http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry Veteran Sun columnist Mark Bonokoski lives in two worlds. He writes gritty Toronto-based columns and does commentaries on the Moose-FM network, the cottage-country radio stations. Here's what his listeners are hearing out there. en-CA http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/14/lock_and_load Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:18:40 +0000 (Mark Bonokoski) General 58211@http://blog.canoe.ca (Saturday, November 14) Anyone who lives north of the 905, and is not a tree-hugger or a misplaced pacifist, knows that the long-gun registry is not particularly well embraced. Those south of that jurisdiction — hello Toronto and the burbs — are generally uninformed when it comes to the registry, and misguided when it comes to guns and gun laws. Long before there was a long-gun registry — the one that has drained a billion-plus dollars from our thread-bare pockets — there ...
Anyone who lives north of the 905, and is not a tree-hugger or a misplaced pacifist, knows that the long-gun registry is not particularly well embraced.

Those south of that jurisdiction — hello Toronto and the burbs — are generally uninformed when it comes to the registry, and misguided when it comes to guns and gun laws.

Long before there was a long-gun registry — the one that has drained a billion-plus dollars from our thread-bare pockets — there was a handgun registry, not that gangbangers give a damn.

So let's not mix metaphors and calibers.

You will be hard pressed to find a handgun on the handgun registry that has actually been used by a gangbanger in Toronto to whack another gangbanger in Toronto.

No, that gun would have likely come from south of the border — illegally obtained and illegally sold.

Cops in high positions will tell you that they need the long-gun registry to protect their officers.

That's blowing smoke, folks. Misleading smoke.

Since 1977, legal gun owners in this country have required a licence, and approval by the RCMP, before they could purchase a firearm.

The long-gun registry wasn't needed.

In fact, it was redundant.

Cops already knew where the good folk were.

While the long-gun registry isn't dead yet, it is at least one step closer to its grave.

And that's where it belongs.
]]> http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/14/lock_and_load?p=58211&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments 1 http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/13/royal_flush Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:13:42 +0000 (Mark Bonokoski) General 58162@http://blog.canoe.ca (Friday, November 13) Following Remembrance Day ceremonies on Wednesday in Ottawa, Prince Charles and his Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, packed up their entourage and headed back to London. What did you think? Was it nice to see them come to the old Dominion of Canada ... or, as my dear old grandmother used to say, was it nice to see them go? Me? I couldn't have cared less — except to wonder how much it cost us taxpayers for them to ...
Following Remembrance Day ceremonies on Wednesday in Ottawa, Prince Charles and his Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, packed up their entourage and headed back to London.

What did you think?

Was it nice to see them come to the old Dominion of Canada ... or, as my dear old grandmother used to say, was it nice to see them go?

Me? I couldn't have cared less — except to wonder how much it cost us taxpayers for them to be here in the first place when, truth be known, they are in last place when it comes to even Royal watchers.

The Queen still carries some cachet, but not Charles — not since Diana gave him the blue-blood boot when, as the old saying goes, two's company but three's a crowd.

Ever since Diana's death, and then his marriage to old flame Camilla, Charles has been on the rehab circuit — trying to polish the image of himself while trying to schmooze a liking for Camilla.

He is, after all, the man who would be king.

But, again, I couldn't care less.

I am all for tradition, and even a little pomp and circumstance, but the time has come for Canada to lose its shackles to the British monarchy.

No rush, of course.

No, I'd wait until Queen Elizabeth dies — which will undoubtedly not be anytime soon, considering her genetics — and then I'd pull the pin.

But, whose picture would go on our money?

Time to start thinking about it.
]]> http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/13/royal_flush?p=58162&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments 3 http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/08/the_bra_mask Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:12:27 +0000 (Mark Bonokoski) General 57870@http://blog.canoe.ca (Sunday, November 8) Just in time for the swine flu outbreak and its ensuing panic comes news out of Chicago of the invention of a brassiere that doubles as a face mask. It is the brain child of Dr. Elena Bodnar of the non-profit Trauma Risk Management Research Institute, and this bra mask just won her the Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard — given out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then ...
Just in time for the swine flu outbreak and its ensuing panic comes news out of Chicago of the invention of a brassiere that doubles as a face mask.

It is the brain child of Dr. Elena Bodnar of the non-profit Trauma Risk Management Research Institute, and this bra mask just won her the Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard — given out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.”

The one she showed off was a cute little pink number with fancy black lace trim, kind of sexy really — considering it can be ripped off the bodice for use during such disasters as fires, terrorist attacks, dust storms and, yes, even swine flu outbreaks.

I kid you not. Look it up.

To use the bra-mask, the wearer unsnaps the brassiere from under her blouse, which breaks it in two. And, because each cup has a hook on the side, the strap wraps around the head, and is hooked up to the cup.

And, voila, two utilitarian face masks.

As Dr. Bodnar put it in accepting her award: “Isn't it wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one?

Well, yeah, sure .... you've got me there.

But then she goes and adds this: “Not only can we save our own lives, but we can also save the life of a man of our choice standing next to us.”

Notice the empowerment in that statement?

Keep your jockstraps men, and save yourself.
]]> http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/08/the_bra_mask?p=57870&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments 2 http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/07/misdirected_tears Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:24:10 +0000 (Mark Bonokoski) General 57861@http://blog.canoe.ca (Saturday, November 7) The Toronto Star had an exclusive last week — front page, three bold-face headlines — about how Toronto's Omar Khadr, the product of terrorist family, was innocent of killing the American commando that now has him residing in Guantanamo. Below it, in much tinier letters, was a throw to a Page 7 story about how Canadian soldier, Lieut. Justin Boyes, had just been killed in Afghanistan, 10 days into his second tour. The Star must have hated the timing ...
The Toronto Star had an exclusive last week — front page, three bold-face headlines — about how Toronto's Omar Khadr, the product of terrorist family, was innocent of killing the American commando that now has him residing in Guantanamo.

Below it, in much tinier letters, was a throw to a Page 7 story about how Canadian soldier, Lieut. Justin Boyes, had just been killed in Afghanistan, 10 days into his second tour.

The Star must have hated the timing of that one.

I couldn't give two hoots about Omar Khadr, but I do care greatly about losing another Canadian soldier — the 132nd at the time — to the very terrorists in Afghanistan that Omar Khadr and his family so wholeheartedly embrace.

Omar Khadr may have been 15 at the time, but he wasn't in Afghanistan on a school field trip, or a student exchange program.

He was there to follow in his father's deadly footsteps, the only good news being that his father is dead and will not be passing on his gene anymore.

Harsh? I don't think so.

The Star can bleed all it wants over the so-called wrongful imprisonment of Omar Khadr, but not me.

I rather save my tears for easy-going Canadian Prairie boy Justin Boyes, and his wife, Alanna, and their three-year-old son, James.

Omar Khadr may not have thrown the grenade that killed that American soldier, but he wasn't in Afghanistan on a peace mission either.

Let's be certain of that.]]> http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/07/misdirected_tears?p=57861&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments 0 http://blog.canoe.ca/moosecountry/2009/11/07/flu_by_you Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:21:35 +0000 (Mark Bonokoski) General 57860@http://blog.canoe.ca (Friday, November 6) Once upon a time, Ontario's medical experts were worried that they would have more supply than demand for the H1N1 vaccine — that the public would think about the swine flu as no big deal. But not any more. Throw a picture of a healthy, 13-year-old hockey player on the front page — a kid now dead from the swine flu — and you have your poster for how unwise it is not to get the flu shot. Then comes this ...
Once upon a time, Ontario's medical experts were worried that they would have more supply than demand for the H1N1 vaccine — that the public would think about the swine flu as no big deal.

But not any more.

Throw a picture of a healthy, 13-year-old hockey player on the front page — a kid now dead from the swine flu — and you have your poster for how unwise it is not to get the flu shot.

Then comes this from Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario's former medical officer of health, telling us the H1N1 vaccine now percolating through many of us should have been administered six weeks ago.

Make that seven, as of today.

Why? Because by the time we got ourselves vaccinated — if you have got yourself vaccinated, that is — the flu will have already peaked and done its damage before the serum ever kicks in.

And all this was coming out at the very same time Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was urging us all to wait our proper turn for the vaccine, and not to throw ourselves into a state of panic.

Well, a dead 13-year-old on the front page can cause panic, especially among parents.

Hence, the few flu clinics open on Week 1 were being swamped, and triage units, too.

Johnny with the sniffles was suddenly Johnny on death's door.

Where are the lessons learned from the SARS outbreak?

On a shelf?

Gathering dust?
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