Can't we all just get along.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Toronto Needs a John Wayne
Something is completely wrong when you wake up and read stories like this. From the Canadian Press.
"For two weeks, gunfire has been ringing out almost daily in Toronto, often in very public places and leaving bloodshed in its wake. A total of twenty shootings occurred during this time period. Among the victims was a four-year-old boy who was wounded in a gun battle between members of rival gangs.
Two more young people were killed and three wounded in two more shootings early Monday, bringing the total of 28 handgun-related homicides this year to 28, compared with 27 at the same time a year ago."
The problem lies in the fact that a bunch of punk kids who think of themselves as outlaws can simply drive down to any U.S border town and pick up a cheap hand gun with little effort.
Of some 5,000 illegal handguns taken off Toronto's streets every year the majority can be traced back to the U.S. Gun laws in America are a joke, a point punctuated by political columnist and business editor Mark Tran, who states that U.S laws make guns extremely accessible to young persons, using the federal governments own figures.
Current U.S federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold by licensed firearm dealers, which account for just 60% of gun sales. This means that two of every five guns acquired in the US change hands without a background check. This includes guns bought at gun shows, through classified ads, and between individuals. There are between 2,000 and 5,000 gun shows held every year.
This means any kid with a couple hundred bucks can purchase a gun from the back of a magazine or trunk in an alley way by-passing any age restrictions.
I hope Toronto Mayor David Miller and Police Chief Bill Blair can round up a few more than the already hired thousand new police offers and show these wanna be's who are the real 'bad asses'.
As a side note, what ever happened to the good old days when two hot heads if they needed to duke it out they did it mono on mono with just their fists? Now we have a bunch of stupid little jerks blaming their parents, movies, and ADHD for their in ability to function in a civilized world. Instead they find their sense of being in a piece of coloured rag and acting like a pack of trailer park muts.
Instead of cloning ugly dogs we need to find a way to clone the duke. Fast!
References:
Kenaz.
"For two weeks, gunfire has been ringing out almost daily in Toronto, often in very public places and leaving bloodshed in its wake. A total of twenty shootings occurred during this time period. Among the victims was a four-year-old boy who was wounded in a gun battle between members of rival gangs.
Two more young people were killed and three wounded in two more shootings early Monday, bringing the total of 28 handgun-related homicides this year to 28, compared with 27 at the same time a year ago."
The problem lies in the fact that a bunch of punk kids who think of themselves as outlaws can simply drive down to any U.S border town and pick up a cheap hand gun with little effort.
Of some 5,000 illegal handguns taken off Toronto's streets every year the majority can be traced back to the U.S. Gun laws in America are a joke, a point punctuated by political columnist and business editor Mark Tran, who states that U.S laws make guns extremely accessible to young persons, using the federal governments own figures.
Current U.S federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold by licensed firearm dealers, which account for just 60% of gun sales. This means that two of every five guns acquired in the US change hands without a background check. This includes guns bought at gun shows, through classified ads, and between individuals. There are between 2,000 and 5,000 gun shows held every year.
This means any kid with a couple hundred bucks can purchase a gun from the back of a magazine or trunk in an alley way by-passing any age restrictions.
I hope Toronto Mayor David Miller and Police Chief Bill Blair can round up a few more than the already hired thousand new police offers and show these wanna be's who are the real 'bad asses'.
As a side note, what ever happened to the good old days when two hot heads if they needed to duke it out they did it mono on mono with just their fists? Now we have a bunch of stupid little jerks blaming their parents, movies, and ADHD for their in ability to function in a civilized world. Instead they find their sense of being in a piece of coloured rag and acting like a pack of trailer park muts.
Instead of cloning ugly dogs we need to find a way to clone the duke. Fast!
References:
Kenaz.
Coach Great One:Alpha Male or Dogs Lunch?
That is the question. Someone once said, those who can, do, those who can't teach. This is so true of players who turned coach in the NHL.
Gordon "Red" Berenson was arguably the best player turned coach. As a player he scored a respectable 695 points in 1036 career NHL games with Montreal, Detroit and St. Louis. He turned assistant coach in 1978, then coach in 1980 and took the sad below .500 team to the playoffs in 1981 with an amazing .669 average winning himself the Jack Adams trophy.
No one has ever questioned Wayne Gretzkys leadership and abilities as a player or as a manager and business man. The Great Ones records and achievements in the NHL and internationally speak for themselves. His decision to take over the coaching duties are another story.
Gretzky came to Phoenix and turned around a franchise on the brink of bankruptcy, to the point that interest in the team is at an all time high, based on ticket sales and merchandise sales. Phoenix is no longer the team with laughable jerseys playing in a substandard building thanks to the greatest player of all time.
The question is, again. Can Gretzky coach the ailing Phoenix Coyotes and make them respectable like Berenson did or will he let an inferior product and lack of experience turn his tenure into a coaching footnote more the lines of Mike Milbury in New York, who was forced once again to teach from a distance.
Kenaz
Gordon "Red" Berenson was arguably the best player turned coach. As a player he scored a respectable 695 points in 1036 career NHL games with Montreal, Detroit and St. Louis. He turned assistant coach in 1978, then coach in 1980 and took the sad below .500 team to the playoffs in 1981 with an amazing .669 average winning himself the Jack Adams trophy.
No one has ever questioned Wayne Gretzkys leadership and abilities as a player or as a manager and business man. The Great Ones records and achievements in the NHL and internationally speak for themselves. His decision to take over the coaching duties are another story.
Gretzky came to Phoenix and turned around a franchise on the brink of bankruptcy, to the point that interest in the team is at an all time high, based on ticket sales and merchandise sales. Phoenix is no longer the team with laughable jerseys playing in a substandard building thanks to the greatest player of all time.
The question is, again. Can Gretzky coach the ailing Phoenix Coyotes and make them respectable like Berenson did or will he let an inferior product and lack of experience turn his tenure into a coaching footnote more the lines of Mike Milbury in New York, who was forced once again to teach from a distance.
Kenaz
Good Evening...And Goodbye
We have lost another great broadcaster in Peter Jennings. Jennings died of lung cancer age the age of 67, this morning.
The Torontonian never forgot his Canadian roots even as he stood on the summit of the US journalism mountain. His ABC World News Tonight broadcasts always included more Con-Can than any other American broadcast.
Jennings was never afraid to include a story from Canada do to fear of lack of American knowledge. While other American broadcasters tripped over Quebec Premier Jean Charests name or gave out interesting geography lessons, indicating that Napanee, Ontario, is just east of Toronto. Peter Jennings never looked out of place correcting the world in telling them that Avril Lavigne's hometown is actually 136 miles away from Toronto and closest to Kingston.
The guy who at just 27 became the youngest anchor ever of the ABC Evening News went on to a 40 year career that saw Jennings win no fewer than 14 Emmy awards as well as a host of other honours.
Jening's newscasts tackled the conflicts raging in Bosnia, Haiti and Iraq, among others. But he also explored such domestic issues as arts funding, abortion and gun control.
His interviews have ran the full spectrum from ground breaking. From his 1974 profile of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat which won him the first of his two Peabody awards and the first interview with Ayatollah Khomeini following his return to Iran after the shah went into exile in 1979.
To the absurd. In an interview with then President Bill Clinton, at one point Jennings barrage of tough questions pertaining to Clintons alleged affair, became so much, it caused an out burst from the President that ended in Clinton turning a civil interview into a twelve year olds pissing match with Clinton offering this threatening idiom to Jennings "I wouldn't go there!" The consummate professional wasn't phased and "went there".
I summation, I quote ABC's 2005 promotional campaign for Jennings that offered the simple tag line "Trust is earned." And it was.
RIP.
Kenaz
The Torontonian never forgot his Canadian roots even as he stood on the summit of the US journalism mountain. His ABC World News Tonight broadcasts always included more Con-Can than any other American broadcast.
Jennings was never afraid to include a story from Canada do to fear of lack of American knowledge. While other American broadcasters tripped over Quebec Premier Jean Charests name or gave out interesting geography lessons, indicating that Napanee, Ontario, is just east of Toronto. Peter Jennings never looked out of place correcting the world in telling them that Avril Lavigne's hometown is actually 136 miles away from Toronto and closest to Kingston.
The guy who at just 27 became the youngest anchor ever of the ABC Evening News went on to a 40 year career that saw Jennings win no fewer than 14 Emmy awards as well as a host of other honours.
Jening's newscasts tackled the conflicts raging in Bosnia, Haiti and Iraq, among others. But he also explored such domestic issues as arts funding, abortion and gun control.
His interviews have ran the full spectrum from ground breaking. From his 1974 profile of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat which won him the first of his two Peabody awards and the first interview with Ayatollah Khomeini following his return to Iran after the shah went into exile in 1979.
To the absurd. In an interview with then President Bill Clinton, at one point Jennings barrage of tough questions pertaining to Clintons alleged affair, became so much, it caused an out burst from the President that ended in Clinton turning a civil interview into a twelve year olds pissing match with Clinton offering this threatening idiom to Jennings "I wouldn't go there!" The consummate professional wasn't phased and "went there".
I summation, I quote ABC's 2005 promotional campaign for Jennings that offered the simple tag line "Trust is earned." And it was.
RIP.
Kenaz
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