Two coins in a fountain…and I’m blessing only one!
The instructive lesson for the Liberals, post-by-election disasters, continues, except for four dimbells whose comments I cannot allow. Calling me a shill for the Tories means you have not read my columns in 24Hours, where I stated, clearly, that unless the Prime Minister found his warmth button, and taped it to the ‘ON’ position on the console of his political life, thoughts of a majority govt would only prove delusional . Making light of my weight or the fact that I am bald, or suggesting something about my mother, sexuality, or assumed gymnastic ability, isn’t going to get your comment published.
More to the point: Chantal Hebert, who is one of the most astute commentators in Canada, writes a column for The Toronto Star, one of my favourite papers. She dissects the by-election losses and adds, as I have previously, the Mr. Ignatieff is in such a depth of electoral malaise, that his fortunes may not have quite bottomed out yet. But in his first test, he has performed not differently than did Mr. Dion when he embarked upon his respective, ill-fated journey.
You can read her very good analysis, here.
And from the ‘I can’t believe he did it again’ file: My former colleague Bill Tieleman, this week, wrote a piece for 24Hours and The Tyee on the gun registry.
As someone who has shot guns my whole adult life, I must tell you: The incredible ignorance and fear-mongering exhibited by some ‘Salon Socialists’ in the media, over the long gun registry issue, is astounding. They even raise falsehoods about the changes vs domestic violence stats, etc. This is the same crowd that would have us ‘decriminalizing’ drugs (thus, making the govt and taxpayer the drug competition bureau) and maintaining light sentencing. Ultimately, they would love to have us abolish guns across the board, making law-abiding citizens less safe. People are killed with bats, too, but we’re not about to abolish baseball any time soon.
All this sanctimonious bromide about long gun “dangers”: without one iota of real evidence, just NDP speaking notes masked to avail themselves to any amount of public gullibility or panic. Tieleman, who writes brilliantly about the Basi-Virk trial, once again, shows why when it comes to so many other issues (harm seduction, the war in Afghanistan, gun control, global warming alarmism) his opinions are nothing more than doctrinaire nonsense that are usually buttressed with thick lather and dizzying spin. After all, his principal job is as a PR/communications consultant to many NDP affiliated clients and causes. He also sits on the communications advisory committee of Vision Vancouver (boy, hasn’t that helped!). I’m unsure if this is a paid position.
But back to his recent column…
In comment number 24, posted by Anonymous, made by one of Tieleman’s fellow NDPers, he gets absolutely SCHOOLED, on the issue of the long gun registry, which was, mostly, an abominable waste of money. In particular, a few points: Domestic violence in this country is committed with knives or bare-hands, by and large. Hoofing about with a rifle or shotgun, looking for your intended target rarely happens. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. But Tieleman states that those who were not willing to stand with the Tories reasonable gun registry bill, were “gutless”.
Actually, what is incontrovertibly gutless, is when a PR consultant and sometimes writer gets caught, by a reader no less, shoveling the agricultural fertilizer, and then can’t find the journalistic integrity to admit he was wrong, or at the very least, substantially incorrect.
Pity.
You are right on the button with the statement ” Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”
I grew up just north of Prince George,in a family of hunters, who still hunt for meat to this day,preferring the taste of wild meat to domestic. As children, my father sat my brother and I down and taught us about his rifles,( has had/has several) and about gun safety. They were kept in a safe location,as was the ammunition, and were never kept loaded.
Many people also had handguns, or Defenders, as ” worst case scenario” protection when hunting/camping/hiking in bear country, but handguns have long required registration and permits to carry or move them, and people who have them legitimately generally do so.
To us they were of no more consequence than my mothers wooden spoons used for cooking, and for all the other families in town, it was the same.
When we were old enough to be able to safely handle a rifle, my father taught us how to shoot, so that if anything every happened to him or my mom while we were out in the bush, we could defend ourselves or hunt food. All kids who grew up around the bush were taught these skills, and still are.
If you aren’t a hunter,or haven’t grown up around guns, my opinon is that some people just don’t get it.
I could never see the benefit to the registry, and I’m sure hunters everywhere are shaking their heads at the wasted time and money that went into the venture.
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Hello Laila…thx so much for your comment. We are in complete agreement. I’ve never owned a gun that wasn’t stored properly or used with the utmost of care. Can they be dangerous? Of course they can. But that doesn’t give anyone, in this particular case, Bill Tieleman, to misrepresent the real issue behind what the Conservatives proposed and passed. No self-respecting gangbanger would be caught dead registering any gun of any kind with the registry. So whom do any changes benefit? The people you quite characteristically described as being either “of the land” or law-abiding. Are there going to be nuts like Marc Lepine? Sure, but a gun registry wouldn’t help curb irresponsible or deadly use. The butchering of that poor kid from the Prairies on that fateful Greyhound trip not too long ago, didn’t prompt anyone to yelp about hunting knives. Interesting footnote: I have the larger version of the knife that was used. If you put that in the hands of a child, unsheathed, and a 9mm Beretta with the safety on in the other, how fast do you think that kid would cut himself before shooting anybody? It would be an almost instantaneous cut. The point here is that there is absolutely no need for the long gun registry as it was constructed. Mr. Chretien, as only he can, played off the fears of the day, post-Montreal massacre, and let yet another ‘Salon Socialist’, Allan Rock, bring this thing through without a second thought about what it did to the rights of law abiding gun owners. And I have no idea what the Toronto police are bitching about. These are the some of the same people who tell us that Tasers are “safe and an essential part of modern day policing”. Spare me.
So, you’re a woman who can shoot, and likes Grey Goose Martinis…hopefully not in that order!
I’m a Ketel One man, myself.
Best to you. BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed your moving tribute for our troops on your always interesting blog. Of course, you’ll notice not a word about Remembrance Day or a tribute from Tieleman, the anti-war “hero”, who also supported anti-Israeli dimwit Mabel Elmore as a candidate for the NDP (and she got elected!). Not a word of support for our troops from their ilk. Nice folks. Incredible.
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In the absence of a Grey Goose, I’ve also a penchant for a nice whiskey- neat, of course ; ) But of course, always after the hunt, never prior to!
Actually, I don’t hunt like my father and brother, unless you count looking for deals in the supermarket. I do like to enjoy the spoils of their efforts though.
All fun aside, I like Bill,and consider him a friend, but I don’t agree with him on this issue at all. If anyone can find me some actual proof that the registry halted or slowed any of the violence that is currently going on in cities across Canada, I would be glad to see it. However, it simply does not exist. That registry did nothing but create a problem where there was none. The real problem exists in the continuing influx of assault rifles and other prohibited weapons. How about getting on that sometime soon?
Good point about the hunting knives. Might as well throw in kitchen knives while you are at it, since a lot of stabbings happen with knives commonly found in most retail kitchen outlets. Don’t see anyone wanting to register their cleavers or filleting knives, do you?
The tribute to our troops was well done. Whether one supports the current action in Afghanistan or not, I think it is important to put that aside to show support for the men and women who choose ( chose) to serve our country. It is the least they deserve. Funny thing is, as the granddaughter of two concentration camp survivors, I’m not of the anti-war sentiment. Had troops not come to their rescue, they surely would have been killed or died of starvation – and I would not be here today.
Be well!
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Agreed. As I have mentioned many times, the people who attack our presence in Afghanistan do not understand, or, more accurately, cannot understand the tradition of our fine men and women in uniform because these rabid anti-American, linguine leftists (who buy $300 Dolce & Gabbana jeans at Mark James, but tell their “faithful” that they eat cake too!) are blinded by their own myopia.
If the Russians had taken the same pacifistic attitude at the gates of Poland, sixty five years ago, you’d be eating schnitzel and drinking Beck’s in Gdansk today!
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I could never figure out why on earth you were such a Tieleman ass kisser when you were at 24 hrs because his stuff never compared to yours. Finally you woke up, eh? Your good friend never had much nice to say about you but you kept your lips attached to his butt. Now your not sleeping anymore. It’s about time Alex!
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Look, I almost didn’t approve this, since I don’t peddle gossip. But heard the same things and chose to ignore them. I gave Bill the praise he deserved. It was never returned, but I never expected it. When my column quickly became more read and more popular, I could see the writing on the wall. No big deal. But his work on Basi-Virk remains some of the best reporting–period. Notwithstanding the rest of his schlock.
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Well it’s about time someone took Bill Tieleman to task. I often wrote pretty long responses to the bullshit he puts out there and he never printed them! Maybe you will write more about “B.C. best known communicator OF BULLSHIT! I’ve been an NDp car carrying member for 27 years and you don’t know how many backs Tieleman has stabbed. It’s always about him.
Youre doing great work here rookie!
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I’m hardly a rookie and I don’t believe you. Tieleman might be many things, but he’s not a backstabber. Disloyal and backstabber are world’s apart. He’s not unkind, just petty.
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When I grew up at Main and Marine in the 40/50s many families had the proverbial Cooey .22 long gun. Single shot. It was used for the pesky animals that the “We’ve moved into their territory” love to preach about. We now have our cities overrun by rats, skunks, raccoons, and crows. We have been invaded by coyotes from the prairies, imported eastern grey squirrels and European starlings to name three. Now let the rats and squirrels get in your attic through the roof, as a three of my neighbours found and the average repair bill was around $10,000. (Sixty year old houses weren’t designed to keep these critter out.) No insurance because rats and squirrels are considered vermin and thus no coverage. Many cat haters take joy in cats being eaten by coyotes but cats catch rats and sometimes squirrels and that is good. But coyotes are now taking on dogs and children. What now? In Burnaby we now have a very large population of deer on the mountain, the foreshore, the golf courses and guess what? We now have sightings of cougar and bears following the deer. And now with this huge increase in the wild animal population we now have the problem of the rabies epidemic that is running rampant along the East Coast with the prediction that it will arrive here in about five years. Even if one had the .22 one can not buy the shells never mind shooting it in the city. Leg hold traps are out. Poisons are a no no. So the best is a sling shot at best. But by God if you ever try to use a long gun don’t pass go – go to jail.
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Brilliant! I completely agree. Some time ago, I wrote two columns that suggested that we needed to cull coyotes, raccoons, crows and skunks. Well…to show the “peacefulness” of the animal rights group that wrote the publisher and editor, demanding to have me fired, they threatened me personally several times in several emails. Extraordinary idiots who have me the same argument about how we were living in the land that really belonged to the animals. I just about fell off my chair from laughter. The realities are that people who are extremists in any lobby, are very strange and, often times, commit to the very same activities they decry: far right wing abortion loons who shoot performing docs; animal rights crackpots who throw dye and acid at people wearing fur, anti-globalization groups (like the fools at the APC locally, who paint-bomb offices and businesses, etc. I remember working for Bill VanderZalm in the 80s when he was Premier, and while I completely disagreed with his position on homosexuality (and advised not to discuss publicly) I attended a black tie event with him and Lillian where one particular member of something called ‘Queer Nation’ was threatening to throw AIDS infected blood at him. Outrageous. People need to think before they act. Reason always prevails in the end, and when it doesn’t, nothing works. So, you’re forced to correct matters. I appreciate your sensible approach. Too bad politician of all stripes do not have the guts to do what’s right. The inner-city wildlife explosion is a threat to children in particular.
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As excellent a gun a .22 is for vermin (I had a bolt action single shot Remington as a boy – with nearest neighbors 4 miles away) it is not an appropriate gun for populated areas. Any misses can go quite a distance and harm or kill unintended targets.
Perhaps something along the lines of a .410, .28 or .20 gauge shotgun with small shot would be more appropriate for such use. Though the noise alone would guarantee a visit from the authorities in the city, excepting maybe Vancouver where gunshots are seem to be part of the mix with sirens and Harley mufflers (or are they amplifiers).
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Wow,sensing a little hostility there,left vision.
I can’t say I’ve had the same experience with Bill, at all.
I have always found him to be extremely helpful, and quite generous with both his time and knowledge,even when he is swamped, and always a nice guy.
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The quality of the info is what keeps me on this site, thanks!
Wish You a Merry Christmas.
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