Danations accepted

It was not a little disturbing, despite the overall good-news nature of the call, to hear "Paddy" from the Burin Peninsula calling into VOCM tonight about the new dialysis unit for the area.

Disturbing, because Paddy thanked the donors who contributed towards the unit, including "Premier Danny Williams".

If this was a "private" donation on the Premier's part, then it's disturbing because there goes another hole gleefully blasted in the Green Report and the House of Assembly Accountability and a Bunch of Other Stuff Who Has Time to Read This Anyway? Act. (Is anyone ever going to call Our Dear Premier and his foundation out on that, or what?)

If, on the other hand, Paddy was referring to regular government funding that went towards the satellite dialysis units, then it's disturbing that the general public is now confusing public program spending and "donations", and that the roles of government and charity have become concatenated in the popular mindset. That's not just wrong, it's dangerous.

Either way, something is rotten in public discourse, public expecations, and public life. And for some sneaky reason, this corner can't help but wonder how much worse things are going to get, before they even look like they are going to get better.