Enough about the punks

I’m angry. Angry that a bunch of punks has managed to focus the country’s attention on their vandalism and property destruction in downtown Toronto. The YouTube video I posted here last night shows one example of that. There are many more. The legitimate demonstrators in Toronto have allowed their message to be taken over completely – who today knows what Maude Barlow or Ken Georgetti said yesterday? But most people are talking about the punks who for the most part probably couldn’t even write a coherent sentence. Talk about dregs.

While I still have serious questions about the amount of money being spent on this thing, I find myself agreeing with Jonathan Kay in the National Post after he travelled around downtown Toronto last night: “We’ve heard a lot of talk in the run-up to this event about the “intimidating” police presence. Well guess what: That “intimidation” prevented a potentially deadly confrontation at Queen and Spadina last night. It also saved an untold number of innocent storeowners from having their windows smashed and their inventory looted. The purpose of deploying legions of “intimidating” cops on the street isn’t to win a fight against protestors: It’s to make sure a fight never happens in the first place.”

We lost two more Canadian soldiers yesterday. Two medics are the latest members of the Canadian Forces to be killed in Afghanistan. Master Cpl. Kristal Giesebrecht of Wallaceburg, Ontario and Pte. Andrew Miller of Sudbury, Ontario were part of a unit dispatched to deal with a mine found in the doorway of a home when their vehicle detonated an improvised explosive device. Cpl. Giesebrecht, 34 and Pte. Miller, 21 were both medical technicians attached to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group. My thoughts are with Cpl. Giesebrecht and Pte. Miller’s comrades and families this morning. May they rest in peace.