We really need breeding permits

It must really suck to be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.  It's been God knows how many years since they've gained possession of Lord Stanley's cup, and it weighs heavily on their minds.

This morning I heard a young fellow on the radio lamenting this last ignominy... the Leafs being shut out of the playoffs--- again.  His agony went like this, and I quote verbatim:

"We've been shut out again.

I want a Stanley Cup, my father wants a Stanley Cup, my grandfather wants a Stanley Cup.

I'M 27 YEARD OLD, I DON'T WANT TO BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD WITHOUT A STANLEY CUP STORY TO TELL HIM"

The lad was near to tears. It was heart wrenching.  I thought I heard a bit of a surpressed snicker from the interviewer.... but maybe not.

It reminded me of the Kenora red-kneck, lamenting the repeal of the gun law that allowed 12 year olds to carry guns in the bush when accompanied by a parent. His lament was, and, again, I quote "Now how am I going to take my daughter into the bush to learn about nature when she can't carry a gun".

It brings another on to mind as well. It was many years ago when Grampa flew us all into a small remote lake to spend a week in a log cabin all by ourselves.... no one else on the lake.  As we taxied up to the dock, a man and sad faced young boy were waiting to be flown out. Grampa asked him how his week went.  The father's only reply was a very unhappy "the fishing was lousy".  I couldn't help thinking that he had totally missed the point of the whole thing.  He had just spent a week alone with his son on a beautiful remote lake and uppermost in his mind was the poor fishing.

The the really sad thing is that we allow them to breed.  

My comment on the news

I just have to comment on some things that have been in the Canadian news lately:

HOCKEY:
Far be it from me to cast doubt on the mental capacity of Gary Bettman and other hockey movers and shakers, but doesn't it seem that their defence of  Zdeno Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty last Tuesday as "just part of the game" is a serious indictment of the game?  If broken heads are "normal & expected", then what does that say about the game?  After all Max didn't even have the puck, so what was the justification for hitting him? Maybe the average hockey player just isn't smart enough to play the game any other way, and maybe the average fan isn't sophisticated enough to prefer watching skill over brutality.  But then, I'm not a fan of the game, so I probably don't understand..

LYBIA:
Now, I'm no fan of American foreign policy.  To start with they are far more concerned with their own economic health than with any one else's well being.  In fact I firmly think they are socially and emotionally unfit to pretend to be the world's "policeman".  I certainly wouldn't want a mentally challenged, immature teenager, policing my community. However, for various reasons, the US seems to have accepted that role, and, surprisingly, the rest of the world has been content to sit back and let them do it. Which, in the case of Lybia is the real problem.

The US is faced with a dilemma. After propping up dictators throughout the world, (and in fact putting a lot of them into power), they now feel unable to intervene when they actually feel a moral obligation to do so.    So... where is the rest of the world?  Isn't there anyone else willing to take some initiative?  Doesn't any one else have an army?

FIGHTER PLANES:
It's interesting to hear Harper say that he doesn't want to get into an argument over numbers. But what big numbers they are.  The over-run for the new fighter planes will apparently be something like 12 billion dollars. When you say 12 billion fast, it really doesn't sound like much. After all it's only 12 of them. But say it as it really is: TWELVE THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS, it has a little more impact. Or you could say that it is $400 for EVERY PERSON in Canada.  Actually, the total bill, THIRTY THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS, is $1000 for every person.  Don't get me wrong, these may be the right planes to buy, and we may really need them, and if so, then tell us what the justification is and stop treating the critics as nit-pickers.

Who did the software?

Do you suppose that Microsoft provided the software for Toyota? I wonder. Do you suppose they never heard of "fail-safe"? Probably not. Great to be driving a Honda though.