. . . for awkward family Christmas photos!

A new danger has arisen in California . . . flying cannonballs!   Aye Matey!

Events in recent months have fed much fuel to the belief that much of today’s youth are nothing more than lazy entitlement junkies. While that’s sadly true in too many cases, there are exceptions. One of these is exemplified by Sean Quigley, a high-school student from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who released this music video on YouTube last Wednesday. Turn up the volume and watch it full screen for maximum effect:

It has since gone viral, with now well over half a million views!
Charles Adler recently interviewed Quigley. What an inspiring, positive young man, eh?!
The song is now available for purchase for just 99 cents. Please consider buying a copy and helping make this young Canadian a shining example for others of his generation.

In just 39 days the voters of Ontario will decide whether to return Dalton McGuinty to power or to give Tim Hudak a chance at running things. Too bad there’ll be little of substance discussed with the voters. Don’t blame the politicians though, this is entirely the fault of the media for turning modern-day elections into shallow popularity contests where the only thing that matters are those “gotcha” moments.

Peter Cheney has written a most interesting column in which he proffers that he’d rather drive up to 1,000 miles (1,600 km) than fly. He discusses his thoughts with Charles Adler here.
What’s the maximum distance or time that you’d rather drive than fly?

Kai Nagata was CTV’s 24 year-old Bureau Chief in Quebec City. He was a rising media star. But he suddenly quit and provided a lengthy explanation why.   h/t chutzpahticular
If you have a few minutes, read his entire piece and share your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s a special treat for all of SDA’s American readers: The 4th of July Declaration by Prager University

I owe all of you a sincere apology for this recent posting. Actually, not for the posting itself, but for the title: Non-Fans Disgrace Vancouver
I added the “Non-” prefix because I honestly couldn’t believe, at the time, that real sports fan could carry out such violence. I was wrong.
Yesterday I spent a great deal of time on my own, reading various things, listening to various things, and viewing assorted videos. I eventually got to the point where the evidence against my original views was so strong that I could no longer deny the facts … as much as I wanted to.
Let me share with you the specific items that dramatically swayed my views:
Brian Hutchinson’s powerful first-hand account. It was posted earlier but worth another read. There was also this and this and this and this video.
Hutchinson was all over the place yesterday, including this podcast with Boston talk radio host, Michael Graham.
Roy Green hit a real chord with: Those who stand and watch are guilty too.
Charles Adler had outstanding coverage and analysis: Segments 1, 2, and 3.
The old adage, “The Truth Shall Set You Free”, is certainly apropos in this situation. I still have a sickening feeling in my stomach but in time it shall pass. I think what is most troubling me about all of this is how very fragile our democracy and law & order actually is, mostly held in place by a Thin Blue Line. One very recuperative activity for me was to take assorted photographs throughout downtown and post them in an album aptly titled, The Day After the Destruction.

What an absolute disgrace in my hometown. No true Hockey Fan would do this!

From a friend’s camera phone:

Update: Vancouver just made the news in Sydney, Australia. What a proud moment … NOT!!! They provided a link that I’m aptly calling a Gallery of Losers.
Update 2: Video of the destruction of downtown Vancouver 🙁

Like, holy annoying, newsgirl–video here. But she did work for the Wall St. Journal:

Abramson to Replace Keller as The Times’s Executive Editor

A few hours later, the Canucks beat the Bruins 1 – 0, with a goal in the dying seconds of the game.
Update: Here’s how the NY Times covered the first game of the series in Vancouver. h/t Derek

Nevada prostitutes think Harry Reid is a very, very naughty boy. He has suddenly, and unexpectedly decided that prostitution, which has been legal in assorted parts of Nevada since the 1970’s, should now be outlawed. At the time of this writing there is no word whether any Nevada prostitutes aim on personally disciplining Senator Reid.

From Douglas Coupland’s Twitter page a few days ago:

h/t Amy Alkon

Thank goodness for Google cached. Unless I have made a grievous error (always possible) there has been dirty work at the keyboard:

Rewriting news to protect Mickey I.?/Google cached Upperdate proves the point

… …most Canadians were stunned to discover that one of their own was the star of a $2 million television campaign warning Americans about the perils of this country’s publicly funded medical system. Shona Holmes, the poster girl for that attack, turned out to be fronting a lawsuit against Ontario’s health ministry spearheaded by a Calgary-based Christian advocacy group named the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

I know I was.

Update. When Ann Coulter wanted to perfect Jews, people said it was a bad thing.

Eric Margolis;

“Libya’s Moammar Khadaffy led me by the hand through the ruins of his private quarters…”

The Globe and Mail – is it a newspaper, or is it a safe injection site for addicts of BDS?

“For some Europeans, especially the French, Lance Armstrong is George Bush on a bike…”

Read the whole sorry mess at “Obama, Russia and Fact-Checking John Ibbitson’s Ass“.

(Actually, I think “my editor” is suffering a psychotic break.)
From the unfortunately titled “Students getting the message across”

Posted By SUN MEDIA
Posted 3 hours ago
They’re designed to scare off Canada not global warming experts. geese in Centennial Park proved
They’re not in tight with David so realistic it prompted a police Suzuki.
takedown. And many probably don’t have
City hall staff saw the animal Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” cutouts advertised and, hoping among their DVD collection. they might help reduce scat in
But that doesn’t mean the students at Kate S. Durdan elementary school don’t understand the importance of environmental sustainability.
Quite the opposite, actually.

h/t Maz2
Update – “flood has become forecaster, little Alf more Warkentin, than a gimmick.” is now 8 15 hours old and counting….

Instead of quoting directly from the column, I’ll just link to Ted’s excellent dissection using the internationally recognized acronym for mind-numbingly bad writing – H.E.A.T.H.E.R.M.A.L.L.I.C.K.