Cobourg Blog

Up till now, I have not commented on the issue of an award to Constable Garrett because it seemed like a no-brainer - if anyone ever deserved the highest award, he does.  But the gloss is wearing off our glamorous Governor General - it seems she can’t make a decision on her own.  First she refers the decision to a committee who don’t want to change the rules even when obviously needed - and now she passes the buck to the Prime Minister!  Is she saying she can’t decide?  If so, why does she have the job?  She’s supposed to be smart and caring - but apparently not.  Or at least she does not show any indication of caring.

Full marks for Rick Norlock’s support - and hopefully he’s pushing more “in the background” to get this award settled.  There’s nothing worse than letting a wrong “rule” stopping the right thing from being done.  We have politicians (and all managers for that matter) to make and change rules - anyone can follow them.

Also full marks to our local press for their support - and I see it is getting the attention of the National Press - The National Post had a supportive column on page 4 today.  The key quote which I heartily agree with: “Before I was upset.  Now I’m pissed off” (Karl Walsh - Ontario Provincial Police Assoc. President).

The good news is that so far, there have been no dissenting opinions by members of the public.

John Draper

I do not know if the Cobourg Daily Star had printed my letter-to-the-editor, which had been submitted early in the week. In the event that they had not, I post it below:
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How pathetically correct is this; the editors of the Cobourg Daily Star have no problem with sexist man-bashing, ie. the ad hominen attack on Conrad Black as a “tubby hubby“, or the unsubstantiated slander that unnamed elements of Cobourg Town Council get over their “Stone Age attitude towards women.“

So then they write an editorial (Nov 11) extolling the “The Boys of War“ and not once is there a suggestion that young women are on the front lines in Afghanistan with young men.

I, for one, am busting with pride that Canada, and other NATO allies have sent young women to serve in Afghanistan, to ensure that Afghan women can attend school, among other things, and yes, shoot to kill those misogynists who threaten to prevent such progress.

Those are my kind of Canadian women — beautiful, intelligent and lethal.

– Wally Keeler

I have been checking this blog daily but not looking below the first item and I had faith that all Spam was being caught before being displayed (I get about 10 per day that do get caught).  Turns out I was wrong - a large collection of ads for ring tones found their way onto the site.  I’ve deleted them and made some other changes so hopefully it won’t happen again! But this episode underlines the fact that there are people in this world who are selfish and totally uncaring.  I knew that, but I don’t meet many - maybe I live in a protected world.

But this will not cause me to give up on this blog - there are many issues coming up that will need comment.

• What will happen with Policing after we have the Public meetings?  Despite the relatively large attendance, most people in favour of changing (and some against) will not go to the meetings.  Politicians know that so they won’t make much difference to the end result.
• What will happen to our economy with the insanely high dollar?  It may feel good but there will be major negative repercussions on our manufacturing industry if the dollar stays above parity.
• Will Harper make it all the way to October 2009 before the next election?  It will be a first if a minority Government can survive to it’s full term!
• Will the frink controversy die down? Will the rink get the usage predicted?
• Who will buy Condos for $1.1M at the Illahee development?  We thought $699,000 + was high!

So the blog will stay.

John Draper