If true, this is an absolute disgrace. It should concern every Canadian:

“As Sarah began pleading with them to give her father a little time and space to get up because he is an amputee, they began kicking and hitting him. One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later.”

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Bought a new bunch of Livestrong bracelets yesterday at Nike; I’ve been wearing one non-stop since my Dad got sick, more than six years ago.

This CP story is a nice one, and shows the power of fighting back against this damned disease.  If you want to send Jack your best wishes, you can email him at: LaytoJ@parl.gc.ca

***

Well wishers like ‘wind under your wings,’ says cancer stricken NDP leader (Layton-Health)

OTTAWA _ NDP Leader Jack Layton says he’s getting a big lift from public support for his battle against prostate cancer.

“I’m getting well-wishes from all over the place,” said Layton, who’s remained in the public eye since announcing last February he had contracted the same cancer his late father defeated 17 years ago.

“I have no doubt they have an impact. It’s like you’ve got this wind under your wings.”

He told a news conference Tuesday _ just hours after his latest medical checkup _ he feels good and doctors are “really happy” with his progress.

Layton, who turns 60 later this month, said he feels better all the time, despite losing 10 to 15 pounds and adhering to a strict diet that includes broccoli, cooked tomatoes and a southeast Asian berry called goji, known for its medicinal qualities and health benefits.

“I’ve cut out a lot of things I used to love to eat,” he said. “So I’m down to the weight I was when I was 25, and they say that’s good for your health in general, anyway. I’m feeling very good.”

The New Democrat leader said it appears his progress is following the same path as that of his father, Robert, who made a full recovery.

“I’m very, very optimistic,” he said. “So far, so good.”

The elder Layton, a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney’s government, died in 2002 at age 76 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Virtually every member of Parliament wore a teal-and-blue-striped tie or scarf inside the House of Commons one day in March in support of Layton’s fight. They’re the colours of Prostate Cancer Canada.

“His public gesture of courage showed Canadian men and their families that they are not alone in their daily fight to combat this illness, but more needs to be done,” Conservative MP Jim Abbott said at the time.

Layton said he’ll be taking a little time with his granddaughter Beatrice this summer, but it’ll more likely be in the confines of his Toronto riding than on the northern whitewater rapids he and wife Olivia Chow like to navigate.

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• Credit where it’s due, etc.: The Harper government – and principally due to the anti-tobacco convictions of the Prime Minister, I believe – has been far tougher on Big Tobacco than the minority Liberal government that immediately preceded it.  This latest move, on prohibiting flavoured cigarettes aimed at addicting children, is a great one.  I have a very personal interest here, but I think it’s high time that the feds – and the provinces – also started taking legal action against tobacco companies for lost health care costs.  Will they?  So far, few Canadian jurisdictions have.  Maybe Harper will, and lead the way.
• Conservatives fighting conservatives, etc. This one is fascinating.  Since the G20 debacle, a furious debate has been raging within conservative circles, online and off.  Typically pro-police and anti-protestor, some conservatives (such as Mike Brock, who is not crazy, and Mr. and Mrs. Blazing Cat Fur, who possibly are) have found themselves in the unusual position of being targeted by police during the G20 – simply for standing on a sidewalk.  If what the three of them experienced is in any way true, they deserve to be upset.  However, not all rightists feel that way: some, like the mouth-breathers who congregate at Small Dead Animals, have been highly critical of Brock and the Furs.  Personally, I feel the latter deserve some measure of credit for playing against type, and actually championing civil liberties.  As a result, they come out looking like the true free speechers.
• G20 about-face, etc. Inevitably and belatedly, Toronto police have acknowledged that they cannot and should not ever review their own conduct.  Along with being utterly contrary to the rules of natural justice, their earlier insistence that “police investigate police” suggested that they knew they made some big, big mistakes on the ill-fated G20 weekend (see above), and were hoping to cover it up.  Time to get at the truth.  There are simply too many stories of G20 police abuse for all be false.  A welcome development.
• Israel is a democracy, and others aren’t, etc. This story is both sad and encouraging all at the same time.  Sad, because it makes clear that a minority of Israeli soldiers were indeed involved in highly discreditable conduct.  Encouraging, because Israel is pretty much the only country in the entire Middle East that would even bother to investigate such abuses – and then, when found to exist, prosecute them to the full extent of the law.  When was the last time any of the countries surrounding Israel did that?  Never, pretty much.
• Ravens, crows, etc. As my kids and some friends will tell you, I am a raven/crow nut; I’m obsessed by these birds.  Along with chimpanzees, some of these creatures (such as the incredible New Caledonian crow) are the most intelligent animals on the face of the planet.  I have raven native art all over my apartment, and if I ever get the courage (and find a certifiably safe tattoo place in Toronto), I’m going to get Beau Dick’s Hands of Creation applied to my arm.  Anyway, I digress: the discovery of a rare white raven in B.C. is a huge, huge deal, and the harbinger of much good fortune.  We need it!
• The power of stories, etc. Nice column in the Winnipeg Sun, spotted only because it came up in one of those Google Alert things.  As someone privileged to work for disabled adults seeking justice, I can indeed attest to this: facts tell, but stories sell.

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11:40 – There are huge trucks trying to get past a big traffic jam at Pinewood Studios, where lunch with Her Majesty is happening. Horns honking, much chaos. There is a clear need for a Toronto police presence. (First time anyone’s said that since before the G20, I’ll wager.)

11:55 – I’m inside the cavernous reception area, beside an old plane. They’re playing the theme from ‘Ghostbusters.’ I don’t understand why, but they are.

1:09 – We’re seated, but still no Queen. And now they’re playing the theme from ‘The Godfather.’ Not a choice I would have made, but I’m not an expert in protocol.

1:25 – Her Majesty walked right beside our table! She smiled at Bob Richardson and I, and sort-of nodded! She did not, however, seek my opinions on coalition governments.

1:40 – Bob and I were apparently just spotted on TV applauding the Queen as she walked by. Unanimous reaction: “What are those two disreputable barnacles doing there? How’d they get in?”

1:55 – Nice lunch. But now they’re playing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. Who is running the music for this event? Charles de Gaulle?

2:20 – CTV’s Richard Madan just told me I’m on TV watching half of Metric play an acoustic set. I’m wearing a suit. It’s weird watching a rock’n’roll band when you are wearing a suit. Unless you’re Bryan Ferry or Robert Palmer, I guess, in which case it’s acceptable.

2:50 – The Queen and The Best Premier In Canada just walked by us.  The luncheon is concluded.   Bob and I will now step into the blast furnace that is Toronto’s weather, today, and tell everyone about our Royal encounter.

Which, I guess, we have now done.

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This story – I swear to God – is the blackline story on the front of today’s Toronto Star:

“To some, it is a cultural ritual. Others consider it a cosmetic procedure that ensures a son will look like his father. A growing faction believes it can save lives. Still others say it is a desecration of the human body.

Male circumcision has long incited debate over its merit.

But the controversy over preserving an infant boy’s foreskin has reached a new frenzy as Canadian and U.S. health authorities are poised to issue major evaluations on circumcision and its potential health benefits.

The reassessments by the Canadian Pediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics are being welcomed by pediatricians who say the new guidance for parents is long overdue. Critics, however, are incensed the procedure – which they liken to genital mutilation – is even being talked about in medical circles.”

What do you think, Internet?  Vote now, vote often!  Results will become government policy, so don’t lose this important opportunity!

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Mumford and Sons, except they’re not his sons.  British, not Irish.  Pogues, Springsteen and Strummer in there, but not.

Little Lion Man.  Song of the Summer, is.

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I’m not quite sure why, but I have been extended the honour of having lunch with Queen Elizabeth in Toronto on Monday. They must have me confused with some other, are more reputable, Kinsella.

In any event, Her Majesty’s arrival in Canada got me – a previously ardent Irish Catholic republican type – reflecting fondly about her reign. Here, from the archives, is the very last column I wrote for the National Post – about the Queen.

***

A salute to the oldest British monarch

by Warren Kinsella

National Post, December 21, 2007

Yesterday, Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest living British monarch. Being somewhat more than 81 years of age, as she now is, the Queen is older than was her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, at the time of her death in 1901. Buckingham Palace did not make a big deal about all of this, but it is noteworthy, nonetheless.

Personally, I can assure you that it is also somewhat noteworthy that this writer is even writing about it. I am a republican, you see — in the traditional sense, meaning, I believe that supreme power should lie with the citizens who are entitled to vote for their representatives. (Not in the Rudy Giuliani sense — although if I were a Republican, it would be the Giuliani kind, because he believes in equal marriage, reproductive rights for women and is an impressive enough guy to have been named one of Queen Elizabeth’s honorary knights.) Like any good republican, I also believe the Canadian Senate is an anti-democratic abomination, and I strenuously oppose the notion of anyone exercising great authority without having first been elected to do so.

That all said, this republican has grown to grudgingly admire the Queen. Not, I hasten to add, for any of the reasons the Monarchist’s League regularly trots out — you know, that the monarchy provides stability, continuity, identity. Or that it promotes volunteerism and honours and whatnot. All of those things are nice, but elected representatives or even Rotarians do likewise, I think.

No, I admire the Queen — I salute her, in fact –because I am a political hack.

Let me explain. A few years back, former British prime minister Tony Blair told a journalist that one of the best parts of his job was sitting down with Her Majesty, in private, to seek advice. A smile playing on his lips, Mr. Blair confessed that the Queen is a great tactician and — having known many of them, in the form of past prime ministers — an extraordinary political strategist. Queen Elizabeth, he seemed to suggest, is perhaps our greatest living politician.

As my former boss, Jean Chretien, has observed, more than once, the best indicator of political success is longevity. If you have survived for a long time–and, in the Queen’s case, she has survived for half a century — then you are a very successful leader. You are a winner.

Mr. Chretien, too, has often expressed admiration for Her Majesty’s political smarts. Here in the colonies, our entire political class was marked up — fatally in come cases — by successive crises, such as separatist referenda and constitutional upheaval. Her Majesty, meanwhile, has emerged from all of it with nary a scratch. Even in the province considered to be most anti-monarchist, Quebec, her visits are attended by throngs of admirers. Even Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe admitted in 2002 that he respects her.

The Queen is a political survivor. She has survived wars, tragedies, terrorism, economic calamity and — notably — heirs and relatives who frequently misbehave in public. Through it all, her political stock has risen. Through it all, she has been admired — not for the institution she represents, necessarily, but because of the person she is.

So, this political consultant says, with affection: If you ever get tired of this monarchy business, Your Majesty, and you want to run somewhere, just say the word. We could put together a campaign team in no time, raise plenty of dough — and you’d wipe the floor with the opposition.

In the meantime, congratulations.

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Earlier that day, well before the much-publicized destruction on Yonge Street, I’d been threatened with arrest for “obstructing” a search by trying to take a picture (at a respectful distance) of two young men being searched.

An officer there had tried to grab my cellphone. Other officers had crowded around. They boisterously mocked the psychiatric patients coming out of the mental-health hospital behind me.

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Chris Bosh leaves Toronto, Target is coming to Toronto.

Universe balances out on Canada Day.  Discuss.

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Thank you, Angus Reid, for a great start to Canada Day!

Canadians Think Trudeau is Best Recent PM, as Views on Mulroney Worsen
Jean Chrétien ranks second after Trudeau and has gained five points on the “Best PM” question since October 2007.

[MONTREAL – Jun. 30, 2010] – Pierre Trudeau is still seen as the best Canadian head of government since 1968, while one-in-four respondents think Brian Mulroney has been the worst prime minister of the past four decades, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,009 Canadian adults, 38 per cent of respondents think Trudeau has been the best prime minister since 1968, followed by Jean Chrétien with 13 per cent, Stephen Harper with 11 per cent, and Mulroney with seven per cent.

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