We get letters: this week’s winner!

From glambert2001@yahoo.ca!

I just read your nonsence in a Winnipeg paper in Canada.That black bastard you idiots voted for 2008  .  Four years that black basterd fucked up your country.California has been fucked by you liberal bastards for many years . I lived in California in the early winters of the 1980s it was  a country [to live in]   Now I live in Arisona. That is the place to live in now.I am 79 years old. I  have never seen any lazy liberal  bastard work  in my whole life. If  that blask bastard from Africa  is elected one more time every one with money are moving to Canada   Then all you liberal lazy fuckers what are you going to do  for free stuff again.?   You are payed buy that black fucker I  know.   I think you lazy FUCKERs are all going to take a liberal Lost in November .Then     OBAMA BASTAR is going back to Africa and you liberal can go with him  Why don,t you ediots Watch FOX news  for  balance news instead of bullshit from all those other liberal news that are payed by liberals CHICAGO  BASTARDS. I am going to mail this to every FOXTV station  in the USA   .You Going to be so Popular liberal PRICK     I just had a Operartion in  my head  and i have Cancer and i am not going live very long  . I am hoping  ediots free loaders are not going to vote that black bastard from AFRICA Again   I am going send this to BILL O’REILY  fox news  in NEW YORK     Mr Bill O’REILY i have watched your chanel since the first day, and you had the  best program in the world . You Shoud get that ediot liberal from Californa  And straighton out that bastard in  CALIFONIA  

Later Guy L   Manitoba Canada


In today’s Sun: conservative and crazy

PORTLAND, MAINE – Folks in these parts are friendly. Their politicians, however, are crazier than an outhouse rat.

Especially the conservative ones.

As a people, Americans are outgoing, friendly and gregarious. If a Canadian paying a visit looks lost, or like she needs some help, there’ll be no shortage of Americans pausing to offer directions or lend a hand.

Their politicians, meanwhile — the Republican ones more than the Democratic ones — would just as soon shoot you than extend assistance. They’re a mean and miserly bunch, these stateside conservatives, and they’re plenty different from conservative politicos back home.

In recent days, the latest GOP cretin to achieve notoriety is Todd Akin, a Missouri congressman. Currently running for a Senate seat, Akin gave a TV interview in which he said women’s bodies are able to prevent pregnancy in the case of “legitimate rape.”

Like many conservatives, Akin opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest. When asked to expound on his views, Akin stated that it was “really rare” for a woman to get pregnant in such cases.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down,” he said.


In Carcross-Tagish territory, tonight

An RCMP officer inspects a Carcross-Tagish First Nation drum, on the side of the highway. They’re there because the Prime Minister is not far away – on their land – to have dinner with the Con faithful. He won’t meet with CTFN, however. He won’t talk about breaking his word to them.

Why do I care?

Because my daughter is a citizen of the CTFN, that’s why. So this one is personal. And I’m going to keep coming on this one, as long as it takes.


Michael Bryant

I knew him at different phases. Before was an MPP, and before we had received the privilege of governing. He was full of promise, then. Destined for great things. You could see it.

Later, when he became the Minister of Justice, and I was on the executive of Ontario’s bar association, it changed. I felt he had become a bit of a bullshitter, around that time. A bit too glib, maybe. I felt like he was hiding something.

And then, after everything that happened that Summer, I only knew him from a distance. Like all political people, I have a built-in compass for danger avoidance. Michael Bryant had become dangerous, so I did what all political people do: I avoided him.

Two things. One, his willingness to tell the whole story, as he knows it, takes more guts than are possessed by 99 per cent of the people you will ever know. It takes a lot of courage to put your name to all of that. I hope to do that, too, one day. There’s a story I want to tell.

Two, my sister-in-law, who (along with my little brother) I desperately want to return to Ontario because I miss them very much, worked for Michael Bryant. Like everyone else who worked for him, she remains fiercely loyal to, and protective of, her former boss. Even after everything that happened. In politics, I can assure you that means a lot.

Anyway. On the beach in Maine, reading. This story is worth a read. I like that she spoke to that young man’s father, to give him a voice, too. Like how she wrote it.

Last night, Michael sent me a note, right out of the blue. It was a funny note. I said we should have a showy lunch somewhere, as authors. He thought that was a good idea.

Closing thought, before I get the kids fed.

Life is unimaginable pain, for many people. Michael Bryant’s life seemed like that, but I hope it’s better, now.

God bless him, and God bless Darcy Sheppard, too.


In Sunday’s Sun: Syria and war

It is far easier to get into a war than to get out of one. As the civilized world reflects on what to do about Syria, that truism bears remembering.

The grim statistics, however, continue to shock us all: Tens of thousands of Syrians dead, in excess of two million wounded or displaced. Most, civilians — women and children. Atrocities are commonplace, with new horrors being perpetrated by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad every day.

The usual measures — condemnations, diplomatic censures, embargoes — have done nothing to stop the killing of innocents. With the complicity of China and Russia, and with the military support of Iran, Syria’s little Hitler has survived far longer than anyone predicted he would.

Meanwhile, the pogroms continue apace. At some point, we aid and abet the bloodshed. Armenia, the Ukraine, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, the Sudan, and of course the Holocaust. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, as Edmund Burke famously observed, is for good people to do nothing. History shows us that much.