What happened to respect & dignity?

Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost respect for basic privacy.

A couple of recent examples come to mind – one in the entertainment world, the other on the local level.

Entertainer Charlie Sheen from the television show "Two and a Half Men" was recently admitted to hospital. As we later learned from “unidentified sources” an ambulance was called because Sheen was in pain. I love how media uses these unidentified sources who need their 15 minutes of anonymous fame.

More disturbing to me was this statement in the Associated Press story: “Copies of the [911] call probably won't be ready for release by the Los Angeles Fire Department until Monday, a department spokesman said.” What I don’t understand is why is the information contained in the 911 call being released at all? What possible use does it serve except for the sensational tabloid crap that’s always starving for content? Why is the Los Angeles Fire Department making copies of the call available? Doesn’t individual privacy trump tabloid starvation?

The other example comes from the General Hospital in St. Johns. A friend was in a four-bed medical oncology ward a week or ago. Things aren’t going well and she knows that. But it blew me away when I found out that a palliative care team came into the room to discuss with her moving her into palliative care and had the discussion in front of everyone else in the room. Doesn’t this poor woman deserve basic privacy and more importantly, basic dignity, to talk about her “program” for dying? Are the members of the palliative care team so accustomed to talking about dying that they don’t even notice or care there are other people in the room?

Sure, Sheen is a celebrity but is his right to privacy and basic dignity any lesser than my friend in the St. Johns cancer ward? How have we managed to move so far away from the idea of respect and dignity for the individual?

Your thoughts are welcome.

Hasta la vista

It amazes me why tourists are still going to Mexico. I’ve read half a dozen stories in the last week alone where tourists have been the victims of kidnappings, shootings, scam traffic accidents, shake-downs by the local cops and the list goes on and on. And yet, I’ve heard people say they would be happy to go back there despite their experiences.

Maybe they need to give their heads a shake. A number of years ago, before the drug wars hit their pitch, I was in Laredo, Texas and thought about going to Nuevo Laredo which is on the other side of the misnamed Rio Grande. Friends at the time said don’t go because the level of crime and corruption on the part of the local cops is so high that even if you don’t get robbed, you could get arrested and be forced to pay thousands of dollars to get back to the USA.

Those warnings are still in place and yet people insist on going and then are surprised when they’re ripped off or worse. The US State Department’s travel advisory about Mexico paints a pretty dismal picture.

Do yourself a favour amigos … find another place to vacation. No point in becoming yet another victim. hasta la vista!

The axis of fear ... in Ottawa

I'm pleased to see that some senior reporters who cover Ottawa are taking a serious look at the current government.  Susan Delacourt, the Star's Senior Writer in Ottawa, has covered federal politics for more than two decades as a reporter and bureau chief. In today's Toronto Star blog Politics, she says  ...

Weekend reading: On the subject of fear

Most political junkies got their fill of Harper-government retrospectives last weekend, on the fifth anniversary of the Conservatives taking power. But there's one more must-read viewpoint out there this weekend, penned by Andrew Coyne in Macleans. It's headlined: "The Damage Done By Doing So Little," if that helps as a summary.

What's good about this piece, in my view, is that it punctures a myth I kept hearing repeated all last weekend from the punditocracy -- specifically that this government "got the big things right" in the past five years. Coyne, at essence a contrarian, forces us to examine what those "big things" are, beyond a ballooning deficit, which is big indeed.

And if you're still in the mood for some assumption-rattling, then Susan Riley's column in today's Ottawa Citizen serves the same function. Riley, though, is looking ahead rather than backward, laying out the broad scope of a future election campaign, whenever that does come. Specifically, she's talking about the axis of fear:

"The ballot question may be what voters fear most: illegal immigrants, rampant crime, Russian bombers and the census taker, or growing income inequality, deteriorating social services and stagnating middle-class incomes."

It's good to see a couple of columnists stepping out from behind the wall of assumptions/talking points in federal politics, which blithely assert that whenever the current government is doing something -- negative ads, spending wildly -- it's doing it from a position of strength. Those silly ads this week, in violation of every private-sector advertising standard (and now pulled), told me something different. Strong, confident political parties don't go on the attack for the sheer joy of it. (Well, maybe political parties composed of 14-year-olds in their basements do, but presumably there are adults in the room somewhere in Conservative Ottawa.)

Harper wraps himself in the Christian fabric of the fundamentalist right

I remember the first time I heard the epithet “dirty Tories” used to describe members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. When I asked about it, I was told that PC candidates would give money to poor people in order to “buy their vote”. It was a revelation to me, who came from a very non-political household where politics was something that was never discussed.

In the years since, I’ve often thought how that description could be applied to just about any political party based on their variable values and shifting ethical positions; however, I think the Tories, under Stephen Harper’s leadership have hit a new low.

The Tories have abruptly yanked two controversial attack ads just a day after publishing them to the Internet. The ads featured an out-of-context video clip of Liberal Michael Ignatieff and resulted in a huge amount of criticism — even from some conservative commentators. Among other things, the ads were slammed as dishonest, unethical, "a clumsy hatchet job," and the work of "drunken frat boys." Twenty-four hours after they were launched, the ads had vanished from the party's website.

However, it mirrors the hit and run style of political attack that Harper has endorsed over the last five years. While he wraps himself in the Christian fabric of the fundamentalist right, he manipulates information, has a wanton disregard for fact and spends so much time on personal makeovers, one has to wonder when he has time for his family. His is far from the ethical role model that the Tory party pitches.

Is the reason that more senior journalists don’t openly criticize Harper because they’re worried they might jeopardize their chances at a senate seat?

Danny Cleary on the mend

by Helene St. James
Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

"Things clearly are getting back to normal with Detroit Red Wings forward Danny Cleary, who is giving as good as he gets from his teammates and coach. “The goalies were lit up by me today,” Cleary said with glee in his voice following practice, making sure he stood right in front of Jimmy Howard and Joey MacDonald while doing so. Cleary won’t play Wednesday, when the Wings host the New Jersey Devils, but he should be back from an ankle injury in time for the Feb. 2 game at Ottawa. So should Pavel Datsyuk, who went down with a broken hand Dec. 22 but also has joined practices.

Cleary suffered a broken left ankle Dec. 27 -- or that’s the story, anyway. “He tells me he has a broken ankle,” coach Mike Babcock said, smiling. “He skates the best I’ve ever seen for a broken ankle. I don’t know.” Johan Franzen -- who delighted in whipping around Cleary when Cleary practiced on defense Monday -- at first said, “It’s awful,” to have Cleary back, then offered his evaluation of Cleary’s skating. “No, it’s good to see him out there,” Franzen said. “He’s skating hard, but it looks like he’s got a long way to go before he’s ready.”

Cleary was feeling optimistic after his best practice since he hit the ice again. “Babs asks me every day,” he said about his progress. “Today was definitely the first day it’s felt less pain. I was able to have more movement, and I was able to skate a little better.” Asked what he can and can’t do, Cleary said, “It hurts to stop and to shoot and to turn.” When it was pointed out to him that that pretty much covers it all, Cleary laughed and nodded. “Pretty much everything I have to do,” he said. “But that pain, I’m hoping, is going to go away gradually.” Cleary said he’ll stick around the area and skate during the All-Star break, which is Thursday-Sunday."

Retired folks have rights too

Double-dipping. It’s the rallying call for those who say the old grey mare should be put out to pasture and the new colt brought in. The problem is there aren’t always enough colts to go around or take their place at the far end of the pasture. There’s also the issue of age discrimination. Just because the calendar shows you’ve reached a certain age, why should you have to step aside? There no longer is a mandated age of retirement in Newfoundland.

The case in point is yesterday’s report from the provincial auditor general in which he discusses double-dipping. In it, he says 443 teachers earned $5.2 million in salary in 2009 while receiving pension benefits of $15.6 million.

Noseworthy’s main concern is that procedures set out in the Teachers’ Pension Act were not followed. One of those procedures is that such re-hires need to be approved by the Minister of Finance and if you’re hired for more than 65-days, then your pension benefits are to be suspended. Not fair in my humble opinion – but that’s the way the law reads.

Part of the problem is that many of the jobs the retired teachers are filling are either in very rural areas of the province or very short-term, neither of which seem to appeal to some of our new education graduates. It’s the age-old problem. Most of the new grads want to stay in town where the party life is better and there is lots of technology to support their classroom work. They also want full-time jobs rather than cobbling together an income from substitute work. In many cases, the principals and school superintendents have no option other than to turn to retired teachers to fill in the blanks.

My other point is about the pension. If you work 35-years and earn a pension, then you’re entitled to it. In my opinion, nothing should take away your right to a pension. If you’re a municipal worker in Mount Pearl and retire with a pension and take on another job with a fast food restaurant, you’re still entitled to your pension. Why should that change because you offer your needed skills to the classroom? Why should you be penalized for lending your experience in a situation where it’s needed?

One of the main arguments against double-dipping is that it prevents young people from getting jobs. That only holds water as long as there are young people available who have the necessary skills, abilities and willingness to take the job. For example, I’ve heard that some new teachers are insisting they be paid travel allowances to do substitute work. That sense of entitlement is unacceptable. The quicker they learn that, the better.

Perhaps the Teachers Association needs to be become a little more proactive in protecting the rights and entitlements of its retired members.

The oink factor in Canadian politics

There are two parts of the democratic framework in Canada that are a waste of money.

First is the monarchy and all that goes with it. We accept a foreign citizen as the head-of-state of this country whose only claim to fame is that she is descended from some German monarchists who were long ago discarded as being useless. Then, we appoint Canadians as pseudo-royals to stand in for the descendants of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Surely, there must be a made-in-Canada solution which is better than bowing and curtsying to Elizabeth Windsor (note the name change to make them sound more British) and her privileged family.

The second part of our democratic framework I think should be given the heave is the Canadian senate. It is a bunch of political hacks and backroom boys and girls who are supposed to form a chamber of sober second thought. Talk about a joke. The few truly bright people who were appointed to the senate are so overwhelmed by the ones who are there for the free parliamentary lunch that it’s a joke. And it’s not a cheap joke. The base annual salary of each senator, as of 2010, is $132,300.

Most of them are there for the pork-barrelling. On top of the $132,300 per year, they also get research grants of at least $30,000 per year; an office budget of at least $20,000 per year; a tax free expense allowance of at least $10,000 and free business class flights for senators and their families, as many as 52 return-trip flights a year. Economy apparently is not good enough for the privileged few.  Those of us who pay for all of this can only afford economy.

Total cost to the Canadian taxpayer for the senate? In a speech today in Ottawa to the Canadian Study of Parliament Group, Jack Layton said it costs $859,000 a year for each senator in the 105-member chamber. Using my trusty Dollarama calculator, that works out to about $90,195,000. The senate has been criticized as being a waste of public resources, a rubber stamp, not accountable, and a comfortable place for aging politicians. Check all of the above.

For any of those of us with memories long enough, we might recall Stephen Harper about five years ago (hmmm is that around the same time he was elected prime minister?) saying he would never appoint senators – thought it was a wrong thing to do. Hmmmm, wonder what happened to that firmly held principle between now and then? Well, gosh, a fella has got to take care of his friends, right? Harper has demonstrated time and again that his values are very variable – depending on the circumstance. Talk about a greased pork barrel.

The NDP’s Layton said it’s a common practice of the Tories and the Grits – when they’re in government – to appoint party bagmen, unsuccessful candidates and even their national campaign managers to the Red Chamber. That allows them to work on re-election and campaign strategy at taxpayer’s cost – and not from their party’s budget. (Chances are, by the way, that Layton would do the same thing in the unlikely event he was ever “in power”.)

A quick check of the membership shows he’s right. 64-year old Doug Finley is a shining example of that. Human Resources Minister Diane Finley's husband is the ultimate insider: He was campaign manager for Stephen Harper's 2006 and 2008 election campaigns and director of the party's public operations. Wonder if he’s now spending his senate energy on the 2011 campaign with the assistance of all of those free flights since he and the missus do live in Ottawa?

Don Meredith is another example. The Jamaican-born Pentecostal preacher leads and helped found the Toronto Faith Alliance, which is dedicated to fighting gang violence. A community activist, he has worked with the police to tackle the underlying causes of youth crime. His main claim to a senate seat? He carried the Conservative banner in a 2008 by-election that sent Liberal MP Bob Rae to Parliament.

And of course, don’t forget Mike Duffy. The so-called journalist from CTV showed his true stripes when Harper appointed him as a Tory senator. Now, that he’s got his new gig-for-life, he’s completely forgotten his former suspect impartiality and is one of the biggest shills for the Tories. Sure beats having to work for a living.

The monarchy and the senate? Flush ‘em both. In the words of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, "there's no whore like an old whore".

Show the money-grubbing politicos who’s really in charge

I read a commentary somewhere yesterday about the political unrest in the world, saying that we, here in the so-called “developed world”, are too sophisticated to try to overthrow our government with street marches and protests. The piece cited examples from Tunisia, Egypt, Ivory Coast and other places. It said we have a more evolved system of political management that everyone respects and for that reason we’re not going down the anarchy road.

Makes me wonder just how evolved we are. Images come to mind of the masked thugs who destroyed so much property during the G-20 meetings in Toronto. To me their evolutionary development is on about the same scale as the komodo dragon. Listen or watch the current round of so-called “attack ads” being pushed by the national political parties. That’s evolution all right – American political evolution where anything goes including putting a bulls eye on a Congresswoman and then denying any link when she gets shot (hello Sarah Palin). Or how about the fill-your-pockets-while-you’re-in-office approach used by so many of our politicians including the locals right here in St. Johns who say they now deserve more money? Make it a ballot question.

In those other countries, the corruption and unethical behavior is more blatant and in your face, but we have nothing to crow about … not with our politicians slamming one another while they help themselves to the treasury. I know many senior citizens who gave their lives in public service and after 30, or in some cases 40, years of public service their pension doesn’t even come close to what some of these politicians are sucking out of the system after only eight years in office.

Maybe we need more political unrest here to show the money-grubbing politicos who’s really in charge.

Bluesman Matt Andersen Earns Major Honours

Matt Andersen Earns Major Honours @ Canada's Maple Blues Awards - Entertainer and Acoustic Artist of the Year!

Guitarist and singer Matt Andersen started off 2011 with a bang — winning the Entertainer of the Year and Acoustic Artist of the Year honours at Canada’s national Maple Blues Awards.

The ceremonies, in Toronto’s luxurious new concert venue, Koerner Hall, were held before a sold-out house of 1500 people. Andersen — whose flight from a recording session in Nashville to Toronto was delayed — barely made it to the show, but scored with a show-stopping performance.

Now living in Nova Scotia, Andersen is rarely home in the Maritimes. He’s set to play more to 200 concerts this year — including a major appearance in Toronto’s venerable Massey Hall opening for blues master Buddy Guy.

This month, he will be the only Canadian artist on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, an eight-day floating tour of the Caribbean, which will also feature Taj Mahal, Joan Osborne and The Holmes Brothers. Tommy Castro, Denise LaSalle and Kenny Wayne Shepherd among many other artists.

He’s also been booked for the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England; he’ll perform twice at the five-day festival, appearing on the Bourbon Street Blues and Jazz Stage on June 23 and on the closing day, June 26. Glastonbury calls itself the largest open air music festival in the world; all the 140,000 tickets for the event were sold in a little over four hours the day they went on sales last October.

Meanwhile, he’s currently adding the finishing touches to a major new recording, produced at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, NY, and in Nashville by Canadian producer Colin Linden. Helm’s daughter, Amy, will be featured as will former keyboard player in The Band, Garth Hudson. Release is expected in late Spring.

If you blink, you miss it ...

Technology is developing so quickly that if you blink, you miss the latest innovation. The folks at Kaboodle have come up with a list of six current technologies they claim won't last much longer ...

1. DVD Players

With the growing popularity of streaming video services like Hulu and Netflix, DVDs are on their way out. In fact, Netflix just raised the price of their service for customers who want to rent discs!

2. Alarm Clocks
Alarm clocks can look cute on a bedside table, but more and more people are turning to their cell phones — or even talking coffee makers! — to wake them up in the morning.

3. Point-and-Shoot Cameras
Remember when a 2-megapixel digital camera was a big deal—and cost a good chunk of change. Now cell phones routinely come with built-in cameras with five or more megapixels!

4. Laptops
Even though laptops are smaller than ever, smartphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad are nearly as powerful and functional as a traditional laptop computer.

5. Anything Wired
Remember when your keyboard, computer mouse, and headphones all had to attach to something else in order to work? With more and more gadgets working via Bluetooth and WiFi, the age of wired devices is on its way out.

6. Hard Drives
As cloud computing and cloud storage catches on, the necessity for individuals to own hard drives capable of holding hundreds of gigabytes of data will be dramatically reduced. The biggest advantage to cloud computing is the ability to access your data via the Internet from any computer or smartphone anywhere in the world, which makes it very appealing.

How quickly we forget

This is a "reflective" weekend on my calendar – the time leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States (Jan 17). King had the courage to tell the red necks of the world and especially the United States to smarten up and for that, he died in a pool of blood from an assassin’s bullet on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. Dr. King was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination. His message was one of non-violence. How far we have moved from Dr. King’s vision.

Violence seems to be the benchmark of just about every protest in the world today. Masked, black-shirted anarchist-thugs think that hiding their face and throwing molotov cocktails is a legitimate means of dissension. Destruction seems to be the only language they speak. Others take up arms with horrifying consequences.

The attempted murder of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is a devastating example of how violence has permeated our North American society, fuelled by uncontrolled right-wing rhetoric. Six people were killed in the shooting and a dozen or more wounded.

Congresswoman Giffords had been marked with a gun sight on US rabid right-wing politican Sarah Palin's targeted-district list. Giffords had endured threats and she expressed concern about her safety. Then she was shot.

Sarah Palin’s response? No acknowledgement of the gun-sight map, no acknowledgement of her own irresponsible rhetoric that fires up the rage of those who can’t deal with reality … only this: “journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.” There is some reasonable question as to whether Palin even understands the meaning of those words.

The extreme right-wing politics flooding the USA find its basis in hatred. It’s what fuels the Rush Limbaughs and the Glen Becks of the world – who are multi-millionaires because they speak to those who often can’t think for themselves. Wrapping themselves, as Palin routinely does, in god and country, is see to be some sort of justification.

My worry, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States approaches, is that we’re heading in the same direction, albeit at a slower speed here in Canada. When I listen to the extreme right-wing talk across this country, I hear the same sort of intolerance, prejudice and in some cases, blatant racism. And, for not the first time, it’s starting to be wrapped in some sort of pseudo-patriotism. More importantly and more frightening, some of the leading lights of this movement are starting to get elected to influential political office. That should worry all of us.

Final word goes to Captain Mark Kelly, the husband of Congresswoman Giffords: "Many of you have asked how you can help and how you can honor the memory of those who were wounded or lost their lives. What united the victims of the tragedy on Saturday was service — they volunteered in church or at soup kitchens, worked in government, and tended to their communities. On behalf of Gabby and our family, I ask that you consider honoring their commitment to service by dedicating a few hours on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, this Monday, January 17th, to volunteer in your community."

(Tabatha Southey has an interesting column in today’s Globe & Mail. If you have a spare minute, you can read it here.)

C'Mon Outdoors film festival

The C'Mon Outdoors film festival (Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour) is coming back to MUN on January 29th and 30th at the Inco building.  If you haven't had a chance to attend before, then make plans for this year.  Guaranteed, it will blow you away!  :-)  Fasten your seat belt - here's a preview ...

School bus driving fundamentals

There are some school bus drivers in this town who need a new job. During the height of the snow storm earlier this week, some of the buses got stuck. The rules are pretty clear: in such a situation, you keep the kids on the bus where they’re safe and warm and wait until another bus arrives. Pretty easy for a responsible adult to understand, right? Apparently not.

There were reports in the press of bus drivers allowing kids to get off the bus and in one case, a driver got kids off the bus to try to help push the stuck bus up a hill. As at least one parent was quoted as saying – what would have happened if the bus had slid backwards with those kids behind it? Good question indeed.

The phrase “reckless endangerment of children” comes to mind. I know the local school board says it’s going to investigate and talk to the private companies that supply school bus services but perhaps the child protection folks at social services should be involved as well. There's way more involved here than just a contract in terms of provision of service.  These children were being placed at risk by the specific school bus drivers who are supposed to be trained in how to protect the kids. The system failed. Fix it before it fails again.

Dumb ass decision by veteran news broadcasters

Images of book burnings are coming to mind based on the news yesterday that the 1980s song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits has been deemed unacceptable for play on Canadian radio.  The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council says the song contravenes the human rights clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code.  One can only assume that the CBSC will begin a review of all recorded music going back to the 1920s or 30s to ensure all lyrics are suitably clean for the ears of radio listeners in this fine country.  After all, we are an innocent people.

A listener to  OZ-FM in St. John's complained last year that the song includes the word "faggot" in its lyrics and is discriminatory to gays.  OZ argued that the song had been played countless times since its release decades ago and has won music industry awards; however, a CBSC panel concluded that the word "faggot," even if once acceptable, has evolved to become unacceptable in most circumstances. Obviously, these people are trained sociologists who study the science of linguistic evolution. (NOT!)  The panel noted that "Money for Nothing" would be acceptable for broadcast if suitably edited.  I truly thought Gerry Phalen, Bob MacEachern and Randy McKeen (among others) were brighter than that.  Guess I was wrong.

Anyway, they didn't say "nothing" about the internet ... so here's one for you boys ...

SPARKS Literary Festival January 23rd!

The Memorial University of Newfoundland's Faculty of Arts will be holding its 2011 SPARKS literary festival from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 23, at the Petro-Canada Hall in the School of Music. Map link

Confirmed participants include (in alphabetical order):

•Libby Creelman

•Stan Dragland

•Kate Evans

•Dana Evely

•Al Geehan

•Andy Jones

•James Langer

•Kevin Major

•Samuel Thomas Martin

•Larry Mathews

•Robin McGrath

•Bernice Morgan

•George Murray

•Jane Urquhart

•Marie Wadden
•Emily White

Schedule of events: SPARKS Literary Festival 2011

10.20 a.m. Opening remarks: Dr. Noel Roy, Dean of Arts pro tempore; Mary Dalton, Festival Director

Session 1 : Chair: Mary Dalton
(10.30-12.00) Readings: 10.30-11.30; discussion: 11.30-11.50
Authors: Kevin Major; Marie Wadden; Larry Mathews; Bernice Morgan.

Noon-1 pm.: lunch break in festival lunch room (room 1032) for audience (bring your own or
buy a snack there; eat in the SPARKS Lunch Room)

Session 2: Chair: Larry Mathews
(1.00-2.20) Readings:
Authors: Dana Evely; Samuel Thomas Martin; Libby Creelman; James Langer.

Session 3: Chair: Jennifer Lokash
(2.30-4.00) Readings 2.30-3.30 p.m.; discussion: 3.30-400 p.m.
Authors: Kate Evans; Al Geehan; George Murray; Jane Urquhart.

Session 4: Chair: Jessica Grant
(4.30-6.00) Readings: 4.30-5.30 p.m.; 5.30-6.00 p.m.;
discussion, followed by announcement of haiku competition winner: 5.30-6.00 p.m.
Authors: Emily White; Stan Dragland; Robin McGrath; Andy Jones.

Closing remarks: Mary Dalton
6.00 p.m. Reception in room 1032 in School of Music.

10.00-a.m.-6 p.m. Book and journal displays available. Authors will be signing books after their reading session.
The festival is free and open to all. Free parking is available in Lot 15B, next to (and east of) the School of Music. Click here for campus map.
For more information on the haiku competition, please visit www.arts.mun.ca/events/SPARKS.php

Cut off their cheques

"Why do we let them get away with it?"  That was the question from a friend of mine last night as we were talking about the slaughter of dozens of caribou in the area between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Churchill Falls that is inhabited by the large George River Herd.  I wish I had an answer for him.

It’s almost as if we are powerless to do anything about the Innu hunters who routinely thumb their nose at the rest of us and go in for sport killing as much as anything else.  A hunt by the same bunch last year proved that it wasn’t for food - they do it simply because they know that the conservation officials and the police won’t touch them.  “Treaty rights,” they’ll say while the rest of us say bullshit but can’t do anything about it.

I had a chance a number of years ago to live among the Inuit and the Innu in villages above the Arctic Circle and learned of their respect for all life, including wildlife.  They took only what they needed and made use of every last scrap of skin and bone.  The old and the sick were fed first and then the rest of the community had a share.  They would no more think of killing dozens of caribou than they would of abandoning their child.

So why the difference?  The people that do this slaughter are so far from true Innu values that I’m surprised they even call themselves Innu.  I’m surprised the rest of us let them.  If they want to thumb their noses at the rest of us, then cut off their cheques.  Nothing else seems to get their attention.

Inspiration from a set of pipes

Absolutely amazing story this week of what could truly turn out to be rags to riches. The guy’s name is Ted Williams. He’s 51-years old and three or four days ago he was homeless and panhandling in Columbus, Ohio, trying to make a buck where he could to put some food in his stomach. But Williams had one special difference – his voice. He was an ex-radio guy with a set of pipes that would put Lorne Green to shame. The local newspaper in Columbus did a video with him in which he used his voice and the video became an overnight sensation on the internet, going viral. A couple of days later, he was sitting in New York, doing interviews on the main network TV morning shows and offered a job by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Want a little inspiration on this dreary weekend? Watch this …




If you want to see the entire Today Show interview, you can click here:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40944077/ns/today-today_people/

Mirror, mirror on the wall ...

Where do we cross over from self-esteem into narcissism? That’s the question being asked in a report in today’s USA Today. In some ways, it suggests that our preoccupation with making people “feel good” has become an obsession.

A recent study at Ohio State University shows that young people are so hooked on praise that they crave a boost to their self-esteem over most anything else. More than sex, money, or food. It also suggests that young people are not adverse to pushing someone out of the way if it means they get the praise, even if they don’t deserve it.

Another writer suggested this is what happens when you grow up getting trophies just for showing up. We’re no longer allowed to have winners and losers – everyone who competes must be a winner. Why? In life, you’re going to come in second, third, tenth, whatever. Someone will get the job – maybe not you. You will fail. You will lose the deal. It’s life. But are we conditioning our kids and in some ways ourselves, to be unable to handle loss? Have we become so hyped on the notion of winning that losing sends us into depression?

Speaking of hype and narcissism, it’s interesting to see the woman described as the most important person in the US entertainment business out shilling for her new network. Oprah Winfrey paid a visit to what’s billed as the “TV tour” this week – when new shows are paraded in front of the TV writers to see who can score the most ink. There was a certain element of breathlessness in the way the ink-stained scribes described her visit.

I love the way that Winfrey has become almost like royalty for the monarchically deprived Americans. The images abound: Winfrey anointing a book. Winfrey scoring a deeply personal interview with Michael Jackson. Winfrey generously setting up a girls school in Africa. Winfrey sharing tidbits of her personal life – diet, lifestyle, etc. Throughout it all, it’s easy to forget that what she is doing is selling the Winfrey brand. The same way Wal-Mart sells falling prices and Loblaws sells Presidents Choice products. It’s all about the sale.

She’s also smart enough to realize that just like any product, she has a “best before date”. Her TV ratings have steadily tapered off. Ratings for her final season are averaging 6.7-million viewers in the U.S., and roughly a half-million in Canada. Those are healthy numbers, and ahead of most daytime shows, but a far cry from a decade ago.

No question but that her self-esteem has taken a hit when she sees those declining numbers. And just like the young people in the survey, she’s moving on to another fix.

If it bleeds, it leads - CBC operating principle

This is one of those days when I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the news media. The reflection was prompted by a piece on CBC radio this morning. It took the form of a commentary by a woman in Rose Blanche talking about Morgan John Taylor, the man charged in connection with the traffic fatality in Port aux Basques yesterday.

By CBC’s new standards, it was a long piece. What happened is that some reporter did an interview and then edited out his/her questions and left only the voice of the woman speaking. We didn’t get to hear the possible leading questions or coaching of the interviewee to offer comments the reporter wanted.

Instead what we did hear was a woman, who apparently knows Mr. Taylor, going on at great length about his life and his alleged mental illness. She described herself as a friend of Mr. Taylor’s and went into a lot of intimate detail about what she thinks caused him to act the way he did that led to the death of a young man on the streets of Port aux Basque.

My thought as I was listening to the piece was how little dignity was being afforded Mr. Taylor by the CBC in broadcasting this “interview” and by the woman in going into so much detail about him. A similar account was broadcast on television tonight and quite frankly, when I saw where it was going, I changed the channel. I don’t need the tabloid fodder that this material provides to the voyeuristic media managers who thinks it satisfies some sort of public interest. In my opinion, it is sinking to the lowest common denominator in tabloid trash journalism which was never the domain of the CBC. Now it seems that ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ is the editorial operating principle of those who plan the CBC early morning show.

Is it any wonder that the public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of research surveys, and people’s views of media bias and independence now match previous lows? In the 20-years of research conducted by the highly respected Pew Centre in the United States, there has been an ongoing decline in the level of trust people place in the news media.

Today’s broadcast is just another reason not to listen.

An understated congratulations to the Russian kids

Okay ... as well as being a cynical bastard (see penultimate post) I’m also a hypocrite. The previous post dealt with paranoia in the airline security business. In this one, I have to admit to a certain secret pleasure in learning that the members of the Russian world junior hockey championship team were booted off their plane ride back home after the win last night because of ingesting too much fire water. I know I should be appalled that these young men were imbibing to the extent that they were, but they had just won an international championship. Hearing about them booted off the plane gives me the Canadian reaction of “you got yours”! Small consolation I know, but the game was ours to lose and we did. Scuffing toes in the mud, an understated congratulations to the Russian kids – you did good. Don’t forget … we’ll be back.

Once again, the terrorists have won

It seems airline security is becoming more bizarre everyday.

Latest bit of news: a math professor at the University of North Florida was removed from a U.S. Airways flight from Boston to Washington after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment. The "suspicious package" turned out to be keys, a bagel with cream cheese and a hat.  Dr. Ognjen Milatovic was escorted off the plane apparently because of disorderly conduct following the incident.

One has to wonder how such a situation could have escalated into a passenger being removed from an aircraft because of a bagel. It seems that our level of paranoia and perhaps intolerance has reached the point where anyone on an aircraft can complain about a fellow passenger and the police are called. It’s another example of other passengers essentially becoming the authority on terrorist activity on planes.

Once again, the terrorists have won.

Lockout ends at Purity Factories

Call me a cynical bastard, but I have to wonder if the announcement last week that Coleman's had come up with an alternate source for hard tack had anything to do with the end to the Purity lockout today.  As long as Purity was seen as the sole supplier for its various products, there wasn't a lot of impetus ... but once alternates started becoming available, I suspect both sides knew the jig was up.  What was next?  Alternative ginger cookies and then alternative syrups.  Smart move folks.

O sleep, O gentle sleep

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.”

How many of us have been through sleepless nights of tossing and turning and then trying to function the next day as if we had a good night’s sleep? How many times have we fallen asleep in meetings or in class due to a lack of sleep? According to a new poll "The Health of Canadians" by Leger Marketing, more than half of those asked don’t get enough sleep at night and say they often feel tired and about 60% of us don’t get the recommended six to eight hours sleep each night. Adequate restful sleep, like diet and exercise, is critical to good health.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota says there are some primary causes of insomnia, including stress, anxiety, depression, medications, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, medical conditions, change in your environment or work schedule, poor sleep habits, 'Learned' insomnia, and/or eating too much late in the evening. Everyone can add to that list based on their own personal experiences.  (The US National Centers on Sleep Disorder Research has a lot more information)

The consequences of not enough sleep can be deadly. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports there are about 200,000 car accidents a year caused by sleepy drivers, killing more people than drunk driving. I know from personal experience how risky insomnia can be. A few years ago, on a drive across the Prairies, I fell asleep twice at the wheel – the only thing that saved me was a four lane highway and rumble strips. That, and pulling into a motel in Lloydminster at 9am to get some sleep.

Those desperate enough for sleep often overmedicate which doesn't treat the insomnia at all. The insomniac has a smorgasbord of heavily marketed pharmaceutical remedies to choose from—both by prescription and over the counter. Just take a look at the selection available in Shoppers or Wal-Mart some day – it will blow your mind how many supposed “sleep aids” that are on the shelves.

Insomnia has been described by some in terms of an epidemic. In a recent article I read it stated that over 50 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were filled in the last year alone in the USA. I’m sure the number is proportionately true for Canada as well.  For people with chronic insomnia, studies show that simple behavioral and psychological treatments work just as well, and sometimes better, than popular medications, according to a report in The Journal of Family Practice.

The cost? Well, it’s easy to talk about lost productivity and sense of well being, but the bottom line is that insufficient restful sleep can result in mental and physical health problems and possibly premature death. Don’t go there.

A little song, a little dance

It’s interesting to watch the public remaking of Stephen Harper over the last few months. The Tories are getting ready for a spring election and a kinder, gentler Stephen Harper is going to be the face on the lawn posters.  They've probably even picked out the colour of the sweater he will wear.

Harper’s administration has to be one of the most tightly controlled in Canadian memory. Hardly a move is made in Ottawa without it being cleared through Harper’s political staff and we’ve seen much evidence of late where that goes beyond the pale … political assistants refusing Freedom of Information requests, etc. It’s not so much a case of politicising the public service, but rather ignoring it.

So, when Harper took to the stage of the National Arts Centre to get high with a little help from his friends, you knew his appearance was just as carefully orchestrated as his rare encounters with reporters. Nothing was left to chance. Similarly, the recent front page photos of Harper dancing and singing at a recent Tory caucus event were part of the PMO’s political agenda. Some even suggest Harper’s new glasses are part of the image thing … to make him look a little more paternal. After all, this is the Prime Minister who still has a full time hair stylist on his personal staff to ensure that when he makes a public appearance, he is well-coiffed. You might say there is a certain obsession with image in the Harper camp.

So, it was a surprise to more than a few people when, for the first time since the Tories were elected, Laureen Harper showed up near the end of the Prime Minister’s annual interview on CTV. No question it was stage-managed; the question was why? Some would suggest it’s because of the rumours there is discord in the Prime Ministerial marriage. Both Norman Spector and Andrew Cohen have discussed the rumour in their columns that the Harpers may be living in separate residences. Apparently, it’s widely discussed around the newsrooms in Ottawa but in our peculiar habit of occasional deference to those in power, it hasn’t made it onto the National’s political panel agenda. In some ways, it’s almost like the way the press treated Franklin Roosevelt. The U.S. President's use of a wheelchair was hidden during his lifetime, largely due to a cooperating press.

One has to wonder if the shoe was on the other foot in terms of Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton if the Prime Ministerial publicity machine would be quite as reticent. Harper has a communications guy by the name of Soudas who is not above taking shots and then apologizing for his indiscretion. It reflects Harper’s take-no-prisoners approach when it comes to his battles with the Opposition.

Clearly, all that is going on in whatever context is aimed at softening Harper’s image in preparation for a trip to the ballot box. The best we can hope for is a continued minority government of whatever stripe.

Maybe it’s the inbreeding

An article written by fellow blogger The Other Side of Sixty has been resonating with me for the last few days. In the piece entitled “Those Bloody Foreigners, Illegals and Aliens” the Wild Web Woman (I know it’s supposed to be “wise”) recounts a conversation she had with an acquaintance that was just dripping with racism. She wisely walked away.

I had almost forgotten it until I read a letter-to-the-editor in a magazine criticizing Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenny for not doing more to keep immigrants out of the country thereby preserving a dwindling number of jobs for those of us already here. Good thing that the indigenous people (Beothuks & Mi'kmaq) didn’t think that way several hundred years ago or my ancestors might have drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. The letter writer wouldn’t be bright enough to understand that.

Then, as if to prove there are no limits to stupidity, a 32-year old woman in England thinks it’s ok to make online jokes about shooting immigrants. That landed Emma Sayle a visit from the police who interviewed her about the posting on Facebook. Sayle posted a message on the social networking site that read: “Just had a two-hour shooting lesson. She will now be using this skill on the top of East London high rises to help with the UK's illegal immigrant problem.”

Another Facebook member called the cops but Sayle said the complaint was 'pathetic' and “created by someone who's obviously got a grudge”. She apparently knows a fair bit about pathetic. Days later Sayle wrote: “Just had a call from the [cops] demanding I go in as someone has reported me for apparently making racist comments... hahaha... using my new found gun skills to control the UK's illegal immigrant population is not what I call racist.” She apparently sees nothing wrong with her comments which makes me wonder if perhaps she needs her medication changed.

Red-necked racism is certainly not limited to any one geographic area – think Hindus vs. Sikhs in India, blacks vs. whites in the southern USA, Christians vs. Muslims in Egypt – the list goes on and on. I’m always amazed at the layers on top of the townie vs. baymen thing here in Newfoundland. Sometimes you don’t have to scratch down very far to discover an uncomfortable undertone.

The problem is when we let someone get away with it. When we don’t tell them that it’s wrong to say such things. I remember thirty years ago in Ottawa working with a newly arrived refugee population … some of them were being treated like shit by other immigrants who had gotten there a little earlier and had set up businesses, etc. In one case, the immigrant owner of a jewellery shop just around the corner from where we lived had blatantly ripped off one of the refugees and told the refugee to get lost when he complained. When I walked into the store with the refugee, the owner’s tone changed very quickly once he recognized me as a customer and became completely apologetic. I was able to get the issue quickly resolved and then bluntly told the owner to shove his business up his ass because of the way he treated others and walked out. We have to call them on it; otherwise, they will assume our silence is agreement.

One final point, about ten years an Oxford University geneticist published the Seven Daughters of Eve which detailed the relationship between Europeans and Indo-Europeans. Bryan Sykes studied mitochondrial DNA, which is passed only from mothers to their children and is carried forward only through unbroken female descent. He found that Europeans and Indo-Europeans trace their mitochondrial lines back to seven women who lived ten thousand to forty-five thousand years ago.

Maybe it’s the inbreeding that makes us so stupid sometimes.

Hotmail turns into cold mail for some

If you are one of the 360-million people who use MSN for your e-mail, best to go and check your account. MSN is facing a barrage of complaints from Hotmail users who claim emails have been deleted from their accounts.  Many users have posted complaints on Microsoft's online forum that all of their messages have disappeared. Others complain that the majority of the e-mail in their inboxes was sent to their deleted mail folders instead. It is not known yet how many account holders are affected.

Windows Live support technicians have said in numerous threads that the Hotmail team is aware of the problem and working on a fix. ‘At this point it appears to be a limited issue, and Microsoft is working with individual users who are impacted. We apologise for any inconvenience to our customers,' according to Microsoft. No word on what may have caused the glitch.

Happy New Year!