Sunday, 17 June 2012
Monday, 11 June 2012
RandomThoughts
It is my birthday tomorrow. In anticipation I had my best workout day in a while. I walked 8 miles, ran on the treadmill and lifted weights. It has been a long time since I ran on the treadmill. I have been having problems with both Achilles for the past while. I may have Achilles tendinitis. I'm going to get it checked out. I thought there is no way I will be able to run, but when I hit the treadmill the pain was gone. As I love to self diagnose, I'm not sure what is going on. I am sure I will be in pain tomorrow. Someone thought I may have gout, but I don't think so. I checked the symptoms and they don't match. I may be a victim of walking too much. How ironic, I'm punished for the only good thing I do.
I'm really trying to cut back on the bad foods. I have lawyers coming in from across Canada for their annual Toronto visit. It is a steady stream in the summer. Plus tomorrow I'm attending the Canada v. Honduras World Cup soccer qualifier. With patio season just starting up, it is punishing for my body. I really have to cut back. I have cut back, but I have to take it down another notch. My heart has been great the past two years. That is a testament to taking it easy most of the week and walking at least 10,000 steps a day. 19,800 steps today including the treadmill. If only I had a the Achilles of a 20-year-old Swede.
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Bob Rae
Bob Rae is about to run for the full time leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Bob Rae lied when he agreed he would not run for the leadership of the party, as part of an agreement to take the interim job. I wrote in my blog at that time that Bob Rae was lying, he had every intention of running.
Bob Rae is a man without an ounce of decency, or integrity. He is not worthy of being Prime Minister of Canada. He was the worst Premier in the history of parliamentary democracy. That is not an exaggeration if you lived in Ontario during the Bob Rae regime. It would have been unthinkable during that period that this ego maniacal failure, would have any notion of leading the Liberal Party.
Remember theses words, the Liberal Party of Canada will die under Bob Rae's leadership. It will be the final death blow to the party. When you chase away progressives like me, you are done as a viable party.
The Liberal Party ran a criminal in my riding. Then they ran the criminal's wife, who hid any mention of the existence of her husband. Now you are about to hand over the leadership of the party to a failure as a Premier and an even bigger failure as a decent human being.
If you ask people that really know Bob Rae, they will tell you that he is not a nice man. He is a man with a gigantic sense of self worth, a sense of entitlement that ignores the fact that he was a monumental failure when he last lead a government.
Bob Rae is a man without an ounce of decency, or integrity. He is not worthy of being Prime Minister of Canada. He was the worst Premier in the history of parliamentary democracy. That is not an exaggeration if you lived in Ontario during the Bob Rae regime. It would have been unthinkable during that period that this ego maniacal failure, would have any notion of leading the Liberal Party.
Remember theses words, the Liberal Party of Canada will die under Bob Rae's leadership. It will be the final death blow to the party. When you chase away progressives like me, you are done as a viable party.
The Liberal Party ran a criminal in my riding. Then they ran the criminal's wife, who hid any mention of the existence of her husband. Now you are about to hand over the leadership of the party to a failure as a Premier and an even bigger failure as a decent human being.
If you ask people that really know Bob Rae, they will tell you that he is not a nice man. He is a man with a gigantic sense of self worth, a sense of entitlement that ignores the fact that he was a monumental failure when he last lead a government.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Sunday, 3 June 2012
The Eaton Centre Shooting
I work at the Eaton Centre and frequently visit the food court where the killer opened fire Saturday night. I note that witnesses described the shooter as dark skinned, wearing a hoodie and baggy pants. I also saw the photo of one of the victims, who was a black man. The police say it was a targeted killing. Several of the victims were innocent bystanders. A pregnant woman was trampled by people fleeing the scene. She went into labour.
People who live in Toronto are fully aware that when there is a shooting, the likely shooter is a black male, just as likely the victim is also a black male. There is an almost general acceptance from Torontonians that if you keep the violence within your own community, we will turn a blind eye towards it. The shootings almost always take place in their own neighbourhoods. The Jane Creba murder, on Boxing Day near the Eaton Centre a few years back, shocked the city as the black killers, shot at each other with the rest of us a potential collateral damage. This Eaton Centre shooting will cause the same reaction.
When the dust settles the reactions will be predictable. The Toronto Star will downplay the race of the shooters and call for society to fix the root of the problem, inequality and lack of opportunity for black youth. The Toronto Sun will call for increased police budgets and immigration reform.
My hope is that there is not a repeat of the summer of the gun, where we hired hundreds more police officers. Overall the crime rate has been dropping dramatically, year after year. We don't need more cops, they could not have prevented this incident.
How do you decrease black on black crime? I don't know the answer. I don't think you can in one or two generations. We can just hope that they go back to our unwritten agreement and take the violence back to their hood.
We can't live in fear. I will be back in the Eaton Centre food court this week. It will probably be the safest place in the city.
People who live in Toronto are fully aware that when there is a shooting, the likely shooter is a black male, just as likely the victim is also a black male. There is an almost general acceptance from Torontonians that if you keep the violence within your own community, we will turn a blind eye towards it. The shootings almost always take place in their own neighbourhoods. The Jane Creba murder, on Boxing Day near the Eaton Centre a few years back, shocked the city as the black killers, shot at each other with the rest of us a potential collateral damage. This Eaton Centre shooting will cause the same reaction.
When the dust settles the reactions will be predictable. The Toronto Star will downplay the race of the shooters and call for society to fix the root of the problem, inequality and lack of opportunity for black youth. The Toronto Sun will call for increased police budgets and immigration reform.
My hope is that there is not a repeat of the summer of the gun, where we hired hundreds more police officers. Overall the crime rate has been dropping dramatically, year after year. We don't need more cops, they could not have prevented this incident.
How do you decrease black on black crime? I don't know the answer. I don't think you can in one or two generations. We can just hope that they go back to our unwritten agreement and take the violence back to their hood.
We can't live in fear. I will be back in the Eaton Centre food court this week. It will probably be the safest place in the city.
Friday, 1 June 2012
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