Draft Dodging Memorialized

In the ever-growing need of society to memorialize absolutely every damn stupid group that ever lived upon the planet:

Draft-dodger memorial to be built in B.C.

I'm starting to remember the sheer amount of touchy-feely claptrap that goes on in this province.



Tribute? 'scuse me, but don't you actually have to do something NOTEWORTHY before you are paid tribute? I mean all the draft dodgers did was run scared to the border because they were afraid of getting shot.

That is not courage. That is not tribute-worthy.



Courage? Vietnam War resisters actually stayed and fought for their country by fighting for change, even if that meant jail and martyrdom. Herb Gott of the CBC in 1967 explained the difference.

I believe that this is a picture of Mr. Romano. Shocking, but he appears exactly as I envisioned him. The stench of patchouli oozes from the page. Like the '60's man. Far out!

Draft dodgers made a choice to run. Live with it, man. The fact that Carter pardonned the losers in '77 means that they've got more than they deserved.

The true concientious objector stayed and faced the jail time, because he was doing what he BELIEVED was right. Running away is hardly brave, and should hardly be commemorated.

What do they want now? Medals?

Cowards.



This better not have been funded with taxpayer money.

Well, Toronto's Boned then isn't it?

Kerry would close U.S. border to Canadian trash

And you thought Toronto stunk during the garbage strike of '02. I was next door in Mississauga and whew! did it ever make me want to retch...

I smell the stench of protectionism in the air. Oh, I'm sorry. Did my fellow Canadians think that they'd be part of the giant lefty group hug? That their so-called "support" would result in some kind of consideration from Mr. Flip-Flop?




So Kerry is supposed to be a "friendlier" president for Canadians to deal with?

And you thought the beef and softwood lumber disputes were bad...

Michael Moore

Let me start by saying that I'm not a Michael Moore supporter (duh) nor am I feeling sorry for him as the tide appears to be turning against him. I mean, bitchslapped by Katie Couric, that's got to be a first.

However, I have to say that I find it troubling that a lot of attacks on Michael Moore are nothing more substantive than "Fat Bastard", "Fat Pig", "Fat and Stupid", and the ever-popular "Fat Fuck."

Well, considering that fat attacks are the last allowable prejudice in the twenty-first century, the authors of these attacks are going for easy points and laughs at Moore's expense, and the result is that I don't listen to those attackers anymore, because a lot of them don't have the smarts to come up with anything other than attacks against his weight.

Newsflash: Michael Moore is fat; but then again so am I, and, if you're like the majority of the population, SO ARE YOU.

If you want to convince me that Moore is a traitor, give me proof, check your facts and present them logically. Leave the fat jokes back in Grade 9. It makes the attacker look like they've got nothing else. Substitute "black" or "queer" for "fat" and see if the statements made have anything to do with the substance of the matter, which is that Michael Moore is a left-wing loony who is more interested in making partisan statements than he is in objectively documenting his subjects.

Maybe the reason it's so hard to shake people out of the conspiracy comas that Fahrenheit 911 induced is because when they hear people attack Michael Moore, all they hear is the rage and the personal attacks about his weight.

I've watched all his stuff since Roger & Me. There's a lot of things to attack other than how he looks.

Caskets at Costco

If they had bar service, I'd probably never have to leave...

Costco begins test marketing caskets



Oh man! This could be the basis of a whole new season for Six Feet Under! David meets up with an attractive Costco casket stockboy and sexy sparks fly! David's lover Keith gets a job as Costco-entrance-card-checking-guy which causes tension with David as he's now working for the organization trying to put Fisher and Diaz out of business. Claire and her "artsy" alternative-lifestyle pals invade the matress section with sexy results!



Shopping for caskets long before a loved one's death- hmmm...I don't know if the Costco's in the U.S. sell guns and ammo too, but if they do you could take care of all your needs if you wanted to bump off any inconvenient (rich!) family members and arrange for their disposal afterward...well that'd be just perfect.

And I could pick up bulk chicken wings for the barbeque afterwards! What a wonderful world we live in!

Right...

"I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty!"

Good Lord...and he saluted too...




Aside from the crap about being born in the "West Wing" of a stupid hospital no one cares about, the rest of the speech wasn't that bad. Typical rah rah election hyperbole, but this "I was a Vietnam hero for four months, so I know everything about war..." is going to get very old, very fast and the Dems better come up with something better soon, because bringing up a divisive war to fight an election during another divisive war could backfire in a big way.

Hillary looks impressed.



Prepare for Hillary in 2008 if Kerry screws this up and joins McGovern, Mondale, and Dukakis.

Charge Moore

Deliciously ironic considering how wonderful he thinks Canada is...

Of course he won't spend any jail time in Canada, but a charge by Elections Canada will effectively bar him from entering the country...thus keeping him from talking with local Canadian morons who show up in his films.

I'm talking specifically about those Canadian losers in Bowling for Columbine who talk about how lovely it is here and how there's no gun crime and people don't lock their doors at night because everyone in Canada doesn't have guns and don't kill each other like the barbarians to the south.

I ask my friends in Toronto, Mississauga, Montreal, Vancouver...Kelowna: do you leave your doors unlocked at night? I remember the crime beat reports on Pulse24 in Toronto, which I still sometimes watch on satellite; hardly the utopia of tolerance that Moore states we have here, using 3 idiots to speak for 30 million people.

Not getting me on a plane soon...

Creepy story about 14 Syrians acting strangely on a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles...



If proper security measures had been in place, the airline would be accused of racial profiling and fined a great deal of money.

I'm staying on the ground.

Caveat Emptor

Sporting goods retailer fined $1.7 million for misleading consumers



I used to work for a quite well known electronics retailer in the early 90's. When I asked about the fact that the "on sale" prices were exactly the same as when the item in question wasn't "on sale" I was told this little gem which has stuck with me ever since:

"Technically, everything in the store is on sale, all the time. The flyer is just advertising the fact."

Buyer beware.

Butt Out!

Well, it's official. Toronto is now officially smoke-free.



Well it's better than the half-assed bar vs restaurant legislation that's kept me and my kids out of some of the finer pubs that have declared themselves bars to avoid the smoking ban until now.



Well, they've got me and my kids back, but I seriously doubt that I'll pay more in the long run than a clientele of dedicated puffers.

I have some other thoughts about freedom and liberty and all the rest of that nice flowery stuff, but the alcohol consumed earlier in the evening with dinner has, alas, deserted me.

I feel like a smoke. Damned I am that I didn't get Marlboros when I was in the States a week or two ago...

School Soon...

Being the parent of a two-and-a-half year old, it's come to my attention that I'll actually have to start paying attention to the public education system, and by definition: teachers.

But considering that Ontario is following California into the big black hole of Class Size Reduction (CSR) it's a good thing we're moving to British Columbia: there all we'll have to deal with is the annual strike for whatever damned cause of the moment Organized Labour comes up with...

Colby Cosh gave me some material to chew over:



Smells more like a smokescreen. We're not going to actually deal with the real challenges facing the education system: we'll just latch on to an arbitrary idea that's simplistic enough to catch on with the clapping seals that'll elect us, and then we'll blame the previous government when it doesn't work.



So in other words, the rather simplistic assumption that small class sizes yield better results than hiring better qualified staff is an idea that doesn't hold any water.

The big warning sign flashing in my head is "emergency credentials." Yes more stopgap, underqualified staff to fill the 20-1 cap is just what Ontario needs.

Now I have to do research into what's wrong with B.C.'s education system. Any commentators out there want a soapbox to climb up on?



Jeez, not like Dalton would make an expensive promise just to win an election, would he? Could someone tell me what promise the Ontario Liberals have actually kept? To be honest I think he should break this one, too. Considering how much this will cost for dubious benefit, he should instead adequately fund the schools and make the boards TRULY accountable for their decisions.