I was both terrified and baffled on Wednesday night (July 28th) as I drove home from an evening of golf. A storm earlier in the day had knocked out power on the east side of town which meant the stoplights at all intersections were not working. As I approached the first intersection, which is normally quite busy, I saw no police presence to direct traffic. Therefore, as is the usual procedure and I'm quite certain the law, I proceeded to treat the intersection and the next six I came to as four-way stops. 
It became painfully obvious and at the same time horrifying that many people don't have a clue what they're supposed to do in this situation. The majority of drivers weren't following this procedure and were just flying past me in both directions. I was nearly hit from behind three times and almost broadsided twice. If we made it through the entire outage without an accident in town, I'd be amazed. Actually, I probably wouldn't be surprised since most of us are used to dealing with these same bad drivers every other day and always have our heads on a swivel. I've known for quite some time that the area is filled with some of the absolute worst drivers around. They either don't know the proper procedures when behind the wheel or just choose to disregard them. But this was reckless and dangerous behaviour and not a single member of our local OPP force was in sight to control the intersections or even ticket the offenders. At least if they're given a ticket and fined, they might learn something for next time...but I doubt it. Every day I pull out of my driveway I feel like I'm putting my life at risk having to share the road with these impatient, law-breaking and clueless drivers. They'd be wise to pick up the latest edition of the drivers handbook and brush up on the rules of the road. Of course that would take time and obviously they're in too much of a hurry to get some place despite the number of lives they put in peril on the way.(Also submitted to the local newspaper as a Letter to the Editor)
If you're Canadian and you follow the news than you've probably heard about Captain Robert Semaru and his court case. He was found guilty today by a military panel of disgraceful conduct but not guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a wounded Afghan insurgent. The charge of behaving in a disgraceful manner carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. His lawyers are expected to present a Charter of Rights argument over military sentencing procedures. The decision was handed down today in Gatineau, Que. after three days of deliberations. The court martial of the Canadian Forces captain came after he was charged in a battlefield death in Afghanistan. Apparently there are rules to killing someone during a war. The 36-year-old Semrau was accused of firing two rounds from his rifle into a dying Taliban fighter in Helmand province of Afghanistan in October 2008. Semrau never testified, but an Afghan army captain, who was on the patrol with Semrau, testified the Taliban fighter was "98 per cent dead" when he was found. In addition to the disgraceful conduct charge, Semrau was charged with three other offences, including second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years, the alternate charge of attempting to commit murder with a firearm and negligent performance of a military duty. He was also found not guilty of the latter two charges. I for one am glad he was acquitted of most of the charges but I honestly felt this never should have gone to trial to begin with. All is fair in love and war as far as I'm concerned and the Taliban fighter was going to die anyway. If anything, Semrau should have been commended for doing his duty and for putting a suffering enemy out of his misery. We ask this man and and the thousands of other men and women in uniform to go to war and defend not only the people of Afghanistan who can't fight for themselves but the millions of Canadians back home as well. This is thanks they get. I have no doubt that Captain Semaru wouldn't have pulled the trigger had the gravely wounded Taliban scumbag not been injured as badly and could have been saved. Did he follow proper military conduct? Obviously not but from what I've read on the incident he followed the proper humane conduct. It's easy for people to sit in their comfy chairs in front of their big screen televisions and pass judgment after having time to think about things. It's another thing entirely different to make decisions in fractions of a second during a war or battle with an enemy on their own turf. I'm quite sure that had the roles been reversed the Taliban soldiers would have tormented, tortured and inflicted inhumane pain on a Canadian soldier. Remember, these are the same chicken shit SOB's who sneak around at night planting bombs rather than fighting like men for their cause. How can we possibly give them respect while at the same time disrespecting one of our own? This man deserves our gratitude for his service to our country, not jail time and I support his actions 100%.
Twenty-Five years ago on this very day I witnessed one of, if not the greatest concert of all-time. I am of course speaking of Live Aid which took place on July 13, 1985. The concert was held in two different countries in both London and Philadelphia and was seen by a record worldwide audience.
I’ve written about Live Aid once before on my blog so I won’t go too deeply into the details and my memories but this was the concert for my generation. You can read my Live Aid blog from 2007 here.Sir Bob Geldof of the band The Boomtown Rats was the driving force behind the show. He saw the shocking images of people starving in Africa and felt compelled to act in some way. Money needed to be raised to help those who were starving to death. The “Global Jukebox” was his idea. Not knowing if it could be done or if people would be interested in getting involved, Bob went about contacting fellow performers both young and old and one by one they answered the call. Any artists who didn’t take part likely wished they had after it was over.
I don’t think I fully understood how truly amazing the concert was as a then 16-year-old music fan. To me it was something that had never been done before with separate concerts on two different continents and performances from other locations. Live satellite feeds were still relatively new and untested for something of this magnitude and there were a few minor glitches but nobody seemed to care.
Sitting in front of my television from the early morning hours until late in the night I was tuned to the concert on Much Music; the relatively new Canadian music video channel. Every so often J.D. Roberts (now known as John Roberts on CNN) would come on between sets and talk with other VJ’s about what we were seeing and who was yet to come.
The line-up of performers was as star-studded as it could possibly be. Anyone who was worth listening to at that time in history made their way on stage. Among my personal favourites were Queen, U2, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins, Duran Duran and Howard Jones. Of course they were all fantastic. Freddie Mercury was at his best with Queen and sadly we lost his amazing talent only six years later.
It was a concert that defined a generation; much like Woodstock had in the 60’s. Many others have tried to duplicate the impact of Live Aid but none have succeeded. It was one of those events that happened at the exact moment in time it needed to with the right cause to unite the world.
If for no other reason than to ensure a piece of our national history and identity isn’t erased, I feel Canada’s continued connection with the British Monarchy must not vanish. 
I’m not a “royal watcher” and I certainly don’t care day to day what the British royal family members are up to but as I watch more and more “foreigners” enter Canada it seems our identity is being eroded. Canada is a great country and is highly respected around the world. This is why so many people from impoverished and varying social, political and war torn countries are flocking here in such great numbers. Canada is a beacon of hope for these people and a place where dreams and hopes for families can be fulfilled. For those of us born in Canada and whose families have lived here for generations, we can be proud of this land of opportunity. I’m not one to turn someone away when they are in need and are desperate to change their destiny in a positive way. What I don’t like is how people make Canada their home but fail or refuse to adapt and embrace their new country. Instead, they feel we need to change our Canadian ways, traditions, laws, beliefs, religions and way of life to meet their needs. 
I don’t think I’m being racist. If these people came here and did their best to learn one of our two official languages, followed our laws while becoming a valued member of our society and assimilated, then where they came from and what they look like doesn’t matter to me at all. If they become Canadian citizens and do their best to be Canadian, that’s all I can ask for. What I’m seeing more and more are every day Canadians being forced to be “politically correct” and that’s something I refuse to do. Defending our beliefs and history isn’t looked at as being patriotic but rather a slap to the face of those who don’t want to embrace their new home. As an example, a Sikh child was required by his religion to carry a ceremonial dagger known as a kirpan to school with him. This is a mandatory religious commandment for the Sikh community. In most public places in Canada a kirpan is allowed to be carried. 
In 2006 the Supreme Court of Canada held that the banning of the kirpan in a school environment is against Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If I had a child going to school and I complained that another kid is bringing a knife to class making for an unsafe environment, I would be looked at by the politically correct people as intolerant or a racist for not allowing them the freedom to express their religion or culture. My argument would be; if they want to express their culture, then they need to do it in the country where this is considered appropriate. Now let's put the weapon on the other foot...so to speak. If I gave my son a shotgun and sent him to school saying it’s our religious belief that carrying a loaded weapon is necessary to become a man, what do you think would happen? Something tells me the Supreme Court of Canada would laugh at me. By the way, on April 2, 2010, Manjit Mangat, a fifty-three year-old lawyer and temple president was stabbed in the abdomen with a kirpan at the Sikh Lehar Centre in Brampton, Ontario. Police have Sukhwant Singh in custody over the matter. OK, so maybe that might be an extreme scenario and I don't have a problem with people having different religious beliefs than me but not when it affects the Canada I love or threatens my identity. The point is every time we as Non-naturalized Canadians give away ground on issues and topics with respect to our history and heritage to appease other groups, we lose a part of our identity. Pretty soon we will become the minority and I can’t help but wonder if the new majority would be so accommodating to us.
Growing up in almost any community you likely had some older lady in your neighbourhood that you avoided because she scared the bajeezus out of you. You know… the not so attractive woman in the old house at the end of the street or on the hill that you knew had to be a witch.
Of course as you got older you eventually realized she was harmless, or in my case, you found out she liked to be visited by strange men at all hours for “company”.
Often times she turned out to be a perfectly nice person who just didn’t like being bothered by kids irritating her. She frowned on having children trampling her flowers or yard while retrieving errant Frisbees, baseballs or soccer balls. Let’s face it, as kids we weren’t exactly keenly aware of flowerbeds and the like.
But our mischievous behaviour usually only resulted in a verbal scolding, phone call to our mothers or the odd soup can projectile targeting our heads.
In the year 2010, it would appear the tactics of the older generation are changing in regards to annoyances of the youthful kind. Take for example Marika De Florio near Kingston, Ontario who has been bothered for some time by a 6-year-old boy.
As I understand it, the young lad has an infatuation for riding ATV’s and his usual route in this rural community takes him past the De Florio home. Now anyone could deal with the youngster riding this motorized vehicle 100 feet away from your front door a few times a day but according to De Florio, the child rides “around and around the house for seven to 10 hours on a Sunday and four to five hours on a Saturday.”
This boy really loves his all terrain vehicle!
Nothing seemed to stop this incessant annoyance so finally De Florio took, what I can only assume, were drastic measures. She decided to go topless in front of the child. That’s right, the shirt came off, the bra snapped open and out they popped… and dropped, I imagine. This prompted the boy’s grandparents to grab him and swiftly shelter him from this new form of topless double-barrelled security.
While not a conventional deterrent, it seemed to get the job done, plus her tan is more even now. It should be noted that it is perfectly legal for Ms. De Florio to go topless in Ontario as women have that right in the Province…and I for one support it. Of course in my opinion there's "good topless" and "bad topless." I'm speculating that she would fall into the second category.
The parents of the boy still hope for peace with their not so shy neighbour and have taken steps to improve relations by limiting the kid to riding 15 minutes at a time and away from the De Florio property. This isn’t totally acceptable to De Florio who says she “doesn’t want (the boy) to be on the ATV when I am home.”
It would seem this story might not be over just yet and we can only assume the breasts will continue to swing freely in the breeze until a solution can be found and the situation perks up.
It became painfully obvious and at the same time horrifying that many people don't have a clue what they're supposed to do in this situation. The majority of drivers weren't following this procedure and were just flying past me in both directions. I was nearly hit from behind three times and almost broadsided twice. If we made it through the entire outage without an accident in town, I'd be amazed. Actually, I probably wouldn't be surprised since most of us are used to dealing with these same bad drivers every other day and always have our heads on a swivel.
