Category: Good Stuff

Here’s tilting my chapeau to the Winterpeg Sun’s Laurie Mustard for bringing this up in his column today. We all need a good chuckle every now and then, and this definitely qualifies. Now, don’t get me wrong; there is nothing funny about traffic accidents. There is nothing funny about carelessness, either, but sometimes circumstances conspire to make you laugh about them anyway. This is one such:

TOLEDO, Ohio, Oct. 13 (UPI) — An Ohio state patrol report blames a red bra for causing a rollover accident last month that injured two Toledo, Ohio, men.

The newly released report says James Campbell told troopers when he swerved to avoid the flying bra on northbound I-75, his 2006 Dodge Neon flipped over several times in the grass median, The Toledo Blade reports.

Troopers said the bra came from a car driven by a 17-year-old girl from Bowling Green, Ohio. A passenger in the car — another 17-year-old girl — admitted to police it was her bra that flew out the window and caused the accident.

Now, I could babble on and on about where this is going, but I think I’ll just leave that to Laurie, who pretty much somes up what most of us (most of us guys, anyway; come on, admit it) are thinking in the first place:

This begs the question, how BIG … must this bra have been … to force this guy to swerve to avoid it?

Fascinating. The imagination soars. Over to you.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

I love when this happens.  Here we are, smack in the middle of the Librano$’ leadership race, with the whole country supposedly eagerly eyeing who the new leader of the Natural Governing Party (and therefore presumably the next PM) is going to be, canoe.ca puts up a poll that kinda pops the little liberal baloon:

It’s enough to make a guy feel all warm & fuzzy inside…

There are things wrong with our immigration and refugee system. Lots of them. But, every now and then, we will trip over something that reminds us that not everything is wrong with it. We find ourselves reminded that the vast majority of us either are, or are descended from, prople who came from someplace else. This country was built by immigrants, and I don’t mean the kind that we all like to complain about; showing up with a hand out and making a beeline for the welfare office and free health care (can anyone say “Khadr?”).

No, I’m talking about men and women like Ervin Kulcsar, a veteran of the Hungarian revolt of 1956 who came to Canada with next to nothing and not only made his own way, but contributed as well. After a harrowing flight from the commies following the failed revolt:

On New Year’s Eve, Kulcsar and some fellow freedom fighters found themselves crouching in the snow just yards from the border. After counting the 110 paces the guards took to go from one end of their section of fence to the other, they made a mad dash for the snow fence that separated free Austria from communist Hungary. They made it ~ even though Kulcsar reopened his wounds making the dive.

Kulcsar was allocated to Canada. He worked by day, studied by night to learn the language and get his engineering certification.

“There were so many Hungarians in Toronto at that time. I really appreciate the opportunity Canada gave to all of us. We all stuck together. But many of us were hoping to return to Hungary one day, that it would one day become a free country like Canada.”

But that only happened in 1989, and Kulcsar now feels more Canadian than Hungarian. When he goes to Hungary, he says he gets homesick for Toronto.

Now, 50 years later, he is happy Canada is remembering the refugees. “A lot of us don’t have much time left Sum But we have to make sure the memory of the Hungarian Revolution is passed on to younger generations.”

In December, Kulcsar will be made part of Hungary’s “Knighthood of Heroes.” But, he turned down the chance to get his medal in Budapest. He chose to mark the 50th anniversary in Canada, instead.

The whole article is here. Isn’t it nice to find a good story in the rubbish heap of the media every now and then?

On the face of it, this might appear to just be yet another in the long and tiresome line of idiotic nuggets that the high and mighty roos in the SCC have left on the national rug but when you look at it just a little, it seems that they may have gotten it right this time. The Grand Roos declared today that judges do not have the authority to order convicts to submit bodily fluid samples on demand.

Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Maybe not, this time. The SCC isn’t trying to bugger about and rewrite or make up the law this time; their logic was clear and simple (for once):

“A sentencing judge has a broad jurisdiction in determining appropriate conditions of probation,” said the decision, written by Justice Louise Charron. “However, there is no authority under the Criminal Code to authorize a search and seizure of bodily substances as part of a probation order.

“It is Parliament’s role to determine appropriate standards and safeguards governing the collection of bodily samples for enforcement purposes.”

Oh, my gawd! Actually letting those idiots in Parliament (elected by the even more idiotic and ignorant unwashed masses) decide what is and isn’t the law in this country?? Her Beverlyness must have blown a synapse at the very thought of it.

As strange as this is going to sound, I actually think that this might not be a bad thing. For once, the SCC isn’t lounging on their lofty lipizzaners and declaring that the law is what they say it is, flying in the face of what has been democratically enacted by our elected representatives. The fact is that there is nothing in the CCOC to allow the collection of such samples, some other judge made it up. While he may have been well-intentioned and taking such samples seems only common sense, it is up to Parliament (chosen by the prople) to make laws in this country, NOT the courts (who are not elected). This is essentially what the SCC said in their decision.

Which makes me wonder: why is the SCC taking such a hands-off attitude to buggering about with the law all of a sudden? Could it be because we have a PM who has no qualms about (and, indeed, may even be eager to begin) putting this country’s courts back in their place? Just a thought.

I know, I know; I grump and complain a lot here, but what’s the point of being conservative if you can’t be a grouch? I consider it one of the benefits. But man cannot live on grump alone, so every now and then, I like to post something that just tickles my funnybone. You know, silly stuff. Like this right here:

Well, this isn’t surprising. In their never ending quest to find some deep, dark secret in PM Stephen Harper’s closet, the MSM may have finally latched onto something that will get Canadians‘ attention, and maybe keep it, too (though I haven’t yet figured out how they’re going to put some “Bush-loving, neocon, American Republican conspiracy angle on it yet, but I’m sure they’ll think of something). CTV leads off with:

PM’s hockey loyalties questioned after Leafs goal

Updated Thu. Oct. 5 2006 11:46 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Hockey fans are wondering if Prime Minister Stephen Harper unwittingly outed himself as a closet Toronto Maple Leafs fan with his reaction to the team’s lone goal Wednesday night.

Harper, a hard-core hockey fan, has been careful to keep his allegiances to himself.

But that hasn’t prevented hockey fans from speculating whether the Toronto-born Harper, who studied in Calgary and now lives at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, has any favourites only his inner circle knows about.

So there you have it. A far-right wing, nutjob, knuckle-dragging, homophobic, neanderthal, gun-toting, redneck Evangelical troglodyte is one thing, but are Canadians ready for a PM that’s a Leafs fan?

EEK.