Armed & Dangerous - An Entire Country

Committed to an afternoon of mindless football watching, I was instead jolted back into reality by the horror story from just below the border.

A man walks into a coffee shop and shoots and kills four police officers.

You can find the story and late-minute updates on all your news sources on the web.

Here is the morning version from the New York Times.

I'm not sure why, but I have found this news so disturbing.

If you followed CNN at all throughout the day, yesterday was an almost typical madhouse in the USA in terms of killings, shootings and mayhem.

Family shootings, random shootings, gang shoot-outs and so on.

But the idea of some mad fool walking into a cafe and executing four police officers is particularly frightening and offensive.

Much of America is obsessed with the "right" to carry guns.

And most of America is armed.

Twice over.

Almost anyone can stroll into any gun shop and arm up.

Anyone can go online and buy automatic repeating deadly assault weapons. There are hundreds of websites selling killing machines at bargain prices.

I just Googled "AK-47" and this is what I got:

(Results 1 - 10 of about 1,780,000 for ak-47 for sale. (0.23 seconds)

The Winchester Varmint - albeit not an Uzi or better - is on sale for $499 with telescope.

Now, please, do not write in and use that tired old mistaken piece of shit that passes for folk wisdom - "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

Puleeeezze.

It is the ubiquitous AVAILABLITY of guns that allows people to kill people, using, oddly enough, GUNS.

Did you hear me say outlaw all private guns?

No, you didn't.

But certainly a sane society can figure out how not to sell war machines at the corner grocery.

The picture of that colossal idiot and dreadful actor, Charlton Heston, holding his rifle over his head and yelling at his NRA convention, "Not over my dead body," continues to haunt me.

What might Mr. Heston have to offer the families of these four slain police officers?

Oh, I get it.

They died so that we can have the right to run around shopping malls with guns and kill officers who are defending our right to run around shopping malls and kill officers...

My visits to the USA have become less and less frequent over the years.

I pray they can find a way to become a more civil society.

But I doubt it.

Not when there is so much money and there are so many votes involved in the making and selling of killing machinery.

Coming Clean? Not Necessarily...

Here, taken from his website, is the full statement from Tiger Woods. Make of it what you will:

"As you all know, I had a single-car accident earlier this week, and sustained some injuries. I have some cuts, bruising and right now I'm pretty sore.

This situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again.

This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.

The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.

This incident has been stressful and very difficult for Elin, our family and me. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received. But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be."

New Blood?

The Nostalgia Vote?

The We Don't Know What Else To Do or Where Else to Turn Vote?

The Let's Set the Record for Shooting Ourselves in the Foot Vote?

B.C. NDP choose Moe Sihota as party president

Yikes.

Where are Larry and Curly when you really need them?

Slow Mihota back in the limelight.

Hang on, kids.

It's going to be a bumpy night.

Councillors in the Ring

City hall has gone to the fights.

Read the story for yourself. It's just too, too silly to repeat here.

It is noteworthy however for the quotes and they are great.

This is the best of the lot.

“I agree” Jang chimed in, “I'm actually having a lot more fun then I thought I would.”

That would be psychiatrist and city councillor Kerry Jang.

As we know, psychiatrists don't get out very much or have a lot of fun.

Apparently, this summer, Kerry will be trying the Tilt-a-Whirl at the PNE.

Then, he will ask his mommy if he can catch the pig races.

Le Coupe Grey, Part Deux

Huh?

When I left to make my dinner, Saskatchewan had the game in hand 27-11 with a few minutes on the clock.

That's fine, I figured. I'll be back with my dinner on time to catch the second half of the Steelers-Ravens slugfest and watch the good green prairie folk celebrating.

Instead, I see the Mounties delivering the Cup to a platform on which are standing a host of beaming Montreal players.

In time, I saw what happened.

Yikes!

Of course, they deserved to win.

They put the points on the board and they won. Boo effing hoo.

Chuck Noll, the legendary coach of the Steelers way back when said it best. Something like, "Football is a marvelously simple thing. There's a winner and a loser. Guy who gets more points on the board wins. Life is much more complicated. That's why we love football."