Nothing Routine

I sit here reading one of the Toronto newspapers and the headline reads "Routine stop for speeding vehicle turns deadly".

Somehow I can't imagine that any traffic stop would ever be considered routine anymore after what transpired to take the life of York Region Police Constable Garrett Styles on Tuesday morning.

Reading the transcripts of his radio chatter with dispatch while he was pinned under the van driven by a 15 year old he had only moments before pulled over for speeding are heart wrenching.

Pleading for help and in pain with his life slipping away while at the same time showing concern for the person and his passengers who will eventually claim his life with their actions, shows an officer willing to do his duty up to his final breath. Such a heroic and inspirational act by the 32 year old cop and father of two.

What happened?

Somehow the boy panicked and tried to drive away. Styles apparently tried to reach for the keys and got hung up and was dragged about 300 metres before the van entered a field and rolled on top of the officer.

Pinned at the waist he was able to radio a 10-33 for officer needs emergency assistance.

Despite all efforts to get to the scene, extricate him and administer medical attention, Styles was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

The 15 year old driver has been charged with first degree murder and no amount of punishment will be enough in my mind. He made some very bad choices starting with taking the vehicle in the first place and his nightmare is only just beginning.

The same can also be said for the family of Const. Styles who have lost a son, a husband and a father to another senseless and completely avoidable tragedy. Actions have consequences and sadly most people don't realize that until it's too late.

People Eating Tasty Animals

If you're a person who chooses to not eat meat I respect your choice and won't protest your decision. But why do some of these holier than thou individuals feel the need to force their personal choices on others?

The choice these individuals make to not barbecue a tender and juicy piece of steak is fine for them but don't think for a second that the scare tactics of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) will persuade me to put down my fork and A1 Sauce. It's not going to happen.

I don't care how a cow finds its way to the butcher. I just want to know how much it's going to cost to sink my teeth into its fleshy goodness.

We "Meatatarians" aren't stupid. We know all about the slaughter houses and how the process works. We just don't give a rats ass provided it results in succulent mouth watering medium rare flavour.

I stopped respecting PETA several years back when they were throwing blood or red paint on fur coats. The real final straw was when they compared the beheading of a Canadian bus passenger to what happens to an animal. The day my life or the lives of other humans, including those PETA members becomes less important than a pig or cow is the day I will lose all faith in humanity.

Yes I respect their opinion but I don't have to agree with it and never will. Don't get me wrong, I will enjoy a salad from time to time but usually right before my Prime Rib shows up all bloody on a plate in front of me.

So you PETA folks can continue to wrap yourselves in plastic and cover yourselves in red paint to try and prove a point but when you're done, feel free to meet me at the Keg for a thick T-Bone.

Wild Weather

I never put much stock into the idea that the world would end in 2012 as the Mayans predicted but judging by the weather this Spring in the U.S. and just this week here in Ontario, I may need to rethink things.

This has been the wettest Spring I can remember and although I don't have the evidence to prove it, it could be the wettest in recorded history.

Lots of rain in itself isn't too bad but it has made life miserable for farmers whose fields were too wet for planting. By the time August rolls around, I'll be hankering for some corn on the cob so it better start growing soon.

Flooding has also been a major problem this year both north and south of the border. Quebec and Manitoba have had many damaging and life impacting floods. When you can waterski down your street, that's a problem.

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms have also been disastrous in many communities with wide spread devastation wiping out entire communities. The twister in Joplin was by far the worst to date. I can't imagine what that must have been like for those who survived.

Just this past Wednesday we had severe thunderstorms go across the province. That was scary enough.

I was golfing that evening when within a matter of minutes a black ominous cloud moved in. I knew it wasn't going to be good. We had just teed off on our 13th hole of the round when the horn went at the clubhouse telling us to get off the course and seek shelter.

Like the idiot I am at times, I decided to go get my ball from the green and grab the balls of the other guys. By the time we reached the green with the cart, the sun was gone and the blackness had arrived. I picked up my ball just as the wind came up and I could see small branches and tree limbs breaking off and blowing towards me.

I ran as fast as I could back to the cart and we started towards the clubhouse dodging downed branches along the way. As we reached the bridge by the 17th hole a down burst of wind blew through the trees behind the green. We sat there and watched as a pine tree snapped off part way up like a toothpick and smashed onto the green below.

Seeing only that brief amount of natures fury reminded me just how helpless you can feel in situations like that. Once we felt a brief lull in the wind we drove as fast as we could among the trees and made it back just as the intense lightning started.

Looking up in the parking lot, several of us noticed the clouds which looked like nothing we'd ever seen before as they rotated much like you'd see prior to a tornado. It was humbling to witness this firsthand. Everyone was fine but a little on edge.

While I'm sure the world will be around for at least a few years yet, experiences like this certainly have left some doubts in my mind.

News Oddities For May

It's time for more news of the weird and wacky with comments by me thrown in for good measure.

Despite the bold prediction by a California preacher who foresaw the world's end would take place this past Saturday at 6pm, Harold Camping has now revised his apocalyptic prophecy, saying he had a slight miscalculation and was actually off by five months. He now says the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21 of this year. Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before global cataclysm struck the planet, said that he felt so terrible when his doomsday message did not come true that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife. His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions — some of it from donations made by followers — on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 recreational vehicles plastered with the Judgment Day message.

**He probably left home for fear that the brain dead morons who believed him and gave away all of their money and possessions were going to track him down and make sure he saw his maker. Come on, lets be honest. Do you really think God would end the world before Oprah's final show had a chance to be aired?**


The infamous black bears of Christina Lake, B.C., appear to be weaning themselves off dog food, according to the man who once fed them $100 worth of kibbles a day. Allen Piche pleaded guilty in March to feeding the two dozen wild black bears on his property. He'll be sentenced in the fall but in the meantime was ordered by the B.C. Conservation Society to stop the practice, which had been going on for years. Police discovered the docile bears when they raided a marijuana grow operation on Piche's property last August. Initially, there was speculation the bears were guarding the marijuana, but Piche denied that was the case.

**Police became suspicious about the marijuana when they found the bears wearing tie-died Grateful Dead t-shirts and suffering from a serious case of the munchies.**


OK, I never promise my comments will be funny.

Going To Pumps Gives Me Gas

I'm at the point right now where I keep a little white flag in my car just in case I need to surrender. Every time I go to the gas station to fill up the tank, I get a bit closer to waiving that flag while yelling, "I give up!"

Like most Canadians, I can't take much more of this gouging and the unnecessary price hikes. But is that really what's happening?

It amazes me how easily the price can jump up six to ten cents at one time but rarely does it ever drop by large amounts. Actually, I know of one gas station where it does that several times a day. They just boost the price up on their own during peak hours of traffic and then drop it back down at the slower times. No price fixing there (sarcasm).

I realize other countries have it even worse than we do but I live here so this is what I have to deal with and complain about. Today gas in parts of Ontario topped $1.40 per litre. That's about $5.30 per gallon. A year ago at this time we were paying roughly 96.9 cents per litre.

What really grinds my gears is that the price of crude oil didn't even rise, so what is the reason for screwing the Canadian public other than greed?

The usual response of people when asked about the rising prices is, "what can I do about it? I need the gas to get to work to make money to feed myself and my family so we're forced to pay whatever they want to charge us." And that response is exactly what the big oil and gas companies want to hear. It's music to their ears as they roll around in their billions of dollars in profits.

Whenever these companies are confronted by the media, they concoct any number of excuses to justify the increases which drives the commodity up on the markets. The latest is that flooding along the Mississippi River in the U.S. could slow gasoline deliveries and possibly disrupt production. Are you kidding me? What a line of bullshit. When did they start raising prices based on something that "might" happen and "might" cause a problem? Not only that, but the gas that's already in the tanks under the gas station magically got more expensive since it was delivered? That's impressive!

The last time we saw prices like this was in 2008 when a barrel of oil cost $140. The price today is around $100 per barrel. What gives? Sounds like profit taking to me and the rich getting richer while average Canadians continue to see more money leaving their wallets than they can earn.

Is the Canadian government out of touch? The MP's all claim to hear our complaints yet nothing ever gets done about it. It's not even about the party in charge. All parties that have been in power have watched this happen year after year. When it comes right down to it, it would seem the government can do nothing but perhaps lower the tax on gas.

Understandably the price of gas will rise in the Spring as more people are driving more often and the demand for gas becomes greater. This will help to drive the price up even higher. Also, we pay more taxes on gas in Canada which if removed would bring our prices down to about the same price as our American neighbours are paying. Of course, that would mean less money for our government to send to other countries as aid. But don't get me started on that right now. I'd love to see Canada take just five years of not providing financial help to other countries to see what we could do with all that money right here.

Ultimately what will happen is the gas prices will continue to rise while the demands are high and Canadians will continue to bitch and complain but in the end, that's about all we can do...and I do it well.