06.22.2010 10:27 PM

Meet Roger, international terrorist

International symbol of the proletariat and the oppressed. Ca-caw, ca-caw.

Meet Roger.

Roger is a fake crow I bought at a dollar store in Maine last Summer.  I put him on the dashboard of my car.  The kids thought it was funny.

So, there we were on Sunday night – me, my daughter and Roger the Crow.  We were driving West on Lakeshore Drive to get near the Much Music Video Awards ceremony, so my daughter could take pictures of a clothed Miley Cyrus.  She was excited.

We stopped for a red light, tunes cranked on the radio. A shiny new van pulled up beside us.  Inside it, five uniformed cops were sitting.  They turned and regarded us.  We smiled; they didn’t smile back.  The cop behind the wheel signalled for me to turn down the music.  I did.

He pointed at Roger.

“What is that for?” he said, unsmiling.

“I beg your pardon?” said I.

“That,” he said, pointing at Roger, as the other unsmiling cops watched.  “What is the meaning of that?”

“Um,” said I. “That’s Roger, a toy crow.  He’s our mascot. My kids think he’s funny.”

The cop nodded and continue to look at us.  He didn’t seem to think Roger was funny.

The light turned green.  We gave the cops a friendly wave, and drove on.  My daughter looked uncertain.  “What was that all about?” she asked.

“You got me,” said I, heading toward Much Music.  “Maybe they thought Roger was a terrorist symbol or something.”

“That’s stupid,” said my daughter, who is fourteen.

“There’s a lot of stupidity going on for this G20 thing,” I said. “I don’t see a whole lot of good coming out of it. I mean, they’ve already written their dumb communique in advance. Why are they even meeting here? Why didn’t they hold their meeting on an island up in the Arctic Circle?”

Roger, doubtlessly agreeing, said nothing.

21 Comments

  1. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    That crow looks like it might have ingested a “bad” doughnut. Apparently, it can erase all traces of a brain’s previous sense of humour.

  2. MississaugaPeter says:

    What cranked up tunes did Roger have to listen to on the way to the MMVA?

    BTW, you are lucky you had to only deal with MMVA Sunday evening. I started my Father’s Day by taking my 14-year-old daughter and her friend down at 6:00 a.m. (she wanted to stay in line overnight, but I said no when her older sister decided to take a pass on the event so she could study) and ending it by picking them up at 11:15 p.m. I guess it could happen to you next year.

  3. Catherine says:

    ‘Tippy’ would have been a good name for your crow.

    The whole excess of this upcoming 72 hour has gone to ‘The Birds.’

  4. Greg says:

    The crow was a deviation from “the norm”. That was offensive enough, but the fact you didn’t know that was just this side of treasonous.

    • Warren says:

      I’d say “so shoot me,” but things are a bit too literal in TeeDot this week!

      • Cath says:

        I wonder what they ask the dudes with the fuzzy dice or hula girls on their dashboards?
        I think the crow is creepy but I’m not a bird fan. I’ve seen those fake crows on sale here in Ontario and always wondered who’d buy one.
        Now I know.
        But seriously what are they suppose to do for the purchaser? Keep real crows from crapping on swimming pools? Halloween decoration?
        I just don’t get it I guess.

        • Warren says:

          Attack Roger and I’ll ban you from this site!

          • Cath says:

            hey, I’d never stand in the way of self-expression or anything that kids think is funny. I do think it funny too. Nothing against Roger – I hardly know him – I have a thing about all birds. Seriously, what are they really for?

          • Cath says:

            and who knew ” ravens appear almost exclusively as signatory animals for deities in Europe, in the shamanic cultures of aboriginal North American tribes Raven appears as deity himself. From a dichotomy of cultures, we reach a dichotomy of characterisation, for Raven in America, particularly the Northwest coast region, is both demiurge and trickster, both hero and villain, and often at one and the same time. Raven appears as simple Raven, as Dotson’ Sa (Great Raven), as Nankilstlas (He Whose Voice Must Be Obeyed) and also, in a Tlingit creation myth, as Nascakiyetl (Raven-at-the-Head-of-Nass, the Nass being a river). In nearly every single creation myth of the region I have encountered, Raven, in one of his guises, is either the actual creator of the world, or has a great part to play in it. In many, such as the Tlingit myth just mentioned, Raven appears in more than one of his guises – in this case both as Nascakiyetl, and as Yetl, the Raven. This is possible because of the personification of the animal characters in the culture. Animals can take on human form without a second thought (although Raven is the greatest shapeshifter of them all, being able to change into anyone and anything to get what he wants), and can also lead human style lives. Orca, for instance, is the Chief of his own underwater city, and the drowned go to live there with the killer whales, according to the Haida people.” Found this and other neat stuff at http://ravenfamily.org/nascakiyetl/obs/rav1.html

            Always interesting learning over at Kinsella’s blog – I still remember the KD and Bart(RIP little dude) discussions. Cutting out of here with more respect for Warren’s dashboard deity than I expected. I’ll take a border collie over a bird any day though.

          • Warren says:

            I had a border collie, too. Sheena. I miss her.

            Looking for a border/lab mix to assist me in my solitary existence!

          • Cath says:

            O/T – we’re on our third border collie. Once you’ve had one in our life you can’t go without one. Seriously Warren here’s where we got our Jaxx a few months ago. They have three border collie pups left. http://www.oberonkennels.ca/

            I believe Dalton’s got a border collie also.

          • Cath says:

            here are the remaining pups http://www.oberonkennels.ca/Puppies%20Border%20Collie.htm
            perfect dogs for kids and families
            also check out the option at this site “previous puppies”

            end of ad. Sorry Warren, when it comes to dogs and border collies in particular……well, you likely know

          • Marc L says:

            Most animals are smarter than people.

  5. Marc L says:

    Ok, this is an honest question, not some partisan BS (I am not partisan per se). What is the Liberal party’s view of the G-8 and G-20 summit? All I can understand from what I have seen to date is that you are just anti-Harper. Because it’s Harper, it’s bad. So, what would you propose:
    Should Canada exit the G-8 and the G-20? If Canada remains part of the G-8 and G-20, should it refuse to attend the summits (which some of you say are useless anyways)? If Canada attends the summits, should it refuse to host them, and leave it to other countries to host (and obviously, deal with the problems as well). If we accept to host them, should we put less-stringent and therefore less costly security measures into place? If you think security is excessive, what levels of security do you find more reasonable? The negative comments I’ve seen from Liberals are not just about the stupid fake lake. They are about the cost, the location, security, the usefulnes of these summits, and everything in between. So, what is your party’s view on this? What would you do? C’mon Liberals, let’s have some views — you can’t run a country by just being anti-Harper.

    • Namesake says:

      As I’ve said on another thread, I’m just a voter, not a member, so maybe have no bizness answering, but here goes:

      No, I don’t think the Libs are disavowing the importance of the G’s, esp. the G20, which Paul Martin shepherded into being.

      But in the present case, Canada would’ve hosted them both in one remote place (not both in one remote & one uber-urban); & it’d use more security from the straight-time armed forces (not the OT RCMP & untendered, unlicensed private security firm) [who, BTW, wouldn’t be creating an ‘Escape from NY’ siege-mentality in the streets of TO, but would be discreetly embedded in & above the woods, as they were around Whistler at the Olympics, or around the Kanasaskis in the G8 in ’02), all for a third or a quarter the cost.

      And for the future, it might go w. some people’s suggestion that all future summits be held at the United Nations, where, d’uh, the world’s already got a dedicated secure facility for high-level summits. And I’d add: w. all the participants ‘Going Dutch’ by paying their own accomodation & ponying up a share of NY’s & the USA’s extra security & lost biz costs for said event.

      • Marc L says:

        Largely agree with your view. But the Liberals need to say what they would have done differently, and not just after the fact. In my view, this is why they are so low in the polls; they can’t do that. It’s just criticize, criticize, criticize without proposing an alternative.

        • Warren says:

          Dude, I’m not making this observation as a “Liberal.” I’m saying it as a citizen. There are about five million of us citizens in and around GTA, and we see this G20 thing as a big pain in the ass.

  6. Bill King says:

    Mock the vigilance of the police all you want. It’s this kind of attention to detail and the unusual that saves lives.

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