-Cats.) So does this mean, anticipating the more severe trends getting worse, that we're all a collective, latter-day Hamiltonian Nero, fiddling about with 'this' while Rome burns?

I don't want anyone on Council...including Mayor Fred...having their worthiness of re-election predicated on how all 'this' was handled. I do believe that a sober examination needs to be made of just how 'it' was allowed to happen. (No, I'm not talking about some government 'enquiry', so don't even start to go there.) If someone ends up being voted out, my second fervent hope is that it happens as a result of a thorough examination of the person's executions of duties over the past four years.

You know, as in a 'performance review'.

You know, as in 'the way people in the workforce' have their performances reviewed on the whole.

Unfortunately, I have little faith in MSM, and even less in the average voter to be able to discern such things. The former because MSM loves a spectacle far more than it loves the subtleties attached to sober examination of the flaws of an extant decision-making process...and the latter, because as I've repeatedly said here:

‘Given the choice, most people will choose comfort over

Truth every time. Never mind that they ‘can’t handle it’,

they don’t even seem to want the Truth.’

Additionally, people in general prefer their righteous indignation to investing the time required to really developing an understanding of an issue as complicated as the multi-player, multi-level Pan Am Games Stadium Site Selection Débacle. Finally, the unsettling truth of the seemingly undeniable likelihood of Hamilton having a legacy 'lunch-bucket mentality'...

...and I really do believe that is smoke that I'm sniffing.