ViewPoint 2010

Family values

2012-01-22T09:25:00.002-04:00

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:12:00.000-04:00

Dear friends, may 2012 be a year of many blessings for you and yours and may it be a time to reflect on how fortunate we are to live in this wonderful country where we are free to speak and write what we choose without fear of retribution from government. Celebrate our freedom! Peace.

A holiday lift to get your toes tapping ..

2011-12-31T15:15:00.000-04:00

On hiatus

2011-12-04T13:12:00.004-04:00

Cooncerns about medical treatment at HMP

2011-11-20T07:13:00.000-04:00

There’s a disturbing story posted on the CBC-NL website. It concerns a young man jailed in HMP in St. John’s. His father alleges that when Jason Earle was trasnsferred into HMP, the psychiatrist-in-charge stopped Jason’s anti-psychotic medication.

This disturbing part is that this is not the first time such allegations have been made regarding the procedures used by Dr. David Craig, whom the story describes as the “only psychiatrist working at the penitentiary”.

One has to wonder how any physician can arbitrarily stop medication prescribed by another physician. It becomes especially worrisome when the medication is being used in a mental health context. Usually, decisions to medicate come after a careful review of the patient’s history and diagnosis. One can only hope the psychiatrist-in-charge at HMP did a thorough review of the patient history before deciding to suspend medication.

Similar accusations were made several months ago and that time, a review into the practices used by the psychiatrist(s) at HMP was promised. Perhaps it’s time that the complete results of the review, if conducted, are made public; if the review has not been completed, then a competent psychiatrist from outside the province with absolutely no connection to Dr. Craig should be brought in to review the current situation and the complete results made public. I’m sure Dr. Craig would have no objections to a competent peer review of his procedures and it would give the medical students with whom he works some reassurance that proper procedures are being followed if indeed that is the finding of such a review.

Members of the public have a right to know that incarceration in Newfoundland does not mean diminished medical care.

World's Largest Bra Unveiled in London

2011-11-14T14:40:00.001-04:00

The world's largest bra (Size 1222B) was unveiled in London on Oct. 28. Credit: Guinness World Records

If there are more car accidents than usual along London's Thames River this month, motorists have a good excuse for being distracted: The world's largest bra hangs from a nearby skyscraper.

Guinness World Records has officially recognized the bright pink bra, which hangs from the ITV Southbank building and was unveiled on Oct. 28, as the world's largest.

The bra took four weeks to stitch up, and is made from about four football fields worth of lightweight spinnaker nylon. The fabric weighs about 165 pounds (75 kg), and with the metal fasteners it comes to 198 pounds (90 kg).

And, because you're surely wondering, it measures 27 meters (88.5 feet) under the bust and 31 meters (101.7 feet) around the bust. Technically, it's a 1222B, but if reduced to human proportions, it would be a size 34B.

The bra was part of Britain's Breast Cancer Campaign's annual "Wear It Pink" fundraiser day. Last year's event raised about $4 million to help fund cutting-edge breast cancer research.

522 million people could have diabetes by 2030

2011-11-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

By Associated Press
Sunday, November 13

GENEVA — The International Diabetes Federation predicts that one in 10 adults could have diabetes by 2030, according to their latest statistics.

In a report issued on Monday, the advocacy group estimated that 522 million people would have diabetes in the next two decades, based on things like aging and demographic changes.

The figure includes both types of diabetes. The group expects the number of cases to jump by 90 percent even in Africa, where infectious diseases have previously been the top killer. Without including the impact of increasing obesity, the International Diabetes Federation said its figures were conservative.

According to the World Health Organization, there are about 346 million people worldwide with diabetes, with more than 80 percent of deaths occurring in developing countries. The agency projects diabetes deaths will double by 2030 and said the International Diabetes Federation’s prediction was possible.

“It’s a credible figure,” said Gojka Roglic, head of WHO’s diabetes unit. “But whether or not it’s correct, we can’t say.”
Roglic said the projected future rise in diabetes cases was because of aging rather than the obesity epidemic. Most cases of diabetes are Type 2, the kind that mainly hits people in middle age, and is linked to weight gain and a sedentary lifestyle.

Roglic said a substantial number of future diabetes cases were preventable. “It’s worrying because these people will have an illness which is serious, debilitating, and shortens their lives,” she said. “But it doesn’t have to happen if we take the right interventions.”

Hypocrisy of CBC stunning

2011-11-11T21:33:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video story from Ezra Levant, a reporter for the SUN Media organization showing a visit he had made to the CBC headquarters in Toronto and the CBC’s over-reaction to that visit. Now, according to Levant, he has received copies of e-mails circulated among some of the top executives in the CBC on how to deal with his visit and what those officials obviously perceived as a threat. The fact remains that while the CBC and its staff made fun of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for not playing along with cast members from the 22-Minutes show, they weren’t prepared to do the same thing on their own turf. Talk about hypocrisy of the highest order. Here’s Levant follow-up report from November 10th

Tommy Emmanuel talks about his new Christmas album

2011-11-09T20:19:00.000-04:00

Tommy Emmanuel-Guitar Boogie

2011-11-06T20:37:00.000-04:00

Fall back

2011-11-06T04:36:00.000-04:00

Get set for 'fall back' as clocks rewind one hour Sunday. Also, check the batteries in your smoke detectors. Better than waking up dead AND late! :-)

The Banker

2011-11-04T18:41:00.003-03:00

His & Her Diary From the Same Day

2011-10-29T14:14:00.000-03:00

(http://tinyurl.com/6gpp23z)

Ezra Levant visits the CBC - well, sort of ...

2011-10-28T07:33:00.001-03:00

In the aftermath of the news coverage by the CBC of the "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" ambush of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Ezra Levant from Sun Media took time to visit the CBC HQ in Toronto. Talk about tables being turned ...

The deification of Steve Jobs ...

2011-10-22T23:21:00.002-03:00

There has been so much written in the last days about the death of Macintosh computer founder Steve Jobs that it's been difficult to try to make any sense of it.

Reporter Tanya Gold, who works for the Guardian in London, has done a good job of stepping back from the endless wailing and rending of garments to offer some thoughts about the global mourning process that kicked into gear when Jobs moved on to a different operating system.

Here's part of her story with a link to where you can find the rest.

The deification of Steve Jobs is Apple's greatest marketing triumph to date

It is not enough to love your products anymore; when the people who created them die, you are now required to enter a kind of spiritual decline yourself

The deification of Steve Jobs was swift and amazing, an app that rose only in death. Jobs is now America's Princess Diana, a figure of tragedy, representing transformation, Jackie Kennedy being too long-dead to do it, and Michael Jackson too weird. I find this strange, because Jobs's real legacy was the way in which people now routinely ignore each other in public because they are playing with their iPhones and iPads. As ever with a new form of communication, one of the things you can do is communicate your indifference better.

Click here for the rest of Tanya Gold's story.

Yet more hospital test result worries

2011-10-20T19:54:00.000-03:00

I wonder at what point do you stop believing the results of hospital tests? The NL Health Minister Jerome Kennedy said today that thousands of hospital tests are under review because a manufacturer has recalled a product used in tests for people who complained of chest pains when they arrived at the hospital. It means about five thousand tests have to be reviewed.

What it means is that the results of a test which might have said you are NOT having a heart attack may have been wrong. Conversely, it could have said you are having a heart attack when you’re not.

The problem is it seems that since the Cameron Inquiry we are hearing about more and more problems with regards to hospital tests in Newfoundland-Labrador. For me, the question becomes how much faith do you place in these tests? I know that at the Health Sciences Centre, there are thousands of tests given every week. And thousands of results are checked. Who gets blamed when there’s a screw up?

A case in point. About a year ago, I had a regular schedule of tests at the HSC. When the results came back, one had a note that the requested test had not been completed because the test sample had been accidentally discarded. Say again? True, in the midst of lots of attention on the quality of hospital tests, someone had discarded my sample “by mistake”. That certainly tells me someone was not focused on his/her job. I had to provide another sample and this time, the test work was done. But it speaks of an issue, despite some very expensive studies and inquiries, that still has problems.

I realize the current problem started somewhere else with the supplier of the product used in the cardio tests but it still gives me pause to wonder if the next time I get results whether I put my faith in them or hope that the doctor looks way beyond the tests.

Polemic & Paradox

2011-10-14T12:47:00.000-03:00

Peter Whittle, the author of the Polemic & Paradox blog has a good commentary on the aftermath of the Newfoundland & Labrador election held on Tuesday:

SUFFOCATING DEMOCRACY AND THE WESTMINISTER SYSTEM

“It is tough to be a post-partisan when stories of retribution and non-democratic behavior have dominated the news since the election, just a few nights ago.

First the Premier announces that she finds the House of Assembly is not very productive. So non-productive is the people's House that re-opening it is not a priority. She says the assembly will remain closed until the Spring session in 2012! The executive will run the province in the interim. End of debate.

The rationale is dubious. The Premier says she has to select a new cabinet, prepare a budget and new legislation. I could understand this if the people had just elected a brand new government. What has changed since October 10th? The Premier has lost two cabinet ministers? That makes for a minor cabinet shuffle, something that has become a common occurrence at Government House. The CEO is the same, the agenda is the same, the players are pretty much the same.”

You can read the rest of it by clicking here.

from @Ruth_A_Buzzi

2011-10-14T12:28:00.002-03:00

"The problem with quotes on the Internet is verifying the source." - Abraham Lincoln

Beneath her standards - or something?

2011-10-13T16:52:00.001-03:00

Guess I was more than a little surprised to hear the Premier say she’s not going to recall the House until spring but I was even more surprised to hear Kathy Dunderdale say, "I don't find it a place for a very healthy, open, constructive debate to start with.” I haven’t sat in on many sessions in the Legislature except for a couple of debates in which I had some personal interest, but to dismiss the Legislative process with a wave of the first ministerial hand is a bit much.

The reason we went through the multi-million dollar exercise of an election was that so people could be elected as MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, not as members of some exclusive club that meets behind doors and plots the future of the province. Tom Rideout was right when he said that Dunderdale apparently sees the Legislature as “a necessary evil.” It’s unfortunate she didn’t make that pronouncement before the election.

The results may have been different.

Good on ya!

2011-10-11T23:11:00.000-03:00

Congratulations to EVERYONE who put their name forward for today's election in Newfoundland & Labrador. While we may criticize politicians for a number of faults, their willingness to put it on the line in an election cannot be criticized. To those who were unsuccessful in their quest to become an MHA, thank you for trying. Maybe you will consider offering again. To those who were successful, your work has just begun. In a special way, congratulations to Premier Kathy Dunderdale. Making history is not easy.

Another one bites the dust

2011-10-11T11:28:00.000-03:00

I’m always a bit saddened when I see another blog being shut down, especially when the blog author has invested time and energy in producing a good product. Such is the case with Sad Catholic 101. The blogger posted over the weekend that he/she is shutting down because she/he has lost interest in the idea. FWIW, I’ve enjoyed reading the various posts to the SC101 blog and the developing sidebar called “Recommended Reads”. There are several RSS feeds from interesting Catholic publications as well which have been a source of much information. So, to the SC101 blogger, thank you for your contribution to the blogosphere. We will be poorer because of your departure. All the best in the future.

Homer, Marge, Bart & family to continue - for at least a coupla years

2011-10-09T15:43:00.002-03:00

Maybe I don’t have any nostalgia in me, but for the life of me, I can’t understand the fooforah over whether “The Simpsons” would be renewed for another two years. It’s almost as if it was REALLY IMPORTANT.

I realize that for some people the show has acquired some sort of iconic status, but not for me. I remember that many years ago I was VERY impressed to learn that Nancy Cartwright was earning $80 thousand per episode for voicing the Bart character but it was mainly because she was hauling in for one episode what I would take home for two years. Envy? Jealousy? Both?
Turns out now that most of the voice actors have been making $400,000 per episode since 2008. I don’t know how many shows they turn out a year, but it would certainly look after my mortgage payments as well as a new car, a trip around the world and a slice of REALLY good cheesecake. We can only imagine what Matt Groening must be taking home in his net pay cheque! No problems buying the expensive napkins at Dominion in that household.

One of the major sticking points in the negotiations was that the cast wanted to be included in some of the profits made by the Fox network which broadcasts the show. Fox, on the other hand, wanted the cast to take a 45% reduction in pay. Which would have dropped them down to $220,000 per episode.

Reports say the cast didn’t get into profit-sharing and Fox didn’t get its 45% pay decrease demand but saints-be-praised, there will be a 24th and 25th season of The Simpsons. Yahoo! - I guess.

Personally, I prefer Corner Gas and wish they were still producing new episodes of that, for which the cast earned much, much less than $400,000 per episode.

Blogging conspiracy?

2011-10-08T17:29:00.001-03:00

Is it just me or is there a world wide conspiracy of which I'm just becoming aware? Lately, I seem to have difficulty posting comments on other's websites and even on my own. Just now, for example, while signed in under my own account, I tried to leave a couple of priceless, pithy, precious comments on Lisa's Random Thoughts...From Clarenville, Newfoundland blog and I'll be damned if my own sign-in stuff would work. I finally had to try to fake it and I'm not sure that worked. (Faking it rarely has worked in my own little world!) From time to time lately, I've tried to respond to comments left on my own blog and have been unable to do so. Are the luddites really taking over the world - or just my own blogger account? Thanks for any insight you can shed on this. Humourous comments, if worthy, also will be appreciated. Note criteria. :-)

We ARE odd, aren't we?

2011-10-07T16:47:00.002-03:00

The world is such an INTERESTING place.

The leading USA Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared today that God created America to lead the world. Next I expect he will be telling us that God has specifically determined that Romney should be the next President. Sometime after that, Al Gore will remind us yet again he invented the Internet.

The Dutch national railway has an unusual solution for passengers who need the bathroom on a train line designed without them: plastic bags. You see there are some short haul trains in Holland that were designed without toilets. So, you have to get one of these bags from the conductor and do your deed. BUT, there are no washrooms, so where do you, ah, go? Adds a whole new meaning to the French concept of street level pissoirs. At least, it adds a whole new meaning to equality.

And, a Colorado man who got a visit from police after a pizza delivery driver smelled marijuana at his home is getting free pizza from a rival restaurant. Frederick Smith says police searched his home in Aurora after a Papa John's International Inc. driver smelled marijuana there last week. Apparently the new pizza delivery guy has a lousy sense of smell.

Happy trails.

The F Word

2011-10-06T14:15:00.002-03:00

Emmanuel X 2

2011-10-02T09:43:00.001-03:00

I have to admit it - I'm trying to turn the world into Tommy Emmanuel fans. For no other reason than imho, he is the best finger picking guitar player on this planet (and maybe a couple of others too). However, the fabulous fingers in the Emmanuel family are not limited to Tommy. His older brother Phil, with whom Tommy started playing guitar when he was five years old, is equally talented although not very well known outside of Australia. Well friends and neighbours, this here little video will change some of that. The brothers (Tommy on the right) performed at the Sydney Olympics and this video gives a small example of their enormous talent. Do not try this at home - you might seriously damage your fingers!

N.L. couple claims $21 M Lotto prize

2011-09-29T20:50:00.004-03:00

.
I wonder if Linton & Olga realize that I am their long-lost cousin who drifted away on an iceberg many, many years ago? :-) (Regardless, congratulations to them both!!!)

Newfoundland and Labrador's newest millionaires arrived in a limousine to pick up their $21 million cheque.

Linton and Olga Barnes won the multi-million-dollar Atlantic Lotto draw this past weekend.

They heard on the radio that a winning ticket had been sold in their home town, Conception Bay South.

The couple received their cheque on Thursday at a presentation in St. John's on the George Street concert stage.

Fabulous Flying Fingers

2011-09-28T18:25:00.000-03:00

Howdy, at long last.

Posting here seems to be a major challenge the last few weeks. Feel a bit like Government Funded Blogger who talks about his blogging challenges. I'm facing just as many. Wish I had the energy of John Meany, Brian Williams and the Wildly Wicked Web Wommin but I don't got it. So, here's another musical interlude from my favourite guitar player of all time - the great Australian Tommy Emmanuel. Just drink in the magic of his fingers.

A few months ago, Tommy asked Reddit to suggest songs for him to arrange on guitar. The response was huge and very friendly!

So here is the first arrangement: Satisfied Mind by Joe "Red" Hayes and Jack Rhodes, based on Jeff Buckley's version.

(these were made for fun, sort of as a gesture of appreciation to all music lovers out there!)

Crosby breaks headshot barrier: Cammalleri

2011-09-15T12:34:00.000-03:00

Montreal Canadiens sniper Mike Cammalleri says having superstar Sidney Crosby speak out about headshots will help other NHL players voice opinions on what used to be a taboo subject.

"What the immediate effect is for me is that it allows other players now to come out and say 'OK, it's not uncool to say what I really believe, and that I'm not a soft player because I don't think we should have headshots. I'm not a player a general manager won't want on his team. I'm now going to voice that opinion,"' Cammalleri said Wednesday as the Canadiens gathered for their annual charity golf tournament.

"I think it's very good of Sid to be able to do that. He's under a big microscope, the biggest in our game, and I commend him for doing that. I think that it's important that we don't be ignorant to what's going on in our game."

Crosby has been out of action with concussion symptoms since early January after taking shots to the head in consecutive games. While the Pittsburgh Penguins centre is optimistic he will be able to play again, no date has been set for his return.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/3p5h4f6

Facebook more important to Brits than flushing toilets

2011-09-13T14:17:00.000-03:00

What couldn't you live without? Is Facebook more important to you than a flushing toilet, showers and fresh vegetables? A surprising poll shows it is for the Brits.

A poll conducted on behalf of the London Science Museum asked a representative sample of 3,000 adults to list the 50 things they can’t live without. The information was collated for the museums project on water which is looking into how important water is. Surprisingly the obvious picks such as water and money were not the number one priority as the sun starved Brits opted for sunshine.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/311462

An Open Letter to the Chefs of Tomorrow

2011-09-13T14:03:00.000-03:00

I’ve been amazed over the last few years at the increasing popularity of the Food Networks on TV, featuring celebrity chefs trying to out-celebrity one another. As an amateur foodie, I have a few favourites among the TV chefs and try to catch their shows when time permits. I seldom think of it beyond that though – in the kitchen, preparing another great meal and that’s it.

Who better to champion the cause of organically grown, local, quality food? Chef Michael Smith from PEI comes to mind as do others. Now, some of the top chefs in the world, the eight members of the International Advisory Board of the Basque Culinary Center have issued what they call the “Lima Declaration”, reflections they hope will serve as a reference and inspiration for the young people who will become tomorrow’s chefs.

In the seven point declaration, they say cooking is not only a response to the basic human need of feeding ourselves; it is also more than the search for happiness. They go on to say cooking is a powerful, transformative tool that, through the joint effort of co-producers—whether chefs, producers or consumers — can change the way the world nourishes itself.

Read on …

Dear chef,

To all of you, we direct this reflection, entitled ‘An Open Letter to the Chefs of Tomorrow’ and signed in Lima on September 10, 2011.

In relation with nature

1. Our work depends on nature’s gifts. As a result we all have a responsibility to know and protect nature, to use our cooking and our voices as a tool for recovering heirloom and endangered varieties and species, and promoting new ones. In this way we can help protect the earth’s biodiversity, as well as preserve and create flavours and to elaborate culinary methods.

2. Over the course of thousands of years, the dialogue between humans and nature has created agriculture. We are all, in other words, part of an ecological system. To ensure this ecology is as healthy as possible, let’s encourage and practice sustainable production in the field and in the kitchen. In this way, we can create authentic flavour.

In relation with society

3. As chefs, we are the product of our culture. Each of us is heir to a legacy of flavours, dining customs and cooking techniques. Yet we don’t have to be passive. Through our cooking, our ethics, and our aesthetics, we can contribute to the culture and identity of a people, a region, a country. We can also serve as an important bridge with other cultures.

4. We practice a profession that has the power to affect the socio-economic development of others. We can have a significant economic impact by encouraging the exportation of our own culinary culture and fomenting others’ interest in it. At the same time, by collaborating with local producers and employing fair economic practices, we can generate sustainable local wealth and financially strengthen our communities.

In relation with knowledge

5. Although a primary goal of our profession is to provide happiness and stir emotions, through our own work and by working with experts in the fields of health and education, we have a unique opportunity to transmit our knowledge to members of the public, helping them, for example, to acquire good cooking habits, and to learn to make healthy choices about the foods they eat.

6. Through our profession, we have the opportunity to generate new knowledge, whether it be something so simple as the development of a recipe or as complicated as an in-depth research project. And just as we have each benefited from the teaching of others, we have a responsibility, in turn, to share our learning.

In relation with values

7. We live in a time in which cooking can be a beautiful form of self-expression. Cooking today is a field in constant evolution that includes many different disciplines. For that reason, it’s important to carry out our quests and fulfill our dreams with authenticity, humility, and above all, passion. Ultimately, we are each guided by our own ethics and values.

Ferran Adriá, Yukkio Hattori, Massimo Bottura, Michel Bras, René Redzepi, Gastón Acurio, Alex Atala and Dan Barber.

Tommy Emmanuel from the MDA telethon (fixed, video now viewable)

2011-09-08T16:03:00.002-03:00

I don't want to turn this into a music blog since there are enough of those in the blogosphere; however, I came across this video today of Tommy Emmanuel's performance on the MDA Telethon over the Labour Day weekend. Halfway through this video, he's joined by stellar guitarists Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo who provide some great accompaniment. It's yet another example of why Emmanuel is the world's top finger picker. Enjoy!

(Grammy nominated Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel performs "Guitar Boogie" & "Avalon" at the 2011 MDA Telethon, Sunday, Sept. 4, live from the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas. The show's theme this year was "Make a Muscle, Make a Difference" for MDA.)

Crosby still in recovery - not ready for training camp

2011-09-07T15:17:00.001-03:00

From the Penguins website: http://tinyurl.com/3taz7zm

Wednesday, 09.07.2011
by Sam Kasan

Penguins center Sidney Crosby, general manager Ray Shero and concussion experts Dr. Michael Collins and Dr. Ted Carrick held a media conference Wednesday afternoon to update Crosby’s status as he recovers from a concussion suffered in early January.

There still is no timetable for a return, but all parties were optimistic and convinced Crosby will return and have a long NHL career. In fact, Crosby said he didn’t think a lot about retirement, and when asked if there is a chance he’ll never play again, Crosby responded: “I wouldn’t bet on that.”

Dr. Collins added that he is “optimistic Sid will have a very long, fruitful career.”

More to come from the media conference, but here are some quick key quotes.

Crosby:
“Mentally I feel the best I’ve felt. It’s been a tough road. I did not give a lot of thought to (retirement).”

Dr. Collins:
“I anticipate Sid returning to hockey and playing well in the future. He’s made significant progress, but he won’t play until he’s 100 percent.”

“We’ll introduce contact in a systematic, careful way. The prognosis is excellent that he won’t have long-term problems from the injury.”

“I’m optimistic Sid will have a very long, fruitful career.”
Shero:
“(Sid) is worth the wait. He won’t be rushed. We’re pleased with his progress.”

Happy Labour Day!

2011-09-05T08:34:00.002-03:00

"Today, as we mark Labour Day, it’s healthy to look back at where we came from, and not forget the sacrifices made by organized labour that have contributed to the quality of life that not just members of unions, but all of us enjoy today; everything from paid holidays and sick leave to pensions and workplace safety standards. None of these rights we now all take for granted were handed to us. They were all won after hard fought battles. Organized labour has a proud history, but it’s just that – history. And while it’s important to understand it, it’s even more important to look ahead.

"Priorities have changed with the times and as with any organization, change is necessary to remain relevant. In the case of unions, there have been many changes over the years and it has been no different with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. When the I.B.E.W. was founded, its priority was improved safety measures because at the time, one out of two electrical workers died on the job from some sort of workplace accident. But that was more than a hundred years ago. Today, we’ve helped create safer workplaces and it isn’t saving lives but improving quality of life that defines what we do.

"Working co-operatively with our employers, many of our members, like employees in many organizations, now have Employee and Family Assistance Programs, flexible work hours, job-sharing options, family leave, wellness programs and any number of initiatives aimed at improving the workplace, creating a better work-life balance and at the same time improving productivity.

"These are just some of the ways that organized labour continues to play a role in creating a better standard of life in our society. Keep in mind that while unionized employees tend to get paid better than non-union people, and enjoy better benefits, all workers tend to benefit over time as other employers realize they have to do better by their non-union workers to retain them. As a result the employees do better, but so do the communities they live in, because of the increased tax base and increased economic activity."

Ross Galbraith is the Business Manager for Local 37 of the IBEW. You can read the rest of his Labour Day article by clicking here.

Tommy Emmanuel - Classical Gas

2011-08-31T00:57:00.002-03:00

Oh my!

Usain Bolt’s disqualification ends three-year reign

2011-08-28T23:48:00.000-03:00

There are few sights more thrilling than watching the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, break away from the pack and turn on the steam to cross the finish line ahead of everyone else.

Today was not what the world was expecting from the 25-year old Jamaican sprinter. He broke out of the starting block early in Sunday's 100 meter final in South Korea and was disqualified from the race, providing an abrupt end to the dominance he's maintained in track's biggest event since the Beijing Olympics.

It's a disaster scenario for track & field, a sport that thrives on star power more than any other at the Olympics. The IAAF has to ask itself whether it's worth running the risk of seeing a race without Bolt just to prevent a two-minute false start delay.

An angry Bolt refused to talk about the disqualification with reporters. "Looking for tears?" he said to a group of them following him around the track. "Not going to happen."

At the 2009 world championships in Berlin, Bolt ran what was considered a perfect race. His 9.58 still stands as the world.

Iconic Steve Jobs resigns as Apple Chief Executive

2011-08-24T21:53:00.003-03:00

Been off-line for most of the afternoon-early evening – just discovered the news that Steve Jobs as resigned his job as chief executive of Apple computers. 55-year-old Jobs has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since January of this year. Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant following pancreatic cancer seven years ago, said he could no longer meet his chief executive's duties and expectations.

I know it’s macabre but when I read the story on the BBC about Job’s resignation, my first thought was of Jack Layton. Certainly, any recent pictures I’ve seen of Jobs have shown the toll that illness has taken on him.

An accompanying analysis from BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones only served to heighten the comparison with Jack Layton.

“But Steve Jobs is a rare example of a chief executive who is synonymous with his company … and has been the public face of just about every major product launch in the past decade. It's difficult to imagine Apple without him - but he's leaving having revived what was an ailing business when he returned in the late 1990s, and turned it into the world's wealthiest company and one which has done more than any other in recent years to shape consumer technology.”

So tonight as Jack Layton rests in peace in the House of Commons, hopefully, we can join together in sending positive energy to Steve Jobs in whatever way we choose.

Jack Layton's final testament to Canada

2011-08-22T15:01:00.002-03:00

August 20, 2011

Toronto, Ontario

Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Jack Layton dies in Toronto

2011-08-22T13:17:00.000-03:00

Canada has lost a champion ... a man who took this country to a new level in the political realm ... a level of respect, decency, positive-attitude and none of the mud slinging that has so characterized the Liberal and Conservative practices over the last few years. The Honourable Jack Layton, PC, MP died this morning at his home in Toronto at age 61. I extend my condolences to Olivia and the family.

The President of the NDP, Brian Topp, best described Jack Layton's contribution to Canadian politics, “He taught us some things that we must not forget, he taught us that the alternative to the kind of angry politics that you see in so much of North America these days is it’s opposite. That basic note of hopefulness and optimism was his antidote to angry and small politics and I think you can see in the remarkable result he got that people responded extraordinarily well. Because that’s what they’re looking for. Nobody can replace Jack Layton, but it falls to us to carry on his work.” (Source: Globe & Mail)

Please take a moment to read John Ibbitson's column in today's Globe & Mail.

R.I.P. Jack Layton.

A glimpse into our world

2011-08-21T13:30:00.008-03:00

Ever read headlines that make you wonder about where we’re headed? We seem to be able to muck up things on our own pretty good, so much so that the old "hell-in-a-hand-basket" line doesn't seem quite so far fetched as it once did. Is it any wonder that bloggers never seem to lack for material? :-)

Here are four real recent examples:
.................
.

Police scramble to fight flash-mob mayhem

It seems to be the latest evolution in a crime wave. Groups of youth will text one another on their smart phones and gather at a store to steal merchandise. The sheer number of people who show up make it impossible for the store employees to control or apprehend any of the criminals. Why am I not surprised that these yobs and chavs can afford smart phones?

McGill University strikes deal with Quebec gov't to keep charging $29K for MBA

One thing I learned about Masters programs is you get out of them what you put into them. Consider that MUN offers an MBA for about $4300 (depending on the number of semesters), thanks to a tuition freeze that’s been in place since 1999. I would much prefer to do an MBA at MUN with equally qualified learning and about 600% less stress.

I’m supersizing to be the world’s fattest woman, says 52st mother of two
This 32-year old Arizona single mother has some serious mental health issues. She currently weighs about 700 pounds and wants to double her weight. She’s pictured in the story sitting on a sofa with her normal-looking 16 and 12-year old sons. One can only imagine the pain those kids must feel because of their mother’s desire to be the world’s fattest woman.

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists

ET may be phoning home but it’s not to tell the folks at home how great the earth is, according to these researchers. They say we’ve done such a miserable job at steward-ship that it might be easiest for some alien race to just blow us away to protect the rest of the universe. Frightening to think of how we may be condemning ourselves.

George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg couldn’t come up with the fantasies that we turn into reality for ourselves.

Matt Andersen

2011-08-17T23:36:00.001-03:00

I've been a fan of the blues for a long time. There's a young guy from a little village in New Brunswick (Bairdsville) who has been on the scene now for ten years and a bit. His name is Matt Andersen and while he hasn't hit Carnegie Hall yet, he's blowing audiences away all over North America and Europe. He performed this summer at the world famous Glastonbury Festival in England and last year he won the International Blues Challenge Single/Duo Finals in Memphis, Tennessee. Here's a video of his award winning performance. Enjoy!

Keep >>Polemic & Paradox<< alive

2011-08-16T11:53:00.003-03:00

One of the things I’ve learned through blogging is there is no limit to the stupidity of our species.

Once you put your opinion out there, it’s open season and regardless of what sort of reason or logic you use to express your opinion, many webizens are committed to showing you the error of your thinking in the most vitriolic manner. Just read some of the comments on the CBC website sometime if you want to see a shallow gene pool.

In some ways, I’m lucky with this blog – I don’t have that many readers and those who do read it generally don’t express any opinions. I’m grateful for those regulars (shout-out to WWW, GNB & Chris) who take the time to offer comment. It’s their participation which often prompts me to write another post when it’s 2am and I can’t sleep.

It burns my butt when someone who contributes mightily to the blogging canon comes under attack to the extent that they decide to pull the plug. That’s what happened with Peter Whittle, the author of Polemic & Paradox who decided today to drop what he describes as “The Final Curtain”, “With only 55 days to go before this fall's general election, some folks are getting a bit touchy about my political commentary and observations. As a result, P&P is going to take a break for an undetermined period. I thought about switching gears but it is difficult to teach an old dog a new trick.”

I enjoy reading Peter’s extensive writing on a broad range of issues. He is always respectful with his opinion and backs it up where need be with fact and personal experience. To me, that’s the three-legged stool of personal opinion blogging.

The blogging world will be the poorer for his absence. I urge you to visit his blog and encourage him to keep Polemic & Paradox alive.

Salt = $$

2011-08-16T00:55:00.000-03:00

Just when I thought it was safe to dig out the can opener again, the Campbell Soup company says it will put more salt back into some of its soups. (http://tinyurl.com/3bjb39l)

Remember the picture of the guy in the room with all the salt that was taken out of the soups? Doesn't apply any longer.

Campbell’s says the increase will be from 480 to 650 milligrams. By my calculation, that’s a 170 milligram increase in salt … about 35% more. According to a nephrologist I talked with a year or so ago, two cans of that soup in one day would put me 100 milligrams over his suggested limit of 1200 milligrams a day. We do not need MORE salt in our diet. Our collective blood pressures are far too high as it is.

The move is intended to boost some drooping sales.

If we need any more indication that the corporate world doesn’t give a hoot about our health, then this is it. I’ve just been reading a fascinating article in Men’s Health about how nutrition claims can be so misleading and that while the claims sound as if the product is good for us, there is so much artificial creation behind the tastes and textures that we have no idea of the cumulative effect on our health.

Same with this example from Campbell’s. There’s lots of evidence to suggest the damage that excess salt does to our body systems and this decision by Campbell’s really puts their earlier claims of salt reduction right into the dumpster where they belong.

Buy a bag of lentils, some other vegetables and a few bones for flavour and make your own soup. It really does taste better and your blood pressure will thank you for it!

This other Eden, demi-paradise

2011-08-13T11:03:00.001-03:00

Rex Murphy's take on the riots in England from today's National Post:

"The parade of violence, mayhem, callousness, petty greed and ignorant arrogance that has torn through the "other Eden" and roiled the "happy breed of men" is really quite beyond any ready or rational comparison. Some demi-Paradise - where people leap out of buildings deliberately set on fire by the yobs and chavs (Brit terms for thugs and gangsters), where the oppressed wander in and out of street shops to liberate their merchandise, terrify the staff and smash everything they cannot steal."

You can read the rest of his column here

Kudos to MUN & a question mark

2011-08-12T22:44:00.002-03:00

MUN has made the right decision in revoking the registration of Qiang Tang, the Chinese student who was found guilty of stabbing another student because he was talking too loud in class. Tang was taking English as a second language classes at MUN when the assault happened. He’s been sentenced to a year of house arrest. I remember talking to people at Spencer Hall a few days after the incident happened and they were nervous. Clearly the guy is unstable and people shouldn’t have to worry about their safety while attending class on campus. Now, the immigration department should send him back home. He’s forfeited his right to study here.

Another student in the news. 21-year old Kurtis Coombs will be the NDP's candidate for the district of Mount Pearl North in the next provincial election. You may remember he was the 19-year who ran for Mayor in Paradise and almost won. Then, he tried to be nominated the as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Topsail by-election. He was rejected there, but now he has an NDP nomination. At least, unlike Quebec in the last federal election, people know who he is but one has to wonder whether he has any political commitment or simply an interest in getting a political job. He says the NDP is now the best fit with his political views. It will be interesting to hear his political views.

Miscellany ...

2011-08-11T16:42:00.003-03:00

Some items from the news …

Our very best and belated wishes go out to Yvonne Jones as she takes more time for herself and her recovery from breast cancer. I think most of us who have had experience with chemo-therapy (either personal or indirect) know how much it can take out of a person. For Yvonne to try to soldier on says a great deal about her personal integrity. She needs to take the time now to work on her personal recovery, knowing that the good wishes of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are with her. God speed!

The campaign to replace her is beginning to take on a bit of race quality. Latest candidate to enter is that man of all parties, Brad Cabana. First he wanted to be PC leader and now Liberal leader. Stay tuned for an announcement from him when Lorraine Michael announces her retirement a few years after she forms the next government.

Eastern Health has re-hired a suspended psychiatrist who had his Newfoundland medical license suspended. The College of Physicians & Surgeons found that Dr. Mohamed Mekawy erred by prescribing pills to patients in the US via the internet whom he had never met and by responding falsely in a 2008 application to have his Newfoundland and Labrador medical licence renewed. (No comment from the Medical School as to whether the doctor will be able to continue teaching medical students who should be learning about ethics in medical practice at this stage.)

Stephen Harper’s senior staff members are denying reports that the Prime Minister locked himself in a bathroom in Brazil and refused to come out until he got his way in a protocol issue. It was first reported by a Brazilian newspaper and Canadian reporters travelling with the Prime Minister on his latest photo-op tour say they don’t know if it’s true. The fact that his office is denying may suggest there’s something to it. There are suggestions this is not the first time the Prime Minister has done the bathroom door locking thing.

Should the British government resign?

2011-08-10T19:18:00.001-03:00

In light of the recent protests that are spreading throughout England, it would appear that the only reasonable choice for the British coalition government, led by David Cameron, is to resign en masse and allow new elections to be held. Failing that, NATO should immediately undertake a military campaign including targeting #10 Downing Street, the complex in which Prime Minister Cameron and his family live.

Admittedly, there will be innocent civilian causalities because of the fact that the bombing is happening in a densely populated area, but such are the costs of a war of freedom.

Anything wrong with that logic?

There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it when the USA, Canada, France, Italy and other players began bombing Tripoli, Libya and concentrating on the residential complex of Muammar Gaddafi and his family. Different strokes for different folks, perhaps? After all, the justification for the bombing was that the Libyan people had risen up in protest, taken to the streets and were making a very clear statement of their displeasure with the current state of affairs.

It’s even “closer” to the situation in Tunisia where the protestors took to the streets to condemn the death of 26-year old Mohamed Bouazizi, who burned himself to death to protest injustice from the government. In England, the protests began after the police shot and killed 29-year old Mark Duggan, who was travelling in a taxi. Initially, the demonstrations were to focus attention on what the demonstrators felt was clear injustice by the police.

Admittedly, the forms of government are much different in the two or three countries, but aren’t the complaints of those who are doing the protesting much the same? They are dissatisfied with their state in life, feel the government is not serving their needs and want to see massive change. The degree and quality of that change is up for discussion.

There is one significant difference though.

In an “attempt” to “understand” the violence that has devastated several English cities over the last few days, social scientists have been asking us to consider the state of mind of those who are doing the violence. They feel that if we can “understand” the motivation behind the mindless violence, thuggery, thefts, assaults and destruction of public and private property, it will somehow help us to feel less antagonistic towards those responsible for the violence.

What we’re being told is that at base, they are essentially a lot of misunderstood youth and not-so-youth who need to express their frustration with the system which denies them meaningful work and the right to buy and own high-end luxury sneakers and other fancy goods. So, they bust open the store windows and steal the sneakers, TVs, clothing and just about anything else you can imagine.

And you know the most amazing thing? It’s the same technology that has enabled the riots and protests in England, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – smart phones, texting and facebooking. There are widespread distributions of messages telling everyone that a store on such and such a street is being ransacked or that a police car is being torched at a certain intersection. And, like a horde of locusts, the mob moves to the new location and more violence follows.

What really tears the heart out of me is to see hard-working people who built small stores to feed their families, finding that the store has been destroyed and the contents stolen – not all of these stores sell luxury items.

A lot of those people are immigrants who came to England to escape the violence at home. Many of them started out doing jobs that other Brits wouldn’t do – cleaning buildings, toilets, washing dishes in restaurants, collecting garbage – and built themselves up from scratch. Not all of them, granted, but a large number. Same situation in this country. And yet, the people who wouldn’t do those jobs in England are the ones who are doing the violence against those who do.

We know there is a huge difference between what’s going on in England at the moment and what happened in Africa and the Middle East. It’s just sickening to hear these so-called social scientists trying to explain it as some sort of sociological mistake.

So please, don’t try to excuse the thugs with some sort of social science baffle gab. And, please, don’t spare the rod.

Will Harper do the honourable thing? NOT!

2011-08-09T16:47:00.000-03:00

Interesting story out of Ottawa today. Turns out that one of Stephen Harper's senior cabinet ministers had a membership in the Bloc Quebecois. Here's an except from Jane Taber's story in the Globe & Mail:

"Reports Tuesday noted that Denis Lebel, the Transport Minister and a senior member of the Conservative team in Quebec, had been a member of the Bloc from July 1993 to April 2001. Some Tories, however, are arguing this is much different than the situation of NDP MP Nycole Turmel, who was a member of the Bloc for four years before she turned to federal politics. A senior Conservative source said Tuesday morning that as Mr. Lebel is not head of the party a different argument would be applied."

Can we dare think that Stephen Harper might dump his senior cabinet minister in the same way he's suggesting that Nycole Turmel, the interim leader of the NDP be dumped?????

No, because Harper is a hypocrit. The tories will find a way to make it seem reasonable regardless of the ethics that might be involved.

Of vampires and nipples

2011-08-07T14:36:00.000-03:00

Have you noticed the upswing in “vampire” related movies, television shows, books and the like lately? Wonder why?

That thought occurred to me the other day as I was reading an article in Men’s Health about an actor in a current vampire show and his fitness routine. It appears that not only do you have to be partial to blood for nourishment but you also have to have a killer set of abs. Regrettably, it leaves me out on both counts. My experience with blood pudding in Ireland while I was going to school there many years ago turned me off that and a killer set of abs is not in my future.

The actual term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula provided the basis of modern vampire fiction. Maybe it’s some sort of evolution of the macabre Goth culture that was so popular a few years ago.

I just wonder why there’s such a fascination now.

As for nipples, there’s no real connection with vampires except that every time a nipple pops out of a bustiere, there seems to be this hue and cry about the moral turpitude of the masses. Many of us will remember Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during Super Bowl 38 in 2004. Justin Timberlake still has trouble keeping a straight face when he talks about how surprised he was when it happened.

Recently on the ABC television show Good Morning America, another singer had another wardrobe malfunction and out popped another nipple. Once again, up goes the hue and cry.

My question is why? Are we such prudes that seeing a nipple causes us to go into anaphylactic shock?

I think I saw my first nipple at about age day one. I’m very glad that I did. It certainly beat the vampire option.

Wardrobe malfunctions are publicity stunts. Why give them any more mileage than they already have?

Considering the amount of material used these days, nothing is left to the imagination anyway, so why get our collective knickers (or otherwise) in a twist?

Ethics in the shark pool

2011-08-06T10:59:00.000-03:00

Been watching the media feeding frenzy over Nycole Turmel’s former membership in the Bloc Quebecois with interest.

Turmel, who is now the interim leader of the federal NDP, admits that she had a membership in the Bloc Quebecois before she joined the NDP. It’s a slow news cycle in Ottawa these days so Turmel’s previous membership in the BQ has become a cause célèbre in the offices without air conditioning.

Both Stephen Harper and Bob Rae have weighed in on the news, offering sage opinions about how effective a leader she can be with that sort of past.

Harrump.

As Jane Taber points out in the Globe & Mail, Stephen Harper was a young Liberal in high school, has been a Reformer, a Canadian Alliance member and a Progressive Conservative; Bob Rae was an NDPer; Elizabeth May had a membership in both the NDP and the Liberal Party.
Gawd, that means by the current standard that Harper and Rae are presenting that NONE OF THEM are fit for leadership.

Elizabeth May is the only federal leader who is saying, hold on here … it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black ass. But it’s the Ottawa way.

Especially since Harper and his band of tory evangelicals have taken over.

I was naïve to think that Bob Rae had a little more ethical depth.

Computer security company McAfee discovers "enormous" wave of cyber attacks

2011-08-03T15:49:00.000-03:00

by Jim Finkle, Reuters, Boston

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China.

The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises.

In the case of the United Nations, the hackers broke into the computer system of its secretariat in Geneva in 2008, hid there for nearly two years, and quietly combed through reams of secret data, according to McAfee.

Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-cyberattacks-idUSTRE7720HU20110803

Get well soon Jack!

2011-07-25T18:51:00.002-03:00

It’s always a shock when someone you know and admire is struck down by illness. In this case, Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, announced this afternoon that he is fighting a new bout of cancer and that he’s already started receiving treatment. Jack’s a fighter and he says he’s going to fight this and win and wants to be back in the House of Commons when it resumes in September. I want to wish Jack and Olivia all the best in the weeks ahead as the treatments continue. Get well soon my friend.

The cracking rock - Part III

2011-07-25T08:22:00.004-03:00

Part III

The Irish Prime Minister gave a very apt description of the upper echelons of the Roman Catholic Church when he described it as “the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican”. Ambition and ruthlessness are two words that should be on that list as well.

It’s no small secret within the Roman Catholic Church that the only ones who ascend to the lofty heights are those with ambition. Very few men aspire to work within the mediaeval feudal culture of the Vatican where ecclesiastical obedience and deference are the order of the day. In every sense of the word, it is Catholic Corporate Central – from the parents who push to have their sons join the Sistine Choir through to the Monsignor who knows that if he bides his time and stays out of trouble for another few years, he too might get the Archbishop’s ring that will make him part of the real elite. He becomes “Your Grace”. Church royalty. Even the Swiss Guard recognizes the owners of those rings as being the real movers and shakers within Città del Vaticano.

If the men in control at the Vatican are ambitious types who want to move up the ladder, then it is highly unlikely they willingly will admit to error – whether in thought or action. That’s why, like a good civil service, they take so long to do anything. And, like a good civil service, they will quote chapter and verse at you as to why change is neither permitted nor encouraged. Unlike a civil service, they can use Scripture and tradition as the dual foundations of their argument.

So, the stage is set. If you want to move up to and within Catholic Corporate Central, then you follow the party line. This means for example that those responsible for seminary formation, who aspire to higher ranks within the Church, will do whatever it takes to impress those above them on the ladder. If Joseph Ratzinger thinks that Vatican II was a little too progressive, then you can be sure that seminarians are going to be taught what the Boss thinks. The seminary rector, whether Roman or Sulpician, with his mitre-in-waiting, does not want to upset the apple cart.

So while the “fellowship of persons” described by Yves Congar has evolved in the celebration of their faith, the young and younger new priests want to haul the liturgy back to Gregorian Chant and 16th century dirges. These young and younger new priests also want the faithful to know who’s in charge and it’s not the people who built the community church; instead, it’s the new priest just assigned by the bishop to be the spiritual leader.

I recall a few years ago having a 30-something priest-in-training (who was a convert from the Mormon Church) tell me that he could hardly wait to become my “spiritual father”. I barely made it to the Gravol in time!

Maturity is an issue. The four English seminaries in Canada still accept 18-year olds into priestly formation. These young men, directly out of high school, are enrolled in philosophy studies and placed within the same formation programs as others who have completed undergraduate degrees and in some cases, advanced degrees. In many cases, these teenagers are still searching for self-identity while expected to become mini-priests. As you might expect, many of them don’t last.

The real problem is that many diocesan Vocation Directors, the priests assigned by their bishops to find new priests, play a numbers game. The more warm bodies they push through the seminary door, the better they’re doing their job and the happier the bishop who can tell the pope that he has an increasing number of seminarians. Talk about an archimedean paradox.

There is no question but that there are good and holy priests who graduate from such a system but there are just as many, if not more, who are so convinced of their own superiority in all things that it is frightening. I have heard too many anecdotes over the years from pew-dwelling Roman Catholics like me, who say that the new priest tells them their expression of their spirituality is wrong. “Bind Us Together” is being replaced with “Dies Irae”.

This “father-is-right” attitude is not new – it’s been with us for generations. But just like the Irish Roman Catholic kneeling on the street to ask a blessing from the priest, the sense of blind obeisance meant that many things, including the sexual abuse of children, happened right under the noses of the parents and guardians of those children. Experts have written reams about it, but this blind obeisance, coupled with the psycho-social and psycho-sexual immaturity of the abusing clergy, nourished the depravity.

I remember the first time I heard the stories from the Newfoundland outports of how parents would allow the visiting priests to share a bed with their young sons, not knowing and/or not being willing to accept, that the priest might be sexually abusing their son while they slept in the next room. To be fair, the abusing priests were in the minority, but it has stained the priesthood to such an extent that never again the line “suffer the little children to come unto me” will be part of the priest’s presence in the community. I know good and holy priests who are afraid to touch a child.

The response of most bishops to allegations of sexual abuse on the part of their priests was simply to move the priest to another parish, another town, another province, whatever it took to sweep the problem under the ecclesial carpet. As we saw in the case of cardinal Bernard Law in Boston, pope Karol Wojtyła (John Paul II) thought it best to simply move Law to Rome and made him archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in a move that many thought was an attempt to save Law from further legal entanglements in Boston. Law himself was never accused of sexual abuse of children, but was considered to be a champion ecclesial carpet sweeper.

Another example of the Vatican’s role in the sexual abuse scandals was the case of Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. Reports speculate that Maciel maintained relationships with at least two women and fathered up to six children, two of whom he allegedly abused as well. He enjoyed what appeared to be unlimited support from pope Wojtyła, who observers suggest, had to have known about the rumours surrounding Maciel. Was it a case of no one would challenge the pope? Did the Vatican “culture” permit Maciel to achieve as much influence as he did?

Some have wondered aloud if the rush to move Karol Wojtyła into sainthood is an attempt by that same Vatican culture to stay one step ahead of investigations into the late pope’s approval of the Mexican priest.

In Part IV, some critical questions from the Cloyne Report in Ireland.

Your comments are welcome.

© ViewPoint2010

The cracking rock - Part II

2011-07-24T06:45:00.002-03:00

Part II
On July 20, 2011, the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny made a statement in the Irish Parliament in which he condemned the Vatican’s attempts to circumvent justice in the sexual abuse scandals that have ripped asunder the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

In his statement, Prime Minister Kenny said this: “[f]or the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual-abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See, to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago. And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

Kenny went on to talk about how clericalism had so infected the Roman Catholic Church that it left many of its leaders nearly useless, “Clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors.”

Kenny’s comments match my experience of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. I lived in Ireland thirty years ago and I came away with two distinct impressions of the Roman Catholic Church.

The first impression was one of clerical hypocrisy. To me, there was no better example than to see a priest in the Sunday pulpit, railing against the evils of television and drink and to find that same priest two hours later, sitting in front of the television with a glass of liquor in his hand. That was the most blatant example, but there were many others. While many people in smaller Irish communities felt lucky to be able to have a meal of old mutton now and then, the local priests might be having expensive fine roast beef dinners. The further up the clerical ladder you went, the more luxury you found. There was a serious disconnect between the life of the clergy and the life of the faithful who provided the means for the life of the clergy.

The second impression was the absolute power held by the clergy. The deference paid to the clergy was almost embarrassing to this liberation-theology-formed-Canadian Roman Catholic. I saw Irish Roman Catholics kneeling in front of a priest on the street to ask for a blessing. In many ways, it felt surreal, like stepping back in time. Seeing the standing-room-only crowds for Novenas and the like made me wonder what we North Americans were missing. For one thing, we had missed a Church in persecution. Sitting quietly beside a “Mass rock” or visiting Oliver Plunkett’s remains in Drogheda give you a visceral understanding of why Roman Catholicism is so intense in Ireland.

Having experienced the quiet revolution in Quebec, I also wondered how long it would last. The clericalism that permeated the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec is what led generations to abandon the Church.

It is this power that still dominates the mentality of those who work within the Vatican hierarchy. They are ambitious men who want to climb higher up the ladder and reportedly will do whatever it takes to achieve that power. For many of them, the red cap of the Cardinal is the goal for which they strive. Being able to tell their friends that they attended Mass with the Pope gives them a rush that is not 100% spiritual. Such ambition should seem out of place in the Roman Catholic HQ; instead, it’s right at home.

I remember an old priest telling me one time that “the further you are from the Vatican, the less it matters.” It’s very important to remember that while there is evil within the walls of the Vatican, it is not a universal truth for all Roman Catholic clergy. There are many excellent priests, deacons, brothers and bishops who labour long and hard in the spiritual fields without any scandal or any acknowledgement.

The Irish Prime Minister spoke of these men in his statement, “This Roman Clericalism must be devastating for good priests, some of them old, others struggling to keep their humanity, even their sanity, as they work so hard to be the keepers of the Church's light and goodness within their parishes, communities, the human heart.”

Prime Minister Kenny makes an important ecclesiological distinction when he separates the governing structure of the Roman Catholic Church from the Church itself in speaking of the “light and goodness”.

This understanding of Church was perhaps best explained by the Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles in his four basic models of Church: as institution, as mystical communion, as herald, and as servant. In any such discussion, it is important to keep those models in mind because one, in this case the institution, cannot cancel out the others, regardless of how dysfunctional the institution may be. Just as disease can infect any living organism, the disease of clericalism, rampant in the Church hierarchy, does not mean that the entire Church is diseased.

The Dominican theologian Yves Congar said that the ultimate reality of the Church is a fellowship of persons. The challenge arises when the clericalism meets the fellowship.

Ireland is experiencing the same spasms now that another island nation, Newfoundland went through thirty plus years ago in the wake of similar sexual abuse scandals. As in Ireland, there were official reports in Newfoundland which detailed the abuse in the Mount Cashel orphanage and in the province generally. The similarities are common throughout the Roman Catholic world – the widespread clericalism, combined with the absolute power of the clergy allowed the abuse to happen and go unreported for a long time. When the abuse scandal finally did become public, it was like a sledgehammer striking Congar’s “fellowship of persons”.

In Part III of this essay, some consideration of the conditions that provide fertile ground for the scandals.

Your comments are welcome.

© ViewPoint2010

The cracking rock - Part I

2011-07-23T20:18:00.002-03:00

Part 1

Faith is a strange thing. It can sustain us in time of need and be something we run from when it’s not going our way or we feel that we’re in control. For more than a billion people on this planet, their faith in Jesus Christ is channelled through the Roman Catholic Church, the world's largest Christian church.
For those of us who are “cradle Catholics” (raised as such from birth) we have been taught that the Roman Catholic Church is the “one, holy and apostolic Church” with all of the others apparently being lesser lights. For many of us, this dogma meant we believed that Jesus Christ somehow CHOSE the Roman Catholic Church as the embodiment of the Holy Trinity on earth.

That belief has been taking a serious beating as we’ve come to understand just how “human” the Roman Catholic Church, and more specifically the Vatican, really is. It’s not new, by any stretch – consider the popes in the 15th century. “The Borgias” is a current historical fiction television series based on the reign of Pope Alexander VI and his family; it shows their struggles to maintain their grip on power in ways that would alarm even the present day Mafia. One has to wonder if much has changed.

While the better known sexual abuse scandals of the last sixty years in the Roman Catholic Church have held center stage in much of the secular media, the list of other suspected crimes is very long – everything from clerical pilfering from the collection plate to money laundering to suspected murder in the case of Pope John Paul I. Taken in its full context, it truly is frightening.

And yet the Vatican officials, including the present pope Joseph Ratzinger, ask the “faithful” to be patient, penitent and pray for forgiveness as if it was the faithful who had committed these horrendous crimes instead of corrupt priests and bishops, possibly going right to the top of the clerical ladder.

While apologies are offered, there is still a river of denial as wide as a Mexican river coming from the Vatican. And with that denial is often an attempt to circumvent secular law while hiding behind “canon law” using the argument that Church law supersedes civilian law. Nothing could be further from the truth, but like a skip on a record, we hear it over and over again. In reality, it amounts to the obstruction of justice.

I recently read an article on how many Roman Catholics are leaving the Church. I don’t recall the exact numbers but in the United States alone, it is staggering. The flood of immigrants may appear to be compensating for the loss, but it is a far larger problem than simple numbers. People are so thoroughly disgusted with the Church that they no longer want to be associated with it. They have heard so many stories of the abuse and misuse of power that it has sickened them.

Those who have dared to speak up have been silenced by Church officials. Think of the number of leading Roman Catholic theologians who have been censured and threatened with excommunication if they continue to teach their beliefs. Think of the extraordinary number of Roman Catholic liberation theologians who were condemned by the Vatican because they dared to suggest that perhaps Jesus really was preaching a social gospel, a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. To the swishing soutanes of the Vatican, that was outrageous.

There are far larger problems in the Roman Catholic Church than the sexual abuse scandals, but the sexual abuse scandals focus our attention on much that is wrong within the Church. We can see through the prism of a multitude of reports and investigations by police and other authorities how the corruption is endemic to the Church hierarchical structure. The motto would seem to be “protect the Vatican at all costs”. What is really being protected is a group of power-hungry, ambitious men who want to climb the hierarchical ladder in the Vatican. They create their own rules and play by those rules. Like a modern-day cult, anyone who challenges them is subject to shunning in the most dramatic sense.

There have been three recent reports in Ireland dealing with the sexual abuse scandals which have laid bare the operating methodology of the Vatican as it has attempted at every turn to circumvent the investigations. Those reports have created an uproar among the Irish people and may have put the dagger into the heart of the legendary Irish Catholicism.

In this past week, the Irish Prime Minister made a statement to the Irish Parliament in which he condemned the actions of the Vatican, “The Irish people, including the very many faithful Catholics who - like me - have been shocked and dismayed by the repeated failings of Church authorities to face up to what is required, deserve and require confirmation from the Vatican.”

In Part II of this essay, we’ll explore some of those Church failings.
Your comments are welcome.

© ViewPoint2010

Is a new playbook in this man's future?

2011-07-21T19:23:00.002-03:00

It’s very possible the world’s most famous Blackberry user soon could become the most famous Playbook user.

US Prez Barack Obama defied government officials when he won the job of President and insisted he keep his Blackberry. There were reports the unit was modified by US security officials so it was triple or quadruple encrypted and getting on the President’s e-mail list meant clearing the top levels of the security grid.

Now, Research In Motion, the company that makes both the Blackberry and the Playbook has received approval from the US government for use of the Playbook by government employees. It’s great news for RIM because the Ontario-based company has been taking a beating lately in the stock market.

What launched RIM into the stock-market stratosphere was when it became the smartphone of choice for governments and other large global organizations. Apple’s I-series devices have significant penetration into the consumer market but they don’t compete with the Blackberry in the prosumer market of government and big business. Of course, it was RIM’s commitment to security which helped the BlackBerry smartphone become the mobile device of choice for governments.

In my recent previous incarnation, I seldom was separated from my Blackberry and found it to be an indispensable tool for the work I was doing. I easily understand how someone like Obama would see it as being the same. As to whether he’ll opt for the Playbook is anyone’s guess. As for me, it’s not in my foreseeable future, simply because I don’t need it. With a desktop, laptop, netbook and Blackberry, I’m technologically enough enabled! :-)

Hunger knows no colour barriers

2011-07-20T10:11:00.000-03:00

Why does it take the world so long to respond to starving people?

This week, the United Nations tells us there’s a full blown famine underway in southern Somalia, that tens of thousands of people already have died and that it needs $300-milion in the next two months to address the problem.

My question is where was the U.N. when a thousand people had died and it would have taken much less to address the problem? The answer is that in large part, aid agencies were prevented from doing work in the region because of the Islamists who insisted that they did not want help and would prefer to see their people die rather than let the aid agencies bring in food and water for those people, especially since some areas in the region have not had such a low rainfall in 60 years, the aid group Oxfam said.

It was almost 30-years ago that Brian Stewart, the CBC reporter, showed us the first images out of Ethiopia where a similar famine was underway – then, as now, it took a long time for the western governments to crank up their response and begin to deliver assistance. By the time they got there, it was too late for thousands and thousands who had perished in the drought and heat. It’s almost as if someone had pushed replay on the video screen – again, local governments have stood in the way of aid delivery, preferring to see their people die rather than allowing assistance to come in – and then blaming the west for not responding earlier.

Neighbouring Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya have also been badly affected, and Eritrea is also believed to be hard hit, though its repressive government does not release figures. Oxfam says the drought has been exacerbated by poor governance and neglect, war in Somalia and land policies that restrict grazing land for nomadic communities.

NATO rushes in where there is self-interest involved. What will it take to change the leadership mindset in the west that the same determination for regime change is as necessary in Africa as it is in the Middle East?

Social media data mining takes a new twist

2011-07-19T19:24:00.001-03:00

I’m regularly amazed by the number of people who insist that I must belong to Facebook because, otherwise they say, I’m missing out on something really important. Most of these people are quite rational but they have been so consumed by the pervasiveness of Facebook that they feel not being a member leaves you out of very important social interactions.

My response has been that I tried it a few years ago, was not terribly impressed with it and closed up my account, although I now suspect that whatever information I had uploaded to Facebook is sitting somewhere on their servers waiting for me to return like the prodigal son to take my place among the legions of members.

It is precisely that data mining aspect of Facebook that turned me off to the process. I realize there is a price you must pay for the ability to see twenty six pictures of the new puppy but for me, the price was too high. There are enough data banks out there now scouring every purchase I make, likely every e-mail I send and every online banking transaction I do. I don’t need to contribute to yet another one that makes uncertain use of the data it harvests from its members.

A recent study from the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland raises even more questions. The HCIL says that potential employers are now using data collected from Facebook pages to make decisions about potential employees. At one time employers were using a brace of psychological profile tests to rate potential hires, now they apply the same analytical processes to Facebook sites, doing very accurate personality assessments based on what the online profile offers.

A recent study predicted a person’s score on a personality test to within ten percentage points by using words posted on Facebook.

There were all sorts of things that came out. People who tested positive as extroverts tended to have more Facebook friends, but the friendships were superficial – perhaps not unlike real life. On the other hand, those who tested as neurotics (in any way similar to introverts?) had fewer friends but had more detailed exchanges with them. The researchers also found that certain personality types tended to use certain kinds of words more often than others.

Should we be concerned? I think so, because what we offer in terms of an online presence is only one tiny slice of our personality. To suggest that what is offered on Facebook, Twitter or on a blog is a complete representation of who we are, is inaccurate. To think that a potential employer might be using this to determine someone’s employability is disturbing. It confirms for me the correctness in my decision to remove my presence from Facebook.

Your comments, identified, anonymous or psuedonym’ed, are welcome!

Update ...

2011-07-17T12:33:00.000-03:00

Earlier this weekend, I wrote an item entitled “Trash Begets Trash”. It was a commentary on the sad state of journalism today, highlighted by the shameful circumstances surrounding the phone hacking scandal committed by the Murdoch newspaper operation in England. One quick update: there is a report today that one of the most senior members of the Murdoch operation, Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World, has been arrested as part of an investigation into allegations of phone hacking and bribing police.

I just finished reading a blog entry by a young reporter named Kai Nagata, who until a few days ago was the Quebec City bureau chief for CTV News. His blog entry is about why he quit that job. While he has the self-centered, mercenary ideology I find common in young reporters, he also provides some interesting personal insight into the journalism profession today. It’s worth a read and you can find it here.

The democratic price tag

2011-07-17T08:07:00.000-03:00

In the geo-political realities of the 21st century, how do you pick your fights?

History has shown that when you’re up against a population of 1.35 billion living in a land mass that covers 9.6 million sq km, you tread lightly. Remember the Chinese trumpets of World War II?

That’s certainly what Barack Obama did yesterday when he met with the Dalai Lama, the Nobel prize winner and exiled spiritual leader of Tibet.

Obama apparently encouraged the Dalai Lama on his commitment to non-violence and pursuit of the "Middle Way" approach with China, the White House said in a statement. According to the reports from the White House, Obama stressed the U.S. policy that "Tibet is a part of the People's Republic of China and the United States does not support independence for Tibet".

In other words, it’s a done deal and isn’t going to change because the Chinese government is too big, too powerful and too important in the world economy to risk pissing off.

American support of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has long been a subject of contention in U.S.-China relations. Chinese officials view the religious leader as a separatist. The Nobel Prize laureate denies this, saying he wants a peaceful transition to autonomy for the remote Himalayan region that China has ruled with an iron fist since 1950, when Chinese troops marched in and took over the country – with hardly a peep from the freedom and democracy-loving west. One must be careful what one chooses from the democracy buffet.

Fascinating contrast with Libya.

In Libya - Canadian, American, British & French fighter aircraft have been having target practice trying to kill Muammar al-Gaddafi and doing so without much luck or concern for the legality of the exercise. The French especially, trying to get attention away from the sad state of their economy, have been re-exercising colonial muscles they haven’t used since they were booted out of Algeria. Nothing to get the population whipped up like a little air warfare with highly sophisticated fighter jets shooting rockets from two miles away.

Ever wondered how the Libyan “rebels” were able to get so quickly organized and be on their way to Washington for meetings with U.S. officials and others? Gee, might there be a different geo-political agenda at work here than in Tibet where just as many people have suffered just as grievously at the hands of the contemporary Chinese warlords? Of course, that no longer is important news.

Similarly, as we have watched the complete and utter destruction of the bread basket of Africa – Zimbabwe - the world has stood by and lamented the suffering of the Zimbabwean people but has done nothing about it. The country is reeling from 94% unemployment and people are starving to death but the west does nothing while Robert & Grace Mugabe put billions of dollars into private bank accounts and live a life of unparalleled luxury. We don’t hear of any sort of similar response as to Libya, even though Mugabe and al-Gaddafi are equals on the domestic terror and rule-by-fear scale.

One might almost think that because you’re black and poor or Tibetan and poor, your life is worth less.

One wouldn’t be wrong.

Trash begets trash

2011-07-16T19:42:00.002-03:00

I heard a passing comment by a radio performer the other day in which he dismissed the Sun media operation as being something less than quality journalism. My sense is that he’s right. I haven’t spent a lot of time reading or looking at Sun media publications but a week in Ottawa a few weeks ago gave me enough exposure to be disgusted with what they call journalism.

The point?

I’m disgusted with much that passes for journalism these days and especially that led by Australian Rupert Murdoch and his news-for-money empire. Many believe that the current debate over the News of the World’s news gathering techniques is just the leading edge of the wedge in the Murdoch kingdom. The USA`s FBI is looking into the company`s operations in the States in the apparent belief that similar telephone hacking operations may have been used to gather information on those affected by the September 11, 2001 disasters in the USA.

There`s no question but that Murdoch’s minions used every dirty trick in the book to dig up as much garbage about people as they could and then tried to dress it up as “news”. Nothing could be further from the truth. And nothing could be further from professional journalism practice of which, surprising to many people, there is a Statement of principles and ethical guidelines published by the Canadian Association of Journalists which can be found at: http://www.caj.ca/?p=20 (I had the good fortune to sit in on some CAJ meetings many years ago when the ethics principles were being debated. The people in the room took their job seriously.)

One has to wonder how the Toronto Sun’s decision to publish the picture of Kate Middleton’s skirt being blown up by the wind could be described, as one of their flacks did, as compellingly newsworthy. Perhaps for the few adolescent pervs on their editorial board who get off on such pictures. And, of course, their audience. Demographic assessment anyone?

The News of The World, the Toronto Sun and its various satellite operations, the FOX television news operation and all of their ilk wallow in infotainment. One might think their credo is the joke from newsrooms past: “why let the facts get in the way of a good story”?

One has to wonder if British Prime Minister David Cameron subscribes to that principle. Recent information released from his office shows the British Prime Minister has met Rupert Murdoch's executives on no fewer than 26 occasions in just over a year since he entered Downing Street. He also has invited some of those executives to the private country retreat he enjoys at Chequers. I doubt if the main topic of their conversations was Mrs. Cameron’s mustard pickles recipe.

Certainly collusion between high level politicians and news reporters is not new. Think of the too-many examples of recent Canadian politicians making fools of themselves in an attempt to suck in some popular support. Even Mr. Stodgy himself, Stephen Harper, lately seems to be willing to sacrifice his dignity for a chance at being a stage or TV screen performer. Does it make him appear to be more human or more desperate for attention?

It exacerbates the public perception that contemporary journalism is mostly fluff and at its worst, deception and manipulation. Is it any wonder that more residents of the United States (that media capital of the known universe) claim to get their news from the comedy production “The Daily Show” than mainstream network news programs?

Your comments are always welcome.

The blame game

2011-06-24T07:37:00.004-03:00

I don’t know if you’re having as much fun as I am watching and listening to the analysis of the hockey riots in Vancouver. It’s like a pathetic game of musical chairs as various agencies try to shift responsibility.

The police say it wouldn’t have happened if they had been given more financial resources; the city government says it will call an inquiry but it’s not responsible; bar owners say they had a business to run so couldn’t shut down. The list is endless. The rallying cry is that “the system let us down”.

Nope.

The blame needs to be bound to the individual who chose to participate in the riot and destroy and steal property. The “system” was NOT responsible for what happened on those Vancouver streets.

Consider the case of Nathan Kotylak, the teenaged water polo player who had hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete. He was caught on camera apparently trying to set a police car on fire. His father made him go to the police and issue an apology. Now, there are people saying it was an important lesson for him and he should be given a chance to continue with his sports career. LESSON?

Is this someone we want representing Canada on ANY stage? This wasn’t a childish prank. This was wanton destruction of public property worth thousands of dollars.

It’s the same with all the others who were caught on camera destroying and looting. Once they’re identified, they start with the apologies – about how they got “caught up” in the fever. About they’re so sorry for what they did. The crocodile tears are flowing faster than the Red River in Manitoba. Bullshit.

They made a choice to do what they did and no one else is responsible for their actions. They did the crime, now they pay the time. It’s too bad if you made a stupid decision to set a police car on fire. Don’t come crying and pleading for lenience now you’ve been caught.

What it does is expose the dark underbelly of a self-centered, immature and irresponsible generation who are so adept at shifting responsibility that it has become the norm. The child destroys a classroom because the teacher made her angry. The upper class teenagers beat up a homeless man because he insulted them by asking for money. Pop stars can beat up their girlfriends and then sanitize it by blaming it on anger management issues. A kid shoplifts expensive merchandise for the thrill of it. A student cheats on an exam because she was stressed. The excuses are supposed to make it all somehow “right”.

I keep thinking of the video of the young woman who stepped out in front of the crowd and single handedly stopped them from breaking the windows in a store. The video showed her standing in front of the store pleading with the crowd not to do more destruction. It was several long minutes before other people joined her in front of the store, but she was the one who deserves the credit. Interestingly, in that video, there were no signs of police.

Rejection slip to a Publisher

2011-06-17T17:53:00.002-03:00

Those of us who practice the unpredictable art of writing are more than familiar with the rejection slip – some of them carefully constructed to let you down in the most gentle way; others written by a robot programmed with an auto pen. Fellow blogger Kathy-Diane Leveille presented this example from an anonymous author …

-------------------

Dear Publisher,

Thank you for your rejection of my short story “Rain” dated October 22. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to publish my short story at this time.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite your literary magazines outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting submissions, I find that your rejection isn’t quite right for my needs at this time. Therefore, “Rain” will be published in your next edition. Please keep in mind that this is a subjective process and that my opinion does not reflect the opinion of all writers.

Best of luck in rejecting future submissions.

Sincerely,
Writer Extraordinaire

Federal inspectors can’t stop dangerous food imports

2011-06-16T14:36:00.002-03:00

This article by Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union-PSAC which represents federal food inspectors, appeared earlier this week in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. It's a wake-up call for people who take food safety in this country for granted.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency might be trying hard to protect Canadian consumers from unsafe imported food. But, the simple fact is the agency is too broke to keep such products from store shelves.

Canada’s import food inspection is a patchwork that ignores some products, while others are examined, with little apparent logic to explain why. For Canadians watching daily reports about Germans falling ill and dying from food contaminated with a new variation of the E. coli bacteria, this knowledge will be cold comfort.

Proactive testing and inspection, other than trend monitoring or project work, is beyond the scope of CFIA’s current front line inspection resources. In fact, the inspection of food imports in Canada is one of the weakest components of the CFIA’s work.

There are only a handful of inspectors assigned to imports for food safety purposes. CFIA can afford to only temporarily assign inspectors to monitor imported food products. While one-off projects such as the Food Import Surveillance Team (FIST) are welcome, FIST has a small complement of inspectors and funding is temporary – for one year only. The only inspectors dedicated to food imports are wholly funded by industry and their purpose is purely commercial, to determine the quality and grade of imported products, and therefore their market value – not to identify threats to public health and safety.

CFIA inspectors are responsible for the inspection of both import and export food products. But inspectors have no latitude when it comes to export products. Where certification is required, a CFIA certificate for food exports is 100-percent mandatory. When it comes to inspection of food imports, however, the CFIA has wide discretion to allow items onto grocery store shelves uninspected. This creates an impossible balancing act for inspectors and the CFIA who are subject to heavy pressure from the Canadian food industry to certify their shipments for export.

Everyone knows the unofficial priority is export certification. In the present resource-starved circumstances, CFIA and its inspectors are too often faced with a situation in which the inspection of imported products always takes a back seat to export certifications. Stopping unsafe food from reaching grocery shelves is not the purpose of import inspection and less than two per cent of food imported into Canada is inspected. And the vast majority of import inspections are conducted to protect plant and animal health, not to protect human health.

Inspections of products intended for human consumption are conducted primarily to monitor trends and not to prevent dangerous goods from reaching store shelves. For example, in the unlikely event that the CFIA inspects a shipment of fresh produce that is observed to be contaminated by an insecticide or fungicide (because it is covered with a coat of white powder, for example), results from laboratory tests would not be available until long after that product had reached the dining room table. Inspectors and consumers have no way of knowing what treatments have been applied to imported raw products such as fruits and veggies. Importers of raw fruits and vegetables must declare only those treatments required by Canadian import regulations; any other chemical treatments not required to gain access to Canadian consumers do not have to be declared.

Knowing this, CFIA inspectors take appropriate precautions, such as wearing protective clothing and/ or breathing apparatus, when inspecting these kinds of imports because they have no way of knowing what poisonous or dangerous chemicals have been applied to the products they are handling. Unfortunately, downstream food handlers and consumers are unaware that such precautions may be necessary. CFIA is not able to ensure equivalency with Canadian standards in the food safety systems of countries that export food to Canada. Since 2007, for example, CFIA has not been able to conduct an audit to ensure that food safety systems in China measure up to Canadian standards. To our knowledge, the only foreign country equivalency assessments conducted in 2010 took place in the United States.

But, it’s not just food imports where the CFIA is not able to meet its mandate to safeguard Canadians. Every CFIA program, apart from processed meat inspection, is under tremendous resource pressure. For example, vacant positions in all programs except meat hygiene are not being filled.

Against this backdrop, the government plans to invest with one hand and cut with the other. In the next two years, the federal government plans to invest an additional $18 million in food safety inspection. At the same time, the controversial program spending review that Ottawa is conducting could end up cutting more than $70 million from the CFIA’s budget. The CFIA plans to regulate food imports. This is a good idea in principle, but who will enforce the regulations?

So, regulating and licensing food importers may improve appearances only. Meanwhile, our food safety regulator will continue to lack the resources to inspect imported foods, leaving Canadian consumers exposed to potentially dangerous products.

Source: http://www.foodsafetyfirst.ca/2011/06/14/our-inspectors-cant-stop-dangerous-food-imports

Federal tories have moral deficit

2011-06-16T08:25:00.004-03:00

If there’s one thing consistent about Stephen Harper and his band of majority tories, it is their complete and utter contempt of Parliament. That was the issue that brought down the tory government and precipitated the election and they are continuing to show how little they care for the notion of responsible government. It will get worse.

One of the best examples continues to be the enormous sums of money misspent on hosting the G8/G20 meetings in Ontario. Federal cabinet ministers Tony Clement and John Baird signed off on $50million worth of pork barrel projects for Clement’s riding and continue to get away with it because of Harper’s moral and ethics deficit.

MP Charlie Angus tried to embarrass the government into accountability in the House of Commons yesterday, but he's fighting a losing battle with federal cabinet ministers who care nothing for Canadians and out reputation for integrity; instead, they continue to worship at the altar of big business. “If we look at how the President of the Treasury Board blew through $50-million on glow sticks and gazebos, it is as if the three amigos – the mayor, the hotel manager and the minister – stuff the largest porcine piñata ever conceived and then whacked all those baubles and booty over the hills of Muskoka,”.

There is little doubt but that the pork barrelling that went on in Tony Clement’s riding is merely the tip of an enormous abuse iceberg that it may take years for us to discover. Harper’s approach is to silence his critics by manipulation, innuendo and media manipulation. Stay tuned for the next chapter in that regard.

Harper’s decision to close the SAR centre shows his complete disregard for the people of this province who make their living from the sea. The centre, which answers hundreds of calls for help annually, operates out of the coast guard station on the south side of St. John's harbour. The voice of the so-called activist and new cabinet minister Peter Penashue is strangely silent on the issue. Perhaps it’s time he EARNS that “Honourable” designation before he becomes a joke like the rest of the Harper cabinet.

Boston wins the cup with 4-0 drubbing of Canucks

2011-06-16T00:24:00.005-03:00

.
Thomas leads Bruins to Stanley Cup title
.
A car burns in the fan zone in Vancouver following the Canucks loss in the Stanley Cup final

Sheer 'effing stupidity!

Music For The Soul ....

2011-06-11T15:43:00.005-03:00

I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago and she mentioned that she had been watching a live concert recording by The Nylons in Japan in 1986. We remember when the guys came back from that tour, having won a major award over there and they were so pumped. It hit us both at the same time that that was 25-years ago this year. Hard to believe!

The band came together in Toronto in 1979 when four guys who were unemployed actors (any other kind?) got together to sing and only sing because Claude Morrison (guy with the mustache) was the only one who played a musical instrument, a piano, and they didn’t have/couldn't afford one. But they had powerful voices, honed on stage and they instinctively understood a cappella harmonies. They signed with Attic Records in 1981, just two years after forming, and released many albums over the years with various record companies.

Morrison is the only one of the four still with the group. Marc Connors from Ottawa, who was the driving force in the early days and worked out a lot of the high energy choreography, died in 1991 and Denis Simpson who went on to a successful career in TV, died about a year ago. Paul Cooper, the good ole Tennessee boy, who did most of the early writing and arrangements, retired two or three years after that Japan concert. Arnold Robinson replaced Simpson as the bass before the Japan tour.

Their background in theatre provided some important skills. The dramatic use of lighting, costumes, sets, staging, and choreography brought the sizzle to their shows. They use only percussion for accompaniment – either a tambourine, shakers or hand clapping and finger snapping. As Cooper once said, it’s all natural, man! (They experimented with instrumental accompaniment a few times but it never become a standard)

Music lifts the spirits, so I’ve included an excerpt from that Japan concert at the bottom of this page … The Lion Sleeps Tonight. As you watch Connors and Morrison trade falsetto leads, I’d be surprised if your foot’s not tapping in time.
Enjoy!

The new world order

2011-06-10T09:39:00.002-03:00

A headline caught my attention the other day, “Family angry over woman's $250,000 donation to doomsday preacher”.

The family of a New York City woman is angry after she left nearly a quarter of a million dollars in her will to the preacher who predicted the end of the world May 21. Doris Schmitt left about $250,000 of her $300,000 in savings to the Family Radio ministry. A family member said the family went public because it is angry about ads that the ministry runs urging people to donate their entire estates to his ministry.

Bullshit. The real story is that they were pissed that they didn’t get more of the $300k. Greed. Short and sweet.

Similar situation with Leona Helmsley who was a billionaire New York City hotel operator and real estate investor. She left $12million to her dog who was her constant companion. She cut half of her family out of her will completely, obviously because she didn’t want them to get the money. It was her money and she had every right to do whatever she wanted with it, including burning it if that was her choice. But as soon as she was dead, they challenged her will in court and a judge who didn’t know her or her situation decided that she had made a mistake and cut the award to the dog and gave a couple of her grandkids several million dollars. Greed.

An old friend of mine died not long ago. Everyone knew she had some cash in the bank because she had been a successful businesswoman and had invested wisely. She often told me that she rarely, if ever, saw most members of her family. And yet, when she was on her deathbed, the attention some of them pretended to pay to her would have sickened you. Greed.

Same deal with the pension plan for Canadian members of parliament. A new report says the MPs’ pension plan on hook for $804-million which means that taxpayers (thee and me) are now paying $5.50 for every $1 that MPs and Senators contribute to the gold-plated pension plan for Parliamentarians. The plan will pay an estimated $111.5-million in benefits, on top of $4.3-million in severance cheques to the 113 MPs who either retired prior to the May 2 election or who were defeated. For the 12 months the report covered, 503 former MPs and Senators were collecting the pension benefits, with 117 of them receiving more than $70,000 a year.

In an article in the Hill Times, Tim Naumetz points out that, as an example, former Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe left with a pension that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimated at $140,765 a year, before taxes. This is the guy who wanted to break up Canada and sneered at us. He’s getting in pension almost as much as recycled senator Fabian Manning will take home in base pay. Of course, Fabian will get all those bonuses like free air fare so his actual compensation package will be considerably more.

So, is it time to have a look at the gold-plated pensions these people have voted for themselves time after time? MPs quickly rejected any suggestion Parliament should again review the pay and pension plans for MPs AND senators; instead, they offered platitudes about how hard they work, how they have no protection should they be rejected at the polls (well except for Fabian’s senate parachute courtesy of Stephen Harper) and how they need to work to ensure all Canadians have access to pensions. Uh-huh. And Santa Claus is real too.

Bottom line: when you can vote your own compensation, there’s one primary factor that kicks in: GREED. About the only ones who can do that in our system are elected officials which means that we pay for what they say. And now they want to expand the number of seats in the House of Commons. More gravy train.

How do we define "human rights"?

2011-06-09T22:19:00.000-03:00

Having access to the Internet is important for me – there are times when it’s a crucial part of my communications inventory, especially as the job search continues, but do I consider it a human right? That’s the question being posed by a new report from the United Nations.

Entitled “Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression”, the report says that Internet access is a human right and puts it in the context of freedom of expression.

"Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states," said the report from Frank La Rue, a special rapporteur to the United Nations.

A Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. This position is honorary and the expert is not United Nations staff nor paid for his/her work.

La Rue says the Internet is one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information, and for facilitating active citizen participation in building democratic societies. Among his many observations in the report is the tendency of some countries, especially those with totalitarian governments to restrict Internet access either in whole or part for its citizens. Think about China, Cuba, Russia and other countries where Internet access is purely at the whim of the Politburo.

For me, the real question is whether defining Internet access in terms of a human right somehow diminishes other more tangible rights, such as those adopted and proclaimed on December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here are just a few.

• the right to life, liberty and security of person;
• no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms;
• no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law;
• equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law;
• no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile;
• everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his/her rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him/her

Does adding access to the Internet to that list seem reasonable?

For example, in an interview today, La Rue said that he feels the fact that some Canadian northern communities do not have access to Internet services is a violation of their basic rights. I wonder if he really understands the standard of living in some of our northern communities?

As I said, I consider the Internet to be important to my current lifestyle, but I don’t think it’s anywhere close to those other rights.

If you’re interested, you can read the entire report by clicking here.

Do you think Internet access should be considered a human right?

Wanted: good vibes

2011-06-07T11:16:00.003-03:00

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a family member who means a great deal to me. She’s one of my few living relatives and, over the last 20-years or so, has become very important to me. It was so good to see her and spend a few days with her, to share some family memories, have some great meals and just “be” with family.

Throughout it all though, there was the spectre of a black dog hanging over us. For you see, she’s a manic-depressive, so sick that she has been on disability leave for at least two years now and has recently taken retirement because there was no prospect of her returning to work. She is on large doses of medication, sees a psychiatrist and a psychologist and other professionals routinely. Some days she is barely functional; on a few other days she prepares meals, bakes cookies and is the way I used to remember her. It’s the pendulum between the manic and the depressive. I love her dearly, but there are times when I feel like I have to escape.

In part maybe because of the mirror. When I look closely at her, I see much of me. I see the lethargy, the disinterest, the desire to just stay in bed and keep the drapes closed and the doors locked. There are days when it is a challenge to get out of bed and get something to eat. Why bother?

Recent events in my life have helped to precipitate this phase and I recognize it. There were some circumstances beyond my control and others within my control. Trying to measure up to others’ expectations professionally when the target keeps shifting can leave you physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Finally, there needed to be a separation, a parting of the ways in order for some semblance of sanity to return and that parting brings with it its own pain amid the realization that this adventure is over and another must be found.

Fellow blogger WiseWebWoman recently wrote a post about the black dog entitled “Act As If”. You can read it here. It forced me to realize that my coping skills have just about hit the bottom of the barrel and I realize that with a move coming up in two weeks, packing is proceeding at a snail’s pace … and I think the snail is winning. I’m looking forward to the move because it will put me physically in a better place where I have friends who care. But as a mid-range baby boomer, I also recognize the liabilities of age. The animus and the anima.

There are so very many of us out here who are fighting this beast of depression – sometimes winning, sometimes losing but constantly in the struggle. When you have a minute, send some positive thoughts in our direction. We can use all the good vibes we can get.

Thanks WWW. You have courage.

Weiner’s weiner is THE weiner

2011-06-07T10:26:00.000-03:00

If nothing else, American politics is better than any late night reality TV show.
Consider the latest developments … Donald Trump won’t compete for the US Presidency because it would interfere with his TV show … Sarah Palin not only doesn’t know U.S. history but when challenged on her, ahem, “knowledge” tries to rewrite history and sends her minions to edit Wikipedia.

And then, there’s Anthony Weiner. Turns out that Weiner’s weiner is THE weiner in the picture that everyone’s talking about in the States. Weiner held a long news conference in New York yesterday afternoon to announce that he had lied, manipulated the truth and yes, did send the picture of his clothed penis to a woman via his Twitter account. Understandably, the world reacted with shock and horror to the news as the reality finally sunk in that this fine upstanding young, married, Congressman had done what seems to be the norm for many people these days … sending clothed and unclothed pictures of themselves and various body parts over the Internet.

In the midst of all of Weiner’s denials when he was saying that he wasn’t sure if the picture was of his penis, I enjoyed comedian Jon Stewart’s response: “There are few things I’m certain about. That The Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie, that OJ killed those two people, and what my [penis] looks like.”

Next political controversy in the USA: Does Obama wear boxers or briefs? (And we wonder why THEY see US as being boring!)

57% of Canadian diabetics cannot afford supplies

2011-06-02T11:10:00.000-03:00

As a valued member of the Canadian Diabetes Association, we thought you would like to know about our Compassionate Use Program, which launches on June 6.

With more than 9 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes, the importance of diabetes management through self-monitoring and blood glucose management has never been greater.

Unfortunately, approximately 57% of all people living with diabetes in Canada cannot afford their prescribed diabetes management routine, due to the costs associated with blood glucose testing supplies.

As a result, many of these people end up developing serious life-threatening complications, which lead to poor health, increased mortality and significantly increased costs to the health system and our overall economy.

Starting June 6, the Canadian Diabetes Association is launching a Compassionate Use Program aimed at economically challenged Canadians who are unable to afford the out-of-pocket costs for monitoring their blood glucose levels.

Through this program, the Association is looking to distribute 4,901 free blood glucose monitoring kits across Canada, consisting of:

1 OneTouch® UltraMini® System Kit
300 OneTouch® Ultra® Blue Test Strips
300 OneTouch® Delica® Lancets

If you or someone you know can benefit from this program, please visit www.diabetes.ca/meter to learn more or to apply online. You can also call 1-800-BANTING (1-800-226-8464), option 7, for more information.

Sincerely,
The Canadian Diabetes Association

Trademarks owned by Johnson & Johnson and used under license.

California prisons called cruel and unusual punishment

2011-05-28T14:02:00.001-03:00

If you took the entire population of St. John’s and put us all into jail, you’d still only have about two-thirds of the number of people who are in jail in the state of California.

The US Supreme Court has just ruled that California's prison conditions are so bad that they violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In some cases, mentally ill prisoners are being housed (if you can use that word) in wire cages about the same size as the old telephone booths that you don’t see much anymore. So much for the enlightened society.

Here in Canada, we’re getting closer and closer to the notion of the mega-prisons that have become staples in the American justice diet. Many of them are run by private, for-profit companies.

With the new majority government, the Conservatives in Ottawa are moving ahead with their omnibus crime bill. Among other things, it will usher in new mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes — growing five marijuana plants to sell the drug would automatically bring six months in jail.

There are other changes that will mean new jail time or increased jail time for similar offences. House arrest will no longer be a sentencing option for the courts in what are being described as “serious crimes”. Serious is a pretty broad word since five marijuana plants will now earn you six months in jail. I can only imagine what would have happened to “Mary” a former student of mine who used to shoplift Midol because she couldn’t afford to buy it to deal with monthly cramps.

Correctional Service Canada says existing legislation translates to a need for 2,700 new spaces at a cost of $2-billion. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page thinks that number is more like 4,200 prisoners at a total cost of closer to $5-billion — raising annual prison expenditure to $9.3-billion by 2015-2016.

It will be interesting to see the sweetheart deals the Tories arrange for their cronies to build those prisons and possibly operate them. We know it will happen - the big question is who will get the kickbacks. Maybe envelopes of cash?

The pimps nicknamed her Chutki

2011-05-27T22:48:00.000-03:00

Sometimes we take life so much for granted. I’ve thought about it many times before, but it hit me tonight as I read an op-ed column in Wednesday’s New York Times by Nicolas Kristof. I’ve been reading Kristof’s stuff for a long time as he travels around the world contributing important pieces of work to the journalism archive.

Wednesday’s column talked about a night time rescue mission at a brothel in India in which he was invited to participate as a witness. The girl child that started it all was nicknamed Chutki … which means little girl because she was only about fifteen-years old. They were able to save the little girl and four others – one as young as five and another only ten-years old. It is modern day slavery of the worst possible kind.

According to Kristof, “India probably has more modern slaves than any country in the world. It has millions of women and girls in its brothels, often held captive for their first few years until they grow resigned to their fate. China surely has more prostitutes, but they are typically working voluntarily. India’s brothels are also unusually violent, with ferocious beatings common and pimps sometimes even killing girls who are uncooperative.”

The sex trade involving young children is so common in some of these countries that officials simply look the other way unless there is some mileage to be gained in terms of publicity by shutting down these operations. And there are many, many of them.

Kristof writes that “UNICEF has estimated that worldwide 1.8 million children enter the sex trade each year. Too many are in the United States, which should prosecute pimps much more aggressively, but the worst abuses take place in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia.”

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that it happens only in India and those other countries. In Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver, there are kids for sale on the streets. Any vice squad cop can tell you a hundred stories with hundreds more to be told. Sometimes, the kids get out and turn up at places like Covenant House, Canada's largest shelter for homeless youth.

We shouldn’t pride ourselves on being any better than the people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal or Cambodia. As we tuck into bed tonight for a good sleep in a warm bedroom, whether in Newfoundland or New Hampshire, we should spare a thought for those children – some may not live until the morning.

You can read Kristof’s article "Raiding a Brothel in India" by clicking here.

"Macho Man" dead at 58

2011-05-20T17:58:00.000-03:00

Here’s one for the boys.

If you thought Randy “Macho Man” Savage was one of the coolest wrestlers around with one of the prettiest managers, hold up your hand! Almost unanimous!

The “Macho Man”, a pro wrestling icon whose fame reached far past the wrestling ring as a television pitchman with the phrase, “Snap into a Slim Jim, Oooh yeah” died on Friday morning in Pinellas County, Fla. after reportedly suffering a heart attack while driving, leading to an auto accident.

Randall Mario Poffo (his real name), was 58. While perhaps best known for his pro wrestling battles as Hulk Hogan’s major storyline rival in the late 1980s, Savage was also an actor and a one-time major league baseball prospect.

Lanny Poffo, his brother and also a former pro wrestler under the handle “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, said that Savage suffered a heart attack behind the wheel while driving. He veered across a concrete median, past oncoming traffic, and collided head-on with a tree. He was rushed to the hospital where he died from his injuries. His wife who was in the truck with him survived.

Savage was intense and driven in everything he did. He played minor league baseball from 1971-74 in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox farm systems.

An outfielder, after he blew out his right shoulder, making him unable to throw with any force, he taught himself to throw left-handed in an attempt to continue his career. “I saw his tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971,” remembered one observer. “Man, he could hit. He was a little squirt, I don’t think he was more than 165 pounds at the time.” He batted .232 with nine home runs and 66 RBIs in his final season of pro ball, with Tampa of the Class-A Florida League, before turning his attention full time to wrestling.

This sickens me

2011-05-20T05:58:00.004-03:00

My gosh, talk about pouring it on thick!

Fabian Manning, the former and now reappointed senator to the pig trough in Ottawa says he’s quite happy that Stephen Harper put him back in the senate. No surprise, eh?

I’ve talked before about Stephen Harper’s variable values and this is another shining example of say one thing and do another, but it’s what we’ve come to expect of Harper. His integrity hit rock bottom with the senate reward he gave his buddies for running and losing in the last election. I have to wonder though what separates the ones who got appointed to the senate from the ones who didn’t. Not loyal enough? Didn’t say Mr. Prime Minister often enough? Well, at least we know what they are … just took a little negotiating with the price.

Here’s an excerpt of the CBC story recounting the interview with Fabian Manning. You can read the complete story here.

Content warning: take your anti-nausea pill before reading this.

"I was absolutely delighted when the prime minister called and invited me back to the Senate."

"I get a charge out of some of the people that are complaining. I resigned my Senate seat on March 28. My plan at that time was to seek election in the riding of Avalon. We did that, we fought a good campaign — close to 15,000 people voted for us, but we came up short," he said. "If it had of been the other way around on May 2, we wouldn't be having this conversation — I'd be the member of Parliament for Avalon."

Manning said his priority upon returning to the Senate is to push for reform — something he said Harper and the Progressive Conservative party have been trying to do for years, but have been snagged by the Liberals.

"We tried on two occasions to bring reform to the Senate, to bring legislation to the Senate, and the Liberals that dominated the Senate at that time rejected our overtures," said Manning. "We look forward now to bringing in legislation to the House of Commons and to the Senate to make some needed reforms."

"I strongly believe that the people that make the decisions that affect the day to day lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are not those that sit in opposition, are not those that sit in the third party in Parliament and are not those that sit in the Senate. They are the people that are elected to the House of Commons in the government of Canada," he said.

"I tried to do that on May the second with the campaign team that I had. That opportunity wasn't there. The second part of that now is the opportunity to sit in the Senate."

Barf. The people of Avalon didn't want you then. They don't want you now. Any questions?

One lucky catch ... or was it? :-)

2011-05-19T13:17:00.000-03:00

Here's a viral video that has been making the rounds over the past week: Maybe you've seen Tampa Bay Rays star third baseman Evan Longoria(notes) saving the noggin' of a distracted television reporter with an unbelievable grab?

The video, of course, is about as real as Longoria hanging from a helicopter while looking for his lost cap last year. Looking at the banners in the background, it's not hard to decipher which of Longoria's sponsored companies coughed up for the CGI either. The subliminal message sent by Gillette here? Smooth move.

Still, it's a pretty slickly produced spot and one that's fun to watch and replay, so no problem here with passing it along. Maybe the next installment can feature Longo shooting the ball out of the air with his lost AK-47?

'Fill-A-Truck' event

2011-05-18T22:35:00.001-03:00

You are invited to participate in the first-ever 'Fill-A-Truck' event hosted by the Canadian Diabetes Association's Clothesline® program! Help support the 47,000 people in our province who live with diabetes by making a donation of reusable clothing or household items. You can help make a difference with your spring cleaning this year by keeping items from landfills!

Saturday, May 21st

Canadian Diabetes Association

Suite 862, 860 Topsail Road

Westbrook Plaza

10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Prizes, refreshments and enter for a chance to win an Apple® ipad!

For more information visit www.diabetes.ca/clothesline or phone 1-800-505-5525

Oink, oink

2011-05-18T16:22:00.002-03:00

It’s times like these when I’m reminded of that famous quote from former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, "there's no whore like an old whore".

What else needs to be said about Stephen Harper’s decision to reappoint Larry Smith and Fabian Manning to the pig trough of Ottawa, the Canadian Senate?

There's an excellent editorial in today's Saskatoon Star Phoenix. You might want to check it out here. Stephen Maher, writing in the Halifax Chronicle Herald puts it into perspective for the Avalon voters: "The people of the electoral district of Avalon had the poor grace, stunned baymen that they are, to twice defeat Manning at the polls." You can read his entire article here.

Fire red crocs and return to blogging

2011-05-14T15:14:00.002-03:00

I always thought early winter was when those of us inclined to hibernate took off our boots, climbed under the buffalo robe and settled in for a long snooze. Seems like May-month is hibernation time for many of us in the blogging world – especially moi. Looking over the “Blogs of interest” list on the right side of the page, it seems that many of us are taking well-deserved siestas between postings. Right & proper thing as my uncle used to say.

There’s been a lot going on since my last post and vacation time. I got off the rock to the warmer climes in Ontario visiting with some friends and family. One day this past week, it was 27 degrees and sunny, prompting me to pull out the shorts and t-shirts I had nearly forgotten. Even invested in a new pair of fire red crocs. As my sweet little cousin is fond of saying … “watta crock!”

Returned to a glorious day here yesterday – nice & sunny with a warm day. Dug out the shorts and went for a walk to get some salt air back into my system. Amazing how you can suffer withdrawal in such a short period of time.

Did a little updating to the blog today – adding a few new blogs to the interest list and re-adding a few that I had dropped awhile back. Nice to see the old friends back on the list and some new ones I discovered over the last while. Take a minute and check out some of the titles listed there. It’s wonderful to be able to ramble through their musings, ponderings, pontifications, postings and prognostications.

Have a few topics planned for the upcoming days including reflections on the Bin Laden story, a few thoughts about the St. John’s psychiatrist who was writing prescriptions over the Internet and the results of the election, especially in Quebec. Enough about that stuff later. Appreciate hearing/seeing any comments you might have to offer.

Pettiness is going to be the mode in Ottawa

2011-05-05T09:18:00.002-03:00

Well so much for the change in Stephen Harper’s attitude now that his party has a majority government in Parliament. A story in the Globe & Mail notes that Harper and his flock are pissed off at Michael Ignatieff for not calling on election night and offering congratulations on the win. Ignatieff apparently made the call on Wednesday afternoon, but after all the shit that Harper and his crowd dished at Ignatieff, how could anyone, including Dimitri Soudas (Harper’s main flack) be miffed at no call? Turns out they were, which tells me even more about what we can expect from the tory government. Pettiness is going to be the mode in Ottawa. Read on …

Tories pout after Ignatieff opts against congratulatory phone call to Harper
So much for bonhomie in Canadian politics. Despite the huge Conservative win Monday night, there are Tories who are miffed Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff did not even bother to call Stephen Harper to congratulate him on his victory.

They know it sounds petty. But it gets their goats a bit, according to one Conservative source, that the a leader who spent so much of the campaign saying he was an honorable guy, while criticizing their guy for being found in contempt of Parliament and for disrespecting democratic institutions, didn’t call.

The Tory added that “24” – referring to 24 Sussex Drive, the Prime Minister’s official residence – was not impressed.

It shows, too, the level of animosity between the Conservatives and the Liberals that this did not go unnoticed.

“I can confirm that Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Harper have not spoken,” Liberal spokeswoman Leslie Church said Wednesday morning. “Mr. Ignatieff very publicly congratulated Mr. Harper in the opening lines of his concession speech on Monday night but there has been no private contact.”

The first few lines of Mr. Ignatieff’s election night address did, in fact, acknowledge the Tory win.

“I want to first of all offer my open-hearted congratulations to Prime Minister Stephen Harper,” he said. “I want to offer my congratulations also to the new Leader of the Official Opposition, Jack Layton. Offer to him, on behalf of my party, sincere congratulations to two opponents, who have had the better of the night.”

Mr. Ignatieff resigned his post as leader Tuesday.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tories-pout-after-ignatieff-opts-against-congratulatory-phone-call-to-harper/article2009716/

The quagmire that is Libya

2011-05-03T13:19:00.001-03:00

.
I wonder how many other people are feeling increasingly uneasy about the western led intervention in Libya?

On Sunday, NATO missiles hit a compound where the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is known to live. One of his sons and three of his grandchildren were killed in the attack, but the NATO representatives continue to insist they’re not trying to kill Muammar Gaddafi. In my opinion, their credibility is completely shot. If Muammar Gaddafi is killed in the next one of these attacks, are they then going to say it was accidental? Would anyone believe them? Assassination of a head of state is illegal under international law, and forbidden by various US presidential orders.

Are the deaths of the three grandchildren just an unfortunate consequence of NATO forces having fired missiles into the compound?

As I noted in an earlier post, the Libyan situation is far from easy to understand. There are significant tribal and religious issues involved in the conflict and there is some serious question as to what unseen entity is funding the so-called “rebels” in the eastern part of the country, around the city of Benghazi. The rebels began the campaign in mid-February. Since last month they have been aided by an international coalition acting on a so-called UN mandate. That coalition now includes ground troops.

Gaddafi's overarching strategy has never been to win a conventional war, but to induce symbolically prominent casualties, drive a wedge between more committed and more ambivalent members of the coalition, and knock away the pillars of political support on which this intervention was built.

Thus far, the coalition had sought to purchase coalition longevity at the price of campaign intensity. If that balance continues to shift towards the latter, NATO runs the risk of playing into the regime's hands.

More importantly, perhaps it’s time for a serious conversation as to why member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are conducting an air and ground war in Libya.

elsewhere in the news last night, Conan's beard was shaved by Will Ferrell ...

2011-05-03T05:59:00.002-03:00

When I read the results of the election online this morning, I thought back to 1993 when Elsie Wayne and Jean Charest were the only two tories elected to the House of Commons. Yesterday, 167 tories were elected to the House, giving Stephen Harper the majority government he appeared prepared to do just about anything to achieve. Harper’s victory worries me because the nastiness which he approved in the election campaign tells me more about the man than anything he says from a teleprompter. I don’t trust him and never will. I don't think that will cause him too many sleepless nights.

I’m happy to see the bloc quebecois nearly gone and I can only hope by the next election, they will be gone completely. I found it repulsive that a group of politicians committed to the break-up of Canada could be getting federal pay cheques and qualifying for those wonderful gold pension plans that our federal politicians enjoy. Good riddance to the former communist Gilles Duceppe.

Elizabeth May finally won her trophy seat in Ottawa. I talked earlier about May being the best example I could think of in terms of a political opportunist – prepared to contest an election anywhere as long as it got her elected. I still believe her goal is personal glory and she cares little for the electorate. She talks a good line as long as you don’t disagree with her.

Ignatieff got what he deserved. His attempt to portray himself as the common man reeked of political opportunism as well. I don’t know if his handlers were hoping for a reincarnation of Pierre Trudeau, but that’s not what they got. Justin Trudeau was re-elected in Quebec. Maybe the grits will crown him as the next grit prince or something. Something about style and substance comes to mind.

Finally, the new ndp official opposition is a rag tag band of experienced parliamentarians and some new ones who got there simply as default candidates. The best example is ndp candidate Ruth Ellen Brosseau who won the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinongé despite her well-publicized vacation trip to Las Vegas. So she now will get an annual salary of $157,731.00 just for putting her name on the ballot. From her place on the ndp website, her claim to fame is rescuing stray animals. That should come in handy as a member of the official opposition.

Congratulations to Ryan Cleary and Peter Penashue for winning their seats in St. John’s and Labrador. Both appear to be well-meaning guys who appear to have important constituent issues on their agendas. It will be interesting to see if Harper gives Penashue any role in government. Cleary would seem to be a natural choice for fisheries critic for the ndp although I wouldn’t expect to see any movement on his call for an inquiry. Harper can do what he wants now he has his majority and Newfoundland is not likely to benefit from much.

There are bound to be some questions about Premier Kathy Dunderdale’s effectiveness as a vote-getter for the federal tories. The provincial and federal tory parties are different creatures, even with different names. Dunderdale can’t help but be wondering this morning what the results of yesterday’s election might mean when she goes to the polls on October 11, 2011.

And, for anyone who missed it in the high stakes drama of election night, American actor Will Ferrell shaved off American comedian Conan O’Brien’s beard on television last night. It sort of puts things in perspective.

Now. this IS talent ...

2011-04-22T15:18:00.006-03:00

I was flipping across some internet channels yesterday and came across this video of some pole dancers, I think from India. I mean - these guys are REAL pole dancers - gymnasts who have taken the art of balancing to an entirely new level. My brother was a gymnast in his younger days - barrell chest, shoulders like Hulk Hogan, but these guys are awesome - no offense Bri :-) Watch and appreciate the talent these guys bring to their sport ... especially watch the little kid at the end.

We’ll get what we deserve

2011-04-17T07:53:00.004-03:00

For the first time in many years, I've made up my mind that I'm not going to participate in the coming election. The reason is that I refuse to hold my nose and vote for the one I think is the best of the worst. To me, that's not democracy; rather, it's what politics in this country has become.

I realize that there are millions of people around the world who would give their right arm (and possibly have done so) to have a free and unencumbered vote, but we moved beyond that centuries ago and now have a choice to a right that we take for granted. It is not an obligation.

The national political scene has become a circus. I’m still trying to figure out why the separatist leader in Quebec was participating in a NATIONAL political debate on television when all he cares about is Quebec. Include Duceppe in the French-language debate if you will, but frankly, I could care less what he thinks and what he wants. All I ever hear him whining about is how rough things are in Quebec. How do you spell a-c-c-o-m-m-o-d-a-t-i-o-n?

From my perspective, tory leader Stephen Harper becomes less trustworthy by the day. Turns out that just before he shut down parliament for the vote, he engineered a big increase in pay for his top political staff. I’m beginning to wonder if there are any pork barrels in this country he hasn’t topped up. He becomes more unpalatable every time I see his manicured & coiffed mug on TV.

The grit leader Michael Ignatieff may have written a handful of books and is a recognized scholar, but I’m sorry Mikey, your attempt at becoming the common-man is as phoney as Harper’s stylized image. While I’m sure you intellectually understand liberal principles, I still don’t see you as being a convert.

As for smilin' Jack Layton, if he really believes and practices NDP philosophy, why was his campaign stop in St. John’s scheduled for one of the most expensive hotels in the city? Is that a harbinger of things to come? I had actually thought about going to hear what he had to say until I realized it was at the Delta. It's not as if they needed a room that could hold a thousand people.

I realize this focuses on the national leaders rather than the local candidates but locally in St. John's South-Mount Pearl, as far as I can tell, from what I’ve read on their individual websites, none of them qualify for my vote. I’m not prepared to vote for someone just because they carry a specific political banner or are a recycled tory or whatever.

We’ll get what we deserve in government and very little will change.

Time to move on to other things like arrogant St. John’s drivers.

Much better than I could say it ...

2011-04-16T06:47:00.002-03:00

No green light for May's court challenge

2011-04-05T23:44:00.001-03:00

Elizabeth May, the as yet unelected leader of the Green Party, has been turned down in her latest bid to be part of the so-called “leaders debate”, the perennial shout-fest between the leaders of Canada's three national political parties and the separatist BQ from Quebec. May's latest attempt was via an application to the Federal Court of Canada, but the judge declined to hear the application for a judicial review of a CRTC policy that says broadcasters do not have to include all political parties in debates.

After the decision was handed down, May told the Globe & Mail newspaper that, “The more likely route to a democratic debate lies in public outrage and the overwhelming levels of public support for me being in the debates.”

One has to wonder about those “ overwhelming levels of public support” because they certainly haven't been evident in the last couple of elections when May has tried to win a seat in the House of Commons. Apparently, she cares more about getting into the House of Commons than she does about the voters in any one particular area.

In 2006, May offered as a candidate in a by-election in the Ontario riding of London North Centre and received about a quarter of the votes. In 2008, she made a big deal of moving to Central Nova in Nova Scotia but lost again. Now this time she's offering in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. Political expediency seems to be her credo rather than commitment to any particular group of electors. If she can't make up her mind on where she wants to represent, how could a voter expect her to do any better as an MP?

We have to remember too that there was criticism from prominent Green Party members of May's failing to support all Green candidates unequivocally during the 2008 election, as she made favorable comments about Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and said that supporters in close ridings might consider voting strategically to attempt to defeat the Conservatives. So much for her commitment to Green Party candidates. It would appear her primary commitment is to Elizabeth May.

That's not someone I want sitting in the House of Commons. The Quebec separatists are enough of a special interest group, thank you.

The exclusive colour purple ...

2011-04-05T19:10:00.003-03:00

There is a TV ad I see regularly entitled "Respect Women". The hook is a father teaching his young son how to read and it has the line, "I will teach him how to respect women." Every time I see it, I wonder why the message is not teach your son and/or your daughter how to respect PEOPLE. Isn't that what it's all about?

I was at a meeting a few days ago when a young man was describing a trip his male friend and his friend's boyfriend planned to take to visit a large American city. When he mentioned it was his friend's boyfriend, you could sense a slight change in the atmosphere in the room. And it was full of highly educated people. Why aren't they getting the message about respecting PEOPLE, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation? Could it be perhaps because we don't think a lack of respect for men is an issue? An issue of consequence?

I applaud the Newfoundland/Labrador government for talking about respect, but let's make it inclusive and not exclusive by asking for respect for one gender only. The Violence Prevention Initiative of the Women's Policy Office is starting on the right track, but it is apparent from their website that inclusivity is not part of their agenda and I think that's a shame. They have an opportunity here to do some stretching into a larger sphere. Activism against gender violence shouldn't exclude anyone - female, male, transgendered or transsexual. Ask any public school teacher about what they see on the playground everyday and they can tell you that while they try to inculcate respect for all persons, the message doesn't always get through.

I`d love to wear your purple ribbon and would be happy to do so - once you call for respect for all PEOPLE.

One party, two party, three party, four ...

2011-04-03T21:43:00.004-03:00

Interesting to hear that grit leader Michael Ignatieff has accepted Rick Mercer's offer to moderate a debate between Iggy and tory leader Stephen Harper. Mercer has offered to rent Massey Hall in Toronto, set up arrangements with as many TV networks as he can get to come on board and proceed full speed ahead.

Of course it raises a couple of pesky questions. First is who is Mercer to determine this is a two-party race? Granted, there is no need to involve Gilles Duceppe in a national debate since he wants to break up the country anyway and as for the green party ... Elizabeth who? However, Jack Layton deserves to share the stage, if no other reason than to keep the other two honest. After all, the picture you see further down this page is of Stephen Harper meeting with Layton and Duceppe to arrange a coalition government. Guess it's not as dirty a concept as the tory attack ads and Harper's stump speech would seem to suggest.

The other question for me is how has our Canadian democracy evolved when we have a comedian being considered as a moderator for a national political debate? Mercer's a talented guy, but his ego does not need any more stroking.

Dream on Roger!

2011-03-28T21:25:00.000-03:00

We lost one of the good ones over the weekend.

Roger Anthony Abbott, half of the founding team of The Royal Canadian Air Farce died in Toronto from leukemia.

The fact that Abbott has been sick for many years and very few knew about it is something of the measure of the man. He was a consummate professional and a consummate performer. His life's role was to enliven others, not to dwell in his own misfortune.

I was a fan of Roger, Don, Luba and John as they created comedy magic, first on CBC radio and then later on CBC television. Together with their sometimes partner Dave Broadfoot, they allowed us to step out of our dour, solemn attitude and laugh at ourselves and our icons. Roger's caricatures of Jean Chretien, Peter Mansbridge, even the Queen Mother gave us all a reason to laugh.

I especially appreciated Roger's professionalism – his commitment to the industry that gave him such great success and to which he contributed so very, very much. His careful attention to detail and his rigorous commitment to quality meant that every performance was the best he could deliver. The way he and Don went over each script to tweak the nuances and bring out just the right inflection to make a funny line even funnier meant that a top-notch product hit the air every week. "Good enough" was never part of his vocabulary.

His sheer joy of life and the kindness he showed to those around him never will be forgotten.

Few knew that he was actually Dr. Roger Abbot having received his PhD from McGill University in Montreal.

Here's Roger's obituary from the Toronto Star ...

ABBOTT, Roger Anthony - Died peacefully on Saturday, March 26, 2011 in Toronto surrounded by his family and friends at the age of 64. He was a loving, compassionate man of many talents who shared all that he had - a true inspiration to all who were blessed to have known him. Though Roger was taken from us far too early, he was a man who lived his life to the fullest and we were fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to express our profound love for him in his final days. He was predeceased by his father William Abbott. He is survived by his loving mother Betty and his sister Jackie McNally (Vince) of Oakville. He will be greatly missed by nephew Mark McNally (Joanne) of Ottawa and niece Johanne McNally Myers (Derek) of Oakville. He was a great-uncle to Quinton and Ryan McNally and Jacob and Zoë Myers. He leaves many other family and friends around the world. His family is deeply grateful to Don Ferguson for his incredible strength and devotion during this difficult time. Sincere thanks to the exceptional medical team in the MSICU at Toronto General Hospital for their loving care and support. A private ceremony has already taken place. A memorial and celebration of Roger's life will be held in the coming weeks. Memorial donations to Easter Seals Ontario would be greatly appreciated.

September 9, 2004

2011-03-26T14:13:00.005-03:00

Stephen Harper is spending a lot of energy, time and MONEY telling us how bad the idea of a coalition government would be. Surprising how much his thinking has changed since 2004. Read on ...

September 9, 2004

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
Governor General
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A1

Excellency,

As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program.

We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the

Your attention to this matter is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Gilles Duceppe, M.P.
Leader of the Bloc Quebecois

Jack Layton, M.P.
Leader of the New Democratic Party

(Disclaimer: this copy was taken from the liberal party website @ http://tinyurl.com/63p72hx)

Trusting the tory leader at this point is simply out of the question. He will do whatever it takes to hold onto power, regardless of the cost to his credibility.

Check out "Sheila's Brush"

2011-03-25T12:07:00.001-03:00

Every so often, there's a piece of writing that resonates with you. A bit of poetry entitled "Sheila's Brush" hit me that way today. It's written by fellow blogger WiseWebWoman (a self-assigned moniker by the way!) and speaks of today's weather. Take a moment to go there and enjoy it: http://wisewebwoman.blogspot.com/

My main computer took a dive earlier this week. I didn't get it into the computer guys until yesterday afternoon because of a busy week. It will take them a few days to figure out whether it's worth salvaging. Fortunately, I've been doing regular backups and, on the advice of a colleague a few months ago, signed up for an online backup service called Carbonite. If you don't have a reliable back-up system in place, I'd recommend you visit them http://www.carbonite.ca/ They're saving my butt!

In the meantime, last week I decided to buy a little netbook computer that was on sale at Staples to have something to stick in my backpack and lug around with me to meetings, etc. It looks and feels like a toy, but having used it now for a couple of days, I can tell you it's far from a toy. The small (10.1") screen is a bit of an adjustment and the smaller keyboard is a challenge at times, but it revs right along.

Anyway, thanks wildwebwoman for your contribution to the literary world today. It made my day! :-)

Crass electioneering

2011-03-25T11:36:00.001-03:00

The headline reads, "Harper felt betrayed after ex-aide tied to lobbying allegations, sources say".

Gee, based on Bruce Carson's past RECORD, one would have thought that conservative party leader Stephen Harper would have felt betrayed a little earlier than on the eve of an election. Wonder who the source was who released that tidbit? Maybe one of the other close aides to him? Remember, while Carson was bedding a hooker with a website, he said he had regular access to Stephen Harper. And Harper KNEW that from what we hear and see in media reports.

So today's announcement of Harper feeling betrayed is more than a little suspect.

Can't help but wonder if there has been a flood of patronage appointments this week that we haven't heard about yet. It seems to be Harper's way - give your buddies and your buddies' buddies the best jobs around.

Time to rev up Williams' "ABC campaign" again!

"The Harper government"?

2011-03-25T07:47:00.001-03:00

Interesting, isn't it? The media makes fun of the federal tories for insisting they be called "the harper government" while every story I hear and/or read refers to the Canadian government as "the harper government". (Resistance is futile - you will be assimilated).

For Libya, time will tell

2011-03-20T05:25:00.003-03:00

Not sure if anyone else feels the same, but I have a sense of déjà vu with the western attacks on Libya.

Iraq anyone?

The difference this time is that there is, what appears to be, a popular uprising against the Libyan leadership – something that was not evident in Iraq when the US led attack began March 20, 2003. Interesting to note that was eight years ago today. Is anyone lighting an anniversary candle for the Iraqi people?

The question for me is this, is the west going to get mired down in Libya the same way it did in Iraq? The Middle East tribal culture is something we don’t understand in the west and while we may think that western-style democracy is the answer, that ain’t necessarily so. Look no further than Afghanistan to try to understand the complexity of tribal rule. Puppet Presidents do not a democracy make.

I understand that the apparent start of these middle eastern revolutions was in Tunisia when Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruit vendor who died after setting himself on fire, became a symbol of defiance. That was the start in Tunisia, but what about the rest of the Arab world where such apparent revolutions are spreading faster than the H1N1 virus? Is it possible, conceivable even, that there is another agenda at play here?

I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the government in Iran might be providing some of the financing and fuel for these *spontaneous* revolutions. It’s no secret that the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, has long been interested in exporting the Sharia law foundation of the Iranian revolution. Was the Tunisian uprising simply the opportunity that presented itself to Iran?

Of course the other question is that Barack Ombama is doing pretty poorly in the polls at the moment. Rev up a war - play the role of the great western hope, help the sluggish economy to build more bombs. Hmmm ... not a bad plan from Obama's political agenda viewpoint.

As the French military jets fly over Libya and attack Libyan government bases and began the slow destruction of the infrastructure that we saw in Iraq, the question for me is who is going to benefit from this in the long term? Is there more at stake here than the “protection of the Libyan people”? Time will tell.

World Sleep Day

2011-03-19T03:32:00.003-03:00

This is one of those stories that catch your attention because you're personally involved. I'm writing this at 3:57am during another sleepless night of which there are far too many in my life. A few hours of good sleep and then the frustration of tossing and turning and not being able to slow down your brain enough to get back to sleep. The story says far too many of us are getting less than six hours of sleep each night. Is it any wonder that we're stressed out.

This story is from the Canadian Sleep Society. Click on the title to learn more about them.

The health of children and adults is at risk because we’re not getting enough sleep, says the international group of doctors behind the 4th annual World Sleep Day on March 18th.

The World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) says sleepiness and sleeplessness are threatening health and quality of life in countries around the globe, and that sleep problems can be prevented or treated. Improving sleep will improve the quality of life of millions of people.

Not only are adults struggling to cope with an epidemic of sleep disorders, but doctors are also observing alarming rates of sleepiness and sleeplessness in children. As many as 40 per cent of our children aren’t getting enough sleep, which is not only impairing their ability to function properly, it’s hurting their ability to learn. CLICK HERE FOR QUICK FACTS ON SLEEP IN CHILDREN.

Doctors suggest teenagers need about nine hours of sleep a night, and adults need at least eight. A recent Canadian poll found 35 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17, and 61 per cent of adults get less than eight hours of sleep a night. The poll showed an alarming 30 per cent of adults are getting fewer than six hours a night. CLICK HERE FOR QUICK FACTS ON SLEEP IN ADULTS.

World Sleep Day is designed to call attention to the global epidemic of sleepiness and sleeplessness, and build awareness that sleep disorders are preventable and treatable medical conditions. The international annual event is also intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, safety on the roads and in the workplace.

About the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM)

WASM is an international membership based organization comprised of healthcare professionals active in the field of sleep medicine. It aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders. The fundamental mission of the WASM is to advance sleep health worldwide.

For more information about World Sleep Day visit: www.worldsleepday.org

Sort of a commentary ...

2011-03-19T02:45:00.002-03:00

Pots & kettles ...

2011-03-17T21:26:00.001-03:00

I was shocked, confused, bewildered,

As I entered Heaven's door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven,

Who made me sputter and gasp--,

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade,

Who swiped my lunch money twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor,

Who never said anything nice.

Bob, who I always thought,

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?

I would love to hear Your take,

How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,

So sombre - give me a clue,

'Hush, child,' He said,

'they're all in shock,
.
.
.
.

No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

Happy Birthday Mac!

2011-03-17T06:00:00.001-03:00

I have a friend who was born on St. Patrick’s Day 57 years ago today … and despite that awesome pedigree, he says he doesn’t have a drop of Irish blood in him – he’s descended from Scots on both sides of his family (although the intermingling of Celts somewhere along the way probably means that he has at least one or two Irish genes in him somewhere – those Celts were a friendly lot!). He's a writer, a poet, a lover and when need be, a fighter. Mostly, he is a wonderful friend to many, many people. He has been an inspiration to me many a time over the years and even in this present blogging project (don't even think about royalties!) Anyway, just want to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY with many happy returns. He’s having some major physical pain problems at the moment and is probably looking at some surgery which he says he dreads, so here’s hoping you can avoid that with all the positive energy we’re sending your way today my friend and you'll soon be up and around without that pain. Have a good day Mac!

Elizabeth Matthews pulls her name out of the Offshore Petroleum Board ring

2011-03-14T16:09:00.000-03:00

I don’t know Elizabeth Matthews. I don’t think I ever saw her face until today in the online version of The Telegram. The only thing I know is that when I read her statement this morning, all I could think was “the pot calling the kettle black ass”.

One sentence in her press release caught my attention: “But the politicalization of this issue has gone too far.” Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. Her appointment was the stuff of political legend – serve your time in the Premier’s office and then get a job that pays nearly $200-thousand a year in a field that requires very special expertise and instead get someone nominated for the gig whose claim to fame is being a spinmeister for Danny Williams.

Matthews goes on to say, “In that role, I was a part of a team that advised the Premier and Cabinet on major policy and negotiations including energy and other projects. Despite Opposition Party claims to the contrary, I was also a part of the team for several projects related to offshore oil and gas development including the Hebron offshore development, the renewed Atlantic Accord, Hibernia South extension, White Rose extension and the Lower Churchill project.”

One thing she should have learned from her time at Danny’s side is the people who work in the petroleum industry are experts in their field. They understand the industry and are good at what they do. That’s why they’re getting mega-rich from the offshore wells and we’re doing pretty good ourselves, thank you. The last thing the industry needs at what we can only hope will be a time of serious transformation in terms of safety issues, is an ex-political flack. Being the first one in the Premier’s office to take the call about the Cougar disaster does not a petroleum industry executive make.

One thing I do give her credit for. She’s apparently got enough savvy and I expect Williams was involved in the decision, to know when the jig is up and you can’t win. There are so many patronage positions out there that you could probably walk on them from here to Twillingate without ever touching the pavement. I think we’re fortunate and the offshore workers are lucky that at least one of them won’t be in a position of authority in an industry that requires expertise. Not to worry. Her name will pop up soon enough again. Just keep your eye out for those $200-thousand jobs.

(If you’re interested in reading Ms. Matthews complete press release, click here)