The Right Opinion – January 11th, 2012

Update: News from Cornwall, Ontario. The City of Cornwall has finally done what most people expected. They fired Human Resources Manager Robert Menagh. Menagh has been the subject of a lot of controversy in Cornwall. I wonder how much controversy is on the horizon when city residents find out about his guaranteed pay-out. I’ve heard it could be as much as $250,000.

You can read more here: Cornwall Human Resources Manager Terminated – TheCornwallDaily.com

- I love American politics… even more than Canadian politics. The American system is more interesting and is more democratic. Democrats and Republicans don’t always vote the party line. Isn’t that refreshing. We know what happens to MP’s who don't vote with their party. American politics can be brutal however. The media in the US is doing its best to re-elect Barack Obama. Hell, they have so much invested in him they can’t turn their back on him now. So candidate after candidate on the Republican side has been picked apart by the media to make way for the guy Obama wants to run against… Mitt Romney. There’s another problem though. The Republicans are picking apart candidate after candidate as well. I haven’t watched many of the debates on TV, but far too much time is spent criticizing conservatives and not the guy that should really be on the radar… Barack Obama. Mark Levin made an interesting observation last night on his radio show. He said Gingrich and Romney and the others should be running on their records, not spending their time (and in Romney’s case oodles of money) beating the other candidates down. They need to focus on the man in the White House. He also said Obama is trying to raise a billion dollars so he can spend all of his time attacking, because he definitely can’t run on his abysmal record. How true. American politics is interesting, but for Republicans they need to focus on what they stand for, not each other. Too much is at stake… like the future of the United States of America.

* I support the pipeline… do you?

- Over 4000 people are going to have a say for and against the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Most of them against. It’s the MO for anti-capitalists, socialists and enviro-wackos… gum up the system. The more time spent talking, the more chance they can kill the entire project. That’s why it’s important you send off a message to the people who are overseeing the process and tell them you support selling Canada’s oil. You need to fight back. Here is the contact information you need to make a difference. I got this directly from small dead animals.

The Honourable Peter Kent
Minister of the Environment
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3
Tel.: 819-997-1441
Fax: 819-953-0279
Email: Minister@ec.gc.ca

The Honourable Joe Oliver
Minister of Natural Resources
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Tel.: 613-992-6361
Fax: 613-992-9791
EMail: Joe.Oliver@parl.gc.ca

Major Projects Management Office
155 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4
Fax: 613 995-7555
E-mail: mpmo-bggp@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca

I kept it short and sweet.

Click to enlarge.

- Calgary is the latest city to ban junk food from schools. It’s an effort to trim obesity rates and waistlines, but is social engineering the solution? I don’t want to sound like an old man reminiscing about the old times, but I’ll take the risk to make a point. If obesity rates have doubled in the last 30 years, what has changed? Is the fast food more fattening? 30 years ago when I went to school we ate hamburgers and french fries covered with gravy. It was served quite openly in our cafeterias. Why weren’t we all fat, unhealthy little pigs? Again I ask… what has changed? You might argue that we have more access to junk food, and I wouldn’t argue with you. You might say companies do a better job at marketing fatty food to kids, and again I would be in agreement. To both of those things I say, “so what?!” The change isn’t the food or its accessibility, the change is the parents. Someone is feeding their kids this junk food, someone is giving them money to buy it and some parent is letting their kid sit around all day playing video games too. It’s so easy to do the feel good thing and try to socially engineer skinny children, but that ignores the real problem. It’s the parents who feed the kids. Disagree? Then tell me what has changed in the last 30 years? Maybe its time I do little social engineering of my own. No more kids for stupid adults. That will end your childhood obesity problem.

Related: Calgary students learn to like healthier snacks as junk food ban kicks in – Calgary Herald

Interesting coincidence: My friend Bill Kingston posted this commentary today. Bill is talking about recreational facilities and I’m talking about school lunches. We both come to the same conclusion.

Time for parents to be parents – TheCornwallDaily.com

- The Province of Alberta is trying to improve education and they have released a 10 point plan to do it. One of the recommendations from the Alberta Ministry of Education suggests wireless access on buses. Some of the kids have long rides on the bus so the province wants the kids to have something to do. I would suggest the province tell the kids to bring a book. Also on the education agenda… full day kindergarten, more schools, more support for First Nation students (that means more money), more playgrounds. The only problem? The more money a lot of these things will cost.

Related: Alberta's new education plan – Medicine Hat News
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Yawn.

Political stories like this make me long for the return of Julie Coulliard

Voters outraged over NDP MP's decision to join Liberals – Montreal Gazette

St-Denis acknowledged on Tuesday that her constituents voted for Jack Layton, but added “Jack Layton is dead.”

Huot said the comment shows “a lack of respect for a great man.”

* Get well Tony.

I have pretty much every Black Sabbath album on vinyl, but have never been a massive fan of the band. I guess I was influenced years ago by a good friend of mind who was a huge Sab fan. I do however like a lot of their music. I am always excited when original band mates lose the animosity and get back together. It’s nice to see the original Sabbath reunite. Van Halen has also done it… come on Gilmour and Waters, tour as Pink Floyd!!!

Black Sabbath set to headline Coachella Festival before Tony Iommi's cancer diagnosis? – NME

Bonus: (h/t PB)

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… As noted above Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has cancer. Something for him and the band.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related: And weirdly interesting.

It is Tony Iommi, Not Tommy Iommi – The Gauntlet

More later.